Episode 108: Patrick Cortes and Aidan Mouat

By Lori Taylor

Jul 22, 2020, Updated Jun 11, 2021

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Episode 108 Patrick Cortes Quote

Food sustainability is possible without the use of harmful chemicals, but instead, with chemistry-driven technology that helps reduce waste and supports our health.

Chemistry has a bad wrap in the agriculture world, but companies like Hazel Technology are changing that. Hazel Technologies has created a post-harvest solution that manipulates the environment in which avocados are stored, making them last longer and improving shelf life.

Aidan Mouat, CEO of Hazel Technologies and Patrick Cortes, Senior Director of Business Development at Mission Produce have teamed up together to delay the ripening of avocados and preserve their internal quality.

Think about how many times youโ€™ve purchased avocados that have ripened too quickly. How many have you opened only to find a shade of brown rather than the beautiful, golden green we all love?

By designing a technology that works atmospherically, nothing is applied to the avocado at all. No dips, waxes, sprays or coatings. Just pure biomagnetic chemistry that helps control essential biological functions, almost similar to how we think of our metabolism working. Ever heard of โ€œbiohackingโ€? You can think of avocados stored with Avolast similar to that โ€“โ€“ a new, โ€œsmartโ€ or โ€œbiohackedโ€ avocado thatโ€™s ripening is prolonged.

Every year, close to a trillion dollars produce goes bad before it can be eaten. It’s nearly a third of all produce harvested every year. – Aidan Mouat

Avolast technology leaves no residue and isnโ€™t harmful in and of itself. Itโ€™s an antidote to the ethylene avocados produce and has been successfully used for the past 30 years in the apple industry.

The long term effects on our world with technologies like Avolast are outstanding. By using a cleaner and more sophisticated form of chemistry, we can reduce the chemical load of food (in the field and out of the field). Avolastโ€™s solution is versatile to all countryโ€™s many diverse picking and packaging processes. Thereโ€™s flexibility and control over how Avolast works in any given environment, starting from the tree all the way up to the consumer.

Not only does this benefit the consumer, but by giving a retailer a mere two to four extra days to sell a fruit, that adds up to a virtual lifetime and can cut through some of the major implications our produce throwaway has on the planet.

โ€œWe just canโ€™t feed eight, nine, 10 billion people without the influence of chemistry.โ€ – Aidan Mouat (23:08-23:13)

Itโ€™s a difficult conversation to have about what technology science is helping us create for our agricultural industry, but Aidan Mouat of Hazel Technologies is doing it in a very graceful and transparent way. Who knows, the next avocado you purchase may have an extended shelf life thanks to Avolastโ€™s innovative technology rather than harmful chemical processes.

How to get involved

  • Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!
  • Reach out to us – weโ€™d love to hear more about where you are in life and business! Find out more here.

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About Lori

Lori Taylor is the Founder & CEO of The Produce Moms. For ten years she sold fresh produce to over 300 grocery stores throughout the United States, and today she is fully focused on working with the produce supply chain, media, and government to increase fresh produce access & consumption in the US and around the globe. Connect with Lori on LinkedIn.

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