Mimica believes in better freshness through intelligence that can help reduce waste throughout a product’s lifecycle. In countries like the UK, 60% of wasted food is still perfectly safe to consume. By creating accessible, affordable freshness indicators for all types of perishable products, from food to pharmaceuticals, Mimica aims to become the globally recognized mark of freshness.

Mimica Touch is a patented label that tells you exactly when food spoils. It is calibrated to degrade at the same rate as food and adjusts to conditions along the way. Mimica offers a freshness indication solution that reduces waste, improves safety, and is more accessible.

We designed a solution that is simple, iconic, intuitive, adaptable, to help impact responsible consumption and production.

The ‘use by’ dates of food packaging are just estimates of how long a product will last. The rate at which food deteriorates is affected by multiple factors – such as temperature and environment – so it is impossible to accurately predict. This means that a majority of the food we throw away in the UK is still good to eat – the expiry dates are just too cautious. Each year, this costs the average UK household £470 in wasted food and creates seven million tons of food, drink, plastic and other packaging consumables that must be disposed of.

For retailers, products that reach their expiry dates on shelves create more costs – firstly for the items to be removed from display, and secondly for waste management companies to dispose of them.

To be effective, a freshness indicator should be simple, practical, easily understood, and accurate – a combination that has been difficult to achieve.

Mimica Touch is a simple way to tell you if your food is still fresh. A label is fixed onto the packaging of the product itself and it becomes bumpy when food has expired. The consumer is able to quickly tell if their food is still fit for consumption – extending the life of the food and reducing waste. The design makes it easy to tell when food has expired, even for those with visual or cognitive impairments.

There are two types of Mimica labels. The ‘closed life’ label sticks directly onto the food packaging. As each label is bespoke to the foodstuff it is attached to, it provides accurate information and confidence for the customers. The second ‘open life’ label which sits within the lid of a food/liquid container. Once the seal has been broken, the label deteriorates at the same speed as the liquid/food contained within.

User testing and online surveys confirmed what we assumed: consumers trust their nose more than sell-by dates. But that doesn’t diminish the problem: retailers still must throw away tons of food based on worst-case assumptions. The strategy was to increase consumer confidence in the freshness of food by making a better expiry label.

Four design principles guided the work. Mimica must be (1) Simple: portraying the messaging in a way that clearly displays the use by date (2) Iconic: The label design must be immediately recognized as a stamp of freshness (3) Intuitive: with an unfamiliar technology, it must be immediately understood by the user (4) Adaptable: the label must work on a variety of different packaging types.

A portion of the label always remains smooth making it easy to tell when a change has occured. The label is also more accessible for those with visual or cognitive impairments.

The Mimica Touch label is a bio-responsive system that changes at the same rate that a particular food spoils. Inside the label is a solid gel and a gel digester that sit above a series of molded plastic bumps. When the gel is solid, the bumps underneath cannot be felt, making the label feel smooth and confirming the product’s freshness.

The digester is activated when its applied to the package (for the closed life label) or when the product is opened (open life label). The gel digester contains enzymes that digest protein structures, and are accelerated by higher temperatures to mimic bacterial growth, turning the solid gel to liquid. Once liquified, you can feel the bumps underneath, and know the food is unsafe to consume.

The system can be calibrated to different types of perishable items and is accurate to within hours of spoilage.

Mimica’s technology is not unique to specific foods, and could be customized to any perishable item. The technology is being tested and piloted with major companies in the juice, dairy and meat sectors.

The value is clear: if shelf life for products could be extended by 2 days while the food is still safe to consume, retailers could cut waste by up to 50% (As field-tested by leading global retailers on perishable products, 2011/12).

Beyond food, there’s opportunities in other areas including cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Nearly half of all vaccines administered in the world have lost their efficacy by the time they’re injected due to poor temperature management.

Mimica raised £1.35m in seed round investment and is pursuing opportunities to scale. By pioneering a more informed supply chain all the way from producer to consumer, Mimica can help end unnecessary waste through better intelligence.