Methods for Producing Vegetables and Fruits Fortified with Water-Soluble Active Ingredients Pressure-Driven Internal Fortification

This patent describes a process for fortifying fresh vegetables and fruits with water-soluble active ingredients, using pressure to drive the active substances uniformly into the plant tissue rather than coating the surface or requiring genetic modification.

The Problem

Adding nutrients, sweeteners or functional compounds to fresh produce is harder than it sounds. Surface coating washes off, oxidises, and changes the appearance of the product. Genetic modification is regulated, expensive, and consumer-sensitive. Conventional vacuum or osmotic infusion can drive a solute into the outer layers of a fruit or vegetable but tends to produce uneven distribution, with high concentrations near the surface and almost nothing reaching the interior. The result is a product that does not deliver a consistent dose of the intended ingredient and that often loses textural or visual quality from the infusion process. A method that distributes a water-soluble active ingredient uniformly throughout a fresh fruit or vegetable, while keeping the substrate intact, would unlock a category of fortified produce that has not been commercially achievable at scale.

What This Invention Does

The invention applies pressure to fresh vegetables and fruits while they are immersed in or in contact with a solution containing the chosen water-soluble active ingredient. The pressure differential drives the active solution into the substrate uniformly, so that a high concentration of the ingredient is held inside the tissue rather than just on the surface. The disclosed cycle parameters cover pressure profile, contact time, and active-ingredient concentration. The patent calls out, as a specific example, the ability to raise the sugar content of vegetables or fruits to at least 18 Brix, but the same approach can be applied to other water-soluble actives such as vitamins, minerals, plant extracts or functional carbohydrates.

The product is a piece of fresh produce that looks and handles like its untreated counterpart but carries a controlled, internal dose of the desired active ingredient.

Key Features

• Pressure-driven internal infiltration. Pressure forces the active solution into the interior of the fruit or vegetable, producing uniform distribution rather than surface concentration.
• Compatible with diverse water-soluble actives. The method works for sugars, vitamins, minerals, herbal extracts, and other water-soluble functional ingredients.
• Demonstrated sweetness fortification. A worked example raises sugar content in vegetables or fruits to at least 18 Brix, which is meaningful for products such as fortified tomatoes, carrots, or fruit slices.
• Substrate kept intact. The process operates on whole produce without homogenising or disassembling the substrate.
• Non-GMO category fit. Because the modification is applied externally rather than at the genome level, the fortified produce can be marketed without genetic-modification labelling or regulatory burden.

Who Is Behind It?

The applicant and named inventor is In Ho Oh, an individual based in Korea. The Australian application is a divisional of AU 2021452738. The Australian patent agent is Pipers Intellectual Property in Auckland.

Why It Matters

Functional foods are one of the largest growth categories in packaged food, but the fresh-produce aisle has stayed mostly outside that trend because fresh fruits and vegetables resist standard fortification techniques. A pressure-driven process that puts a measured dose of a vitamin, mineral, or low-glycemic sweetness booster inside the product, without touching its appearance or shelf life, opens a new product space: fortified strawberries, vitamin-loaded leafy greens, or naturally-presented produce with a defined functional benefit. The Australian filing positions the IP in a market with active fresh-produce export industries.

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AU 2026201816 was published in the Australian Official Journal of Patents on 9 April 2026 and is open for public inspection. Patent applications represent inventions that are sought to be protected and do not necessarily reflect commercially available products.