Nova Scotia company's improved packaging method aims to increase shelf life for meat, fish

Mina Mekhail wasn’t sure for a while how he wanted to apply his education and work experience to his next move in the business world.

He likes to say he always had “an entrepreneurial bug,” but he was also armed with a master’s degree and a PhD in biomedical engineering to go with an impressive background helping hospitals create and implement innovation-based initiatives.

So back in 2018 when he wanted to break out on his own with a new business, Mekhail promised himself his path would be dictated by a combination of a personal passion, his specific expertise and ambitious social goals.

“I wanted to make sure that the venture that I was starting was solving a big problem,” Mekhail said.

“So after a lot of thinking, I landed on food waste. As you know, it’s a big problem so I wanted to go after it for many reasons. One was personal. I grew up in the Middle East where you see a lot of people who have food insecurity, so food waste is something that I absolutely hate. It’s a big problem globally, so that was also important to me.”

Mekhail ultimately landed on pursuing new ways to keep animal protein foods from spoiling quickly. He founded Freshr Technologies in 2018 and set about exploring scientific ways to package fish, poultry and other meats so their shelf lives would be prolonged.

He and his team of employees at the Dartmouth company have since created a packaging material that adds extra days of freshness without introducing any chemicals to the food.

“In layman terms, what we’re doing here is we’ve developed this coating that we put on food packaging, and one thing that I like to emphasize is that the coating stays on the food packaging, so it is not designed to go into the food. It’s designed to stay on the actual packaging,” he said.

“Once the packaging gets in contact with the food, the way I explain it is like this: think of it as putting a thin layer of a sponge-like material that absorbs water. We put it on that surface, so when it gets in contact with a piece of salmon, or something like a wet food item like steak, it absorbs the water on the surface of that protein and it kind of locks it in and actually slows down the spoilage.

“That is really the mechanism by which we slow down the growth of bacteria on the surface, as well as lock in that water to help it spoil slower. So what we’re doing is actually not adding anything crazy (to the food). It’s just literally slowing down the spoilage process. It will still spoil, but it will take a bit longer. And by doing that, it gives extra time to people in the supply chain so we can capture a lot of both economic and environmental value from that.”

To explain exactly what that looks like for folks who aren’t scientists or business people, Mekhail references an ocean product familiar to Nova Scotians.

“I’ll take salmon as an example because we spend a lot of time on salmon,” he said.

“And let’s say farmed salmon because wild has a bit of a crazy supply chain. Farmed has a pretty tight supply chain. From the day of harvest until the day of consumption, and that’s assuming that the cold chain is maintained at temperatures that didn’t go above four degrees (Celsius) for any significant amount of time, it has 14 days shelf life.

“Usually in those 14 days, by the time it gets to the retailer, the retailer has around five days to sell it, on average. What we’re looking to add is between 15 and 30 per cent to that 14 days, so we’re looking to add between two and four days to that. The reason we give it a range is because it depends on when you apply the technology. So, for example, if you can apply the technology very early on after harvest, that can maintain the shelf life longer than if you do it a bit later.

“So, if the retailer is doing it, then it has gone through the supply chain and the retailer gets it and then applies it. But by then the bacteria has already grown to a certain degree, so you’re starting with a much bigger population than you would if you applied it early. So it’s the time of application that really matters, but usually two to four days is what we mention to our customers.”

Information from Freshr’s website describes how “every year, 300 million tonnes of fresh animal-based protein are wasted globally. The supply chain isn’t broken, it’s just running out of time.”

Company information also states: “Every (square metre) of FreshrPack coated film removes up to the equivalent of 1.6 kg of CO2 (carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere.”

“Fresh proteins are among the most resource-intensive foods produced. When they’re wasted, the water, land and energy used to raise and process them are wasted, too. Food rotting in landfills generates methane – a greenhouse gas 80 (times) more potent than CO2. Freshr’s goal: deliver 500 million pounds of fresh protein to consumers instead of landfills by 2030.”

It is an ambitious mission statement, but Mekhail said his optimism feels realistic because Freshr is already getting traction as far away as Japan, while also moving closer every day to clearing industry safety hurdles.

“We’ve been working with some good firms that are helping us send all the packages needed for regulatory approvals,” Mekhail said.

“The (Food and Drug Administration in the U.S.) has a 120-day clock that it starts once you submit a package, so at least that gives us a sense of a timeline. Health Canada doesn’t have that but, based off what we’re doing right now, I’m anticipating probably between four and six months.”

“We’re a small company, but I would say we have a global footprint in the sense that we do get a lot of inbound interest from all over the world, which is exciting,” he added.

“It shows that there is a need for this technology we’re developing. Where it actually goes next is we have a commercialization strategy that follows our regulatory strategy. So wherever we actually unlock the regulatory, we’re going to start commercialization there.

“Right now we’re doing it all in house, but eventually we’re going to partner up with packaging firms that can subcontract manufacture with us, and we’re going to be doing direct sales in North America and in Europe. But in Southeast Asia, we’re looking to license our technology eventually to Mitsubishi Chemical, at least for Japan, and potentially other areas as well. And because they have been partners with us, they’ve also invested in the company as well. They’re very interested in the tech and how it applies to the meat processing industry there.”