Yoav Levy says it’s time to take the guesswork out of assessing food freshness.
As co-founder and CEO of Evigence, he envisions the “death of the date code” in the food service industry, thanks to the company’s innovative tracking technology.
Evigence develops real-time food freshness sensors, small enough to be incorporated into a sticker that goes on the packaging of perishable goods.
Yoav Levy, Evigence co-founder, CEO
These labels monitor temperature and time passage, collecting data to determine both current and projected freshness.
“Date codes are terribly inaccurate indicators of food freshness and product quality, leading to tremendous inefficiency throughout the food industry supply chain, from distributors all the way to consumers’ homes,” said Levy.
“Freshness expectations versus reality lead to the waste of perfectly good food, as well as the consumption of unsafe food,” he added. “Eighty percent of products have a better-than-average shelf life of more than the conservative date code. Sometimes they have 100 percent more.”
How it works: The sensors, incorporated into labels, are monitored through various vision systems, such as cameras on production lines, tablets, or consumer smartphones.
The sensor data is immediately uploaded to the Evigence Cloud for analysis, generating in-depth dashboards for businesses—and weekly data trends to help identify patterns across regions and more.
On the consumer end, labels can be scanned via QR code for real-time insights. Labels change color from green to red to indicate shelf life as the product ages or experiences temperature fluctuations in the delivery process. This color change is driven by a chemical reaction on the label that mimics the product’s degradation process.
Addressing safety of last-mile delivered food
This comes as food safety remains top of mind for retailers and consumers. The FDA has also been taking notice, voicing concerns, especially for direct-to-consumer, last-mile delivered food—such as meal kits or online grocers.
“Many suppliers of last-mile deliveries don’t use refrigeration. They use [cooling] gel packs, for example, and then put them into a FedEx or UPS truck. When it travels in those trucks, temperatures can be very high, so it’s not great for the product,” Levy explained.
Evigence sensor labels track food freshness in real-time.
With Evigence’s labels, food companies and consumers both get peace of mind, said Levy. Meal kit provider Marley Spoon is reaping these benefits.
“Evigence has given us unprecedented visibility into the freshness of our ingredients upon arrival, transforming our operations and strengthening customer trust,” said Natasha Tahilramani, head of quality, safety and sustainability at Marley Spoon.
Originally, Evigence developed technology to monitor the temperature of vaccine shipments and met rigorous World Health Organization standards. With a shift to the food service industry, Levy hopes their technology will become the new standard.
“Our goal is for everybody to use [food] products the way they should and not by the date code, to help this ridiculous amount of waste that is just mind-boggling. It hurts the pockets of consumers, it hurts the environment. It’s just not sustainable,” he said.
