QR-coded milk could reduce food waste

Traditional static expiry dates printed on cartons and bottles of milk could be replaced with more accurate and informational QR codes, Cornell University researchers said.

Milk often ends up being wasted in retail environments for a number of reasons, but the main reason is the stock not sold before expiry date as consumers opt to buy the milk with the most distant expiry date.

The Cornell scientists conducted a study at its on-campus shop to compare milk with traditional expiring date labels and QR codes with the same information. At the same time, a dynamic pricing element was introduced to discount milk that had a shorter remaining shelf life.

“During [the] two-month study, over 60% of customers purchased the milk with the QR code, showing a considerable interest in using this new technology,” said Samantha Lau, a doctoral student in food science and one of the study’s authors. “This revealed that the use of QR codes on food products can be an innovative way to address the larger issue of food waste.”

By using QR codes on milk with more accurate best-before information, researchers predict that consumers will buy milk that is closer to its expiry date, thus reducing perfectly good milk being left on shelves.

QR codes connect milk to the digital world, which could also help retailers collect information about the food chain and eventually could be used by a consumer’s smart fridge to let them know when they’re out of milk. This is because QR codes can hold more information than a simple expiry date, it can assess the drinkability of milk in the smart fridge and also even provide recipes.

The full paper, which also covers microbial spoilage of milk and various other ways to counter its impact on wastage, was published in the Journal of Dairy Science.

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