biofresh - Potato sprout supression

Working closely with Air Products, biofresh – leadinginnovators in potato storage technology – is the first company to be awarded aUK Pesticide Safety Directorate (PSD)license for the use of ethylene in potato sprout suppression systems.

Richard Barnes, biofresh Managing  Director, said: “We are delighted with this news.It supports our development aims and gives reassurance to the industry thatbiofresh ethylene systems are the most effective future way forward for CIPC-free storage. In effect, biofresh is ahead of the game and is able to provideits products without any potential glitches in waiting for the necessarylicense following the EU decision.”

The use of ethylene (which isfound naturally as a plant hormone in fruit) is totally safe for operators,degrades into harmless components under daylight and leaves no residues onproduce. It is a proven potato sprout inhibitor, and is rapidly becoming a moreattractive alternative to traditional chemical sprout suppressants. Manyorganisations throughout the supply chain are adopting this new ethicalapproach to meet retailer and consumer demands for residue-free potatoes.

biofresh ‘off the shelf’ systemsare available for all sizes of single and twin stores. Bespoke systems can bedesigned for any multi chamber configurations. Last month at the Potatoes inPractice Exhibition in Dundee, biofreshlaunched a transportable ethylene unit to give store managers greaterflexibility when required. All biofresh systems are simple and highly efficientto use. They operate with pure ethylene supplied by Air Products, who workclosely with biofresh. biofresh systems require no fussy on site liquid-to-gasconversion, are quick to install and easy to operate. The system has beenproved in many field trials and has been in commercial use in stores throughoutthe UKand worldwide for several years.