A crowdsensing-based smartphone app for optimal food storage and real-time best-before dates

Abstract

Private households are responsible for 59% of Germany’s 11 million tons of food waste. Consumers’ behavior significantly contributes to food waste, prompting our concept to develop a smartphone application aimed at diminishing uncertainties about food expiration and safety. Utilizing a Design Science approach, we developed a prototype for a smartphone app, integrating novel functionalities to minimize food waste at the consumer household level. We analyzed existing market applications and, as a result, introduced the Freshlimeter, a unique feature that estimates the real-time best-before date within our app using feedback from consumers. We also highlight the potential for innovative app features, such as integrating a chatbot with image recognition capabilities to enable freshness assessments, especially for unpackaged or opened food.