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May 19, 2008 5:03 AM PDT

Say good-bye to rotten fruit and hello to Blue

by Dennis Murray

The ambient goodness of Blue

(Credit: Yanko Design)

I'm a person who doesn't like surprises. I don't like practical jokes, I hate unexpected visitors, and I loathe peeling a banana and finding it's rotten. In a perfect world, a grapefruit would still be good three months after I bought it. The designers of the latest product in the battle for fresh fruit might be able to do just that.

Active Fresh Blue Technology is the secret behind Blue providing fruit with the same type of light they receive in nature, which allows fruit to stay fresh longer. According to Yanko Design, the blue LED is the key to keeping your fruit fresh, extending its shelf life, and increasing the nutrients in the fruit that keep it healthy before it's picked. The same technology has been used in refrigerators manufactured by Arcelik and Mitsubishi to keep food fresh longer and kill bacteria the same way.

Right now, you're reading this with a look of sheer confusion on your face. You're wondering how something that looks like a glorified fruit bowl will keep your peaches perfect.

The technology behind Blue isn't new but is still in its experimental phase. Mitsubishi's line of Folio refrigerators utilizes photosynthesis to increase the nutritional value of vegetables and fruits stored in the crisper. The LED increases the vitamin C through photosynthesis by 150 percent, which in turn helps to increase the shelf life and reduce bacteria. The color apparently also plays a role in how healthy the produce is with orange producing 50-percent more vitamin C in broccoli. The Cosmo Plant Company in Fukuroi, Japan, currently grows lettuce using red LED, which is apparently its favorite due to chlorophyll running on red photons, and the company produces 7,000 heads of lettuce a day. The lettuce matures three times faster than being grown outdoors and has decreased the company's electric bill by 60 percent.

Still in its concept phase, a price and a release date hasn't been announced yet. While it won't keep it fresh forever, you'll at least get your money's worth for those $3-a-pound pomegranates.

Originally posted at Appliances and Kitchen Gadgets
Dennis Murray is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET.
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Add a Comment (Log in or register)
by NextGenAdam May 19, 2008 8:33 AM PDT
Hmm. Someone from this company will have to explain to me why this special blue light isn't provided by that normal white kitchen light over in the back.
And doesn't the kind of light they receive in nature make them ripen (yay) more quickly then go off more quickly (nay)?
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