Innoscentia
Currently about 19% of all meat produced is wasted before reaching the consumer and the negative environmental impact of this wasted part represents more than 1,5 times the emissions from the aviation industry. About 10% of the total waste in the meat industry can be derived from confusion or poor use of best before dates resulting in waste to a value of 20 billion USD annually on a global scale. Innoscentia develops smart sensors labels to help solve this.
The basis of the sensors is an ink with the ability to measure gas concentration within a food package. The gas concentration has a direct correlation with the bacterial growth and can therefore provide an indication of the freshness of the product.
The labels aim to prolong the shelf life of meat products and activate the full consumption period resulting in less waste. A prolonged shelf life of only 2 days could reduce retail waste with up to 50% and household waste with up to 60% which would result in massive benefits.