Olga Dubey founded the Swiss startup Agrosustain with the intention of developing a natural alternative to chemical pesticides to fight mold. She shares how it all started and her company’s plans to end the massive amounts of food waste that mold is responsible for.
“Mold is everywhere, so it’s something that is very hard to control,” said Dubey, pointing out that every year, mold causes a loss of $60B in the form of food that has to go to waste before it can even reach the customer.
While in some countries mold is combated with chemical pesticides, these compounds pose a risk to the environment and to human health. In the EU, many of these pesticides are banned. “We need an alternative solution to reduce food waste,” urged Dubey.