What Can MEMS Do for Logistics of Food? Intelligent Container Technologies: A Review

One-third of the food produced on Earth is never eaten, but is lost. A considerable loss of food during transport could be prevented if modern sensor technology was used to manage the supply chain. To achieve this aim, intelligent-container research is done worldwide and has made considerable progress during the last years. This review firstl gives an overview of this paper with focus on the most important international research projects working closely to application and performing field tests. In the next chapter, we discuss the possible impact of sensor networks on food logistics and describe the results of modelling the food supply. This leads us to the new paradigm in food logistics, first expire first out. The second part is devoted to identify critical sensor types for food logistics and related new technical developments. We show that ethylene gas plays a crucial role, since it is the ripening trigger and indicator in fruits and vegetables. Finally, we discuss the state-of-the art of ethylene detection for logistics, infrared spectroscopy sensors, and miniaturized gas chromatography systems.