Development of a quality assurance CO2 leak detector for modified atmosphere packaging

该项目涉及政府清洁增长战略中的主题“提高自然资源的效益和价值”，目标是减少食物浪费和相关的碳排放和温室气体。不必要的食物浪费是一个严重的问题，与之相关的成本和环境影响都很大。在反对浪费的斗争中，该行业面临的一个挑战是确保食品在保质期结束之前不会在供应链中变质。气调包装(MAP)在整个食品工业中被广泛使用，通过防止好氧腐败微生物的生长来帮助延长货架期。它包括用富含二氧化碳(CO2)/缺氧的混合气体取代包装内的空气，这种混合气体通过抑制腐败微生物的生长使食物保持更长时间的新鲜。然而，MAP的一个主要问题是包装内存在泄漏，这导致富含二氧化碳的保护气氛受到干扰。这会导致食物过早变质，因为好氧腐败微生物的生长不再受到抑制，最终导致食物被浪费。该项目旨在开发一种具有成本效益的变色指示器，该指示器可以安装在每个包装上，以快速识别是否存在泄漏。这样的技术将允许制造商/包装商持续监控包装过程，并识别问题包，然后可以返工而不是浪费。这项技术对食品工业的经济和环境效益是显著的，因为将减少浪费，并可以削减与当前昂贵和不可靠的测试方法相关的成本。与许多行业一样，新冠肺炎已经对食品行业产生了影响，并正在改变其运营方式。由于新冠肺炎带来的限制，如社会距离措施，食品生产设施必须适应员工人数减少和加强安全/卫生协议的操作。为了解决这一问题，正在采取措施，使用更多的自动化流程来提高运营效率，减少执行必要的质量检查等所需的资源。因此，时间和成本节约将变得越来越重要，像这样可以提高效率、节省成本和减少食物浪费的创新，将有助于该行业从新冠肺炎疫情中实现可持续的经济复苏。

This project addresses the theme "Enhancing the Benefits and Value of our Natural Resources" in the government's Clean Growth Strategy, targeting the reduction of food waste and associated carbon emissions and greenhouses gases. Unnecessary food waste is a significant problem which has substantial cost and environmental impact associated with it. One challenge the industry faces in the fight against waste is ensuring food doesn't spoil in the supply chain before the end of the shelf life. Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) is used widely throughout the food industry to help extend shelf life by preventing the growth of aerobic spoilage microbes. It involves replacing air within the pack with a carbon dioxide (CO2) rich/oxygen deficient gas mixture which keeps the food fresher for longer by inhibiting the growth of spoilage microbes. However, a major problem with MAP is the presence of leaks within the packaging, which results in the CO2 rich protective atmosphere being disturbed. This results in premature food spoilage as the growth of the aerobic spoilage microbes is no longer inhibited, which ultimately leads to food being wasted. This project aims to develop a cost effective, colour-changing indicator that can be on every pack to quickly identify if a leak is present. Such a technology will allow the manufacturer/packer to continually monitor the packaging process and identify problem packs which can then be reworked rather than being wasted. The economic and environmental benefits of this technology for the food industry are significant, as wastage will be reduced, and costs associated with current expensive and unreliable testing methods can be cut. As with many sectors, COVID-19 has impacted the food industry and is changing the way in which it operates. Due to restrictions posed by COVID-19, such as social distancing measures, food production facilities are having to adapt to operating with less staff and enhanced safety/hygiene protocols. To account for this, there is a move towards using more automated processes to increase operating efficiency and reduce the resource required to perform the necessary quality checks etc. As a result, time and cost savings will become ever more important and an innovation like this, which can improve efficiency, save cost and address food waste reduction, will help the industry with a sustainable economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.