演讲题目：The Science of Making Fruits and Veggies Last Longer

演讲简介：

这是一个棘手的问题：为了防止食物浪费，我们依赖塑料包装和冷藏技术，但这些做法会损害环境。如果我们能向大自然寻求解决方案，来应对这些挑战会怎样呢？工程师兼化学家珍妮·杜分享了一个简单的基于植物的创新方法——利用水果和蔬菜皮中所含的相同成分——如何能够延长农产品的保质期，同时还能减少食物浪费，并推动形成更健康、更可持续的食品体系。



中英文字幕

When you pick a piece of fruit off a tree, it's like a ticking time bomb.

当你从树上摘下一个水果时，它就像一颗滴答作响的定时炸弹。

It's literally this living and breathing thing that's slowly cannibalizing its own stores of energy and nutrients,

事实上，正是这个活生生的和呼吸的东西正在慢慢蚕食自己储存的能量和营养，

just trying to stay alive until it ultimately gets eaten by microbes or some other animal, like us.

它只是试图活下去，直到它最终被微生物或其他动物（比如我们）吃掉。

Have you ever wondered why that is and what could be done about it?

您有没有想过为什么会这样？我们可以做些什么？

My journey in trying to figure that out started in the spring of 2013.

我试图弄清楚这一点的旅程始于2013年春天。

I'm finishing up my postdoctoral research in chemistry at the University of Santa Barbara, California.

那时，我即将完成在加利福尼亚州圣巴巴拉大学的化学博士后研究。

And all that really means is I'm a huge nerd and I've been in school for way too long.

这真正意味着我是一个超级书呆子，而且我在学校呆了太久了。

And I'm trying to figure out how to put all that training to meaningful use.

我正在努力弄清楚如何将所有这些学到的东西发挥到有意义的作用。

So two of my lab mates, James Rogers and Louis Perez, invite me to dinner.

当时我的两个实验室伙伴詹姆斯·罗杰斯和路易斯·佩雷斯邀请我共进晚餐。

But it turns out to be a pitch disguised as dinner, and they opened by totally flooring me with some staggering stats.

但事实证明，这是一个伪装成晚餐的演讲，他们以一些令人震惊的数据完全击败了我。

A third of the food that we produce worldwide is lost or wasted before it ever has a chance to be eaten.

我们在全球范围内生产的三分之一的食物在没有机会被食用之前就丢失或浪费了。

For fresh fruits and vegetables, that number is a half.

对于新鲜水果和蔬菜来说，这个数字是一半。

And waste is a problem at every single step of the supply chain.

浪费是供应链每一个环节都存在的问题。

From the farm, trying to get it to market, in stores, restaurants and in our homes.

从农场，将其运送到市场、商店、餐馆和我们的家中，每一个环节都存这个问题。

And it's not just a waste of the food.

这不仅仅是浪费食物。

It's a waste of the land, water, fertilizers, labor, energy, fuel, packaging and money out of farmers' and our pockets.

还是对土地、水、化肥、劳动力、能源、燃料、包装和农民和我们口袋里的钱的浪费。

For decades, all around the world,

几十年来，在世界各地，

we've relied heavily on a surprisingly small number of ways to help fruits and vegetables last longer after harvest.

我们严重依赖数量惊人的少数方法来帮助水果和蔬菜在收获后保质期更长。

These have gotten us a really long way, but they also have their challenges.

这些方法已经让我们取得了长足的进步，但它们也面临着挑战。

Refrigeration is a massive energy suck, a significant source of emissions, and it's expensive.

制冷是一个巨大的能源消耗，是一个重要的排放来源，而且价格昂贵。

It's unfortunately why a lot of places around the world don't have access to refrigeration.

不幸的是，这就是为什么世界上很多地方都无法使用冷藏设备。

Designer pesticides aren't great for our long-term health or the environment.

设计杀虫剂对我们的长期健康或环境不利。

Waxes, some can be plant-based, but a lot of them are also animal-derived or petroleum-derived,

蜡，有些可以是植物性的，但其中很多也是动物源或石油源的，

and they help make produce look better but not really meaningfully extend their life and quality.

它们有助于使农产品看起来更好，但并没有真正有意义地延长它们的寿命和质量。

And packaging, that's just adding to our problems with single-use plastics and microplastics.

而包装，这只是增加了我们使用一次性塑料和微塑料的问题。

And then all of this leads to a pretty narrow set of fruits and vegetables that are available in stores today relative to the amazing diversity of what's really out there.

所有这一切导致今天商店里出售的水果和蔬菜数量相对于市面上惊人的多样性来说非常有限。

And so it's really like the categories that can survive storage and transportation that are commonly available.

因此，它实际上就像常见的能够在储存和运输中生存的类别一样。

And those aren't always the ones that taste best or have the highest density of nutrients.

