Fresh organic, non-GMO produce is part of a healthy eating plan and lifestyle.
One way we can spend less AND eat healthier is by storing our fresh food properly, so we can avoid throwing out over-ripe or rotting fruits and vegetables.
Because of this, I would like to share some tips I’ve learned over the years for storing fresh food in the best possible way in order to preserve its freshness.
Many times we go to the store and see all of the beautiful fresh fruits and vegetables in season and on sale, and we over buy.
So, first try to only buy what you truly feel you are going to eat in the next few days.
Don’t try to buy produce to last for a week. It may not last that long. Some root vegetables can last a month if stored properly, but fresher, more fragile fruits and vegetables will only last about 2-5 days.
In regards to freshness and how long organic fruits and vegetables might last, I need to address a new chemical coating (Apeel) that some organic growers are now using on their fresh organic produce.
Apeel is classified as a food additive. This means it goes through a different approval process than a pesticide.
In addition to this, under the FDA’s present system, each of these companies can determine whether the substance they are using is “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) and are allowed to police themselves, without even notifying the FDA.
The company (that makes Apeel) gets to decide if it’s safe. It’s completely self-regulating!
A report by the National Resources Defense Council found major gaps in the system that allow unsafe additives to reach consumers. (1)
So, what is Apeel? Apeel is a film that goes on produce to make it last longer, and it’s approved by the USDA Organics Department. It’s made by a Bill & Melinda Gates partnered company called Apeel Sciences, and they claim it’s safe to consume.
Some things you may wish to know:
1. Apeel is a coating to place on fresh fruits and vegetables that is supposedly tasteless, odorless, and invisible, and its reason for being used is to reduce food spoilage. You cannot wash it off.
2. The reason they are using it, is to extend the shelf life of produce, and to make the produce look fresh even if it’s been in a warehouse for weeks.
3. There are various versions of Apeel that can be applied before or after harvest. It’s on foods in over 65 countries, including organics in the U.S.
Here is a quote from an article: “Is Apeel Appealing?” by the Weston A. Price Foundation.
“Apeel already has approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS). “
There are two apeel products. The first product, Invisipeel, can be applied by growers to crops in the field. The second one, Edipeel , growers can apply after harvest. “The two products will be marketed as preserving agents (keeping the outward appearance of freshness of the fruit or vegetable), as pesticides (creating a physical barrier for pests) or even as fungicides (such as preventing the anthracnose fungus from shriveling up avocados).”
Apeel makes claims that this product is environmentally safe and simply plant-based, because it’s extracted from food waste, like seeds, peels, pulps, and stems from plants, (the parts that don’t normally get consumed).
Apeel claims to source a lot of its ingredients from grape skins and seeds left over from wine processing. With it possibly coming from natural resources, the final result is enormously different than from some left over orange peels. This is because the raw ingredients are processed by using industrial petrochemical extraction.
I believe that making the claim that they are “environmentally positive” (when they are using petrochemical solvents in the extraction process) is word trickery and deception.
Apeel contains heavy metals and petrochemical solvents, and it may also contain trans fats.
Apeel is made of purified monoglycerides and diglycerides, which are edible fatty acids commonly found in the often-discarded parts of fruits and vegetables. These types of fatty acids may contain trans fats, which are known to cause obesity and metabolic syndrome.
The main problem is that the extraction process contains exposure to industrial petrochemical solvents and heavy metals. Apeel tested the amounts of these solvents and heavy metals in their submission statement to the FDA (page 14). https://www.fda.gov/media/
Apeel contains lead, cadmium, arsenic, palladium, and mercury. It claims that these solvents and heavy metals are in small enough amounts to not negatively impact the consumer, thus the USDA’s “Generally Recognized as Safe” classification.
Apeel states that a consumer would need to ingest 30,000 apples to ingest 1 kg of Apeel. However, I don’t believe you’d need to ingest 1 kg of Apeel to get a large and harmful dose of heavy metals.
We know that heavy metals build up in our body over our lifetime. I don’t believe it to be a fair comparison to say that there are trace amounts of heavy metals in one piece of produce sprayed with Apeel. That could possibly be true, but that person could have ingested thousands of apples in their lifetime, which would expose them to heavy metals on a daily basis.
What are some things you can do about it?
One of the best things you can do is to support local farmers. Go to local farmers markets and ask them questions about their seeds, their fertilizers, their harvesting techniques, and storage or transporting process. There is really no need to use Apeel if they are selling it straight to you at the Farmer’s Market.
Another important step you can do, is to take the time to submit feedback online to your local grocer, especially if it’s a big chain.
Let your voice be heard, or they simply think you don’t care and you approve of what they are doing.
Let them know that you don’t want produce coated with Apeel and won’t be purchasing any produce with an Apeel coating.
The stores that I understand which ARE NOT carrying foods with Apeel are: Natural Grocers, HEB (which might include Central Market), Driscoll’s, Publix, Jimbo’s, and Bragg’s.
The stores that I understand ARE selling organic fruits and vegetables with Apeel on them are: Costco, Trader Joe’s, Gelsons, Ralphs, Sprouts, Vons, Walmart, Whole Foods, Kroger, Harps Foods, Wakefern, Price Right, Fairway Market, Target, Bristol Farms, Food City, Edeka, Fairway, Netto, and Fresh Market. Aldi won’t say if they are or not.
So, when you are food shopping, avoid buying too much fresh produce that you can’t eat right away.
Then, if you do buy too much, or have a large harvest, you can think about making a pie, or doing some canning, or freezing some of your more fragile fruits and vegetables before they spoil. Always store your food in its complete wholeness.
