NOVA Used to Prototype Smart Labels That Tackle Food Waste

Food waste is not just a consumer problem. A significant amount of waste happens before food ever reaches the checkout line, as products move through farms, warehouses, trucks, distribution centres, and grocery store shelves. For perishable goods, every delay, temperature fluctuation, or broken cold chain event can shorten shelf life. 

The challenge is that many supply chain decisions are still made with limited visibility. A product may look fine, but grocers and suppliers may not know exactly how it was handled in transit, how much temperature exposure it experienced, or how many usable days remain. That uncertainty has real consequences. If retailers are too cautious, food may be discarded while it is still safe to sell. If they are too optimistic, quality and safety risks increase. Better traceability can help reduce that guesswork by giving food producers, distributors, and retailers more precise information about freshness, handling conditions, and remaining shelf life.

Food waste is a costly problem for grocers, suppliers, exporters, and the environment. A recent La Presse article highlighted how PULR Technologies, a Trois-Rivières-based company in Canada, is developing a smart labeling solution that helps food supply chains better understand how products move, how they are stored, and how much shelf life they have left. 

PULR used NOVA as part of its prototyping workflow for developing smart labels. For applications such as smart labels, the ability to test new material combinations, print functional patterns, and iterate designs quickly is critical. 

Compatible with most screen printable materials (1,000 to 1,000,000 cP), NOVA enables teams to dispense functional materials directly onto a wide range of substrates, helping them find the ideal combination of materials, substrates, and layer stackups with precision — all from the lab without having to send sensitive design files away.

In addition to smart packaging, NOVA has been used to prototype flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) such as sensors, wearables, medical devices, soft robotics, and green electronics, supporting the development of technologies that are not only smarter, but also more practical, accessible, and environmentally conscious.

Want to see more printed electronics applications like this? Check out the following resources:

• Video: Printing an RFID Tag with Copper Ink on Paper
• Blog: Printing a Smart Resonator to Track Meat Freshness
• Blog: Advancing Printed Sensors: RFID Tag for Breath Monitoring

Ready to talk about how NOVA can help you prototype smart labels, RFID tags, and NFC antennas? Book a meeting to speak with one of our technical representatives.