Traceo tracks freshness from factory to fork

French company Cryolog, a specialist in traceability technology, has launched Traceo – a microbiological indicator of cold-chain disruptions for perishable products.

It comes in the form of a transparent film that is directly attached to the bar code of a perishable product, changing colour when the product is no longer fit for consumption.

Traceo is a colour-coded, new-generation adhesive label, or time-temperature indicator, which is specially programmed to suit the characteristics of the products to be tracked. It is made up of micro-organisms and a gel, which simulate the actual degradation of the product being tracked. The film changes colour and turns opaque when the product is no longer fit for consumption, either after a critical accumulation of breaks in the cold chain or when the best-before date is passed.

It therefore allows the simple and systematic detection of suspicious products: if the bar code is readable, the product is fresh; if it is not readable, the product is no longer edible.

Traceo is activated once attached to the product, avoiding the need for temperature control of the labels before they are affixed. It thus enables the objective monitoring and tracking of the freshness of products from the moment they come off the factory line until the moment they go into the consumer´s refrigerator, as well as all stages in between.

Besides applications in the fresh food sector, Traceo also has applications in the medical field, such as monitoring vaccines, blood collection bags, etc.