Chicago, IL – Hazel Technologies Inc., a leading agriculture technology company delivering new solutions for fresh produce to extend shelf-life, increase sales, and combat food waste, today announced Malkeet Padda as the company’s Vice President of Postharvest Operations. A new position within the company, Padda will be tasked with leading Hazel’s global postharvest initiatives, developing data that demonstrates Hazel’s product performance, differentiation, and value propositions.
Padda comes to Hazel from vertical farming industry giant Plenty Unlimited Inc., where he was Director of Postharvest Physiology. In that position, Padda developed the company’s postharvest program, assessing shelf-life performance of all products and collaborating across plant sciences, commercial and operations to develop and optimize new packaging solutions. Previous to that, Padda led the Global Postharvest R&D at Driscoll’s, Inc. where he was responsible for conducting research on physiological mechanisms of shelf life and testing emerging technologies to maintain fruit quality including, most notably, the adoption of Hazel’s Breatheway® technology.
Padda was a Postdoctoral Associate at University of California, Davis, where he worked on numerous research projects involving strawberries, cherries, apples, and mangos. Padda earned his Ph.D. in Horticulture at Louisiana State University and his M.S. in Horticulture and B.S. in agriculture from Punjab Agricultural University.
“During his time at Driscoll’s, Malkeet became intimately familiar with the successful results and growth potential of Hazel’s Breatheway® technology, a knowledge base which makes him an ideal fit for this important new role at Hazel,” said Parker Booth, CEO of Hazel Technologies. “Beyond that, Malkeet has an incredible resume of research and sophisticated understanding of the industry that will be an asset to our company. We are excited to welcome Malkeet into our team.”
Padda’s unofficial coming out party with Hazel will take place next week at the Fruit Logistica conference in Berlin (Feb. 7-9). Forecasting an ambitious 2024, Hazel is focusing on extending shelf life to more fresh produce categories through their innovative Hazel 100 and Hazel Breatheway product lines. Visit the Hazel team at Hall 23, Booth B-04 to learn more about their groundbreaking solutions to combat food waste and improve fruit quality.
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 Technologies services over 350 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 patented technologies have been tested by top academic research programs. For more information, visit www.hazeltechnologies.com.
