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

该项目旨在解决政府清洁增长战略中“提高自然资源的效益和价值”的主题，旨在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，它带来了巨大的成本和环境影响。食品行业在打击浪费方面面临的一个挑战是确保食品在保质期结束前不会在供应链中变质。气调包装（MAP）广泛应用于整个食品工业，通过防止好氧变质微生物的生长来延长保质期。它包括用富含二氧化碳(CO2) /缺乏氧气的气体混合物取代包装内的空气，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。这导致食物过早变质，因为好氧变质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，可以在每个包装上快速识别是否存在泄漏。这种技术将允许制造商/包装商持续监控包装过程，并识别问题包装，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，因为浪费将减少，并且与当前昂贵和不可靠的测试方法相关的成本可以降低。与许多行业一样，2019冠状病毒病对食品行业产生了影响，并正在改变其运营方式。由于COVID-19带来的限制，例如社会距离措施，食品生产设施不得不适应人员减少和加强安全/卫生规程的操作。考虑到这一点，有一种趋势是使用更多的自动化过程来提高操作效率，减少执行必要的质量检查等所需的资源。因此，节省时间和成本将变得越来越重要，这样的创新可以提高效率，节省成本并减少食物浪费，将有助于该行业从COVID-19大流行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.