New Trial Aims To Keep British Strawberries Premium From Field To Fridge

A new commercial-scale pilot involving LiVA Biotechnology, Dyson Farming and a leading UK retailer could help British strawberry growers protect premium fruit quality, reduce waste and preserve returns through the supply chain.

LiVA Biotechnology and Dyson Farming have announced the next stage of their collaboration following a structured trial programme carried out during winter 2025–26. The trials tested LiVA’s prebiotic bio-protection technology across Dyson Farming’s premium British strawberry operation.

The results showed that LiVA-treated strawberries maintained Dyson Farming’s premium quality standard from field dispatch through to retail arrival and into the consumer’s home.

Within two days of reaching the shelf, LiVA-treated fruit avoided the markdowns that can reduce grower returns as strawberries begin to deteriorate. By day six post-harvest, treated punnets delivered twice the proportion of harvest-fresh fruit compared with untreated controls.

The development is significant for a category where quality, shelf life and handling remain major commercial challenges. Strawberries are delicate and can be vulnerable to bruising, particularly as the industry moves towards greater use of robotics and automation.

Oskar Szymanski, Senior Technical Manager at Dyson Farming, said strawberries were “inherently delicate” and that traditional picking and packing remained heavily reliant on manual handling.

He said Dyson Farming’s focus was shifting towards robotic harvesting and advanced automation to improve consistency, efficiency and handling precision across the supply chain.

However, he added that even with highly controlled growing conditions and automated systems, minor surface bruising remained almost unavoidable. Historically, this has meant slowing production lines to allow for manual re-inspection, affecting output and increasing food waste.

“With the integration of LiVA alongside automated processes, we can introduce a new level of confidence,” Szymanski said.

He added that robotics and automation would eventually enable faster and more consistent handling, while LiVA provided “an added layer of protection at the fruit level”.

LiVA’s patented prebiotic formulation works by activating the beneficial microbiome already present on the fruit’s surface. According to the company, this helps outcompete spoilage organisms, suppress humidity-mediated decay and stabilise fruit through the physical stresses of modern logistics.

The technology is currently applied as a drop-in sticker, with plans for it eventually to move into a printed solution applied at packing. The system requires no capital expenditure and no major changes to existing packing processes.

Ifat Peled Dinstag, CEO and co-founder of LiVA Biotechnology, said Dyson Farming was “exactly the kind of partner you want when you are bringing a new technology to market”, pointing to its growing standards and willingness to test innovation.

She said LiVA was designed to make it possible to produce more, maintain high standards and avoid compromising on taste or quality. She added that the UK was a market that took both premium produce and sustainability seriously.

The commercial pilot will run across Dyson Farming’s strawberry operation during the 2026 British winter strawberry season, with further details on its scale and scope expected to be announced in due course.

LiVA currently has active pilots across five markets and four continents, covering strawberries and bell peppers. The company said the UK was a strategic priority market because of its high-quality growing practices, retailer standards and sustainability ambitions.