More than a billion tons of food are wasted every year around the globe, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization. Fresh fruit is nutritious, but also prone to being wasted. In Africa once fruit goes bad it often ends up being fed to goats and cows. In countries where millions of people are hungry and malnourished, this is a waste of precious nutrients and vitamins.

How can we save fruit from such a sad fate? It can be challenging to make a fruit product that has great taste and texture AND can sit on a shelf outside the fridge for a long time.

While working on his Master's degree, Matt Gammans obtained a student innovation grant from the Global Center for Food Systems Innovations at MSU to work on making fruit products in Ghana that have a long shelf life.

Photo: Matt Gammans