Check4-FRESH™
A real-time monitoring system that ensures a safe and sustainable food supply chain
Check4-FRESH™ is a widely deployed sensor system for the food supply chain from farm to consumer. Real-time monitoring of food spoilage and contamination levels significantly reduces food waste and foodborne illness. Sensors that detect food spoilage generate alerts in real-time to operations control centers and smart devices for automated optimization of the food chain.
How is Check4-FRESH™ different from temperature monitoring and journey mapping?
Check4-FRESH™ produces a new standard of data directly related to food safety and sustainability. Unlike other sensor devices that only monitor temperature and track location, Check4-FRESH™ monitors a multitude of conditions and their effects on food quality, safety and sustainability. The new data standard automates labor-intensive food safety activities, including identifying, tracking and tracing sources of contamination.
REAL-TIME SENSORS FOR FOOD SAFETY
Check4-FRESH™
The sensor system for real-time monitoring of spoilage and contamination throughout the food supply chain.
FARM
Check4-FRESH™ is a sensor system for monitoring spoilage, contamination and pesticide use on farms. The sensors are deployed on crops, sources of water and pollination such as irrigation infrastructure and honey bee colonies.
Food waste at the farm-level presents significant challenges for a sustainable food supply and climate. Food loss, at the farm-level, is suggested to be as high as 20 percent of all produce in North America. In the U.S., food goes unharvested mostly because of economic or consumer preference reasons. The economic reasons could include price volatility, labor cost or lack of refrigeration infrastructure whereas consumer reasons relate mostly to food appearance.
RETAIL
Check4-FRESH™ produces a new standard of data directly related to food safety and sustainability. It generates data for spoilage, contamination, temperature, humidity and location. Sensors tags are deployed in food containers, boxes and individual packages. The tags transmit real-time readings to improve supply chain management and minimize food waste and foodborne illness.
The food supply chain in the U.S. produces more than 400 billion pounds of food each year, of which about 133 billion pounds or 31 percent is lost to waste. The quantity of wasted food totals an estimated $161.6 billion. The top three food groups that go uneaten are meat, poultry and fish, which account for 30 percent of all food loss or $48 billion. Vegetables account for 19 percent of food waste or $30 billion and dairy accounts for 17 percent or $27 billion.
CONSUMER
Check4-FRESH™ suggests to consumers when to eat a food product. It also could suggest to consumers when to order more food and can do it automatically. Check4-FRESH delivers the level of transparency of food quality, safety and sustainability that consumers are searching for.
Most food waste occurs at the consumer-level. The USDA estimates that 90 billion pounds of food is thrown out by consumers, which is 21 percent of the total. Consumer expectations of food freshness is often determined by appearance or “one size fits all” sell-by dates, which often indicate peak freshness.
Agritech Applications
SEAFOOD
Fish tags monitor spoilage, temperate and location, sending signals to operation centers and smart devices for optimal freshness.
MEAT
Meat tags monitor spoilage, temperate and location, sending signals to operation centers and smart devices for optimal freshness.
PRODUCE
Sensors for monitoring levels of spoilage and pesticide in fruits and vegetables throughout the supply chain from the farm to consumer table.
AGRICULTURE FIELD
Field deployable sensors for monitoring a multitude of farming conditions and their effects on food quality, safety and sustainability.
AGRICULTURE IRRIGATION
Sensors detect unwanted chemicals in irrigation systems, preventing cross-contamination.
BEE HIVE
Sensors detect chemicals harmful to honey bee populations, enabling sustainable pollination ecosystems for large-scale crop production.
Find out more about our Patents & Technologies
How does Check4-FRESH™ work?
Monitoring devices in the form of miniature sensor tags are deployed in the environment of food, generating notifications when levels of bacteria, pathogens or chemicals associated with spoilage and contamination reach undesirable levels. The notifications can also prompt automated decision making for optimizing food supply chains and minimizing food waste and foodborne illness.