这些并不总是味道最好或营养密度最高的。

So my friends wanted to approach this differently.

所以我的朋友们想以不同的方式处理这个问题。

And we led first with some questions.

我们首先提出了一些问题。

How do plants protect themselves?

植物如何保护自己？

Well, with a peel.

好吧，有果皮。

Plants, just like us, have a skin or a peel, technically called the plant cuticle,

植物和我们一样，都有一层皮或果皮，技术上称为植物角质层，

and that helps to protect them from moisture loss, oxidation and infection.

这有助于保护它们免受水分流失、氧化和感染。

And what are those peels made of?

这些果皮是由什么制成的？

Fatty acids, glycerides.

脂肪酸、甘油脂。

That's right what's the important part.

这才是重要的部分。

And these are ingredients found universally in all plants,

这些是所有植物中普遍存在的成分，

in the peel, pulp and seeds, and including in plants that we already eat.

存在于果皮、果肉和种子中，包括我们已经食用的植物。

Different fruits have different shelf lives because of the thickness and arrangement of these materials in those peels.

由于果皮中这些材料的厚度和排列，不同的水果有不同的保质期。

So the idea then is: Can we take these harmless, edible, plant-based ingredients,

所以我们的想法是：我们能否采取这些无害、可食用、植物性成分，

apply them in a thin layer on the surface of fresh fruits and vegetables to help reinforce the existing natural peel?

将它们涂在新鲜水果和蔬菜表面的薄薄一层，以帮助强化现有的天然果皮？

And if you do that, can you help to retain peak flavor, texture and nutrients for longer without reliance on refrigeration, pesticides, waxes or plastics?

如果这样做，能否在不依赖制冷、农药、蜡或塑料的情况下，帮助更长时间地保持最佳风味、口感和营养？

And so that's what James, Lou and I, that's why we founded Apeel Sciences and ultimately headed to James's garage to try and figure out.

这就是詹姆斯、卢和我创立 Apeel Sciences 的原因，并最终去了詹姆斯的车库尝试实现这个想法。

We started first by partnering with a small local grower, and we tested the idea on this category you may not have heard of called finger limes.

我们首先与当地一家小型种植者合作，并在这个您可能没有听说过的“手指酸橙”类别上测试了这个想法。

They are literally finger-shaped, and when you cut them open, the pulp is in the shape of beads, like caviar.

它们实际上是手指形的，当你切开它们时，果肉是珠子形状的，就像鱼子酱一样。

They are delicious, and they're super fragrant.

它们很美味，而且超级香。

But once they're picked,

但一旦它们被选中，

that grower had maybe about seven days before their organic limes would start to dry out and the skin would start to change color.

种植者大约有七天的时间，它们的有机酸橙就会开始变干，皮肤就会开始变色。

And that was even with refrigeration.

这还是在冷藏的情况下。

So we took a test batch of material that we made using leftover tomato peels, since those are rich in these fatty acids and glycerides.

因此，我们采用了一批用剩余番茄皮制成的测试材料，因为这些材料富含这些脂肪酸和油脂。

We dipped those limes in a bowl of these ingredients in water and set them aside to dry.

我们将这些酸橙浸入一碗装有这些成分的水中，然后将它们放在一边晾干。

Then we waited.

然后我们等待着。

And we saw that we could add an extra week of freshness to these limes.

我们发现我们可以为这些酸橙增加一周的新鲜度。

And when we saw that for the first time, we were like, "Shut the front door! Oh my God, this might actually work."

当我们第一次看到这一点时，我们想，“天哪！快关上门！哦，我的上帝，这真的可能行得通！”

So we then went and wanted to apply this little bit of extra peel to all other kinds of fruits and vegetables.

所以我们然后想将这一点额外的果皮涂在所有其他种类的水果和蔬菜上。

Bananas, avocados, limes, green beans, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, berries, like, you name it.

香蕉、牛油果、酸橙、青豆、西红柿、青椒、黄瓜、浆果，等等，你能想到的都有。

And what we saw, amazed and quite frankly, still amazes us.

坦率地说，我们所看到的令人惊讶的事情仍然让我们感到惊讶。

This concept works for dozens of categories, things that need to ripen before you eat them, things that don't.

这个概念适用于数十种类别，包括那些在吃之前需要成熟的东西，以及那些不成熟的东西。

Things that have edible peels, non-edible peels.

有可食用果皮、不可食用果皮的东西。

We even saw that with protected blueberries, we could retain vitamin C levels at higher levels for longer than unprotected blueberries.

我们甚至发现，与未受保护的蓝莓相比，我们可以将维生素C水平保持在更高水平的时间。

And tomatoes could be harvested later, not when they were green and tasteless, but when they were red and actually ripe,

西红柿可以稍后收获，不是当它们是绿色的、无味的时候，而是当它们是红色的并且真正成熟的时候，

and they'd still have enough time to get into your homes.

