Fresh food supply chains go digital

Retailers gained new capabilities to improve freshness and reduce waste thanks to a partnership between two industry innovators.

AgroFresh and Zest Labs are collaborating to strengthen their unique solutions which give retailers increased visibility into their entire fresh supply chain. Plans call for AgroFresh to incorporate Zest Labs' Zest Fresh solution into its FreshCloud Transit Insights platform, thus providing a more comprehensive solution to improve operations, increase visibility into produce shelf life and reduce food waste.

AgroFresh's FreshCloud platform is a data-backed, insights-driven solution for monitoring produce quality through the supply chain. The FreshCloud platform is able to predict produce freshness, quality and optimal consumption timing. Zest Fresh is a post-harvest freshness management solution that leverages sensor data and artificial intelligence to identify true shelf life for fresh products.

"As we continue to prioritize data and technology to enhance produce freshness and minimize food waste, this strategic collaboration will strengthen our existing portfolio, particularly our data-centric FreshCloud platform," said Jordi Ferre, CEO of AgroFresh. "Zest Fresh is a natural fit with our FreshCloud Transit Insights solution and will accelerate the adoption of our technology to additional markets."

"AgroFresh's offering of Zest Fresh is significant as they are a trusted global expert in post-harvest science with over 3,500 customers worldwide and can quickly expand Zest Fresh into new markets and with new types of fresh produce," said Peter Mehring, CEO of Zest Labs. "Our collective science-based, data-driven solutions and shared market vision for ensuring delivered freshness and reducing food waste provide a foundation for a successful partnership."

With decades of experience and expertise in the science of produce freshness, AgroFresh has developed a reputation for helping customers preserve freshness, extend peak ripeness, maximize yield and ultimately, prevent food waste. Zest Fresh, provides analytics and freshness management expertise that will complement the AgroFresh FreshCloud platform by strengthening the end-to-end visibility of key freshness metrics through distribution.