A majority of today’s citrus fruits are treated with chemical products that prolong shelf life and cover peels with fungicide residue. Yet an innovative product developed by ICL is paving the way for a better future. It’s time to start extending citrus fruit shelf life with ICL’s ecological, sustainable, natural and healthy firming agent.
Consumers worldwide love citrus fruits. From oranges and grapefruits to lemons and clementines, citrus fruits are adored for their juiciness, distinct flavors and natural vitamin C.
Post-harvest companies are faced with the need to extend citrus fruit shelf life. To meet this need, citrus fruit are treated with fungicides. However, this method poses a major problem: the fungicides’ allowed maximum residue levels (MRL) are constantly being reduced by food regulation organizations.
As part of its mission to help global food crisis and agricultural markets overcome major challenges, ICL is constantly looking to leverage its specialty minerals to create solutions that generate environmental and health-related impact.
Aligning with today’s global food trends, ICL’s product portfolio combines innovation with sustainable impact. ICL has recently developed FruitMag™ – a sustainable mineral-based post-harvest treatment that specifically addresses citrus fruit. FruitMag™ reduces the loss of citrus fruit throughout the post-harvest treatment without the use of chemicals or fungicides.
Why is FruitMag™ different?
FruitMag™ isn’t your ordinary firming agent. FruitMag™ is a fungicide-free treatment solution that covers all citrus variations. It is a novel alternative to chemical-based materials.
FruitMag™ is based on natural high purity magnesium sourced from the Dead Sea. Responding to a growing demand for zero residue solutions, FruitMag™ is the high efficacy, food grade GRAS product that packaging houses have been waiting for.
The Effectiveness of FruitMag™
To make a true impact, FruitMag™ has to be effective in facilitating post-harvest loss reduction.
ICL and the esteemed Volcani Institute teamed up to conduct an efficacy study on a large variety of citrus fruit. Repeated testing on oranges, grapefruits, lemons and other citrus fruit demonstrated superior efficacy levels compared to the standard chemical treatments. For example, lemons and other citrus fruits, coated with FruitMag™ exhibited very low product loss, in comparison to standard commercial materials.
FruitMag™ is easy to apply via spraying, drenching, dipping and more, can be applied at room temperature, and is suitable for all packaging house types.
More on the subject:
What is Magnesium?
The New and Innovative Magnesium-Based Molecule for Preventing Body Odor
Let’s Protect Citrus Fruit – Together
Helping citrus fruit remain firm and healthy is in the best interest of retailers and post-harvest companies all over the world. Today, embracing this innovative solution and implementing it in numerous packaging houses and facilities is very easy: ICL’s expert team of chemists, engineers and scientists are standing by to visit your company facilities, in order to provide consultation, train relevant staff, and work together to implement a promising new technology. The time has come to reduce post-harvest loss with a reliable fungicide-free solution. With its innovative properties, FruitMag™ embodies the ultimate win-win scenario. To learn more about FruitMag™, please contact ICL at [email protected]
