SYNTHESIS & CHARACTERIZATION OF SENSING MATERIAL FOR REAL TIME MONITORING OF PROTIEN RICH FOOD

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.