When applied to fruit, the all-natural compound contained on the sticker creates a protective layer around the fruit that increases its shelf-life, reducing food waste at home or anywhere along the post-harvest supply chain. Stixfresh anticipates commercial release by August 2019.

The scientists at StixFresh have used what plants naturally secrete to protect themselves from harmful environmental conditions and applied this formulation to the surface of its stickers. The patent-pending all-natural formula also includes beeswax. In the vapor-phase, the re-purposed compounds work together to create a protective layer around the fruit, which has been shown to slow down decay and prevent over-ripening.

The sticker has been independently tested and scientifically shown to keep fruits and vegetables fresh for longer. Further independent studies have also shown that fruits treated with the StixFresh sticker show increased sweetness, higher retention of moisture and sustained cellular structure resulting in increased firmness. The stickers have been tested on apples, pears, avocados, mangos, citrus fruits, papayas, star fruits and kiwis.

Simple but effective

One of the key selling points of this technology, according to Soliman, is its simplicity. No other technology in the market is as non-invasive or as simple to apply as StixFresh.

“The StixFresh technology consists of standard US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved stickers – the same ones you currently see on fruit in stores – that are coated with a patent-pending formulation. StixFresh can be seamlessly applied anywhere along the supply chain, at the producer, distributor, retail or end-consumer level,” said Moody Soliman, StixFresh Co-Founder and CEO .

“Any branding of choice, including barcodes, can be printed on the sticker. Thus, producers and distributors may continue to use their existing stickers in combination with our powerful formulation to extend the shelf-life of their fresh produce,” he adds.

StixFresh provides a post-harvest solution that it says is:

• Simple: StixFresh is minimally invasive with no need to inject or coat the fruit with anything. Peel and place StixFresh stickers on apples, pears, avocados, dragon fruits, star fruits, kiwis, mangos, oranges and other citrus fruits to help keep them firm, sweet and juicy.
• Effective: Through countless comparative tests, StixFresh has proven to deliver significant results, extending the shelf-life of fruit by up to two weeks.
• Safe: Keep fruit fresh longer without chemicals. StixFresh is made of all-natural ingredients which meet GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) requirements in accordance with the FDA.

Humble beginnings, big ambitions

Soliman identifies a lack of real-estate as the biggest challenge the start-up had to overcome in the application of an effective formulation to the surface of the sticker. “After hundreds of iterations, we developed a proprietary formulation and method to successfully achieve this.”

StixFresh stickers are in the final product development stage. The start-up launched a crowdfunding campaign in March, through which part of the funds raised will be allocated to the final development and testing prior to commercialization. Commercial rollout is expected by August 2019.

“Our continuing goal is to develop new formulations that will be as effective on all kinds of fruits, such as berries and cherries, as well as vegetables,” Soliman tells PackagingInsights.

“Our vision is to become a global leader in developing and commercializing groundbreaking and innovative technologies that will significantly reduce waste via all-natural, safe and sustainable methods across multiple industries.”

“In addition to fruits and vegetables, our long-term objective is to provide waste reduction solutions across the food and agriculture industries which will include pre-harvest crops, post-harvest crops, seafood, meat, poultry, eggs, dairy and more. As a result, we’re also exploring other delivery methods beyond the stickers, including pods, coatings and sprays,” Soliman concludes.

StixFresh was recently selected as a finalist for three categories at the 2019 World Food Innovation Awards and took home the award for Best Packaging Technology and Best Sustainability Initiative. The company was also a finalist in the Best Sustainable Packaging category.