Scientists create sensor-based wrapper to monitor food freshness

Researchers have developed a sensor-integrated wrapper to track food quality and preservation. The technology helps monitor product freshness across farm-to-fork chains, including cold-chain logistics and storage, retail smart packaging, food safety screening, and meal-kit delivery. 

Scientists from Hanbat National University, Korea University, and Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, South Korea, have integrated a surface-enhanced Raman scattering sensor (SERS) into a stretchable and antimicrobial wrapper (NSSAW). 

Associate professor Ji-Hwan Ha, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Hanbat National University, says: “In cold-chain logistics and storage, the wrapper can help distributors decide when to ship and sell food by continuously tracking freshness and spoilage chemistry.”

“In retail smart packaging, its stretchable, conformal, and biocompatible nature enables non-destructive, on-package checks of quality and nutrition markers — without any damage to food — supporting point-of-sale quality automation and transparent date labeling. Thus, the real-world uses of our technology span the entire farm-to-fork chain.”

The solution aims to replace conventional food monitoring methods, including ribotyping and polymerase chain reaction, which can be lengthy and destructive, according to the researchers. They explain that SERS technology facilitates real-time, non-destructive, and highly sensitive food monitoring capabilities. 

The wrapper incorporates a nanostructured SERS sensor that delivers up to 30.11-fold Raman enhancement, enabling detection of nutritional components, including purines, proteins, lipids, and carotenoids. It can also detect the pesticide thiram on meat, fish, and fruit.

Food preservation 

The wrap preserves food directly. The curcumin-thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) electrospun wrapper has “strong” antimicrobial efficacy of 99.99% against S. aureus and 99.9% against E. coli, helping extend product shelf life.

Additionally, NSSAW can track the progression of food spoilage over time by following the bacterial emission marker dimethyl disulfide. 

Professor Ha adds: “NSSAW can act as an on-food freshness indicator during consumer storage for home use and meal-kit delivery, linking chemical changes to easy-to-interpret signals over time. In addition, for high-value seafood and meats, quantitative tracking of purines such as hypoxanthine supports premium-grade verification and shelf life decisions.”

“Moreover, as active packaging, the curcumin-TPU, with its antimicrobial properties, complements sensing with preservation to extend shelf life in distribution and retail.” 

The authors stress that by leveraging active packaging, such as the sensor-based wrapper, retailers and consumers can rely on real-time, non-destructive food freshness indicators, rather than “coarse date estimates,” and can “cut waste, improve safety, and enable smarter pricing and recalls.”

In a recent interview with Packaging Insights, Nerida Kelton, vice president of sustainability and safe food at the World Packaging Organisation, discussed how the industry can balance reducing food waste and the environmental impact of packaging.