Smart Food Labels: Streamlining Food Safety and Sustainability

According to reports from Food Bank Australia, 7.6 million tonnes of food is wasted annually in the country. Unfortunately, 70 per cent of it is edible. This costs the Australian economy $36 billion, which results in 17.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and wastes 2,600 gigalitres of water used for the production of food. Currently, there are very few reliable indicators for real-time monitoring of food quality other than the expiry date. An intelligent packaging system monitors the food packet or surrounding environment, provides information about the function and properties of the food packet, and ensures food safety by signalling food spoilage. However, dye-based colourimetric sensors currently employed in intelligent packaging devices are composed of indicators with natural limitations like narrow colour change range, easily degraded by UV radiation, and inconsistent results due to interference of stimuli like temperature, pH, and lipids. To overcome these limitations, we propose photonic crystal sensors. These sensors are expected to change colour when gases like volatile amines or organic solvents are released from spoiled fish or meat packets. An innovation to improve food safety and reduce food waste.