One of the problems with transporting food to various parts of the world is that in some cases, certain types of food need to be kept at certain temperatures to maintain its freshness and to prevent it from going bad during transportation, such as fish, and researchers in Switzerland might have figured out a way to better manage such feats.
This is thanks to their work which has resulted in the creation of super-thin sensors that can help monitor food temperature, and the best part is that these sensors are edible by human beings, meaning that ingesting them won’t be harmful to the human body. These sensors measure 16 micrometers thin which is considerably thinner than a strand of human hair, and are made from a polymer created with corn and potato starch, magnesium, and water-soluble silicone dioxide and nitride.
According to the research team’s lead Giovanni Salvatore, “In preparation for transport to Europe, fish from Japan could be fitted with tiny temperature sensors, allowing them to be continuously monitored to ensure they are kept at a cool enough temperature.” So far based on their work, these sensors still require wired power where it is connected to a micro-battery, microprocessor, and a transmitter via cables.
However the researchers are looking into ways of powering the sensor and transmitting data wirelessly. Unfortunately as it stands, we won’t be seeing these sensors used publicly anytime soon as Salvatore notes that the creation of such sensors is time-intensive and expensive, but in the future who knows?
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