Combining time frame and temperature: Reduce waste with shelf-life indicator for food
Norwegian food retailers discard over 50,000 tonnes of food annually - much of it of perfectly good quality. New technology from Norway could substantially reduce this wastefulness.
Conventional marking of expiry dates is the problem. Temperature-sensitive food products are marked with a use-by date to indicate how long the item will retain its quality. But the quality of food products is determined by more than just time frame - temperature is also a critical factor.
Food producers at present have little control over the temperatures their goods are exposed to throughout the value chain, so they mark their products with a short shelf life just to be on the safe side. This practice sends a great many perfectly fine products to the rubbish bin.
Billions wasted
Figures from Statistics Norway show that Norwegian grocery shops, households, restaurants and institutions throw out food worth over NOK 10 billion every year.
"When we consider that a billion people around the world are starving, this is a massive waste of resources we cannot allow ourselves to continue," asserts Christian Salbu Aasland. He is head of TimeTemp AS, a technology company with roots at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB) in Ås, Norway.
Accurate indicator
Through innovative research, TimeTemp has developed a new method of more precisely measuring the freshness of food items: a shelf-life indicator attached directly to the product. In addition to time, the company's device also factors in the temperatures to which the item has been exposed.