Hazel Technologies Concludes Successful Pear Packing Study
CHICAGO, IL - Hazel Technologies, a solutions company dedicated to developing new, USDA-funded post-harvest technologies to extend the shelf-life of fresh produce, has recently announced the conclusion of its commercial study of pear packing and storage. The study was completed with Oregon State University’s Mid-Columbia Agricultural Research and Extension Center located in Hood River, Oregon.
"This trial with Oregon State has allowed us to further learn and develop our technology for pears. We are eager to continue securing academic validations of our technologies,” commented Adam Preslar, Ph.D., and CTO and Co-Founder at Hazel Tech.
The 31-day trial focused on better understanding the benefits of Hazel® Pear packing inserts on D’Anjou Pears in storage. The study tracked five key quality metrics: firmness, titratable acidity, soluble solids content, ethylene production, and index of absorbance difference, an industry standard method to measure color retention.
“In this trial, we found that D’Anjou pears with Hazel Pear packaging had significantly higher firmness than control pears following 31 days. Hazel Tech pears also had lower color loss and lower ethylene production following 31 days,” said Yu Dong, Ph.D., a horticulture post-doctoral research associate at Oregon State University, in a press release.
After the 31 days of treatment, pears protected with Hazel Pear packaging had several improvements when compared to the control group pears kept in standard pear storage conditions, including:
- 3 times higher firmness
- 3 times lower ethylene production
- 2.5 times more color retention
The company continues to focus on academic and technical development, and has announced successful collaborations with multiple universities such as Cornell and UC Davis in 2018, studying a variety of crops, including cherries, pears, and apricots.
Always looking to bolster its research team, Hazel Tech has announced the addition of Natalia Param Agurto as its new Post-Harvest Laboratory Manager. Param Agurto previously held positions as an agronomist and post-harvest scientist at the Chilean Kiwifruit Committee, FruitQualitas SpA, and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
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