Abstract:
Real time monitoring of food is essential to ensure the safety and quality of food with the
growing demand for food around the globe. However, means to monitor food are becoming
more and more abundant, as the economy develops, and the pursuit of good quality food
becomes stronger. Traditional methods of spoilage monitoring of food are either time
consuming, lab extensive, need expertise and cause significant damage to food, so such
methods are required that are less time consuming, non-destructive, fast and does not need
any expertise for the spoilage monitoring of food. This project aims to synthesize sensing
material for real time food monitoring. PSMA (poly styrene co maleic anhydride) will be used
for real time spoilage monitoring of food by measuring volatile biogenic amines. PSMA is a
biomarker of biogenic amines released when food starts to degrade. PSMA is used for real
time monitoring of key food spoilage marker gas (e.g. Ammonia) and gives LOD value of
55ppm by maintaining excellent stability under various storage conditions. This material can
be the life safer for food authorities that use conventional, expensive and laboratory
dependent methods. The material synthesis is addressing industrial and societal problems
related to food spoilage, such as reducing food waste, ensuring food safety, and promoting
responsible consumption and production. PSMA will be synthesized using Styrene and
Maleic Anhydride units and several characterization steps such as Fourier Transform
Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Impedance analyzer will be used
to ensure sensitivity of material. For on demand spoilage monitoring via mobile phones, this
sensing material will further be integrated into a capacitive sensor.
