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A bump up in food labels

A bioresponsive expiration label lets consumers know when food is past its prime with the touch of a finger.

Solveiga Pakstaite invented the Mimica Touch label when she was an industrial design student in 2014. She created the food expiration label as part of a class project to help blind people determine when their food spoiled. Photo courtesy of Mimica.
Solveiga Pakstaite invented the Mimica Touch label when she was an industrial design student in 2014. She created the food expiration label as part of a class project to help blind people determine when their food spoiled. Photo courtesy of Mimica.

Solveiga Pakstaite is ready to disrupt the food and beverage packaging industry. The industrial designer is set to launch a bioresponsive, tactile food expiration label that she says is more accurate in determining food spoilage than conventional sell-by dates and will ultimately reduce the growing problem of food waste. 

Scheduled to launch in March in the United Kingdom, the Mimica Touch is a gelatin-based label that changes texture as food decays. When the gelatin in the label is smooth and solid, the food is still edible and safe. But when the food spoils, the gelatin becomes soft and liquefies. The label then reveals a bumpy surface that a consumer can feel with the swipe of a finger. 

“It’s a label that acts in the same way as food does, which is why we’re calling it bioresponsive,” says Pakstaite, founder and CEO of London, England-based Mimica. “It’s a label that basically experiences decay at the same rate as food. It gives a completely accurate picture of when food spoils.”

The Mimica Touch label consists of four layers: The bottom plastic film with a one-way membrane serves as the foundation of the label. A plastic sheet with ridges, which provides the bumpy texture, is placed on the plastic film. Then gelatin is topped on the textured plastic sheet. Finally, the entire label is sealed with a plastic film on top.

The key component of the Mimica Touch label is the proprietary gelatin formula, which is made from animal bones. Because the gelatin is created from a protein-based food byproduct, it decays at the same rate as protein-based foods like meats and dairy products. When the food starts to spoil, the bacteria releases volatile compounds that travel through the one-way membrane in the bottom plastic film in the label. That off-gassing breaks down the bonds of the gelatin and turns the gelatin into a liquid, allowing consumers to feel the bumpy texture of the label. The company alters the concentration of the gelatin based on the type of food the label is monitoring. 

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