Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/769560
www.goodfruit.com Good Fruit Grower JANUARY 15, 2017 25 Centerpiece F or decades, food companies have used nata- mycin as a preservative in meats, cheeses and baked goods. Though the compound gets its share of controversy, it's been relatively safe and effective. Now, a Dutch chemical giant and Pace International of Wapato, Washington, are teaming up to use the same substance in the fruit industry as a postharvest fungi- cide with virtually zero propensity for resistance. It may even qualify for organic certification on apples, pears, cherries, stone fruit and citrus, though one researcher cautioned that researchers still have a lot to learn about the product. So, Good Fruit Grower asked the obvious question: Why did no one think of this before? Turns out, they did. The Dutch company Royal DSM that makes the natamycin tried the compound, often called pimaricin, on fruits and vegetables in the 1970s and 1980s. It worked in the lab, but the company tabled the idea because costs were too high and demand was low for nontoxic alternatives to the synthetic chemicals that Natamycin emerges as a possible nontoxic postharvest fungicide. by Ross Courtney photos by TJ Mullinax an old place Richard Kim creates a suspension of Botrytis cinerea fungus from an in-house sample of the fungus stored at Pace International's lab. Soft Bing cherries inoculated with Botrytis cinerea fungus spores. The cherries are one week beyond commercial grade maturity and are part of a natamycin trial of cherries during several different stages of maturity. Botrytis cinerea begins to show signs two to three days after infection.