Are you the type to smell the milk just to make sure it hasn’t expired before you chug it straight from the carton? Etiquette failures aside, there’s some good news for you, buddy. A new smart food labelingsystem could save you that smell test.
Engineers at the University of Alberta are fine-tuning a new type of smart label that will change colors to notify you if the food has gone bad. As a consumer, you won’t notice a difference in the packaging as it will look virtually the same. However, the main upgrade will be that the label will change from blue to white or cloudy if the food is filled with bacteria.
There’s a number of reasons it could go bad ranging from previous contamination, like a spread of Salmonella, to the food simply expiring. At the same time, expiry dates aren’t always accurate as eggs tend to last much longer than the label indicates while other foods can become bacteria beds long before the expiry date -- especially if not properly stored.
The challenge for most of us is that with certain foods it’s hard to tell if they’ve become infested with bacteria. Sometimes there will be a clear discoloration or a noticeably pungent smell, but some food items don’t give us the signs. And then there’s the fact that we’re just hungry and don’t want to waste money or time, so we’ll try to push the boundaries of expirations since it’s right in front of us to eat. In any case, this would be a huge help when fridge surfing, and if you’re a single male bachelor this could single-handedly save you upset stomach and food poisoning at least a couple of times a year.
While the researchers are first focusing on food safety in terms of expiry and contamination, it’s only a matter of time before smart food labeling expands to other realms. There’s a big push to get better labeling on grocery store products -- especially in the United States with GMO’s -- and while we hear lots about smarter labeling, it’s often this type of “smart” that we’re referring to.
This is just the start, but there are smart labels in the works that involve technology where you can scan with your phone to get ingredients and quickly understand what they are. We’ve seen some apps pop up to try and help the consumer out, such as GoodGuide. They provide a different type of safety with reviews on what’s really inside the product and whether it’s detrimental to your health. Consumers are becoming hungrier for transparency from food corporations, so that we know exactly what we’re getting when we’re shopping -- especially as the gluten-free and GMO-avoiding crowds continue to include greater numbers.
This is a three-year project that in its second year, but the results are fairly positive so far. One of the last steps is to make this affordable enough so that food corporations get on board. It’s not expected to be a huge hurdle not just because they want to please the consumer. They’re interested because they’ll be able to save money in terms of food recalls by catching the problem early.
Engineers at the University of Alberta are fine-tuning a new type of smart label that will change colors to notify you if the food has gone bad. As a consumer, you won’t notice a difference in the packaging as it will look virtually the same. However, the main upgrade will be that the label will change from blue to white or cloudy if the food is filled with bacteria.
There’s a number of reasons it could go bad ranging from previous contamination, like a spread of Salmonella, to the food simply expiring. At the same time, expiry dates aren’t always accurate as eggs tend to last much longer than the label indicates while other foods can become bacteria beds long before the expiry date -- especially if not properly stored.
The challenge for most of us is that with certain foods it’s hard to tell if they’ve become infested with bacteria. Sometimes there will be a clear discoloration or a noticeably pungent smell, but some food items don’t give us the signs. And then there’s the fact that we’re just hungry and don’t want to waste money or time, so we’ll try to push the boundaries of expirations since it’s right in front of us to eat. In any case, this would be a huge help when fridge surfing, and if you’re a single male bachelor this could single-handedly save you upset stomach and food poisoning at least a couple of times a year.
While the researchers are first focusing on food safety in terms of expiry and contamination, it’s only a matter of time before smart food labeling expands to other realms. There’s a big push to get better labeling on grocery store products -- especially in the United States with GMO’s -- and while we hear lots about smarter labeling, it’s often this type of “smart” that we’re referring to.
This is just the start, but there are smart labels in the works that involve technology where you can scan with your phone to get ingredients and quickly understand what they are. We’ve seen some apps pop up to try and help the consumer out, such as GoodGuide. They provide a different type of safety with reviews on what’s really inside the product and whether it’s detrimental to your health. Consumers are becoming hungrier for transparency from food corporations, so that we know exactly what we’re getting when we’re shopping -- especially as the gluten-free and GMO-avoiding crowds continue to include greater numbers.
This is a three-year project that in its second year, but the results are fairly positive so far. One of the last steps is to make this affordable enough so that food corporations get on board. It’s not expected to be a huge hurdle not just because they want to please the consumer. They’re interested because they’ll be able to save money in terms of food recalls by catching the problem early.
No comments:
Post a Comment