Food date labelling aims to provide consumers with information that can allow them to decide whether or not the food is safe to eat. However, these dates rarely accurately reflect the freshness of the food, resulting in significant quantities of safe food being thrown away, while at the same time, unsafe, “in date” food being eaten.
Currently there is no set methodology that defines how to calculate these dates. It is the seller’s responsibility to set the appropriate date mark, together with the storage instructions required to achieve that shelf life. However, these dates often fail to reflect the true freshness and safety status of the product.
In order to maintain consumer confidence, reduce waste and improve food safety, the food industry needs food labelling to accurately reflect the fresh and health status of the product, not arbitrary and predefined dates. This is where FreshInk comes in.
CHIMIGRAF has successfully prototyped and tested a commercial colour-code label which monitors the freshness and deterioration of packed fresh chicken. The label is printed with a pioneering ink formulation that reacts with metabolites produced by the poultry, as a result of its degradation process, which triggers a colour change in the ink. This colour change is correlated with the degree of spoilage of the packaged poultry products, providing retailers and consumers with a reliable means to get accurate, continuous information about the status of the fresh chicken meat they manage, purchase and eat.
The overall aim of the FreshInk is to launch commercially viable, duly protected and appropriately certified FreshInk labels into the market. During this phase 2 project, CHIMIGRAF will perform the necessary production line adaptations and industrial up scaling, certify that the labels meet appropriate regional and national regulations, demonstrate the labels benefits in operational conditions and prepare for commercialisation of the colour code freshness indicator label.
