The intelligent container — What can MEMS do for logistics of food?

One third of the food produced on earth is never eaten, but lost. A considerable loss of food during transport could be prevented, if modern sensor technology would be used to manage the supply chain. The Intelligent Container project aims at reducing losses of food in transport by using sensor and communication technology and to improve supply chain management. The environment of the fruit during transport is observed concerning temperature, humidity and acceleration. The remaining shelf life time is continuously estimated. The status of ripening and decay of fruit is monitored looking at ethylene - a gaseous ripening indicator of many fruit. New micro gas chromatography systems are developed for the ethylene detection. For autonomous decisions, shelf life estimators and other decision support tools are embedded in the sensor network.