The NutriLight can’t make your produce last forever, but it’s pretty close. The fridge lighting system, developed by Electrolux, uses “a patented fixed wave treatment that evenly distributes light around the crisper to boost the vitamin content of fruits and vegetables,” according to the company.
The energy-efficient NutriLight only pours beneficial ray-beams onto your veggies, not UV or ultrared rays that would suck out the vitamins. (Vitamin C and antioxidants dwindle in fruits and vegetables within a few days.) With this fridge, “essentially, synthetic photosynthesis is occurring in your crisper drawer,” as Modern Farmer puts it.
Leafy greens like spinach and kale see the most benefit, due to their thinness and surface area. (I know, the idea that kale could get any healthier blows our mind too.) Our food system still needs major retooling, but by extending the life of produce, the NutriLight has cool implications for people in food deserts.
The only downside is that the NutriLight is only available in Asia. That’s because of cultural differences: Shoppers there often get their produce directly from the farmer, so it’s often exposed to the elements and decays faster. Maybe if we all shop more at farmers markets, the NutriLight will come to the U.S. as well. Or maybe I should just start growing stuff in my backyard.
