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Photo credit: Gixie under a CC BY-SA 3.0 license.
Chances are, even if you’ve never heard of it, you use gum arabic every day. The dried tree sap is in everything from soft drinks to common candies like M&Ms—it’s in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, newspaper print, and even shoe polish. But now Asgar Ali, Director of the Centre of Excellence for Postharvest Biotechnology explains his research in giving the gum a new purpose: as an innovative, biodegradable coating that keeps food fresh for up to 20 days without refrigeration.
Special Initiative Fellow Lois Parshley will report on this topic for Mongabay in May of 2015.