Kroger Is Selling Longer-Lasting Avocados That Won’t Go Bad As Quickly

Ah, the plight of the avocado. You spend so much time carefully selecting the perfect one at the store, and somehow when you get home it has already gone bad. Well, perhaps your avocado adversities are no longer because Kroger is selling longer-lasting avocados that are treated with a special coating that keeps them fresher longer.

The coating comes from a company called Apeel Sciences that has the mission of “fighting the global food waste crisis by utilizing nature's tools to prevent waste in the first place.” When the coating is mixed with water and sprayed onto produce, like your precious avocados, it helps keep oxygen out. This prolongs the time it takes for the produce to spoil and, ultimately, keeps you from throwing away an avocado before you get to use it.

“Kroger is excited to offer more customers Apeel avocados...marking another milestone on our journey to achieving our Zero Hunger | Zero Waste vision,” Frank Romero, Kroger's vice president of produce, said in a press release. “Apeel's innovative food-based solution has proven to extend the life of perishable produce, reducing food waste in transport, in our retail stores and in our customers' homes.” In other words, you will be free to guacamole at your own pace.

This avocado-centric news comes after a successful pilot program launched last year in 109 Midwest Krogers. Kroger will also begin a similar pilot program with Apeel asparagus and Apeel limes in the Cincinnati market this fall.

“Apeel is an innovative partner that will help Kroger reduce food waste and redefine the customer experience through first-to-market technology,” Romero added in the release. “Kroger's relationship with Apeel developed as a result of the exciting work we're doing with startups and enterprising companies to create the future of retail now.”

The longer-lasting avocados are a small part of Kroger’s Zero Hunger, Zero Waste program which aims to end hunger in Kroger communities and eliminate waste across the company by 2025. Through initiatives like using Apeel Sciences to reduce food waste, donating meals and money to causes fighting hunger, and advocating for public polity focused on sustainability, Kroger is hoping to

According to Kroger, the new Apeel avocadoes will keep millions of avocados from going to waste, help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from farming, and save over a billion gallons of water. “Kroger is leading the way to alleviate the food waste crisis at every level, from its supply chain to its retail stores to the homes of over 11 million customers who shop at Kroger every day," James Rogers, CEO of Apeel Sciences, said in the press release. “We're excited to expand our partnership with Kroger to further prevent food waste while simultaneously giving families more access and time to enjoy healthy fresh produce.”

This is all particularly good news for anyone concerned about the looming avocado shortage and subsequent price increase for the produce. A combination of trade war threats with Mexico and potential climate change threats are in part to blame for this avocado-pocalypse. The lack of affordable, readily available avocados has even prompted some restaurants to start introducing “mockamole” recipes to their menus. However, there’s no need to stock up on your favorite green fruit just yet. Though, if you do, Kroger's longer-lasting avocados may be of use.

As The Takeout points out, these longer-lasting avocados may not be great news for those of us who tend to shop for groceries the day they need them. If your problem is avocados that take too long to go ripe, prolonging that process isn't want you need. However, if it's avocados that won't brown the second you buy them you seek, you'll likely want to head to Kroger's asap.