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Summer is synonymous with strawberries, but why do today's fruits often taste worse and spoil faster? In this exclusive interview, Wiliot CMO Steve Statler, delves into how longer and more complex supply chains, alongside the trade-offs in strawberry breeding, impact the fruit’s quality. He highlights how ambient IoT technology is revolutionising freshness and reducing waste by providing real-time visibility into the entire cold chain.

Can you elaborate on why strawberries today seem to taste worse and spoil faster than in the past?

As supply chains lengthen and become more complex, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain the conditions needed for produce to stay fresh. This is especially challenging for strawberries, which are extremely delicate and require precise temperature and humidity levels.

Additionally, strawberries are now bred for robustness, rather than taste and nutrition – or, when they are bred for taste and nutrition, they spoil quickly once they arrive home due to issues throughout the complex supply chains.

With the increasing emphasis on aesthetically pleasing foods, consumers tend to look for the perfect-looking products. Due to this, grocers will display the most visually appealing strawberries on the store floor to catch the attention of shoppers. However, the store floor can often be where foods are exposed to higher temperatures than that needed to maintain freshness.

With the implementation of the ambient IoT, supply chain experts are seeing things that have never been seen before, a multitude of handling issues that have previously gone undetected, it’s clear this problem is widespread.

How have produce supply chains become more complex, and what impact does this have on the quality and freshness of strawberries?

As major food retailers continue to grow and expand, both nationally and globally, produce can come from all over the state/county or even the country. As technology becomes more efficient, produce can be grown in one place, and shipped to another.

Though this is ultimately beneficial and allows for greater distribution of fresh produce, it also means that there are more touch points for our produce – and at each touch point, there’s a risk of mishandling.

For a fruit like strawberries, which requires precise conditions, these touchpoints can lead to quicker rot and spoil.

The ambient IoT gives retailers visibility into what’s happening from distributor to truck to store. During this tracking process, it became apparent that fruit, like strawberries, were being subjected to major temperature swings during the journey to the store, compromising the integrity of the fruit. Once arrived at the store, the strawberries proceeded to sit unrefrigerated for hours, which again impacted the fruit’s quality.

Without the visibility into the supply that ambient IoT provides, it is nearly impossible to pinpoint why produce – in this case, strawberries – is going bad as soon as they are delivered to the store or even before. With the ambient IoT, the retailer gains real-time visibility into its cold chain, reducing waste and enhancing food safety.

What are the specific storage and transportation conditions that strawberries require to remain fresh?

Strawberries cannot be exposed to extreme hot or cold temperatures because, unlike many other fruits, they do not continue to ripen once picked. Due to their high rate of metabolism, strawberries should stay at 32-34 degrees Fahrenheit to maximise target freshness. However, if that is not possible, it is recommended they be kept below 50 degrees and at very high humidity.

How does the breeding of strawberries for robustness versus taste and nutrition contribute to the problem of spoilage and decreased quality?

When breeding strawberries for robustness, we focus on creating a fruit that can endure the rigours of transportation and handling. However, this often comes at a cost: the strawberries may lack the sweetness and rich flavour that consumers love.

Conversely, when we prioritise taste and nutrition, we get strawberries that are bursting with flavour and packed with nutrients, but they’re also more delicate. These strawberries bruise easily and spoil faster, leading to a shorter shelf life and more waste.

The challenge lies in finding a balance – creating a strawberry that can withstand the journey from farm to table while still delivering the delicious taste and nutritional benefits that people expect. This trade-off between durability and quality is a central issue that the industry must navigate.

As we improve the visibility of the food supply chain and upgrade the handling, that opens up the opportunity to adjust the balance and favour a more delicate fruit with better taste.

🍓Robustness vs taste/nutrition🍓

Robustness: Firmer, less flavorful strawberries that resist damage during transport.

Taste/nutrition: Sweeter, more nutritious strawberries that bruise easily and spoil faster.

🍓Shelf Life vs consumer appeal🍓

Shelf life: Longer lasting but less flavorful strawberries.

Consumer appeal: Better-tasting strawberries with a shorter shelf life.

Can you explain what ambient Internet of Things (IoT) technology is?

Ambient IoT is an evolution of the traditional IoT, an embedded intelligence technology typically integrated into expensive things, like homes or cars. Ambient IoT’s goal is to implement this technology for everyday items like produce or vaccines.

It can be implemented in a multitude of ways, including via a scan-free ambient IoT tracking system that uses battery-free, stamp-sized computing devices. These tags can be attached to pallets, cases, and containers for cents on the dollar. Ambient IoT is then powered by radio waves that exist all around us and can allow for data visibility in essentially every aspect, monitoring conditions like humidity, location, temperature, carbon footprint and more.

