Team:FSU
Our Mission
Combat food insecurity in Florida and beyond using empathy and partnership with local communities
Food Insecurity
Food insecurity exists on a spectrum, ranging from uncertainty of where your next meal is coming from, having no food at all, to having an overabundance of non-nutritional foods.
Income
Higher rates of food insecurity occur for households living at or near the Federal Poverty Line. Black and Hispanic households have twice the rate of food insecurity as white households.
Impact
The food insecure suffer from higher rates of chronic disease and nutritional deficiencies. To provide more balanced meals, food pantries are asking for fresh produce.
Food Pantries
Fresh produce lasts only a few days when it arrives at food pantries. Using the ChiFresh system, we can extend the shelf life of fresh produce.
- Economic Impact
- $77.5 Billion
in additional health care expenditures annually
- Food Insecure
- 45 million Americans
15 million Children
- Innovative Solution
- ChiFresh:
Fresh Produce Truck
Chitosan Spray
Chitin Packaging
- Microbial production of
chitin & chitosan through - Chitin Secretion Cells
Our Creative Process
Human Practices
Our team reached out to local food pantries and food banks and identified the need in our community - preserving fresh produce.
Design
Our Design team designed the Chitin Secretion Cells for more sustainable and less expensive production of chitin and chitosan. The chitin and chitosan sourced from microbes can be used to develop protective coating and packaging that extends the shelf-life of fresh produce.
Model
Our Modeling Lead developed models for our Chitin Secretion Cells to predict the amount of chitin produced and the costs of microbial chitin production.
Implementation
Our Implementation Team focused on building and testing the Chitin Secretion Cells, formulating a growth medium made from brewer's spent yeast, and testing the shelf-life extension of a chitosan-based protective coating.