CHICAGO, IL – Hazel Technologies Inc., a USDA-funded technology company delivering new solutions for fresh produce to extend shelf-life, increase sales, and fight food waste, announces the launch of the first ever virtual Grape Quality Summit. A 2 hour event held on Friday October 9th, the summit will feature keynote speakers from across the grape industry ahead of the ‘20-’21 Southern Hemisphere grape harvest.
Speakers will include Dr. Juan Pablo Zoffoli, professor of Postharvest physiology and technology at Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Patricio Mendoza, National Quality Manager for Vancouver, CA-based Oppy, and Mario Cervantes, Senior Business Development Manager at Hazel Technologies, Inc.
The keynote speeches will highlight the latest research on fresh table grape post-harvest quality, including maintaining stem quality, preventing stem dehydration, and ensuring optimum quality during long-distance ocean freight transit.
“Due to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, innovation in the table grape category regarding post-harvest management is needed now more than ever before,” commented Juan Pablo Zoffoli. “I look forward to sharing the findings of our research with esteemed colleagues.”
“As a leading grower, marketer and distributor of fresh produce from around the world, Oppy has placed the utmost priority on embracing new technology to provide the highest quality, premium table grapes to retailers and consumers,” commented Patricio Mendoza, North America Quality Manager at Oppy, “Sharing knowledge within the industry on the latest research and development will help us collectively grow the grape category together.”
“Hazel Tech has dedicated extensive research efforts to understand the most urgent post-harvest management problems in the fresh table grape category and deliver cutting-edge solutions. We are excited to share our findings with our industry partners at the Grape Quality Summit,” said Mario Cervantes, Senior Business Development Manager Hazel Technologies.
The Grape Quality Summit is a free event. Registration is open to the general industry until October 9th or until capacity is reached. Content will be available in both English and Spanish. To learn more about the event and register, visit www.bit.ly/grapequalitysummit2020.
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About Hazel Technologies, Inc.:
Hazel Technologies is a USDA-funded startup company that develops new solutions to extend the quality shelf life of fresh produce and reduce food waste. Founded in 2015, Hazel Tech® services over 150 of the world’s largest fresh produce packers, shippers, and retailers. Selected as a Finalist for Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas and winner of “Best Sustainable Packaging”; at the 2020 World Food Innovation Awards, the company’s patent-pending technologies have been tested by top academic research programs including UC Davis, Cornell University, and Oregon State University. In 2020, Hazel is on track to be used with over 3.2 billion pounds of fresh produce, preventing more than 270 million pounds from going to waste.
For more information, visit www.hazeltechnologies.com.
About Oppy™:
Growing, marketing and distributing fresh produce from around the globe for more than 160 years, Vancouver, BC-based Oppy discovers and delivers the best of the world’s harvest. With over 50 million boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables grown on every continent moving through its supply chain annually, Oppy offers popular favorites from avocados and berries to apples and oranges year-round, alongside innovative seasonal specialties. Over the years, Oppy has introduced North Americans to a number of items across its diverse produce range, including Granny Smith, JAZZ and Envy apples, as well as green and gold kiwifruit.
Go to oppy.com to learn more.
About Juan Pablo Zoffoli Guerra:
Juan Pablo Zoffoli Guerra is a professor of Postharvest physiology and technology at Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He has spent his career researching fresh fruit conservation and post-harvest handling. His work has enabled fresh fruit exporters to increase their productivity by using new technologies such as modified atmosphere when shipping fresh fruit to distant markets. In parallel with his work to strengthen the storage capacity of fruit, Zoffoli is also striving to increase resistance to physiological disorders such as internal browning due to prolonged storage times. He has developed practices and non-destructive protocols that can be applied at an early stage to ascertain the fruit’s degree of risk of developing a particular disorder.For more information on his work, visit http://vivo.uc.cl/vivo/display/58311
