Imec has come up with a flexible tag which can be attached to food products to monitor their freshness. It is expected to be introduced commercially this year.
The tag took three years to develop in the pan-European CATRENE-Pasteur project and was funded by Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.
The tag combines radio frequency identification (RFID) with multiple sensors and attaches to bulk transportation containers to give a realistic, continuously updated estimate of how long the food they contain will stay fresh. This could help food distributors optimise their supply chain to minimise the amount of food that is spoiled before it reaches the retailer.
Multiple studies have found that around 40-50% of all food produced is wasted, with around 10-15% of global food production wasted in the cold supply chain alone. This has a huge impact on food costs and the world's ability to feed itself.
