SMART LABELS LAUNCHED TO HELP BUSINESSES REDUCE FOOD WASTE IN SUPPLY CHAIN

Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 | Author: Paul Sanderson

A new intelligent label that helps businesses know when to rotate food stock has been launched by Scotland’s Insignia Technologies.

When a Stock Rotation smart label is attached to a box or pallet of fresh produce, it starts to change colour over a pre-calibrated period of time.

This means that at any point in the supply chain it is possible to see how fresh the fruit, vegetables, meat or dairy goods are in the box.

The label is also temperature sensitive so will adjust depending on changes in temperature.

Insignia Technologies chief executive David Kilshaw said: “Between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of food produced globally never reaches the consumer. To keep up with the world’s ever increasing demand for food, the food sector must change the way it works now and reduce waste at every stage in the supply chain from farm to supermarket to consumer.

“The Stock Rotation label is the latest of the ground-breaking technologies we have developed, and will play a critical role in increasing industry efficiency and improving freshness with a low cost and easy to use product.”

Insignia’s patented technology is the outcome of five years research and development at the University of Strathclyde’s Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, followed by two years of further research in state-of-the-art laboratories at BioCity Scotland.

This launch follows on from Insignia Technologies first product which was an embedded label timer for food packaging to reduce food waste in domestic kitchens.