December 13 2006, 12:23

Russian equivalent of SmartFresh?

According to the participants of third international conference “Fruits and Vegetables of Ukraine 2006 - Open Market”, which took place in Kiev on December 5th-6th, SmartFresh technology won’t be the only one of this kind on the Russian market. A similar technology has already been patented in Russia under the name Fitomag (www.fitomag.com). It was presented in Kiev by prof. Vladimir Gutkowski, working at All-Russian Research Institute of Genetics and Breeding of Fruit Crops in Miczurinsk and at the same time for Fitomag Company.

According to Gutkowski, Fitomag works as ethylene blocker and can be used for apples, pears, plums, apricots, peaches, bananas, kiwi, tomatoes, cucumbers, as well as for ornamental plants. Russian scientist told, that using of Fitomag can help extend the storage of fresh produce by 2-10 months, depending on type of fruits and vegetables and storage technology.

Fitomag's formulation is patented in Russia (patent # 2267477 and # 2267272 from 01.07.2004), but many questions remain without answers. It is unknown if Fitomag has passed all necessary tests and if it is registered in Russia for use with fruits and vegetables?

On the other hand SmartFresh is already registered in as many as 25 countries and is currently in commercial use mostly for apples, but also for bananas, melons, and tomatoes. SmartFresh experts are already working on registration process in Russia, but with respect to all regulations required by law.