The startup that tried to fix food waste—and got hit by a disinformation campaign

Apeel was quickly growing until a wave of social media attacks spread by wellness influencers. Here’s how it survived. A few years ago, if you walked down the produce aisle in any major supermarket in the U.S., you might have seen a sticker on avocados or lemons that said “Apeel.” The label wasn’t from a grower, but from a company designed to fight food waste; by adding a food-safe, plant-based coating to the fruit, it’s possible to make it last days longer, so it’s less likely to end up in the trash.