Applying electrical gas sensors to monitor food quality in households to reduce food waste.

应用电子气体传感器监测家庭食品质量，以减少食物浪费。

• 批准号: 67505
• 金额: $ 6.36万
• 依托单位: BLAKBEAR LTD
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Feasibility Studies
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=67505
• 关键词: Applying; electrical; gas; sensors; monitor

BlakBear have invented a novel paper-based printed electrical gas sensor (PEGS) that can detect food degradation by measuring the spoilage gases emitted by perishable foods like meat, fish and poultry. We will deploy our sensors in food-boxes to consumer households, to monitor and reduce unnecessary and avoidable food waste.Food waste is a major problem, both globally and in the UK. Over half of UK food waste is generated at home and 60% is deemed "avoidable". In 2015, UK households binned £13bn of food that could have been consumed, generating 19m tonnes of greenhouse gases (WRAP, 2015). There are multiple causes, but the major contributor is that consumers throw away 1/3 of food that is still edible based solely on use-by-dates, and consumers lose track of the perishable food in their fridge, discovering items "too late".Due to quarantine, the majority of the UK workforce is working from home, and subsequently consuming 3-meals a day in the household. By our estimates, this will increase potential food waste by 12-15% at a time of food shortages, due to a spike in demand.This project is a collaboration between BlakBear and OXO. We will distribute food-boxes to 50 households with our sensor incorporated. Over a 3-month period we will measure food waste in households using a digital scale, and test whether the BlakBear sensors' behavioural nudges change household behaviour. Through this project we aim to understand the effects of BlakBear sensors on food management and waste generation in the home. We will capture data on usage frequency, faults, sensitivity, efficiency, click-rate, time of day usage, and length of engagement. We will use this data to estimate the amount of food waste avoidance from high-value perishable food groups: meat, fish and poultry.

BlakBear发明了一种新型纸基印刷电气气体传感器（PEGS），可以通过测量肉类、鱼类和家禽等易腐食品排放的腐败气体来检测食品降解。我们将在消费者家庭的食品盒中部署我们的传感器，以监测和减少不必要的和可避免的食物浪费。食物浪费是全球和英国的一个主要问题。英国一半以上的食物浪费是在家里产生的，60%被认为是“可以避免的”。2015年，英国家庭将130亿英镑本可以消费的食物装箱，产生1900万吨温室气体（WRAP，2015）。原因有很多，但最主要的原因是消费者扔掉了1/3的食物，这些食物仅根据保质期仍然可以食用，消费者失去了冰箱里易腐食物的踪迹，发现物品“太晚了”。由于隔离，英国大部分劳动力都在家工作，因此每天在家里吃3顿饭。据我们估计，由于需求激增，在粮食短缺的情况下，这将增加12-15%的潜在食物浪费。我们将向50户家庭分发装有传感器的食品盒。在3个月的时间里，我们将使用数字秤测量家庭的食物浪费，并测试BlakBear传感器的行为推动是否会改变家庭行为。通过这个项目，我们的目标是了解BlakBear传感器对家庭食物管理和废物产生的影响。我们将捕获有关使用频率、故障、敏感度、效率、点击率、一天中的使用时间和参与时间的数据。我们将使用这些数据来估计避免高价值易腐食品组（肉类，鱼类和家禽）的食物浪费量。