For the most part, expiration dates on packaged meat provide a safeguard between what's fresh and what's spoiled. However, corners can always be cut and dates can be forged, leading to scandals that can leave consumers feeling downright rotten. And who hasn't performed a suspicious sniff test on that forgotten pack of chicken breasts in the back of the fridge?
But all that second-guessing could become a thing of the past, now that researchers in Munich, Germany, have developed a new sensor film for food packages that changes color -- from yellow to blue -- when food spoils.
Developed by researchers at the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Modular Solid State Technologies (EMFT), the sensor film can be directly integrated into the insides of food packaging, where it responds to biogenic amines. Amines are the molecules produced when foods -- particularly meat and fish -- decay and are responsible for the foul smell.
When amines are released into the air within the new packaging, the sensor film reacts and the indicator dye changes to blue.
“Once a certain concentration range is reached, the color change is clearly visible and assumes the task of warning the consumer,” explained scientist Anna Hezinger in a press release for EMFT. “Unlike the expiration date, the information on the sensor film is not based on an estimate but on an actual control of the food itself."
Scientists are also developing sensor film with a built-in measurement module so employees in the food and packaging industries can directly test the freshness of food products. The module would objectively analyze the sensor film's color reaction and provide a more precise level of freshness.
Image: Fraunhofer EMFT
Tags: Design, Food, Food Unwrapped, Health, Inventions
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