Additive Manufacturing of Organic based Food Spoilage Tags (Phase I)

该项目将开发能够检测新鲜食品腐败的食品安全标签。变质的食物每年在食物浪费和因这些食物而患病的人的医疗方面造成超过1000亿美元（US）的损失。需要用真实的时间传感器来代替静态的食品“保质期前最佳”，所述传感器可以在销售点之前（运输阶段）、期间（在超市）和之后（在家中）检测食品腐败。现有技术可以通过生物相容性涂层延长产品的保质期，并监测需要冷却的产品的温度，但缺乏实时腐败指标。我们提出的创新依赖于化学/材料科学的发现，并利用来自变质肉/鱼的废气检测来提供食品新鲜度的实时传感器。该技术依赖于通过超低成本的有机薄膜进行低水平的胺检测，以提供比色和电子响应，食品供应商和消费者都可以阅读。基于膜的技术可以使用增材制造卷对卷印刷方法来制造，从而允许低能量、高吞吐量的开发。该工艺使用环保溶剂，包括水和/或醇类，并且活性膜能够抵抗溶剂和其他外部刺激的降解，使该技术具有鲁棒性。生物胺检测已被证明与该技术显示颜色变化率取决于胺和酸性性质的电影。项目目标：（1）有机材料按比例放大到加工水平和衍生化，以最大限度地提高胺的选择性和灵敏度，（2）大面积印刷优化，完全生物相容的气体传感器器件制造，并转化为卷对卷印刷，（3）全面的器件评估和冠军器件集成到智能包装标签中。该项目的成功将导致一个完全印刷的气敏食品安全标签准备在操作环境中进行演示，创建一个加拿大的中小企业，并培训HQP。

This project will develop food security tags that can detect the spoilage of fresh foods. Spoiled foods result in over a hundred billion dollars (US) loss per year in both food waste and medical treatment of those who develop illnesses from such foods. There is a need to replace static food 'best before dates' with real time sensors that can detect food spoilage prior (transport stage), during (at supermarket), and after (in home) point of sale. Technologies exist that can extend shelf life of produce through bio-compatible coatings and monitor the temperature of products requiring chilling, but a real-time spoilage indicator is lacking. Our proposed innovation relies on a chemistry/materials science discovery and makes use of off-gas detection from spoiling meat/fish to provide a real-time sensor for food freshness. The technology relies on amine detection at low levels by an ultra-low-cost organic film to provide both colorimetric and electronic response, of which both food providers and consumers can read. The film-based technology can be fabricated using additive manufacturing roll-to-roll printing methods allowing for a low-energy, high throughput development. The processes use eco-friendly solvents including water and/or alcohols and active films are resistant to degradation via solvents and other external stimuli, making the technology robust. Biogenic amine detection has been demonstrated with the technology showing color changes with rates dependent on the amine and acidic nature of the film. Project objectives: (1) organic materials scale-up to processing levels and derivatization to maximize amine selectivity and sensitivity, (2) large area printing optimization, full bio-compatible gas sensor device fabrication, and translation to roll-to-roll printing, (3) full device evaluation and champion device integration into smart packaging labels. Success of this project will lead to a fully printed gas-sensing food security tag ready for demonstration in an operational environmental, the creation of a Canadian based SME, and the training of HQP.