An Arizona State University expert has invented a sticker that can inform users when a bunch of fruits or vegetables is ready for harvest.
Mark Riley, an assistant professor of agricultural engineering and biological systems at Arizona State University, explained that gardeners and retailers have to discard thousands of bags of fruit each year because they ripen faster than they can reach supermarkets and consumers.
Since there is no simple way to tell if a fruit looks fresh on the outside but is overripe or still unripe on the inside, buyers often end up choosing peaches, pears, or melons that are not edible because they are either not ripe or overly mushy.
Riley invented the RediRipe sticker, which has a strip that can detect ethylene gas—a gas released when fruits or vegetables ripen. When this occurs, the sticker changes color from white to green. The more ethylene the fruit emits, the darker the green color becomes.
The color change does not happen immediately after applying the sticker; it takes 24 to 48 hours, depending on the ripening speed of the fruit, according to Riley.
However, this sticker still has flaws that need to be addressed. It does not change color when the fruit has become overly soft or partially rotten. Additionally, not all fruits produce enough ethylene for the sticker to detect.
“There is still much work to be done to perfect the label,” commented Jim McFerson, director of the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission.
This sticker could be available to home growers next year and in supermarkets within 2-3 years. Riley mentioned that the price of each sticker will slightly increase the cost of the product.
T. An
