It’s almost impossible to know even if your organic fruits and veggies are safe.
You can’t even trust buying organic produce anymore. There’s a new label on your produce, and it’s anything but ap”peel”ing. Apeel is a “plant-based protection that helps the produce you love stay fresh for longer”… or, in other words, a chemical coating put on your produce which you can’t wash off so it doesn’t brown or decompose in a normal amount of time. Exactly how old is that avocado
In the same FDA document that gives Apeel it’s ‘Generally Recognized as Safe’ (GRAS) status, it also clearly lists the unwholesome chemical solvents and heavy metals that are used in Apeel’s manufacture. And, if I’m reading this correctly, it declares it’s “IN THE FINISHED PRODUCT”.
Near the end of the 6th paragraph, what I’ve color highlighted below, is what consumers should know:
Link: https://www.fda.gov/food/gras-notice-inventory/agency-response-letter-gras-notice-no-grn-000648
Who’s Running The Show?
Apeel Technology was founded by James Rogers, PhD, out of U.C. Santa Barbara. He was named a World Economic Forum (WEF) Young Global Leader in 2020. (https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/apeel-sciences/company_financials) So far, Apeel has received $719 million in funding from multiple sources, including Anne Wojcicki, Katy Perry, Oprah Winfrey, GIC (the sovereign wealth fund of the government of Singapore), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, as well as a number of other investment firms and venture capitalists.
Link: https://www.perishablenews.com/produce/apeel-sciences-expands-global-presence/
Apeel already has partnerships with the following suppliers:
- Nature’s Pride (large importer of European avocados)
- Del Monte, Eco Farms, Del Rey, Horton Fruit, and RV Aguacates (avocados)
- Sage Fruit Co. (Washington State organic apple producer)
- Alpine Fresh, Farm Direct Supply, Farm Direct Supply, La Venta and Beta (asparagus)
- SiCar Farms (limes)
Many other fruits and vegetables including tomatoes, leafy greens, cucumbers, raspberries, as well as citrus use the Edipeel coating, with more produce being added in the future.
Unfortunately, if you think by choosing organic you’re good to go… think again. On their website they state, “We have formulations that are OMRI Listed® for the growers and distributors of USDA Certified Organic produce.” They say that it helps reduce plastic, which might be true… but what exactly is this coating made of? They state on their FAQs that there is only one ingredient, but then go on to say that it’s only composed of food-grade (multiple) ingredients made from “plant materials”.
Apeel brags about its purified mono-and diglycerides, a food ingredient that is found in a variety of foods. According to Dr. Josh Axe, mono-and diglycerides are “the go-to replacement for deadly trans fats and a food industry staple that helps keep oil and fat from separating. (Vani) Hari (The Food Babe) explains that this additive is a byproduct of oil processing, including partially hydrogenated canola and soybean oils. This additive is a byproduct of oil processing which contains artificial trans fat – a dangerous food ingredient known to cause coronary heart disease and linked to 50,000 fatal heart attacks a year.” (Side note: The FDA finally determined that trans fats are no longer generally recognized as safe for food use in 2016 and yet mono-and diglycerides are the “the go-to replacement.” But they change the label from trans fats to mono-and diglycerides and then the FDA changes their tune. Interesting or predictable?)
If you’re thinking that you’ll just wash it off, well, I hate to break it you, but you can’t. In their FAQs they essentially say that you can try but won’t succeed. “You could likely remove some of Apeel with water and scrubbing, but it’s unlikely that you’d be able to remove all of it without damaging the fruit or vegetable. Apeel forms a barrier of edible material on the skin or peel, and it wouldn’t maintain the fruit’s natural freshness if it was easily removed.”
When asked if Apeel is a chemical, Jenny Du, the co-founder states, “Well, everything is in fact a chemical”… way to skirt the question there, Jenny! She goes on to say, “We’re all part of ‘star-stuff’… which are elements that surround us to form chemicals…” blah blah blah skirt skirt skirt. But also, speaking of chemicals, if this mono-and diglycerides is plant derived, I’d like to know what plant it’s derived from AND what that plant was treated with. What chemicals, pesticides and more were used on that plant? They wont tell us because, remember, Jenny Du says that, “everything is a chemical.” (I wish you could see how many times I’ve rolled my eyes already while writing and researching this!) Watch Jenny’s video below and more importantly check the comments section.
