Filipino scientists Dr. Hidelisa Hernandez and Dr. Veronica Sabularse have never ceased to come up with propositions to help uplift and improve the lives of local farmers.
Already in their retirement years, both are not yet willing to hang up their hats as they feel a strong sense of responsibility to continue finding ways to help farmers improve their livelihood.
Using food waste, Hernandez and Sabularse developed a formulation to help prolong the shelf life of fruits. The product, a lifelong research by the two scientists, took more than 10 years in research and numerous discussions on how to democratize access to this product.
“The product is actually a fruit coating made from mango peels and other substances that are all organic. The idea of fruit coatings started as a proposal for student researchers. We came up with the idea that probably we could extract some material from waste products and come with a product that will create value to the waste,” Sabularse said.
Fruitect is an organic plant-based fruit coating that delays the ripening process of fruits. The product is manufactured in a plant located inside the UP Los Baños (UPLB) compound in Los Baños, Laguna.
The research, which spanned a very long and arduous journey, started two years after an official proposal was submitted to the Department of Science and Technology in 2010. Experiments on different plant wastes were conducted using mango peel, sugarcane bagasse, pineapple crown leaves and several plant residual wastes with potential for maximizing their functionality.
From among the plant wastes, the experiments arrived at one particular polymer which was used as base coating material, with a few other compounds added to the mixture. Nata de coco is also one of the natural materials added to the formulation as well cellulose non-whiskers.
The formulation has been tested on different fruits, but the differing physiology of fruits requires a different formulation that will work on each kind of fruit.
“We have to tweak the product to create a formulation that will work for each fruit type. We have tried on so many fruits and what we have, so far, is a formulation that works on mangoes. It is the first to be commercialized among other products,” Hernandez said.
Fruitect delays the ripening process of mangoes by another 6 to 10 days at room temperature and longer on cooler storage temperatures, prolonging the process for 20 days or more.
She said that while the process of experimentations and product development is strenuous and complicated, marketing the product is totally a whole different ball game which is not easy for scientists to venture into.
“Basically what we want is to improve the situation of farmers. But we also know how they are so averse into spending more. Added cost may lower their profitability, they say. But the benefit of using Fruitect®l will outweigh their concerns since this product will protect the fruits. Instead of bringing the fruits twice in a week to Manila or the destination is, they can transport big batches of fruits, say once in a week, and save on logistics costs,” Hernandez said.
“Hindi malalamog ang prutas even during long travel and the fruits will be safe from diseases and pests that are the usual cause of spoilage,” she said.
It is best to apply Fruitect on fruits that are already mature and ripe for picking, to get the optimum results, Sabularse said who is a food technology graduate from the University of the Philippines Diliman and holds a Master’s degree on food technology from UPLB and a PhD on food science with specialization in food chemistry and biochemistry from the Louisiana State University.
Hernandez and Sabularse are co-incorporators in a spin-off company created to market Fruitect.
While UPLB owns the technology to make Fruitect, HS InnoTech,l Inc. manufactures and markets the product independently. It is not owned by UPLB and operates distinctly from the university.
With the grants for research towards Agricultural Innovative Solutions (GRAINS), the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture supported HS InnoTech to start the operation of its pilot plant in UPLB. Awarded in 2022, the SEARCA grant funded the fabrication of support structures and test runs to produce up to 300 liters of Fruitect.
The spin-off firm is in talks with a few exporting companies for possible supply agreement that could provide economies of scale for small farmers who are interested to try the product.
In fact, a foreign company has recently placed query about Fruitect and looks like it is keen on technology.
“Sometimes, it is better to let foreign clients try the product first, because when Filipinos got wind that a foreign company is using this or that product, they easily get convinced to try the product for themselves. They have high regard for products that are used by companies from other countries,” Hernandez said.
She said the entire process of developing the product was pretty much taxing, as it requires extensive amount of time and effort, “but what is more challenging is the resistance to cost of farmers or any other entities that have been accustomed to the traditional way of transporting their produce.”
“Coating the fruits will be an added step to the process. Farmers are not used to it. And the added expense is another hurdle for them,” she said.
Hernandez is a retired UPLB professor and a thesis adviser to many UPLB students.
She is a natural products chemist from UPLB and has a Master’s degree in Agricultural Chemistry also at the UPLB and a doctorate degree in Chemistry from the Louisiana State University.
Fruitect has been market-tested in carabao mango exports shipped to South Korea and China by a Davao-based trading company. The shipment arrived safely to their destinations with the fruits intact and in prime condition.
The two scientists underscored the importance of using ripening retarding agents especially for fruit exports to other countries.
With the coming to force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, Fruitect which an all-natural, organic formulation that prolongs the shelf life of fruits, is the most viable option to make sure that exported fruits are transported safely without any harmful residues which is a concern among importing countries, Hernandez said.
The product will not compromise the safety of the exported fruit as it is compliant to the minimum residue limit imposed by importing countries.
It also provides a better alternative to other technologies used by other countries to delay the ripening process of fruits which are usually in the form of artificial waxing material from biological or petroleum based wax.
However, these agents may sometimes contain potentially allergenic proteins.
Bringing down the cost of the product is also another challenge that may affect the viability of the Fruitect.
Hernandez said it is difficult to put a price to technology, especially one that took over a decade to perfect and incurred massive investments that amounted to almost P23 million, but HS InnoTech has found way to make the product partially viable.
With a price that is almost on a market parity with other brands of similar products that delays fruit ripening, the company is willing to market Fruitect in more accessible formats such as packets of a liter bottle and in small packs of Fruitect in powder form.
Since many of the fruit spoilage also happens at home, HS InnoTech also considered the situation in many households and came up with smaller format packaging. The small packaging is also good for small holder farmers who may want to try the product.
Currently, HS InfoTech is also testing a different Fruitect formulation for bananas, pineapples and papayas. The researches are coming along well, said Sabularse.
“We’ve tested the product on Lakatan bananas and it has worked well. It is now in the pre-commercialization phase and we are working on how we can bring the cost down to make it affordable to farmers,” she said.
She said that Lakatan bananas stored at room temperature turn ripe and ready to eat six or more days after harvesting, while bananas coated with Fruitect start to ripen after 20 days.
Hernandez and Sabularse said there is a wealth of innovations that would benefit farmers and business people alike, waiting to be commercialized.