PHILADELPHIA, PA – Affirming their commitment to innovation and growing their market share, AgroFresh Solutions, Inc., a premier player in produce freshness solutions, has made a minority investment in RipeLocker, LLC and its proprietary system for low-pressure vacuum containers intended to extend shelf-life and reduce decay of perishable produce.

“RipeLocker is another potential avenue for AgroFresh to expand into new technologies serving the high-value segments of the produce industry, including the organic segment of the market,” said Jordi Ferre, CEO of AgroFresh, in a company press release. “We are pleased to be making an early investment in RipeLocker, and excited about the prospects for its technology.”

RipeLocker uses a unique, patent-pending system to manage atmospheric pressure, humidity, and gas composition in its containers. The system is designed to cost-effectively maintain the quality of produce as it travels through adverse operating and environmental conditions along a post-harvest distribution chain.

RipeLocker is intended to leverage the existing logistics chain for storing and transporting perishable food, but to extend the shelf-life for retailers and consumers and add significant value to growers’ shipments by decreasing food waste.

RipeLocker has the potential to significantly reduce the damage typically experienced by those using current storage and shipping processes—particularly with highly perishable fruits and veggies travelling overseas. The container system is currently being tested by major fruit growers and packers.

The leader of RipeLocker, George Lobisser, was added to AgroFresh’s board of directors in September. He is an industry veteran with more than 15 years of experience in the post-harvest produce business. Lobisser had previously served as President and CEO of Pace International, LLC for 12 years prior to the company’s sale to Valent BioSciences. 

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AgroFresh