Unappealing "Apeel": The New Way to Reduce Food Waste? Eat It.
- ketogenicfasting
- Jul 1
- 6 min read
Fresh fruits and vegetables have always been among the least processed foods available. At least, that's what most consumers believe. Increasingly, however, fresh produce has become another target of food technology.
One example is Apeel—a nearly invisible coating applied to millions of fruits and vegetables after harvest. The coating is designed to slow moisture loss, reduce oxygen exposure, delay ripening, and extend shelf life throughout transportation, storage, and retail display.
Supporters describe Apeel as an innovative solution to food waste. Critics question whether consumers are being adequately informed about what is being applied to their food and whether such technologies are becoming a substitute for a simpler solution: growing and purchasing food closer to where it is consumed.
Understanding what Apeel is, how it is made, and why it is used allows consumers to decide for themselves whether this technology represents progress—or simply another step toward an increasingly engineered food supply.
What Is Apeel?
Unlike pesticides that are applied while crops are growing, Apeel is a post-harvest treatment. Once fruits and vegetables are harvested, they are transported to commercial packing facilities where they are washed, sorted, graded, and then sprayed with or dipped into the coating before packaging and distribution.
Apeel frequently describes its product as "plant-based" or derived from plants. While technically accurate, those descriptions provide little insight into the finished material. The coating is not simply made from crushed fruit peels or vegetable pulp. It is a highly processed food ingredient manufactured from refined plant oils.
Under current U.S. regulations, Apeel's ingredients are permitted for their intended use through the FDA's Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) process. The individual ingredients have long histories within the food industry. However, relatively little published independent research has examined long-term human exposure to the finished commercial coating itself under real-world conditions.
Why Plant Oils?
Why use plant oils in the first place? The answer is simple: money.
Seed oils are among the least expensive edible fats available, making them an ideal raw material for the food industry. Rather than being used "only" as cooking oils, they are processed into hundreds of manufactured ingredients found throughout the modern food supply—from emulsifiers and stabilizers to flavor carriers, texture agents, and now edible coatings for fresh produce.
For manufacturers, the economics are obvious. When millions of pounds of an ingredient are produced every year, even saving a few cents per pound translates into substantial profits. Apeel is not an exception; it is another extension of the same industrial system.
How Is Apeel Applied?
The finished coating is manufactured as a white powder for storage and shipping. Before commercial application, it is incorporated into the coating formulation that is applied to fresh produce.
The Apeel coating dries into a microscopic film covering the surface after it is applied onto the produce through spraying or dipping. It is specifically designed to remain attached to the produce throughout transportation, storage, retail handling, and consumer washing.
Its physical behavior is comparable to the way drying oils used in traditional oil-based paints and varnishes form a thin protective film after application. Apeel is not literally a paint or varnish, but the film-forming principle is similar. The coating creates a barrier that slows the movement of moisture and oxygen, helping produce remain visually appealing for a longer period.
For produce with inedible skins—such as avocados and most citrus fruits—the coating is removed when the peel is discarded. For fruits and vegetables that are typically eaten with their skin intact, the coating is intended to remain on the food when consumed.
Which Produce Is Commercially Coated?
Commercial use of Apeel has been documented on the following produce:
Avocados
Apples
English cucumbers
Lemons
Limes
Oranges
Mandarins
Grapefruit
Mangoes
Application depends on individual growers, packing facilities, and distributors, meaning not every item within these categories is coated.
The Good News
There is currently no documented commercial use of Apeel on strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, zucchini, squash or Persian cucumbers. These are the fruits and produce which Comfort Keto frequently serves in our dishes.
There Are a Number of RED FLAGS About This Product:
Edible? Yes—But Not Much Different Than Seed Oils
We do not consider Apeel to be a "natural" coating, let alone an edible one, regardless of how it is marketed. Here is why we are concerned:
First of all, the coating consists primarily of mono- and diglycerides derived from plant oils which are well known for their susceptibility to oxidation. Consuming Apeel coated produce means inevitably introducing more plant-based oil byproducts to our digestive system.
