Breakthrough Tech to Store Food Unrefrigerated for Weeks

"Expensive refrigeration was cutting into Vipul Saran’s profits. As an undergrad in India, and the third generation in his family to work in agriculture, Saran had started a new venture: exporting potatoes from western Uttar Pradesh to the Middle East.

But the high cost of cold storage had become "a pinching point."

To ship $2,000 worth of potatoes to Dubai in a refrigerated container in the summer, he’d pay $3,000 – losing $1,000 in profits before the product even got to the buyer. But to ship the potatoes in the winter – when he could get away without refrigeration – cost just $96.

The solution has emerged in Farther Farms, a food tech startup co-founded by Saran (MPS '17) and Mike Annunziata ('11, MBA '17), with technology developed at Cornell. Its innovative sterilization technology produces shelf-stable foods that don't need freezing or refrigeration. Their first product is the world's first commercially available shelf-stable french fry -- a major addition to an industry dominated by frozen fries first invented in the 1940s."