The barcode, found on all products has always been useful for price and quantity information in the market, at least in the eyes of consumers. Today, in its evolved form of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), it represents the endpoint of a long sequence of information collected from the production site to the point of sale.

Additionally, the adoption of predictive technologies and blockchain enables the monitoring, recording, and reporting of the movement of goods throughout the value chain, identifying critical areas. Blockchain technology can serve as a digital ledger, which is useful for producers to immediately check and intervene in cases where a product may have undergone inappropriate treatment.

A concrete example is the latest waste reduction mechanisms, such as compressed air systems, which have evolved to remove only individual non-conforming products, whereas previously an entire production line was discarded along the conveyor belt’s width. By monitoring the filling machines upstream, it is also possible to discard non-conforming products and automatically adjust the connected filling machine, thus avoiding downstream waste.

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At the point of sale, the adoption of materials that allow better and extended food preservation without the use of preservatives is strategic for food retailers. These materials create a barrier against humidity, air, microorganisms, vibrations, and impacts.

Today, the role of food packaging is evolving from passive packaging that serves only as a barrier to active packaging that interacts with products by absorbing oxygen or releasing antioxidants and antimicrobials.

An example of this is the NanoPack project, funded by the European Union. It involves a film with antimicrobial properties that releases small amounts of essential oils capable of extending the shelf life of food up to three weeks.

A step further in reducing food waste is the use of IoT technology. Smart packaging, smart refrigeration, and food quality monitoring are among the most common technologies that improve refrigeration systems by continuously monitoring temperature and humidity levels to maintain ideal storage conditions. Remote monitoring is another advantage offered by IoT technologies, which are useful for both food storage and energy efficiency in storage facilities or transport vehicles equipped with refrigeration systems.

The fight against food waste in supermarkets could benefit from the Wasteless system, which uses digital labels that automatically update prices based on product inventory, making products closer to their expiration dates cheaper.

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For consumers who struggle to keep track of supermarket product expiration dates, technology can be of assistance in terms of packaging and the use of cutting edge appliances.

One approach is to cover food with transparent and edible films to extend their shelf life. Projects like Apeel use natural substances (fruit and vegetable peels, seeds, and pulp) to create an extra protective layer for fruits and vegetables, preventing oxidation and maintaining the right level of moisture. A similar approach is found in the use of spray film made of nanofibers derived from solid waste products from fruit juice extraction.

Equally effective are smart packaging solutions that “understand” when food has gone bad by detecting changes in the internal environment. As the product ages, the air inside the package becomes more acidic (or basic), causing a change in the packaging’s color.

Smart fridges, on the other hand, are designed to monitor their contents. Thanks to internal cameras connected to mobile devices, consumers can check if a specific food item has run out, preventing unnecessary purchases that would otherwise lead to waste.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems (Enas) have developed an app connected to a portable infrared spectrometer that uses various wavelengths of light to recognize the characteristic spectrum of each sample, whether it’s food or medicine. If the spectrum doesn’t match the expected one, it indicates that the food is no longer fresh.

One of the causes of food waste is the confusion surrounding expiration dates. To address this issue, there are various types of smart labels under development that indicate whether food is still fresh or not. For example, Mimica Touch is a British label that reacts to temperature and provides real-time information about the freshness of meat, dairy, or fruit juices. The Italian startup Safer Smart Labels has also developed labels to be applied to meat and fish packaging, which detect the atmosphere around protein-based foods and use a color scale to indicate their freshness.

To answer the question of what we throw away, a technology from Winnow Solutions has developed trash bins for restaurant and canteen kitchens equipped with cameras placed on top. Using optical recognition and artificial intelligence, images are processed, and with the help of a connected digital scale, everything that is discarded can be weighed, recognized, and automatically categorized. Data is collected and analyzed, allowing kitchens to know which foods are wasted, at what times during the day or week, what the economic losses are, and more.

In turn, a product called AgriDust, born from the idea of the Italian designer Marina Ceccolini, is revolutionizing the world of 3D printing. AgriDust uses food waste, such as mandarin peels, coffee grounds, peanut shells, bean pods, and the peels of tomatoes, lemons, and oranges. Mixed with potato starch in a combination of 64.5% waste and 35.5% starch, these common waste products have proven to be effective 3D printable materials.