Sweden-based food packaging and processing company Tetra Pak is all set to unveil new smart milk cartons that will change colour when left out of the fridge for too long. The cartons serve as an example of improvements in the $400bn packaging industry and aim at improving food safety.
Tetra Pak is developing a chip that can be embedded in the cartons to provide information such as how long a carton has been outside the fridge, on a scannable label, ft.com reported.
The company teamed up with Brazilian food co-operative Aurora to devise a code that can indicate which cow on which farm produced the milk, and other processing and packaging information, when scanned with a mobile phone.
Tetra Pak chief executive Dennis J?nsson said the new cartons using the chips are expected to be on the shelves next year.
In 2011, Tetra Pak, together with Nestlé Brazil has launched two milk brands in aseptic cartons with caps made from green polyethylene, which uses sustainable resources and reduces carbon dioxide emissions.
The company reported a 5% increase in net sales to €10.36bn in 2011over the last financial year.