“It’s safe,” says the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Canada… so safe that it’s in products designed for even infants and the elderly, the world’s most sensitive people. “Specifically, mono- and diglycerides can be found in products such as Similac Pro- Advance® Infant Formula and Ensure® Enlive® Advanced Therapeutic Nutrition.” Both of which contain corn oil, canola oil, sugar, corn syrup and nothing that I’d ever touch or deem healthy and safe for anyone of any age, especially the oldest and the youngest people in the world.
You may be seeing the Apeel sticker or label on your produce, but there are also other brands using this coating on their produce. Thankfully (PHEW!) some brands are bragging about it because it helps the produce last longer and they saving tons of plastic. I’d rather have the plastic than the crappy coating on my cucumbers, apples and lemons, thank you.
Exactly how old is that apple in your fridge? You’ll never know. As time goes on, produce loses nutritional value, but you won’t be able to tell how fresh it is because of the Apeel coating being used. This is misleading, dishonest and doing you a (nutritional) disservice. Your avocado might look like it was picked yesterday from a nearby farm… but it could be 31 days old. Check out this photo below and see what an normal, real, not-messed-with-by-Apeel avocado would look like after 31 days and then look at what the “tainted” (treated with Apeel) avocado looks like. It looks good right? Yes! But it’s modified! Produce loses 30% (conservatively) of it’s nutrients just 3 days after being harvested due to light, oxygen and heat.
You will find Apeel products in places like Costco, Trader Joes, Gelsons, Ralphs, Sprouts, Vons, Walmart, Whole Foods, Kroger, Harps Foods, Wakefern brand stores including Price Right, Fairway Market, Target, Bristol Farms and more. Some of the produce companies using Apeel are Topline, Index Fresh, Calve, Del Monte, West Park, Horton Fruit Co, Del Ray Avocado, Natures Pride and more.
Once again, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the same people who are buying up all the farmland in the country and trying to sell you on the idea of lab-grown meats saying, “I do think all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef” are behind this and that means it’s a no from me, dawg.
Additional Information:
Rogers founded Apeel in 2012 and the company has raised a total of $110 million in funding from investors who include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as well as investment firms Viking Global Investors and Andreessen Horowitz.
In fact, he learned enough that he was able to flesh out his idea and apply for a research grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which gave him $100,000 that marked the beginning of Apeel. Rogers hired two researchers he knew from his Ph.D. program and they got to work developing the product that would become Apeel.
Rogers is the founder and CEO of Apeel Sciences, a Southern California-based food technology startup that is trying to battle food waste. It’s a problem that the United Nations estimates costs the world roughly $2.6 trillion each year, much of which stems from fruits, vegetables and other perishable foods going bad before they’re consumed.
Rogers’ Apeel, recently named to the 2018 CNBC Disruptor 50 List, thinks it can combat the problem of food waste with its primary product, a tasteless, odorless, edible coating made from plant materials. Apeel can keep produce like avocados or oranges from going bad for weeks longer than usual — it can double the shelf life in some cases — even without refrigeration.
The trick to keeping produce from spoiling, Rogers tells CNBC Make It, is relatively simple. “The two leading causes of produce spoilage are water loss and oxidation — that’s water evaporating out of the produce and oxygen getting in,” Rogers says.
The point of the Edipeel coating is, simply, to act as a physical barrier that slows down the evaporation process and regulates how much oxygen gets into production. And because Apeel makes its invisible coating out of the fatty acids and other organic compounds taken from the peels, seeds and pulp of other fruits and vegetables, the FDA has deemed it safe to eat. Avocados sprayed with Edipeel are already being sold at grocery stores like Kroger, Costco and Harps Food Stores across the U.S.
“Our philosophy is: The only thing that belongs on food is food,” Rogers tells CNBC Make It.
At the moment, Apeel’s coating is only being sold on avocados, but the company is also working on selling it to produce growers to use on asparagus and various citrus fruits, among other produce. (The Apeel formula differs for each variety of fruit or vegetable.)
Source: CNBC, krystenskitchen, TIME( image), Deeprootsathome