The edible sensor could tell if frozen food had thawed during transport to the grocery store.
have written about working on edible sensor electronics, that could help tell when food has been tainted or refrozen, which could have severe consequences.The printed electronics market is heating up, with a $53.5 billion revenue stream in 2021, and is set to reach $103.8 billion by 2027. That is a growth rate of 16.56% from 2022 to 2027, just five years.
The idea that a sensor could be printed that would let a shopper know if meat was thawed, then refrozen, an occurrence with health risks. The ACS Sensor team has developed an edible sensor, made from food-grade materials, such as salt, red cabbage and beeswax, that can let a person know if food has been thawed, then refrozen.To create a sensor for frozen products, one solution could be to use materials with electrical properties that are altered upon melting.
The device was tested in frozen edible electrolyte solutions, including table salt and calcium-containing salts, as well as naturally electrolyte-rich foods, including a grape, melon, and apple. The solution was allowed to defrost, and they conducted a current between -58F and 32F, which the researchers say would be fine-tuned, based on the amount and type of salt.The next phase was to connect the device to a color-changing system. This contained tin and gold electrodes and red cabbage juice.