Wrocław/ Scientists have developed labels for food products that respond to changes in temperature or humidity

Labels that respond to changes in temperature or humidity, which can be placed on food products, medicines and electronics, have been developed by scientists from the Łukasiewicz – PORT Institute in Wrocław (Polish Centre for Technology Development).

Sensory labels developed by scientists from Wrocław may take the form of stickers that will be placed on food products, medicines or electronics sensitive to changes in humidity.

"We cover sensory labels, for example, with thermochromic dyes that change color under the influence of temperature. When a consumer sees a specific color on the label, they receive information about whether the product is stored at the correct temperature or not," Dr. Bartłomiej Potaniec, head of the research team at the Łukasiewicz-PORT Institute in Wrocław, which developed the sensory labels, told PAP.

The use of other dyes applied to labels allows you to check whether the product was transported or is stored in the right humidity, which is important in the case of electronics. Here, too, information for the consumer is conveyed through colors.

Dr. Potaniec pointed out that today, 10 to 20 percent of food ends up in the trash because it has exceeded its expiration date. "Our labels will help reduce these losses because they will provide information about storage conditions - temperature, humidity and time. Thanks to this, the consumer will easily assess whether the product is suitable for consumption," said the scientist.

Sensory labels can be particularly attractive to the pharmaceutical industry, where the conditions in which drugs are stored are very important.

Scientists at Łukasiewicz – PORT are currently working on expanding the temperature range that can be monitored using labels. “We have reached a level of around plus 50 degrees Celsius and minus 30 degrees Celsius. The challenge, however, is to reach minus 80 degrees Celsius, because this is the temperature at which tissues, reagents and enzymes that are particularly sensitive to temperature, transported on dry ice, are stored,” the scientist pointed out.

He added that by expanding the ranges in which sensory labels will be able to take measurements, it will be possible to quickly check whether samples of biological material reaching, among others, from hospitals to laboratories were transported in the required conditions and whether they were not damaged during transport. (PAP)

Science in Poland

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