STUDENTS at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil claim to have developed a biodegradable plastic packaging that reveals the quality of the food inside. The product, called Plasticor, is designed to change color when the content is no longer suitable for consumption.

Every year, of all food produced on the planet, 30% (or 1.3 billion tons) goes to trash, according to the United Nations. The Rio team hope that the reactive packaging would be a way of better managing food consumption than imprecise 'use-by' dates, by indicating what foods can still be consumed safely regardless of production date.

“The environmental impact is also reduced since the use of plastic materials has been abundant in the food industry in the last decades," explained João Vítor Balbino, a biophysics student and one of the seven members of the startup. "Our packaging is ecofriendly because it doesn’t use chemical additives and doesn’t take years to degrade”.

While common plastics can take up to five centuries to degrade, the students estimate that Plasticor degrades in six months. The project is currently self-funded by its creators, but they are now seeking possible investors.