Do you ever change your mind about purchasing items with a fast approaching expiration date?
A new technology from the University of Maryland, that was just awarded a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, would make sure that spinach or ground beef doesn’t go to waste and instead finds its way to people who are food insecure.
NourishNet would use what is called as “quantum nose” to sniff out food spoilage. It’s about the size of an iPhone and uses materials that measure the amount of gas coming from bacteria on the food, estimating how long the food will last before it spoils.
“It’s mainly for grocery stores, for food pantries, for other people managing inventories,” said Stephanie Lansing, project leader and a professor in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
“If you’re a grocery store,” she explained, “you can actually use this sensor, ‘we have all of this meat right now and we’re going to be able to probably sell half of it in the next two days. So we’re going to put it on sale, but the other half we’ll go ahead and donate now.'”
The team hopes this fills a much needed gap at food banks where a huge proportion of meals are canned food and not fresh produce
The grant money will also go toward an app the multidisciplinary team is working on; FoodLoops could help get that surplus food to people in need before it goes bad.
“Our app is actually developed, mainly for consumers to understand what’s available, if it’s worth their time and effort to go to the food pantries based on trying to get fresh, high value food.” Lansing told WTOP.
The system could also be used by restaurants, cafeterias and eventually home consumers to help cut food waste and give a better estimate of when the food expires.
“There can be some unclarity with how far after the sell by date, it’s really going to be still good to eat,” Lansing said.
Nearly a quarter of landfill-bound trash is food waste, according to the EPA.
The university’s project was awarded the three-year $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation in hopes of launching NourishNet nationally.
“By the end of the three years, this is ready to launch in the marketplace, and that people can actually be utilizing it,” Lansing said.
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