Assessing the impact of electronic freshness labels on consumer behavior to reduce food waste

目的：在减少食品浪费的背景下，研究人体与新型电子新鲜度标签之间的相互作用。问题：包装食品的新鲜度是通过包装上的“使用日期”来估计的。然而，这一日期并不能反映消费品的实际新鲜度，因为它除了取决于配方和包装外，还取决于储存和加工条件。使用日期是近似值，这导致消费者大量浪费食物，因为它们不能实时提供有关产品实际新鲜度的信息。电子新鲜度LABELST古德研究小组帝国理工学院最近开发了一种新的传感器技术(Barandun et.它可以实时测量食品的新鲜度，并可以取代“使用日期”来延长货架寿命，减少食品浪费，消除变质食品引起的食源性疾病。传感器是打印的纸基电子标签，应用于包含新鲜产品的包装上，并实时检测由于食品微生物变质而释放的气体。可以使用支持近场通信(NFC)的智能手机无线地询问传感器，并且不需要额外的硬件。然而，我们目前还不知道传感器在可用时会如何/是否会被消费者使用。方法这个项目有两个工作包(WPS)：WP1涉及工程开发，WP2涉及将技术部署到Hubbub基金会运营的社区冰箱，以研究消费者的行为和对食物浪费的潜在影响。WP1：目前开发的传感技术还处于初级阶段，需要广泛的工程开发才能创建一个完整的系统。为此，我们将开发一款移动应用程序，制造一个定量的无线传感器标签(目前标签只提供开关类型的新鲜度感知，但我们希望有一个指示新鲜度的定量数字)，应用疏水薄膜使液体远离传感器表面，并集成到食品包装中。WP2：开发的传感器标签将应用于Hubbub基金会社区冰箱的食品包装。Hubbub将提供对这些设施的访问，并允许我们研究消费者如何与这些标签互动。我们希望了解消费者是否选择使用传感器来测量新鲜度，以及新鲜度信息如何影响他们的决定。OUTCOME该项目的主要成果将是了解消费者如何与传感器交互，以及腐败信息对消费者行为的影响。还将生产一种可以集成到食品包装中的完整的无线NFC腐败传感器标签。

AIMThe aim of this interdisciplinary project is to study the interaction of human subjects with novel electronic freshness labels in the context of reducing food waste.PROBLEMThe freshness of packaged foods is estimated by the "useby" date that appears on the packaging. This date, however, does not reflect the actual state of freshness ofthe consumable, because it is dependent on, in addition to formulation and packaging, the storage and processing conditions. "Use-by" dates, which are approximations, lead to substantial food waste by consumers as they do not provide information concerning the actual freshness of the product in real-time.ELECTRONIC FRESHNESS LABELSThe Guder Research Group Imperial College has recently developed a new sensor technology (Barandun et. al., ACS Sens. 2019) that can measure food freshness in real-time and could replace the "use-by" dates to prolong shelf-life, reduce food waste and eliminate foodborne illnesses caused by spoiled foods. The sensors are printed paperbased electronic labels, that are applied to the packaging containing the fresh product, and detect gases released due to microbial spoilage of food in real-time. The sensors can be interrogated using near-field communication (NFC) enabled smartphones wirelessly and do not require additional hardware. We do not, however, currently know how/whether the sensors would be used by consumers when available.METHODOLOGYThis project has two Work Packages (WPs): WP1 involves engineering development and WP2 involves deployment of the technology to community fridges run by the Hubbub Foundation to study consumer behaviour and potential impact on food waste. WP1: Currently the sensing technology developed is at itsearly stages and requires extensive engineering development to create a complete system. For this, we will develop a mobile app, fabricate a quantitative wirelesssensor tag (currently the tags only provide on-off type freshness sensing but we would like to have a quantitative number that indicates freshness), apply hydrophobicmembranes to keep liquids away from the sensor surface and integrate into food packaging. WP2: The sensor tags developed will be applied to the food packages in the community fridges of the Hubbub Foundation. Hubbub will provide access to these facilities and allow us to study how consumers interact with these tags. We hope to understand whether the consumers choose to use the sensors for measuring freshness and how the freshness information impact their decisions.OUTCOMEThe primary outcome of this project will be the understanding of how consumers interact with the sensors and effects of spoilage information on consumer behaviour.A complete wireless NFC-enabled spoilage sensor tag, that can be integrated into food packaging, will also be produced.