Patrick M. Ryan of Bartko Pavia LLP is lead counsel on behalf of Zest Labs, Inc. in a contentious trade secrets dispute against Walmart that has been pending in federal court in Arkansas. On May 13, 2025, a unanimous jury awarded Zest $222 million, comprising $72.7 million in compensatory and $150 million in punitive damages against Walmart.
Zest Labs Inc won $115 million from Walmart Inc in Arkansas federal court on its claims that Walmart stole a trade secret related to technology for reducing fresh food waste. A jury awarded Zest $60 million for trade secret misappropriation in a Friday verdict in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and an additional $50 million because the misappropriation was “willful and malicious.” The jury also awarded Zest $5 million for Walmart’s breach of a non-disclosure agreement.
A federal jury in Little Rock ruled that Walmart stole trade secrets from Agtech company Zest Labs, a breach that came with a $115 million judgement.
Walmart has been ordered to pay $115 million to a Silicon Valley agricultural technology company that sued the retailer, accusing it of misappropriation of confidential information and trade secrets related to development of Walmart’s “Eden” system, which is used to manage the freshness of produce and proteins.
Can the produce industry reignite the accelerated growth that defined the early part of the decade? WGB asked four major players in fresh produce: What do you see as the most important produce trend that will drive sales growth in 2020?
Several food companies are addressing the problem of food waste in the supply chain with an RFID-based solution known as Zest Fresh, provided by California company Zest Labs. The wireless sensors and cloud-based software help users to track the conditions of their temperature-sensitive products as they move from the field to the store, thereby identifying when conditions fall outside of acceptable parameters. The solution also provides predictive analytics to recommend corrective action when a temperature excursion is detected.
Year by year, global food traceability market revenue is rising. The market is expected to generate $22.27 billion by 2025. Companies have turned to technological solutions to improve their logistics, enhance customer experience, build long-term customer relationships and improve profits. They’re set to improve trust and transparency with specialized traceability solutions at the cross-over of IoT and blockchain technologies. For example, Zest Labs makes it possible to track food freshness during its delivery, resulting in better food supply management and estimated food waste reduction of over 50%.
Ag tech company Zest Labs has updated its Zest Fresh platform with three new modules to make it easier for suppliers, foodservice operators and retailers to test and deploy its offerings. Zest Fresh uses real-time data streaming and autonomously collected sensor data, which “empowers the IoT-enabled supply chain.”
AgroFresh Solutions, a provider of produce freshness solutions, and Zest Labs, an AgTech company focused on the post-harvest fresh food supply chain, are integrating their technologies to strengthen their end-to-end solutions. AgroFresh will incorporate Zest Labs’ Zest Fresh solution into its FreshCloud Transit Insights platform. The agreement will utilize both companies’ resources to help growers, packers and retailers increase visibility into produce shelf life and reduce food waste.
Like many other high tech advancements, IoT is at the forefront of innovation. Everyone wants a part of the IoT sphere, and many people don’t even realize the smart devices they’re using fall under the category. IoT, or the Internet of Things. The agtech (agriculture technology) industry has continuously embraced applications of artificial intelligence to help automate processes once done by hand. Knowing this, implementing IoT tools that are powered by AI helps small and large-scale agriculture companies keep a sharper eye on the output and quality of their produce.
AgroFresh has recently collaborated with Zest Labs to bolster its FreshCloud Transit Insights solution. “AgroFresh’s plant physiology expertise and decades of experience in the fresh produce industry, coupled with Zest Labs’ advanced technology, offers growers, distributors, and retailers a best-in-class solution. The collaboration offers customers unparalleled insights to help them make smart and timely decisions about transit, resulting in less waste, greater revenue, and maximum retail appeal.”
A recent study from Zest Labs about produce shelf life found that freshness varied significantly among products and stores. The study showed that the primary cause of food waste happens after harvest because of processing and harvest conditions. The Zest Labs study revealed that preventing food waste due to premature spoilage requires careful monitoring and evaluation. Finding a way to use the produce before it spoils is important.
Read our commentary on this article about the relationship and roles of preventing and repurposing food waste.
Zest Labs has announced the availability of new modularized components of its Zest Fresh™ solution for growers, packers, processors, shippers, restaurants and grocers. All modules are built on the Zest Fresh platform. The new modules are Zest Fresh | Insights, Zest Fresh | Metrics and Zest Fresh | Optima. The Zest Fresh platform provides fresh food companies across the supply chain with insights to improve operations and manage freshness at the pallet level.
“Zest Labs’ customers in the leafy greens industry face substantial challenges when it comes to making sure product is brought to market in time to ensure long shelf life,” says Peter Mehring, Zest Labs’ CEO. “Their challenge is the variability in harvest process and weather. Any variability in timing from how it is in the field, how it’s brought in, how it’s processed.”
AgroFresh Solutions Inc. and Zest Labs Inc. have a strategic collaboration, adding Zest Fresh’s ability to calculate and communicate the freshness of produce through the supply chain to the FreshCloud Transit Insights platform. The FreshCloud platform from AgroFresh is a “data-backed, insights-driven solution for monitoring produce quality” through the supply chain, and Zest Fresh is a post-harvest freshness management solution.
AgroFresh, the company working to optimize produce freshness along the supply chain, is incorporating Zest Lab’s platform into their own FreshCloud tracking technology. Agrofresh uses Zest’s platform to aggregate transit insights from produce shipments, after which it applies its own knowledge of biotechnology to decide how/where best to ship the order.
On this IoT For All podcast episode, Peter Mehring, Founder & CEO of Zest Labs discusses how IoT is augmenting the global fresh food supply chain. He also shares how IoT solutions improve labor utilization and reduce the impact of food waste. Peter reflects on his journey to starting Zest Labs and developing Zest Fresh— a solution that improves both food quality and product margins while reducing waste and benefiting the environment. In a nutshell, it modernizes the food distribution and delivery system.
AgroFresh Solutions, Inc.and Zest Labs™, Inc. announced today a strategic collaboration between AgroFresh and Zest Labs to strengthen their end-to-end solutions. AgroFresh will incorporate Zest Labs’ Zest Fresh™ solution into its FreshCloud™ Transit Insights platform. The agreement will utilize both companies’ resources and strengths to provide customers with a comprehensive solution that improves operations, increases visibility into produce shelf life and reduces food waste.
Produce shelf life can vary widely between supermarkets and about half of the products sampled in a recent study spoiled prematurely, according to new research from Zest Labs. Zest Labs has examined random samples of strawberry clamshells, hearts of romaine lettuce and packaged salad mixes purchased from eight major U.S. grocery store chains between February and May. The study -titled “Half-Bad Is Not Good”– found that the freshness “varied significantly” from store to store and within individual stores, leading to early spoilage.
Zest Labs™, an AgTech company modernizing the post-harvest fresh food supply chain, today released the results of new research study measuring and comparing the shelf-life (or freshness) of produce being sold at major grocery chain stores across the United States. The research found that the freshness of produce – specifically strawberries, romaine lettuce and packaged salad mixes – varied significantly from store to store as well as within each individual store. This shelf life variability causes early spoilage, which can disappoint consumers and result in costly retail waste.
