Does Bill Gates have any connection with Apeel Sciences? Michelle Pfeiffer critiques the food tech brand as it receives FDA approval

Michelle Pfeiffer slammed Apeel Sciences, a brand once backed by Bill Gates. On Thursday (July 10, 2025), the Oscar-nominated actress stated in her Instagram stories that the FDA-approved food tech brand's edible food spray, which is meant to extend the shelf life of food, was supposedly unwashable.

Pfeiffer called the product "concerning" and listed stores that don't use the brand's food spray on their produce, including Costco, Trader Joe's, Publix, and Natural Grocers, among others.

"Apeel (an edible, plant-based coating designed to extend the shelf life of fresh fruits and vegetables) was just approved and now 'organic' produce is coated in something we cannot see or wash off. Very concerning," the actress wrote.

According to the New York Post's July 11, 2025, report, Apeel Sciences is no longer connected with Bill Gates. However, when it was founded in 2012 by CEO James Rogers, he received backing from the billionaire's foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Apeel Sciences reportedly got nearly $1.1 million in investment from the foundation

As of now, the company is receiving backing from venture capitalist Andreessen Horowitz. On June 3, 2025, Apeel Sciences' cofounder Jenny Du told Food&Wine that their food sprays are edible and washable.

She stated that the ingredients used to make the spray can be found in the peels of fruits and vegetables. Du claimed their products help to extend the shelf life of avocados, mangoes, apples, lemons, etc.

"Apeel didn't create these ingredients. These are existing ingredients in our foods. All we did was use them in a different way," Jenny Du stated.

 

 

 

 

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Bill Gates has previously stated that plant-based meat is "the future"

In January 2023, in a Reddit Q&A, Bill Gates shared that he invested in various mock meat companies, such as Memphis Meats, which is now known as Upside Foods, Impossible Foods, and Beyond Meat, so that people can divert from beef to plant-based meat.

The billionaire shared that this would help reduce methane emissions, and he believed mock meat would improve in quality in the future.

"There are companies making "beef" in new ways and people working to still use cows but reduce the methane emissions. I have backed a number of innovators in this space including Beyond and Impossible and Memphis. I think eventually these products will be very good even though their share is small today," Gates wrote.

In September 2023, Bill Gates shared in his podcast, Unconfuse Me, that he believed that plant-based food would be "the future." Gates again brought up climate change as he told his guest, musician Ahmir Thompson, who is also known as Questlove, that cows and fertiliser are one of the big causes behind methane emissions.

"Something told me plant-based is going to be the future, and I want to be the person that plants the seed," the billionaire stated.

For the unversed, Bill Gates stepped down from Microsoft's chairman position in 2014. However, he still is the company's technology advisor. Gates is now involved in philanthropic work with his foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.