Boluwatife Akinola
On May 20, 2024 an X (formerly Twitter) user with the handle, @thehealthb0t claimed that the Apeel, a newly launched food coating is funded by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Bill Gates, and also supported by famous investors like Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry, the World Bank Group, and the Rockefeller Foundation to fight against food waste.
The post was accompanied by a one minute and 56 seconds video, where he said that: “Apeel coating is now applied to fruits and vegetables at major grocery stores, but there is more to the story than you have been told. Food companies have already been applying Apeel coating to fruits and vegetables for five years. Since 2018, Costco has been selling apples and avocados that contain the Apeel label, and Walmart has been selling cucumbers that contain the label since 2020. Apeel cannot be washed off with water and is made by processing grape-seed oil with the use of two solvents, being ethyl acetate or heptane.”
“The base ingredients in Apeel, which are mono and diglycerides, permit up to 21,000 parts per million of ethyl acetate and 23,000 parts per million of heptane in the final coating. They also permit up to 6% soap, 10 parts per million of palladium, 3 parts per million of arsenic, 2 parts per million of lead, and 1 part per million of cadmium and mercury.”
“The coating is classified as generally recognized as safe, which indicates that the FDA did not do its own safety review of it, and it was done by the food and chemical industry. And you may be thinking that if you buy organic, then you can avoid this, but that’s not the case. The Organic-Peel label is approved for use in organic products.”
“Back in 2002, the NOSB approved mono and diglycerides for use in organic food, but restricted their use to the drumroll drying of food, specifically for potato mash mixes. Since the NOSB cannot find any favourable replacements, they have continued to allow its use, which has now been expanded to food coating.”
“The company, which has gained the backing of high-level investors like Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Katy Perry, the World Bank Group, and the Rockefeller Foundation, wants to fight food waste. Food waste is a significant issue that I’ve touched on many times, however I believe this is a concerning band-aid solution to a much bigger problem, which is that people are disconnected from their food sources. Rather than stressing yourself out with looking at all the food labels to see which brands do and don’t apply apeel, my recommendation would just be to buy fruits and vegetables directly from farmers who grow them.”
The post had gathered over 131,000 views, about 2,800 reposts, 3,400 likes, 95 quotes, and over 950 bookmarks at the time of filing this report.
One of the replies on the post by Vincent McIntosh stated that, “This product was created by an Isreali scientist, I watch a Ted talk about it’ how they put it on green coffee bean’s roasted them! Brewed them and they could still trace the chemical, after that lady on Ted talks told us about Bio bots that go in the local sewer system.”
Another user @baguettesauce89 reacted to the post saying, “just peel your apples and avocados folks. Take off a couple thin layers of fruit before you eat it. Shouldn’t be a huge problem, right?”
VERIFICATION
Is the video real?
N-VA scrutinised the image in the video to check if it is AI-generated. Using Google Lens, the researcher conducted a reverse search of still images from the video and the results led to the founder of My Health Forward, Matthew G. who maintains a presence on social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and X where he shares contents related to regenerative agriculture and healthy living.
Going by Matthew G’s online presence and comparing stills from the videos on his YouTube channel to the Apeel video on X, the researcher verified that the video is not AI generated as the background on some of his Youtube videos is similar to the one on the X video.
What is Apeel?
Further research on Apeel showed that Apeel Sciences is an American food technology company based in Goleta, California and the Netherlands. It is a private company founded in 2012 by James Roger, PhD. He started the company after receiving a $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The goal was to help reduce food waste in developing countries that do not have good refrigeration.
According to the company website, Apeel Sciences makes edible coatings for fruits and vegetables. These coatings, called Apeel or Edipeel, help fruits like avocados and citrus last twice as long as usual. The coating is tasteless and safe to eat, adding an extra layer of protection.
The coating works by adding another layer similar to what naturally exists on fruits and vegetables. This extra peel helps keep moisture in and oxygen out. By doing this, the coating slows down the process of respiration, oxidation, and water loss. As a result, Apeel-protected produce stays fresh longer. While it still spoils eventually, the process happens more slowly, helping to reduce food waste.
Apeel and Apeel Sciences are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apeel Technology, Inc. in the United States, the European Union, and other jurisdictions, as seen in some of the filings for the company’s fundings and research.
Who Funds Apeel?
Using the keywords “Apeel funders fruit”on google search engine, the results show that Bill Gates’ foundation, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the early funders of Apeel Science. In 2012 while Rogers was developing the idea for the company, he applied for a research grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and received $100,000.
Three years later, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation committed almost $1million in grant funds to Apeel Sciences.
Also, Apeel Sciences was named as a World Economic Forum (WEF) World Technology Pioneer in 2018 and Rogers was named one of the WEF’s Young Global Leaders in 2020.
Verifying whether Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry, The World Bank Group, and the Rockefeller Foundation support Apeel, as claimed in the video, N-VA did another round of Google searches.
N-VA found that Oprah Winfrey, an American talk show host, television producer, author, and media proprietor, and Katy Perry, an American singer, songwriter, and television personality, are both investors backing Apeel. They invested in the company in 2019 and are minority, non-participatory investors.
Also, information from the data portal of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, revealed that the IFC has an equity investment of up to US$15 million in Apeel Sciences The investment agreement which was signed in October 2020 is to support the commercial expansion of Apeel’s proprietary products – edible coatings – used for extending quality and shelf life of fruits and vegetables (e.g. avocados, limes, apples) amongst the emerging market retailers and suppliers in Mexico, Peru and South Africa.
According to a Forbes article, the Rockefeller Foundation is an early investor in Apeel alongside the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In May 2020, when Apeel announced $250 million in new financing, some of its funding partners for that round includes GIC, Upfront Ventures, Viking Global Investors, Andreessen Horowitz, Tao Capital Partners, S2G Ventures, Powerplant Ventures, DBL Partners, Rock Creek Group, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UK Department for International Development, and The Rockefeller Foundation.
Has APEEL been reviewed by FDA for Safe Consumption?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, popularly referred to as FDA is the agency responsible for protecting the public health of Americans by ensuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, and medical devices. The FDA is a part of the Department of Health and Human Service.
A quick search of “FDA and Apeel” led to a document on the FDA website, detailing that Apeel Sciences had sent a notice about the use of Mono- and diglycerides, to which they responded by saying that they have no question that these compounds come under GRAS classified.
A look at the how it works page of the Apeel websites shows that “Apeel contains mono- and diglycerides, which are the same compounds found in olive oil and coconut oil”. A GRAS classification of these compounds by the FDA mean that they are Generally Recognized As Safe, a designation where: “the substance is generally recognized, among qualified experts, as having been adequately shown to be safe under the conditions of its intended use”.
Further checks also show that claims about Apeel, being a dangerous coating, have been previously debunked by several platforms including Reuters, U.S.A Today and Factly.
CONCLUSION
The claim that Bill Gates, the WEF, Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry, the World Bank Group, and the Rockefeller Foundation support Apeel science is TRUE. It is however FALSE that FDA did not carry out a safety review of the PRODUCT.
