33486Non-destructive wireless monitoring of food quality using near zero-cost printed electrical gas sensorsClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKFood waste is a huge problem. In the UK alone we throw away 7.3 million tonnes of food each year. This equates to £13 billion. 4.4 million tonnes of this wasted food mountain was perfectly edible. Reducing food waste, without any compromise to the safety of food, is a major commitment at the Food Standards Agency. Heather Hancock, Chairman of the Food Standards Agency has recently welcomed the publication of guidance on setting product shelf life, and explaining what factors affect the expiry date of a food product. This intervention by the FSA indicates their support and receptiveness to initiatives which prevent safe food from going to waste. Sell-by dates indicate when the supermarket should remove the food from sale. Use-by dates are added to perishable foods such as meat and fish to indicate that the food needs to be eaten by this date, as it could prove harmful to health past this date. Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 covers the use of use-by dates. Most sell-by and use-by dates are based on the results of one-off laboratory bacteria tests and microbial modelling. The food industry has understandably adopted a fail-safe policy on product "life", due to the multiple variables on how the item will be handled through its life-cycle. There is no incumbent technology commercially available for measuring spoilage in food packaging, meaning that there are currently few technology-led solutions to tackle and reduce this problem. Given the fact that the UK sources 50% of its food from abroad, reducing food waste and managing resources more efficiently are of paramount importance for building a resilient food supply. BlakBear Ltd build new chemical sensors, electronics and software to help the world feel, understand and improve itself. In this project, we plan to develop ultra-low cost packaging sensors for fish and meat products, to reduce waste and prevent foodborne diseases arising from spoiled foods. The project consortium is made up of three partners: BlakBear Ltd (Business Lead), Imperial College (Academic) and Coveris Flexibles Gainsborough Ltd (Commercial Partner).