When I came across the new Fenugreen FreshPaper I decided to buy a pack along with a new pack of Debbie Meyer’s Green Bags so that I could hold a Food Spoilage Prevention Showdown! For my first experiment I bought a big bag of baby spinach and mixed greens and split this into three. One third was stored in the original plastic bag from Whole Foods, one third into a Debbie Meyer’s Green Bag, and the final third into a Whole Foods bag containing half a sheet of FreshPaper. I used only half a sheet of FreshPaper because each portion of greens was just enough for one salad, and each sheet costs more than a dollar. I was careful to keep each of the bags in a similar state – a little open to the air, as recommended. After 7 days the greens stored in the regular bag were at the eat-or-dump stage: edible but two more days and they would have to be thrown out. On day 10, ready to have another salad, I tipped the greens from the Debbie Meyer’s bag into a bowl and about a third of them were stuck in the bottom of the bag – soggy and in a state of decay. None of them were really edible. I moved onto the greens stored with FreshPaper - they were fresh and pretty crisp and I think would have lasted a couple of more days. They smelled (pleasantly) of fenugreek after opening the bag, but the smell was gone after a quick rinse and there was no taste of fenugreek. I ended up reusing the paper to store some plums since it was still dry and fresh smelling. Bottom line: for salad greens, Debbie Meyer’s bag was perhaps no better than the original bag I bought the salad in, while FreshPaper extended the shelf life by around 50%. That’s not the entire story – I had used Green Bags before and found them useful for storage of veggies like peppers, broccoli, etc. So I did a test of these veggies, again splitting them into three groups and storing in the bottom drawers of the fridge. The broccoli did amazingly well with both methods – after 12 days it was still green and crisp (update: by 18 days the broccoli in the green bags was doing better than the FreshPaper broccoli). For the peppers, the green bags kept them almost perfect for 10 days (so far) while 2 out of the three peppers stored with FreshPaper were going soft and moldy. I also tried some green beans and after 10 days they also fared better in Green Bag than with FreshPaper. So, the bottom line for me is that FreshPaper can extend the life of salad leaves (and also fruit) while the Green Bags may be useful for storing crisp waxy veggies like peppers and beans. Honestly, I think the Green Bags help keep veggies crisp partly just because they help reduce moisture – no matter what method you use it’s important that to your produce is dry before you store it. Fenugreen FreshPaper is very different. It’s made from paper that’s impregnated with various organic spices (including fenugreek, which you may recognize from the smell) that inhibit bacterial or fungal growth and also the ripening hormone ethylene. It’s a nice biodegradable product but it’s really quite expensive – over ten bucks for a pack of eight sheets that may last for 1-2 months. I bought them partly because they have lots of publicity about how they intend to address food spoilage problems in developing countries (India and parts of Africa). On their FAQ page they say the following: “Every sheet purchased helps get FreshPaper to those who need it most!” but the page this statement links to (which implies a system where they donate one for each one you buy) has been taken down. In 2013 they won 100,000 Euros from the INDEX design award to help with “Distribution by partnering with NGO’s and/or research institutions to distribute FreshPaper in India and/or Africa” amongst other things. At the time, they made a statement that “FreshPaper is simple, low-tech and hyper affordable, with the potential to scale into new markets.” It’s certainly not hyper affordable to me and I haven’t seen anything about distribution in developing countries – the lack of any news and the removal of the link mentioned above suggests not much is happening there. I’ve also written to them to ask for an update on this and received no response. I’ve no problem with them making a good product and charging what they like for it – if people buy it and find it useful that’s great. I just feel a bit cheated that, after getting excited about the application in developing countries that there’s little evidence of the company doing this. The product (but not packaging) is also biodegradable, made with organic spices, and creatively simple. In terms of social and environmental impact, I think Debbie Meyer’s Green Bags deserve 3/5 green stars and FreshPaper deserves 4/5 green stars. In both cases, the goal of preventing food spoilage is a worthy one – we waste more food than is needed to feed the planet. Debbie Meyer is known as a mentor and voice for women entrepreneurs so there’s a good social impact there, but there’s no information available on the environmental impact of how her product is made. The bags are reusable at least 10 times so that’s something. FreshPaper is made from paper and organic spices and is biodegradable. Fenugreen have also been heavily promoting their social cause – distribution of FreshPaper to developing countries – but I don’t see any evidence of them putting these words into action yet. I’m still hopeful.
