abstract
Generic expiration dates continue to serve as freshness indicators for highly perishable foods such as fish. In fact, "best before" dates are a prediction of the estimated limit of safe quality. Therefore, they do not provide real-time information of the fish freshness, resulting in an inaccurate assessment of its quality. In this work a colorimetric ink was developed to produce screen-printable and cost-effective paper and plastic sensors with high sensitivity to volatile amines, produced during fish spoilage. The pH-responsive ink was obtained by integrating anthocyanins in a polysaccharide matrix containing water-soluble chitosan and starch. The ratio between both polysaccharides was studied and it was shown that starch content up to 4 % provides the ink with the suitable viscosity to be screen-printed, leading to the production of saturated uniform sensors. To evaluate the long-term stability of the sensor, the optimal storage conditions were studied, revealing that humidity- and oxygen-free atmospheres were the most adequate to preserve color for 28 days. When exposed to different concentrations of trimethylamine, both plastic- and paper-printed sensors underwent noticeable color changes. Therefore, this polysaccharide-based sensor offers a promising alternative to conventional expiration dates, with screen-printing enabling scalable fabrication for sustainable food waste mitigation.
keywords
RED CABBAGE; SHELF-LIFE; ANTHOCYANINS; EXTRACTION; ULTRASOUND; SPOILAGE; FILLETS
subject category
Chemistry; Polymer Science
authors
Baptista, H; Dekker, M; Ferreira, P; Nunes, C
our authors
Cláudia Nunes
Assistant Researcher
Hélder Duarte de Magalhães Oliveira Baptista
PhD Student
Paula Celeste da Silva Ferreira
Coordinating ResearcherGroups
G2 - Photonic, Electronic and Magnetic Materials
G4 - Renewable Materials and Circular Economy
Projects
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDB/50011/2020)
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDP/50011/2020)
Associated Laboratory CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials (LA/P/0006/2020)
acknowledgements
This work was developed within the scope of the project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, UIDB/50011/2020 (DOI 10.544 99/UIDB/50011/2020), UIDP/50011/2020 (DOI 10.54499/UIDP/5 0011/2020) & LA/P/0006/2020 (DOI 10.54499/LA/P/0006/2020), financed by national funds through the FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC). CN thanks to Portuguese national funds (OE), through FCT, I.P., in the scope of the framework contract foreseen in the numbers 4, 5 and 6 of the article 23, of the Decree-Law 57/2016, of August 29, changed by Law 57/2017, of July 19 (DL 57/2016/CP1482/CT0031). FCT is also thanked for the attribution of the PhD fellowship 2022.11211.BD as well as the COST Action CA19124.