Recent UN food report has estimated that about seven million tons of food is wasted in UK each year due to unreliable best before dates. To put an end to food wastage in such huge amounts, Solveiga Pakstaite, a research intern from Brunel University, has came up with bio-reactive labels called Bump Marks.
These labels are made of gelatin that degrades at the same rate as the food inside a package. Each label on a sealed food starts off smooth but over time develops bumps as gelatin decays. So, you can check the safety of food inside the package by swiping your finger over the label.
Pakstaite said in an interview,
The Bump Mark contains gelatin – a protein – that reacts to environmental conditions, like temperature and light and anything that affects food. Gelatin sets solid but it has this property that when it is fully expired it loses its structure.
Pakstaite bagged James Dyson Award and also won £2,000 (approx. US $3262) in prize money for this useful product design that is still patent pending. The label can be used for different foods from milk to meat, with varying expiring dates just by increasing or decreasing the concentration of gelatin depending on the type of food. These labels will surely help people across the globe to reduce excessive food wastage.
Bump Mark Label made out of gelatin base
Safety of the food can be checked with swipe of a finger over the gelatin label
Gelatin degrades at the same at as food
Credit: IBTimes
Leave a Reply