Food is Spoiled! No More Guessing

Nowadays, expiration dates on food packaging is the norm. Yet, how often have you bought food with an expiration day way into the future, just to find out it is already spoiled? How long will it last, when the package has been opened? In reality, how reliable are those expiration dates? Aren't there circumstances that can change the expiration of food items? These are questions consumers have to ask themselves when purchasing food products. Some don't even look at the expiration date thinking if the store still has the item on the shelf it must be good for immediate consumption. Is it really? A new electronic chip might provide the answer for each individual food product.

Expiration dates are usually set by manufacturers based on their experience in regards to when a certain type of product will usually spoil. To be sure, the expiration date is usually set a little bit earlier to avoid a rash of consumer complaints. However, there are sometimes circumstances that can greatly accelerate food spoilage. One of the main factors is temperature fluctuation during transport and storage of the food product, as well as exposure to moisture for goods that are supposed to be kept dry. The habit of setting an earlier than actual expiration date can compensate for such influences. But this is not always the case. However, until now there has been no cost-efficient method available to properly indicate food expiration for each individual food product.

Now a new indicator method for food expiration might be available in form of an electronic plastic chip. The chip was developed by scientists at the Institute for Physical Chemistry at the University of Muenster in Muenster, Germany, under the lead of Prof. Dr. Meinhard Knoll. The researchers named the chip PolyTaksys-Chip. If the chip is integrated in food packaging, it can measure the actual status of the food inside the package.

The chip is designed to measure the time passed since the food has been packaged. It also takes into consideration the temperature variations the food has been subjected to. The measurements are achieved through the utilization of organic substances on the chip. A bar line on the chip indicates how close the food actually is to its expiration date. If the chip determines that the food is expired, an additional warning message is displayed. If a consumer ignores or overlooks the warning message the scan at the cash register will sound an alarm

There have been other attempts at designing individual indicators. Most are based on color change mechanisms. However, these methods have turned out to be too costly and/or too unreliable for mass production and ease of use. This new chip is more like a foil and razor-thin. It can be easily integrated in normal food packaging. The materials to produce the chip are comparably cheap. Knoll indicates the cost per chip at just cents. In mass production, these chips should even be cheaper.