Smart Food Cartons: Knowing Fresh
Cornell University Innovation Source: Stock image Milk Cartons that Are Smart and Help You This new gadget technology, a smart food carton, is designed to prevent food waste by helping consumers and retailers know how fresh a product actually is. The container is more precise than the expiration dates we look for on a product. Cornell University food scientists call it the carton of the future. It gives consumers precise "best-by time" data. Shelf Life Information that is Precise The Cornell team is applying digital agriculture tools directly to the cartons to specify the shelf life and history of the product. Their research is particularly targeted at milk cartons because consumers get rid of them so quickly based on the best by date. Most consumers don't know that date indicates when the product is likely to be at peak quality not the expiration date. Cornell's New Tech Cornell has developed a QR code and sensor placed inside the smart carton.