For many, the early months of the lockdown during the devastating corona pandemic became a blur of TV binge watching and excessive cake eating. For 23-year-old Maria Riquelme the time was instead spent in her kitchen trying to come up with a recipe to help tackle another major problem facing society: Food waste.
The Mexican native had a vision of creating an edible bioplastic coating that can slow down the degradation of strawberries after they are picked—an invention that could have massive potential in her homeland, which is one of the world's largest exporter of strawberries.
A bioplastic coating is a film that is usually made from biodegradable materials.
The work to develop the right formula was set to take place in the laboratories at DTU as Maria had been selected to do an internship under DTU's exchange programme with Tec de Monterrey in Mexico where the young woman was studying towards a bachelor's degree.
However, the pandemic scuppered those plans as the flow of students between the universities was put on standby. Undeterred, Maria instead decided to start conducting her experiments in the confines of her kitchen until she was able to resume her travel plans.
"Of course, it was not the same as doing it in lab, but it was something," Maria says with a smile.
