California startup offers longer-shelf-life solution

Santa Barbara, California

WHAT if a Florida tomato could be left on the vine long enough to turn red and fully develop its flavour - and still be ripe and juicy when it arrived at a grocery store in New York days later?

That is precisely the promise of a startup in southern California. Apeel Sciences aims to make obsolete the gas, wax and other tricks growers use to keep fruits and vegetables fresh over time.