The emerg­ing leader in ag tech inno­va­tion can help increase shelf life of grape toma­toes by more than 25 per­cent with its nov­el Har­vestHold Fresh® solution.

Den­ver, Col­orado. (August 24, 2022) A recent study by the Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da Insti­tute of Food and Agri­cul­tur­al Sci­ence (UF-IFAS) found the shelf-life of grape toma­toes can be dra­mat­i­cal­ly improved using an inno­v­a­tive posthar­vest solu­tion by Ver­dant Tech­nolo­gies. The research team, led by Dr. Steven A. Sar­gent, con­duct­ed a vari­ety of tests on grape toma­toes, exam­in­ing the firm­ness, col­or, weight reten­tion, and decay of toma­toes treat­ed with Verdant’s Har­vestHold Fresh®. Upon com­ple­tion of the study, Har­vestHold Fresh demon­strat­ed mea­sur­ably sig­nif­i­cant ben­e­fits com­pared to the untreat­ed control.

“The grape toma­toes treat­ed with Har­vestHold Fresh reduced weight loss by 50 per­cent, main­tained firm­ness dur­ing cold stor­age, extend­ed firm­ness when brought to room tem­per­a­ture, and had 25 per­cent less decay com­pared to the untreat­ed toma­toes,” says Dr. Sar­gent, pro­fes­sor of posthar­vest hor­ti­cul­ture at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Florida.

The research team con­duct­ing the tri­al includ­ed Dr. Sar­gent, co-inves­ti­ga­tor Dr. Jef­frey Brecht, and post­doc­tor­al research asso­ciate Dr. Shirin Shahkoomahally.

Har­vestHold Fresh was intro­duced in Sep­tem­ber 2021 as an inno­v­a­tive shelf-life exten­sion solu­tion pro­vid­ing a sim­ple and flex­i­ble posthar­vest prod­uct to the pro­duce indus­try. Through its pro­pri­etary deliv­ery method of indus­try-stan­dard 1‑methylcyclopropene (1‑MCP), Har­vestHold Fresh can be applied wher­ev­er and when­ev­er it’s need­ed most in the sup­ply chain and requires no cat­a­lysts or spe­cial equipment. 

“The research con­duct­ed by the Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da will play a vital role in help­ing grow­ers around the world see and expe­ri­ence the ben­e­fits of Har­vestHold Fresh,” says Gor­don Robert­son, CEO of Ver­dant Tech­nolo­gies. “It’s esti­mat­ed near­ly a third of fresh toma­toes pur­chased in the U.S. are thrown out. Har­vestHold Fresh is pro­vid­ing grow­ers and the pro­duce indus­try a sim­ple solu­tion that adds val­ue by reduc­ing waste through­out the entire val­ue chain, ulti­mate­ly result­ing in a bet­ter expe­ri­ence for the consumer.”

In addi­tion to the tri­al on grape toma­toes, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da research team is eval­u­at­ing the impact of Har­vestHold Fresh on oth­er crops, includ­ing cucum­bers, broc­coli, and let­tuce. 

“We’ve been inter­est­ed in learn­ing how Har­vestHold per­forms on var­i­ous crops,” adds Dr. Sar­gent. “Our tri­als are prov­ing the unique­ness of this solu­tion and we are excit­ed to share more results of our addi­tion­al tri­als in the com­ing months.”

Ver­dant Tech­nolo­gies recent­ly announced approval from the U.S. Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency (EPA) of an expand­ed label for Har­vestHold Fresh, open­ing the door for more than 30 fruits and veg­eta­bles to ben­e­fit from its appli­ca­tion. The expand­ed label also includes flex­i­bil­i­ty for recy­cling Har­vestHold Fresh sheets after application. 

Ver­dant Tech­nolo­gies is cur­rent­ly con­duct­ing busi­ness in Mex­i­co, Colom­bia, and the Unit­ed States. The com­pa­ny has received U.S. state approvals for Har­vestHold Fresh in 49 states, with antic­i­pa­tion of approval in Cal­i­for­nia by late 2022. 

About Ver­dant™ Technologies 

Ver­dant™ Tech­nolo­gies is an emerg­ing leader in the ag tech indus­try, offer­ing Har­vestHold® prod­uct life  exten­sion tech­nol­o­gy for flo­ral and pro­duce prod­ucts. Ver­dant Tech­nolo­gies and its part­ners work hand-in hand to reduce neg­a­tive envi­ron­men­tal impacts and help bring nour­ish­ment to more peo­ple in more places.  Ver­dant Tech­nolo­gies has cor­po­rate offices in Den­ver, CO, and St. Paul, MN. More infor­ma­tion can be found  at www.verdant-tech.com. Fol­low Ver­dant Tech­nolo­gies on LinkedIn

About Har­vestHold Fresh® 

Har­vestHold Fresh® by Ver­dant Tech­nolo­gies is the first of the company’s patent­ed prod­ucts avail­able in the  U.S. mar­ket­place. As pro­duce prod­ucts are har­vest­ed, grow­ers and pack­ers sim­ply insert a recy­clable sheet of  Har­vestHold into pack­ag­ing from which 1‑MCP is released using a plant’s nat­ur­al chem­istry. Find out more at  www.harvesthold.com.  

About Gulftech International 

Ver­dant Tech­nolo­gies is a sub­sidiary of Gulftech Inter­na­tion­al. Gulftech is a diver­si­fied hold­ing com­pa­ny with a  core com­pe­tence in devel­op­ing and oper­at­ing glob­al man­u­fac­tur­ers of indus­tri­al equip­ment and com­po­nents.  Gulftech is an own­er, oper­a­tor, and stew­ard to a fam­i­ly of com­pa­nies serv­ing the world’s most impor­tant food  pro­duc­tion and pro­cess­ing com­pa­nies. Gulftech’s mis­sion is to acquire and nur­ture com­pa­nies, invest­ing in  sus­tain­able growth and long-term suc­cess. Gulftech’s focus is on mid­dle mar­ket, long-term acqui­si­tion  oppor­tu­ni­ties in man­u­fac­tur­ing, pack­ag­ing, dis­tri­b­u­tion and indus­tri­al after­mar­ket parts and ser­vice. Gulftech  has cor­po­rate offices in Den­ver, CO. For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it www.gulftech.com.