WikiPearl by WikiFoods Inc. has been named a 2015 finalist in the food packaging & beverage category by the Edison Awards, an annual awards program that recognizes innovation, creativity and ingenuity worldwide.
WikiPearls are bite-sized pieces of various foods that use part of the food or other food-based ingredients as a protective outer coating. From the WikiFoods website, it appears many foods can reduced to bite-sized pieces and then wrapped with a coating made from natural, edible, biodegradable foods and nutrients.
"The skin is a protective electrostatic gel formed by harnessing interactions between natural food particles, nutritive ions and a polysaccharide," the website explains. "Through this proprietary and patent-pending technology, the skin becomes more impermeable to water and oxygen than other edible skins available."
The site lists ice cream, yogurt, cheese, fruits and vegetables as examples of products that have been prototyped. Their perishability, even the melting of ice cream, is forestalled by the coating. The company says the "packaging" is "inspired by nature's own packaging of fruits and vegetables."
"Our recipe creates a unique menu of benefits:
- Portable
- Plastic-free
- Environmentally friendly
- Enables portion control
- Opens up new usage occasions
- Delivers functional nutrition
- Creates unique flavor combinations
- Fun – It's okay to play with your food."
WikiFoods (www.wikipearl.com), a division of Quantum Designs LLC, is "pioneering a future of food that aligns indulgence, health and sustainability. The transformative WikiPearl food and nutrition delivery technology is designed to radically improve and redefine delicious experiences, functionality and sustainability," the Edison Awards release says.
The company was founded in 2012 by Harvard professor Dr. David Edwards and remains based in Cambridge, Mass.
The Edison Awards (www.edisonawards.com) is a program conducted by Edison Universe, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization "dedicated to fostering future innovators [and] inspired by Thomas Edison's persistence and inventiveness." Nominees are judged by more than 3,000 senior business executives and academics from across the nation. Award winners will be announced April 23 at the Edison Awards Annual Gala in New York City.
