Oprah-backed Apeel wants to help grocers peer into their produce

Apeel is adding technology that can see what’s happening inside fruits and vegetables. The idea is to give everyone across the food-supply chain valuable and cost-saving information like ‘When will this apple go bad?’ — Pixabay

A startup that counts Oprah Winfrey among its backers is offering a new way to let grocers know when produce will be past peak as part of its attempt to stamp out food waste.

Apeel Sciences Inc, the agriculture-technology company that began nine years ago with a US$100,000 (RM413,000) grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and is now valued at more than US$1bil (RM4.13bil), is moving into the next phase of founder James Rogers’ vision to solve the US$2.6 trillion (RM10.73 trillion) problem of discarded food.