What Kind of "Fresh" Are We Talking About?
Apeel does not freeze produce in time.
The longer coated produce remains in storage, transit, and on store shelves, the farther it moves from the condition it was in when first harvested. Good-looking, sealed produce gradually becomes a waste product on the inside. According to a UC Davis research paper published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, vegetables lose 15-77% of their Vitamin C content within one week of harvesting.
The coating reduces spoilage and extends the period during which produce remains marketable, but it does not stop the natural aging process. Apeel slows moisture loss and oxidation, while enzymatic activity continues, sugars and organic acids continue to change, aroma compounds gradually dissipate, vitamins decline, and microbial growth can still occur under favorable conditions.
Apeel's coating product may be a sure way to preserve food, but it is simply impossible to know when the produce was harvested—thus how old it is. Most likely, the produce that is 30 or more days old will not give you any nutrients.
Apeel Coating Can Not Be Removed!
Because the coating adheres firmly to the surface, it cannot be removed by normal washing. Produce washes, vinegar, and baking soda do not work to remove it either. Scrubbing may remove some of the surface film but is unlikely to eliminate it entirely.
And worst of all, any pesticides or other chemicals present on conventionally grown produce become sealed beneath the Apeel coating once it is applied, making them impossible to wash off.
Heavy Metals and Other Industrial Toxins
According to Apeel's own FDA filing, manufacturing the coating requires an industrial chemical process involving:
Heptane or ethyl acetate
Hydrogen gas
Catalysts
Palladium hydroxide
The finished coating is permitted, within specified limits, to contain residual processing solvents and trace amounts of the following heavy metals:
Lead
Cadmium
Mercury
Arsenic
What Happens to the Coating Over Time?
This is one critical question that deserves scrutiny.
The coating is intended to remain on produce for weeks or even months while continuously exposed to oxygen, light, temperature fluctuations, and humidity. Under those conditions, an important question arises: do its glycerides remain chemically stable, or do they gradually oxidize and break down into new oxidation products?
We found no published long-term studies examining how the finished commercial coating changes throughout its intended shelf life.
Lack of Transparency
To date, we found no published long-term human health studies evaluating the finished Apeel coating as it is commercially applied to fresh produce.
Published studies matter because they provide transparency. They allow independent scientists to examine the methods, evaluate the data, critique the conclusions, and verify the findings rather than relying solely on information supplied by the manufacturer.
Is This Still Organic?
Apeel's coating is approved for application to both conventionally grown and organic fresh produce.
People choose organic produce because they expect food in its natural state. They understand that fresh fruits and vegetables ripen, age, and eventually spoil. That's how nature works. That natural cycle is part of what makes organic produce authentic. For many organic consumers, learning that an invisible manufactured coating may be applied to slow that natural process is infuriating.
Such a practice runs fundamentally contrary to what organic produce represents.
So, What Do We Do Now?
Apeel claims that one key benefit of their product is to reduce food waste, while people are encouraged to consume good-looking, yet expired waste produce lacking nutrients.
Oh joy! We shall be happily eating nutritionally empty produce. Welcome to New World!
As a metabolic therapy focused operation, we strongly recommend avoiding any and all fruits or vegetables bearing this label!!!
The most important thing you can do now is spread the word and make your voice heard!
Next, peel the skin of all fresh fruits and vegetables whenever possible as we are not able to distinguish if fresh produce is coated with Apeel. Be careful with unpeelable fresh produce until this issue is regulated.
Shop at your local farmers' markets for produce free of Apeel.
Start growing your own vegetables and fruits at any scale. Any small step in that direction is important!
Let your local grocery store manager know that you will not be buying any products which are sealed with Apeel.
Apeel Sciences, Inc. has deployed their sprayed sealing product worldwide that coats fresh fruits and vegetables with a manufactured material without consumer consent. Sign the Petition · Boycott Apeel coated produce worldwide!
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