Norwegian technology could help cut food waste

A company based out of Norway may have found an effective way to cut food waste.

TimeTemp AS has created a new shelf-life indicator for food products.

As the company explains, food retailers discard tons of food each year. But much of that food is discarded unnecessarily – and it’s often due to the way expiry dates work now.

Food processors have little control over their products throughout the supply chain.

So as a precautionary measure they often give their products a shorter shelf life.

As a result, food is often disposed of when it’s really perfectly edible.

How the new technology works
TimeTemp’s new technology can more precisely measure the quality of food products.

In addition to factoring in time, the self-adhesive label factors in the temperature the product is exposed to as it travels through each step of the supply chain.

The label will tell retailers and consumers if the product has been kept at the right temperature from the time it was made and can tell consumers how to store the product at home.

A story on FoodProductionDaily.com reports that the label contains non-toxic chemicals that react and change colour according to time and temperature.

The chemical reaction is activated at the time of packaging.

The reaction shows retailers and consumers how much time is left before the product expires – and it’s all based on the actual degradation of the product.