Anti-browning for fresh-cut fruit — the platform's fast first revenue.

Inhibits polyphenol oxidase (PPO), the enzyme that turns cut fruit brown.

FreshGuard™ is an avocado-seed extract that keeps fresh-cut produce visually fresh by inhibiting polyphenol oxidase. Because an anti-browning quality claim is regulated as a Health Canada food additive / processing aid — not a pesticide — it routes around the multi-year PMRA pathway and slots into existing approved-ingredient procurement. It is the most mature claim in the platform and the source of first revenue.

FreshGuard Partners View the Evidence Base

Classification

Food additive / processing aid — Health Canada Food & Drug Regulations. A quality / anti-oxidation function, not pest control. No PMRA registration.

Function

Inhibits polyphenol oxidase (PPO) to delay enzymatic browning on fresh-cut fruit — a clean-label alternative to ascorbic acid and sulphite dips.

Readiness

TRL 3–4 — the most mature claim in the platform, with direct in-vivo evidence on the exact target matrices. Time-to-first-revenue measured in months, not years.

How It Works

Stop the enzyme that browns cut fruit.

When fruit is cut, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) oxidises the fruit's own phenolics into brown pigments — the single most visible quality-loss mode in fresh-cut produce. FreshGuard™, a fermented avocado-seed extract, inhibits PPO and delays that browning, benchmarked against the industry standards ascorbic acid and L-cysteine.

The Problem · PPO

Enzymatic Browning

Cut surfaces brown as polyphenol oxidase oxidises the fruit's phenolics — the most visible quality-loss mode in fresh-cut produce.

Target

The Active

Avocado-Seed Extract

Inhibits PPO

A fermented avocado-seed extract inhibits polyphenol oxidase, slowing the browning reaction on cut fruit.

TRL 3–4

Benchmarked

vs. Industry Standards

Ascorbic acid · L-cysteine

Performance benchmarked against the standard anti-browning agents fresh-cut processors already use.

In vivo

On Real Fruit

Apple · Banana · Avocado

3 matrices

Demonstrated on real apple, banana and avocado pulp — the exact target matrices, not a model system (Yepes-Betancur et al. 2025).

TRL 3–4

Regulatory logic: an anti-browning quality claim is a food-additive function, not pest control — so FreshGuard™ is reviewed under Health Canada food regulation, where the food-grade origin is a strength. Combined with existing on-fruit evidence, this collapses time-to-first-revenue from years to months. Product names are proposed, pending trademark clearance.

Evidence & Market

Direct in-vivo evidence on the exact target fruit.

Yepes-Betancur et al. (2025, Heliyon) demonstrated that a fermented avocado-seed extract inhibits PPO and delays browning on real apple, banana and avocado pulp, benchmarked against ascorbic acid and L-cysteine — placing FreshGuard™ at TRL 3–4, the most mature claim in the platform. The fresh-cut produce category (cut apple, guacamole, banana) is large and growing, and a food-derived, residue-free, clean-label anti-browning agent is exactly where fresh-cut processors and their retail customers are already trying to go.

TRL 3–4

Most mature claim in the platform

Pesticide registration required — food additive pathway

Months

Time-to-first-revenue, not years

Target matrices with in-vivo evidence (apple, banana, avocado)

"FreshGuard™ slots into existing approved-ingredient procurement — buyers evaluate it like ascorbic acid or an approved anti-browning dip. It generates the early revenue and customer relationships that de-risk and partly self-fund the PhytoGuard™ registration behind it."
— Persea Vitalis Companion v8.0 · Evidence: Yepes-Betancur et al. 2025 (Heliyon)

FreshGuard Roadmap

Fastest to market — food additive, not pesticide.

The food-additive route and existing on-fruit evidence make FreshGuard™ the first product to revenue. It runs as one arm of the shared postharvest in-vivo assay and routes through Health Canada food regulation while PhytoGuard™ matures behind it.

Full three-track roadmap

Supply Chain

Powered by SeedCircle.

FreshGuard™ is made from the polyphenol/acetogenin extract stream produced by SeedCircle — the same controlled, batch-segregated, cold-chain supply that feeds PhytoGuard™, with the starch stream feeding VitaFilm™. One diversion agreement and one extraction line serve all three products at near-marginal cost.

SeedCircle architecture →