According to a new research led by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the shelf-life of fruits can be doubled by the use of UV-LED. Fruits like strawberries are particularly prone to early decay when being stored in common household fridges. Humidity rates of over 90% within the fridges combined with permanent darkness are the main triggers of early fruit decay.

 

As the USDA released, the damp conditions of the fridges’ interior were countered by the installation of UV-LEDs which are automatically turned on by a trigger as soon as the doors are closed. Following this installation, the strawberries were permanently illuminated with light similar to sunlight. 

 

 

The result was astonishing. Even after 9 days the strawberries didn’t go off and showed no visible damage. Further examination showed that the strawberries after 9 days still had excellent moisture contents, no mold growth and no significant weight loss.

 

As the USDA states, the UV-LED technology has to potential to be applied for the maintenance of other products stored in fridges. Until recently LED-UV lighting was mainly derived from traditional fluorescent lamps, but LED-UV undoubtedly has some major advantages compared to fluorescent lighting fixtures. 

 

LED-lighting has a much smaller size than fluorescent lighting which enables to flexible installations in small areas. LED lighting is particularly resistant against cold temperatures and its energy consumption very low. These features make LED-UV an ideal light source to be used in fridges or refrigerated warehouses. The new technology has an undoubtedly the potential for the use in various commercial or private areas.gm.