Imperial academics have developed low-cost, smartphone-linked, eco-friendly spoilage sensors for meat and fish packaging.
These sensors are cheap enough that we hope supermarkets could use them within three years – Dr Firat GüderDepartment of Bioengineering
The researchers say the new sensors could help detect spoilage and reduce food waste for supermarkets and consumers.
One in three UK consumers throw away food solely because it reaches the use-by date, but sixty per cent (4.2 million tonnes) of the £12.5 billion-worth of food we throw away each year is safe to eat.
These new laboratory prototype sensors, developed at Imperial College London, cost two US cents each to make. Known as ‘paper-based electrical gas sensors’ (PEGS), they detect spoilage gases like ammonia and trimethylamine in meat and fish products.
The sensor data can be read by smartphones, so that people can hold their phone up to the packaging to see whether the food is safe to eat.
Dr Firat Güder‘s team at Imperial’s Department of Bioengineering, made the sensors by printing carbon electrodes onto readily available cellulose paper.
The materials are biodegradable and nontoxic, so they don’t harm the environment and are safe to use in food packaging. The sensors are combined with ‘near field communication (NFC)’ tags – a series of microchips that can be read by nearby mobile devices.
During laboratory testing on packaged fish and chicken, PEGS picked up trace amounts of spoilage gases quickly and more accurately than existing sensors, at a fraction of their price.
The researchers say the sensors could also eventually replace the ‘use-by’ date – a less reliable indicator of freshness and edibility. Lower costs for retailers may also eventually lower the cost of food for consumers.
Dr Güder said: “Although they’re designed to keep us safe, use-by dates can lead to edible food being thrown away. In fact, use-by dates are not completely reliable in terms of safety as people often get sick from foodborne diseases due to poor storage, even when an item is within its use-by.
“Citizens want to be confident that their food is safe to eat, and to avoid throwing food away unnecessarily because they aren’t able to judge its safety. These sensors are cheap enough that we hope supermarkets could use them within three years.
“Our vision is to use PEGS in food packaging to reduce unnecessary food waste and the resulting plastic pollution.”
Learn more: Food freshness sensors could replace ‘use-by’ dates to cut food waste
The Latest on: Spoilage sensors
via Google News
The Latest on: Spoilage sensors
- The Worldwide Weigh-In-Motion System Industry is Projected to Reach $1.7 Billion by 2027 at a CAGR of 10.5% from 2020on April 9, 2021 at 11:48 am
For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 ...
- Trucking braces for impact of new food safety lawon April 8, 2021 at 5:00 pm
“You can use sensors to get temperature readings at the ... the need for better cargo-specific information, he notes. Food spoilage in transit is also “a huge issue.” Approximately 5 to ...
- Sensor Hub Market - Global Industry Analysis, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2021-2027on March 31, 2021 at 7:54 am
The Sensor Hub Market size is expected to grow at an annual average of 17% during 2021-2027. A sensor hub is a connection point for multiple sensors that use a coprocessor, digital signal ...
- Food chemistryon March 26, 2021 at 5:00 pm
Solid-state potentiometric sensor for the rapid assay of the biologically active biogenic amine (tyramine) as a marker of food spoilage.
- Vacuum Sealers Market: Analysis, Growth By Top Companies, Trends By Types, Competitive Landscape, Application, Forecast To 2020-2027on March 25, 2021 at 5:53 am
The food service operation is highly concerned about reducing food spoilage and wastage and vacuum sealers not just save the product from spoilage but keeps it safe for consumption. The growing ...
- Meet Plant-Ag, the $9 billion startup that will let you trace your food from field to plateon March 15, 2021 at 5:14 am
a plastic container with a full RFID tag), and wifi-enabled miniature mass spectrometers (the SCiO Sensor)—often to middling results. Instead, Plant-Ag is trying to fix the broken system in one ...
- Accidentally Trashed, Thawed Or Expired: Reports Of COVID Vaccine 'Spoilage' Growon March 4, 2021 at 6:57 am
As the speed of COVID vaccinations picks up, so do the reports of doses going to waste. And it's more than just a handful at the end of the day because of a few appointment cancellations.
- TrustPlace Announces IoT Partnership with Industry Leader Monniton March 3, 2021 at 6:55 am
The addition of Monnit Sensors to TrustPlace helps these companies ... This improves food safety and quality, reduces spoilage, and keeps operators compliant with Hazard Analysis Critical Control ...
- The IoT insurance market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 40% over the forecast period (2021-2026)on February 26, 2021 at 1:42 am
utm_source=GNW The growing adoption of digital technologies across various end-user industries and advancements in devices or sensors for collecting data ... including the industry’s first and only ...
via Bing News