06.05.2025

Food in the right light!

LED4foods

LUMITECH Lighting Solution GmbH is working together with the Institute of Food Chemistry at Graz University of Technology on solutions to counteract food waste as part of the LED4foods project.

LED4foods – uses special light to keep fruit and vegetables fresh for longer. The optimized light spectra inhibit germs and have a positive effect on ripening and ageing.

Project description FFG:
The project “Reduction of food waste through innovative lighting technologies” – LED4foods has the innovative approach of optimizing the product quality and product freshness of fruit and vegetables on their way from the harvest to the consumer by illuminating these products in the retail sector with optimized light spectra, which on the one hand have germ-inhibiting or germicidal effects and on the other hand have a beneficial effect on the respiration, ripening and aging processes of these products. A number of effects are known from the literature, but these still need to be verified for the specific application and general conditions in the store. If it can be proven that lighting with optimized light spectra has a positive influence on product quality, this approach can help to reduce the massive amount of food waste and thus achieve the goals of more sustainable and efficient food handling.
https://projekte.ffg.at/projekt/5122214

A number of articles have recently been published on the current state of research, which can be read here at any time (articles in German):

Kurier: Lebensmittel ins rechte Licht rücken
OE24: Paukenschlag: So könnten Lebensmittel im Geschäft länger frisch bleiben
futurezone: Gegen Verschwendung: Licht soll verdorbenes Gemüse verhindern