Ambient IoT can connect the digital and physical retail worlds using a new generation of smart tags to address retail’s biggest challenges across supply chain efficiency, omnichannel retailing, food safety and inventory management.

Currently, these postage stamp-sized smart tags use Bluetooth to communicate, but coming soon is a set of ambient IoT standards for Wi-Fi and 5G Advanced cellular devices. This will open up access to the technology with the world’s largest technology companies making and supporting this new generation of low-cost track and trace technology.

How does ambient IoT technology monitor the temperature and humidity of strawberries from farm to store?

Today, ambient IoT tags communicate via Bluetooth over existing wireless devices, like smartphones and wireless access points, and off-the-shelf gateways in farm equipment, trucks, distribution centres, grocery stores, and elsewhere.

They’re perpetually communicating their location, temperature and even humidity – information that experts say is critical to ensuring freshness, enhancing shelf life and reducing waste.

Then a platform collects data via the IoT tags and transmits it to the cloud to trigger actionable alerts when interventions are required to keep the supply chain running smoothly – allowing individual products to connect to the internet.

How have some of the world's largest grocers adopted ambient IoT technology, and what results have they seen?

Ambient IoT pixels communicate via Bluetooth over existing wireless devices, like smartphones and wireless access points, and off-the-shelf gateways in farm equipment, trucks, distribution centres, grocery stores and elsewhere.

They’re perpetually communicating their location, temperature, and even humidity – information that experts say is critical to ensuring freshness, enhancing shelf life and reducing waste.

Then a platform collects data via the IoT Pixels and transmits it to the cloud to trigger actionable alerts when interventions are required to keep the supply chain running smoothly – allowing individual products to connect to the internet.

What specific benefits does ambient IoT technology offer to food manufacturers and producers in terms of quality control?

Ambient IoT technology provides insights that allow retailers to ensure that produce is transported carefully in a way that eliminates spoilage and preserves quality. With this real-time data, food manufacturers can properly store produce at the correct temperature and humidity levels.

For just cents on the dollar, grocery distributors can essentially locate an issue within a shipment before it is at the point of spoilage or unsafe. Not only does this ensure that less product is thrown away, but also allows for a more cost-efficient form of transportation, cutting out the need for excess labour.

Additionally, location tracking allows the grocer to know when products are being delivered and how long they move through the process.

How have some of the world's largest grocers adopted ambient IoT technology, and what results have they seen?

The ambient IoT technology is currently being used by some of the world’s largest companies across numerous fields, including leading grocery providers.

The technology has proven to be successful in flagging issues throughout the supply chain by pinpointing exactly where and what was going wrong – those who were monitoring the data could see down to the individual case if the strawberries were being transported quickly and at a safe temperature.

The ability to see where the issues lay within transportation and how they affected the produce, allowed the retailer to implement changes within the supply chain to stop further waste and enhance the safety of their produce.

With ambient IoT, retailers can not only have an omniscient view of the cold chain but also be provided with the kind of real-time visibility that improves their ability to adapt to the demands of omnichannel, where the buyers purchase online as well as in-store, raising the stakes for inventory accuracy.

What specific benefits does ambient IoT technology offer to food manufacturers and producers in terms of quality control?

Ambient IoT technology provides insights that allow retailers to ensure that produce is transported carefully in a way that eliminates spoilage and preserves quality. With this real-time data, food manufacturers can properly store produce at the correct temperature and humidity levels.

For a very low cost, the grocery distributor can essentially locate an issue within a shipment before it is at the point of spoilage or unsafe.

Not only does this ensure that less product is thrown away, but also allows for a more cost-efficient form of transportation, cutting out the need for excess labour. Additionally, location tracking allows the grocer to know when products are being delivered and how long they move through the process.

How can ambient IoT technology help reduce the $2 billion problem of strawberry spoilage and waste?

Using ambient IoT technology allows food manufacturers and producers to mitigate issues with produce before it hits the store by monitoring conditions and taking in real-time data. The knowledge of these conditions and data allows any potential issues to be resolved as they happen so future complications that affect freshness do not arise.

The ability to monitor this data and deal with issues within the supply chain cuts down the overall waste of strawberries and other produce, creating a more sustainable and cost-effective supply chain.

With ambient IoT technology, it is also possible to determine differences in temperature between different pallets in transport. For example, if one pallet experiences spoilage, distributors do not need to assume the whole shipment is bad – ambient IoT technology will allow them to pinpoint exactly which batch is rotten.

#spoilage #strawberries #supplychain #IoT