RYPEN works with all types of fruits and vegetables, so if the crop type you’re interested in, isn’t listed
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What is Ethylene?
It is a natural plant hormone produced and emitted by fruits, vegetables and flowers – responsible for triggering the ripening process. This tigger is initiated when ethylene molecules around fresh produce bind to ethylene receptors on the fresh produce.
Build-up of ethylene accelerates this ripening, within and amongst other fresh produce close by, resulting in flavour, taste, texture and aroma developing, but also ultimately leading to spoilage.
2 Carbon atoms + 4 Hydrogen atoms = C2H4
C2H4
As fresh produce respires ethylene is one of the by-products emitted. As respiration rates increase so does the output of ethylene which creates a cascading ripening cycle which intensifies over time.
C2H4
Ethylene molecules: easily diffuse through most membrane due to their size, enabling them to bind with ethylene receptors located on fresh produce.
The plant hormone ethylene
It is integral to plant life; it has many uses including breaking of seed dormancy, flower initiation, abscission of leaves and flowers, fruit and vegetable ripening, senescence as well as a response to stresses (wounding, chilling, flooding, UV damage and rotting pathogens).
Throughout the supply-chain, stress events and temperature changes compound the challenges associated with ethylene. If unmanaged post-harvest it can lead to increased concentrations in storage, transit and inside retail packs – leading to accelerated and uncontrolled ripening and ultimately a loss of shelf-life.
Ethylene and fresh produce
All vegetation produce and emit ethylene – a natural plant hormone; which reacts and binds with ethylene receptors within plant cells. In the case of fruits and vegetables, when this binding occurs the ethylene receptors will trigger numerous biochemical pathways associated with ripening – accelerating this process with increased exposure.
This results in fresh produce developing flavour, taste, aroma, colour and texture; too much though leads to over-ripening and spoilage. As fruits and vegetables mature or become stressed, they produce and emit an increasing amount of ethylene. This results in higher ethylene concentrations which further increases the ethylene receptor binding rate.
This issue is further compounded, because even if just one item of fresh produce is emitting ethylene, this will initiate ripening within and amongst surrounding fresh produce. Therefore, ethylene’s impact on fruits and vegetables heightens the riper they become eventually leading to rotting and spoilage.
“40-50% of all fruits, vegetables and root crops grown globally are never consumed” (UN FAO, 2015). This underlines the scale of the problem, with retail waste further undermining the sustainability of our food system. When food is lost or wasted, all the resources that were used to produce that food – including water, land, energy, labour and capital – also go to waste. This has a cascading effect, increasing instances of drought, deforestation, food insecurity and 10% of green house gas emissions (WWF, 2021). To address this central issue after refrigeration and cold-chain, managing ethylene is one of the the most critical.
At RYPEN we believe we have the technology to reduce fresh produce waste associated with ethylene. In 2023 alone RYPEN saved 450 tonnes of fresh produce, 226 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions and 316 million litres of water (It’s Fresh impact calculations 2023).
Sources:
UN FAO, 2015: Global initiative on food loss and waste reduction
WWF, 2021: Driven to waste: Global food loss on farms, report summary
Unmanaged ethylene accumulates during storage, transit even within retail packs. This causes accelerated ripening and reduces shelf-life, for this reason ethylene was always seen as a problem to be eradicated even at the cost of fresh produce quality.
However, inhibiting ethylene receptors isn’t the answer either as this prevents the produce from fully developing – resulting in a poor eating experience for the consumer, high domestic waste and a negative impact on repeat purchase. Therefore, the key to striking the perfect balance is ethylene moderation; this provides all the benefits of natural ripening but in a controlled manner which alleviates time constraints.
RYPEN selectively adsorbs ethylene molecules, drawing these from the air into its molecular structure, then binding and locking them within – a process far stronger than absorption alone. It has been specially designed to only capture ethylene molecules enabling RYPEN to efficiently moderate exposure levels for long periods. Due to RYPEN’s food contact approval, its efficacy is further enhanced because its able to work in close proximity to fresh produce.
Specific ethylene FAQ’s are below. All FAQs are available here.
Unmanaged ethylene accumulates during storage, transit even within retail packs. This causes accelerated ripening and reduces shelf-life, for this reason ethylene was always seen as a problem to be eradicated. However, inhibiting ethylene receptors isn’t the answer either as this prevents the produce from fully developing – resulting in a poor eating experience for the consumer, high domestic waste and a negative impact on repeat purchase. Therefore, the key to striking the perfect balance is ethylene moderation; this provides all the benefits of natural ripening but in a controlled manner which alleviates time constraints (Tucker et al., 2017).
Tucker, G., Yin, X., Zhang, A., Wang, M., Zhu, Q., Liu, X., Xie, X., Chen, K. and Grierson, D. (2017). Ethylene and fruit softening. Food Quality and Safety, 1(4), pp.253–267. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/fqsafe/fyx024.
The plant hormone ethylene is integral to plant life; it has many uses including breaking of seed dormancy, flower initiation, abscission of leaves and flowers, fruit and vegetable ripening, senescence as well as a response to stresses such as wounding, chilling, flooding, UV damage and rotting pathogens (Chang, 2016).
Chang, C. (2016). Q&A: How do plants respond to ethylene and what is its importance? BMC Biology, [online] 14(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-016-0230-0.
Different cultivars produce varying amounts of ethylene and also have varying degrees of sensitivity to this plant hormone all the way down to the varietal level. These two aspects can diverge significantly with some low ethylene emitters being highly sensitive and vice versa (Khan, Alvi and Kan, 2024).
Khan, S., Alvi, A.F. and Khan, N.A. (2024). Role of Ethylene in the Regulation of Plant Developmental Processes. Stresses, [online] 4(1), pp.28–53. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/stresses4010003.
