Oprah-backed Apeel wants to help grocers peer into their produce Kim Chipman, Bloomberg News LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 13: Oprah Winfrey attends the European Premiere of 'A Wrinkle In Time' at BFI IMAX on March 13, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by John Phillips/John Phillips/Getty Images) Photographer: John Phillips/Getty Images Europe , Photographer: John Phillips/Getty Images Europe A startup that counts Oprah Winfrey among its backers is offering a new way to let grocers know when produce will be past peak as part of its attempt to stamp out food waste. Apeel Sciences Inc., the agriculture-technology company that began nine years ago with a US$100,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and is now valued at more than US$1 billion, is moving into the next phase of founder James Rogersâ vision to solve the US$2.6 trillion problem of discarded food.