它们仍然有足够的时间进入你的家。

And we love that it really takes so little material, the little bit of extra peel we add to an average avocado, for example,

我们喜欢它实际上只需要这么少的材料，例如，我们在普通鳄梨中添加一点额外的果皮，

that's equivalent in weight to a 10th of a small raisin.

其重量相当于小葡萄干的十分之一。

And even though these materials are, of course, they're edible, you can wash them off by just rubbing under running water.

当然，尽管这些材料是可食用的，但您只需在自来水下摩擦即可将其洗掉。

We also, the more that we learned about the fresh produce supply chain today,

我们今天对新鲜农产品供应链了解得越多，

we realized we could integrate into how these are processed in these packing houses before they're sent to grocery stores.

我们就越意识到我们可以在将它们送往杂货店之前整合到这些包装厂的加工方式。

So thinking about replacing a standard waxing step, for example.

例如，考虑更换标准的打蜡步骤。

We've made good progress since those early days in the garage.

自从车库里的早期日子以来，我们已经取得了良好的进展。

We've established a supply chain for responsibly sourced, high-purity ingredients.

我们已经建立了负责任采购的高纯度成分的供应链。

We've demonstrated safety and effectiveness to regulators in the US, the European Union and more than 40 additional countries around the world.

我们已向美国、欧盟和全球40多个国家的监管机构展示了安全性和有效性。

And while we're still relatively small and early in our journey, we have a presence in about 10 markets worldwide.

虽然我们的规模还相对较小，而且还处于起步阶段，但我们已经在全球约10个市场开展业务。

What I'm most proud of, though, it's why we got into all of this in the first place.

不过，我最自豪的是，这就是我们一开始陷入这一切的原因。

And that is that since 2021, when we started measuring, we've prevented 166 million pieces of produce from going to waste.

也就是说，自2021年我们开始测量以来，我们已经防止了1.66亿件农产品被浪费。

In doing that, that's avoided the emissions of more than 29,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions,

这样做可以避免超过29000吨温室气体的排放，

which is equivalent to planting 485,000 trees and saved almost seven billion liters of water, or enough to fill 2,800 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

这相当于种植485000棵树，节省了近70亿升水，足以填满2800个奥运会规模的游泳池。

Thank you.

谢谢。

What we're also excited about is the opportunity to add a little extra peel to help small growers get their unique varieties of fruits and vegetables to market with more confidence.

我们还感到兴奋的是有机会添加一点额外的果皮，以帮助小种植者更有信心地将其独特的水果和蔬菜品种推向市场。

This is especially important in places that don't have widespread or reliable access to refrigeration, like with these regional mango varieties.

这对于那些没有广泛或可靠地使用冰箱的地方尤其重要，例如这些地区芒果品种。

This could mean that a greater diversity of fruits and vegetables could be more available to more people.

这可能意味着更多的人可以更容易地获得更多样化的水果和蔬菜。

The work, though, is far from done.

不过，这项工作还远未完成。

We've unfortunately encountered food and agriculture companies that have a really hard time seeing past the food waste status quo.

不幸的是，我们遇到了食品和农业公司，他们很难摆脱食品浪费现状。

"Shrink," as it's called in the industry, it's just accepted as a normal part of doing business.

业内称之为“收缩”，它被视为做生意的正常组成部分。

And disappointingly, we've had some folks -- producers, packers and retailers -- tell us, "Well, the waste bin is kind of my best friend.

令人失望的是，有些人--生产商、包装商和零售商--告诉我们，“嗯，垃圾箱是我最好的朋友。

The more that people throw away, the more they have to come back and buy again."

人们扔掉的越多，他们就越需要回来再买。"

So let's just say that's not what we expected when we first approached them to talk about extending the life and quality of fresh products.

所以我们只能说，当我们第一次接触他们谈论延长新鲜产品的寿命和质量时，这并不是我们所期望的。

But we can't change this thinking alone.

但我们无法独自改变这种想法。

And we're not a silver bullet to end food waste ourselves.

我们自己也不是结束食物浪费的灵丹妙药。

But thankfully there are lots of start-ups, scale-ups,

但值得庆幸的是，有很多初创企业、规模扩大，

organizations and individuals all around the world working to transform this post-harvest space.

世界各地的组织和个人都在努力改变这个收获后的空间。

And we're optimistic that our one small innovation, using common ingredients inspired by the ancient wisdom of plants,

我们乐观地认为，我们的一项小创新，使用受古代植物智慧启发的常见成分，

is playing its part and having an impact, reinventing the food system and helping to create abundance for all.

正在发挥自己的作用并产生影响，重塑食物系统并帮助为所有人创造丰富。

Thanks so much.

非常感谢

Thank you.

谢谢

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