According to food scientist Barry Swanson at Washington State University, if you pull fruits and vegetables apart, you have broken the cells, and microorganisms will immediately begin to grow. Avoid breaking the skin and leave the stem intact.
He also says you should never place fruits and vegetables in airtight bags. That actually will speed up the decay.
Be mindful that mold will proliferate quickly in airtight bags and can spoil the whole group of fruits or vegetables.
Toss out any spoiled produce immediately, or put it into your compost bin.
Next, make sure you are storing the various types of fruits and vegetables with the right partners. Some give off high levels of ethylene gas (a ripening agent), which makes them and everything around them ripen or decay quickly. You want to keep these types of foods separate from each other.
Put things like kale and spinach in the same bin, and peaches and apples in another. If you put fruit with greens, it will cause the greens to rot or turn yellow in a few days.
Greens are very sensitive to the ethylene gas. I have used a couple of different products like: Bluapple Produce Saver Ethylene Gas Absorber, Produce Freshness Preserver Saver , and also Fresh Flow Produce Preserver , which helps me keep my fresh produce fresher by absorbing the ethylene gas. I just put it in my bin with the fruits and/or greens.
Of course, if you need something to ripen faster, then you can use this knowledge to your advantage. You can put the item that you need to ripen with a fruit or vegetable that gives off the highest level of ethylene gas.
I also use some fresh produce storage bags called Debbie Meyer GreenBags. These bags absorb ethylene gas and help my produce stay fresher longer.
Keep root vegetables (including all kinds of potatoes) in a cool, dark, dry place. They can last up to a month if kept properly. Never store potatoes in the refrigerator, because they will develop a much higher sugar content.
Here is a list of fruits and vegetables, showing the best way to store them. These are high ethylene producers, and you can refrigerate them: apples, apricots, avocados, blueberries, cantaloupe, cherimoyas, cranberries, figs, green onions, guavas, grapes, honeydew, kiwifruit, mangoes, nectarines, papayas, passion fruit, peaches, pears, persimmons, plums, prunes, quince, and tomatoes.
The banana is a high releaser, and should be stored in a cool dark place outside of the refrigerator.
The following fruits and vegetables are very sensitive to ethylene gas: asparagus, bananas (unripe), blackberries, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, cucumbers, eggplant, endive, garlic, green beans, kale, leafy greens, leeks, lettuce, okra, onions, parsley, peas, peppers, raspberries, spinach, squash, strawberries, watercress, and watermelon. Keep them separate from the high ethylene gas-producing foods.
Mushrooms should be stored in a dry paper bag or breathable container and put in a cool place. I’ve been told to gently brush them off under water to clean them before preparing them for consumption.
Try to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables that have been ripened on the vine or on the tree. Tree or vine-ripened foods contain salvestrols, which are compounds that have natural anti-cancer properties.(B)
In fact, the word salvestrol comes from the Latin word “save.” So, growing your own food or buying from a local farmer is one way of getting food that is vine or tree-ripened.
Food that is picked green and then ripened on the way to market does not contain these salvestrols.
Organic food is best, because it is more nutrient dense. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides can destroy nutrients in the soil, like sulfur, chromium, minerals, and probiotics, which are vital for our health.
“The Organic Center study found that organic foods were more nutritionally dense in 61% of the cases” and they “found conventional foods to contain higher nitrates, which are widely considered a potential health hazard.” (C)
Farmers Markets are one of the oldest forms of direct marketing by small farmers. The fresh, organic produce is local, in season, less expensive, fresher, and it’s fun to meet your local farmers.
Find a local Farmers Market near you with Local Harvest. Click here for Local Harvest link.
With all of the fresh fruits and vegetables enticing us from their bins at the Farmers Market or grocery store, now we can make all of those delicious meals with our properly stored produce!
Bon Appétit!
Sources:
A. A report by the National Resources Defense Council https://www.nrdc.org/sites/
B. Johnson, Dr. Ben. Qtd. in Bollinger, Ty. (2014). The quest for the cures… continues. (Film transcript). TTAC Publishing.
C. Steury, Tim. (Winter, 2009). “Is Organic More Nutritious?” Washington State Magazine.
Apeel Information Sources:
“Apeel” Fruit and Vegetable Protective Coating Is Not So Appealing When You Break It Down, Written by Jennifer Wolff-Gillispie; Edited by Nicki Steinberger, Ph.D.https://www.momsacrossamerica.
Apeel Appealing?October 27, 2018 By The Weston A Price Foundation https://www.westonaprice.org/
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Information provided in this podcast, blog, article, video is for informational purposes only. The information is a result of years of practice and experience by Nancy Addison CHC. However, this information is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional, or any information contained on or in any product label or packaging.
Do not use the information provided in this blog, audio podcast, article, video for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing medication or other treatment. Always speak with your physician or other healthcare professional before taking any medication or nutritional, herbal or homeopathic supplement, or using any treatment for a health problem. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, contact your health care provider promptly. Do not disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking professional advice because of something you have read in this email.Information provided in this video or audio and the use of any products or services related to this video by you DOES NOT create a health counselor-client relationship between you and Nancy Addison, certified health counselor. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Do not use the information provided in this blog, audio podcast, article, video for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing medication or other treatment. Always speak with your physician or other healthcare professional before taking any medication or nutritional, herbal or homeopathic supplement, or using any treatment for a health problem. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, contact your health care provider promptly. Do not disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking professional advice because of something you have read in this email.Information provided in this video or audio and the use of any products or services related to this video by you DOES NOT create a health counselor-client relationship between you and Nancy Addison, certified health counselor. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
