Researchers from Hanbat National University, Korea University (Sejong Campus), and Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials have developed a surface-enhanced Raman scattering sensor integrated into stretchable and antimicrobial wrap for real-time food quality monitoring and preservation. The real-world applications of this technology span the entire farm-to-fork chain, including cold chain logistics and storage, retail smart packaging, food safety monitoring, and meal kit delivery. 

Conventional food quality monitoring methods, including ribotyping and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), can be destructive and time-consuming, limiting their potential applications. In contrast, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensing, with real-time, non-destructive, and high sensitivity capabilities, is a highly promising alternative.

To address the need for practical food quality monitoring solutions, a team of researchers led by Associate Professor Ji-Hwan Ha, Ph.D. from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hanbat National University, Republic of Korea, has developed a two-in-one nanostructured SERS sensor integrated into a stretchable and antimicrobial wrapper (NSSAW) that monitors and actively preserves food quality. The findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Small. 

The wrapper incorporates a nanostructured SERS sensor—comprising gold nano-arrays loaded with silver nanoparticles—that delivers up to 30.11-fold Raman enhancement, enabling real-time, non-destructive detection of nutritional components, including purines, proteins, lipids, and carotenoids, as well as the pesticide thiram, on meats, fish, and fruit. At the same time, the curcumin-thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) electro-spun wrapper shows strong antimicrobial efficacy of 99.99 percent against Staphylococcus aureus and 99.9 percent against Escherichia coli, helping extend shelf life. 

Notably, NSSAW is highly stretchable and conformal, withstanding elongation of 716 percent and maximum stress of 52.3 megapascal (MPa). The SERS layer is integrated during fabrication via nanoimprint lithography, e-beam slanted deposition, and electrospinning with nano-transfer printing, providing a practical route to scalable packaging. 

In cold chain logistics and storage, the wrapper could help distributors decide when to ship and sell food by continuously tracking freshness and spoilage chemistry. In retail smart packaging, its stretchable, conformal, and biocompatible nature enables non-destructive, on-package checks of quality and nutrition markers—without causing damage to food—supporting point-of-sale quality automation and transparent date labeling.

Furthermore, NSSAW tracks spoilage progression over time by following the bacterial emission marker dimethyl disulfide, linking chemistry to freshness in a way that consumers and industry can interpret. NSSAW could act as an on-food freshness indicator during consumer storage for home use and meal kit delivery, linking chemical changes to easy-to-interpret signals over time. In addition, for high-value seafood and meats, quantitative tracking of purines such as hypoxanthine supports premium-grade verification and shelf-life decisions. 

Moreover, as active packaging, the curcumin-TPU, with its antimicrobial properties, complements sensing with preservation to extend shelf life in distribution and retail.

Over the next several years, packaging leveraging this new technology may move from pilot to mainstream.