EverRipe
The Way To Stay Fresher Longer
Table of Contents
Company Overview 1
Product 2
Technology 6
Market & Regulations 12
Ethics 18
References 21
Company Overview
EverRipe Farms is a small family farm located in eastern Georgia that produces strawberries. We care a lot about our customers and strive to produce the most delicious product we can for them. We have several fields open for locals who want the pick-your-own experience; however the bulk of our business is more commercial. Our strawberries are sold to supermarket chains all around the country. Because strawberries spoil quickly we must pick and ship them before they ripen. When the strawberries are picked early some of the flavor is sacrificed. After hearing about the potential of using gene silencing to genetically modify foods, we hired several scientists to apply this technology to our fruit product. We have been successful in engineering strawberries that produce less of the enzyme polygalacturonase, which deteriorates cell walls and causes fruit to spoil more quickly. EverRipe strawberries now stay fresh longer. We have begun to sell our new product to supermarket chains as well as producers of food and drink products that contain strawberries as a main ingredient. The elongated shelf life of EverRipe strawberries has led to increased revenues. We are reinvesting our profits into EverRipe so that we may continue to grow and hopefully one day we will be able to produce a line of genetically modified fruits.
Product
What is EverRipe?
EverRipe strawberries are genetically modified strawberries that have been engineered to make the fruit last longer without rotting or spoiling. The current practice in the farming industry is to pick and ship the fruit before it ripens so that the fruit will be ripe when it reaches its destination and not spoil along the way. Picking strawberries before they are ripe leaves you with fruit that is not of optimum quality. As...