Clever food idea unwrapped

Money saving tips regularly advise people to take their own lunch to work to save money, but keeping food fresh is often an uphill battle.

However, the concept of fresh food has entered new territory, with the development of a new type of “intelligent” plastic indicator that changes colour to warn when food has exceeded its best-before date, has been poorly refrigerated, or has broken or damaged packaging.

Engineered by scientists at Scotland’s University of Strathclyde, the product is intended to reduce food waste by millions of tonnes.

The indicator can be used as a type of packaging known as modified atmosphere packaging, which prolongs the shelf life of food.

Previously, freshness indicators took the form of labels inserted into a package, but the researchers say they developed an indicator that is part of the packaging itself, as this will be much less expensive to produce.

Professor Andrew Mills says: “At the moment, we throw out far too much food, which is environmentally and economically damaging… We hope that this will reduce the risk of people eating food which is no longer fit for consumption and help prevent unnecessary waste of food.”

Clever packaging is just one way in which we can reduce our waste and make our money stretch further. What other food initiatives are waiting to be unwrapped by an Australian start-up that could aid the demand for sustainable living?