Sensors for use in retail packaging to detect the ripeness of fruit and vegetables are being developed through EU funded research led by Switzerland’s Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), with the UK represented in a consortium by the Universities of Manchester and Sheffield, The Engineer reports.
The FlexSmell project will focus on integrating low-cost, energy efficient olfaction systems into plastics substrates that can be mass produced through ‘roll to roll’ manufacturing methods.
The technology will be aimed at packaged products and for use during the transportation of produce. Ensuring the robustness of the system’s sensors, electronics and an antenna capable of sending data wirelessly, will be among the challenges, according to principal investigator Danick Briand, team leader of EPFL’s SAMLAB (The Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Laboratory).
The sensors will measure temperature and humidity and other markers that signal produce quality such as levels of ethylene gas and hexanol, which indicate ripeness and deterioration in food.
The FlexSmell team sees information being sent wirelessly using RFID in food transportation. In retail packaging, it is foreseen this technology could lead to ‘smart perishable dates’ on product wrapping.
The introduction of such systems is some five to 10 years away, say the researchers.
