Food Safety Labels

There has been a lot of chat recently regarding the amount of food wasted in Britain. Everyone has an opinion on the matter, one of which regarding the 'best before dates'. Many items of food have a singular use by date. However, others have a date for shelf life, for 'best before' and for 'use by'. Environment minister, Hilary Benn, has called for consumers to ignore best before labels, claiming that they should be able to decide for themselves if their food is good to be eaten or not. The aim is to have a singular, 'use by' date, so that the 6.7 million tonnes of food thrown away every year can be reduced.

Perhaps the government should have a look at what Japanese design agency TO-GENKYO  has designed. Hour glass shaped labels printed using a special ink that changes colour as ammonia is released, have been added to packaged meat. As the meat ages, it releases increasing amounts of the substance, obscuring the barcode at the bottom. Customers can quickly see if the meat is going bad – and when the barcode becomes completely covered, it can’t be scanned. Granted this method would only work on certain foods, it's definitely a step in the right direction.

Generating a Buzz.

I hate flies. Dirty little doofers buzzing around the place, what use are they in this world?

Well, a company at a German Tradeshow recently found them their calling in life… as banner ad pilots! A stroke of genius - the weight of the banners means the flies fly at eye level and have to take frequent breaks resulting in a quick distribution, and generating quite a buzz. (ha).