EXPIRY DATE ALERT MECHANISM FOR FOODS
Technical Field
The invention relates to a date alert mechanism developed to prevent food spoilage, to protect human health and to provide convenience for both consumers and employees in the detection of expired products in stores and/or warehouses such as markets, grocery stores, delicatessens that sell food.
State of the Art
The expiry date refers to the date by which a product should be consumed or used. It is a legal obligation to indicate the expiry date (STT) and/or the best before date (TETT) on the packaging or product. The expiry date shows that the consumption of the product after the specified date will be harmful or risky for human health.
The expiry date indicates the period during which the products can be last used without becoming harmful to health, without deterioration and without problems. Thus, consumers are prevented from using or consuming spoiled and risky products. Especially in the food sector, the expiry date is of great importance. Foods have a certain shelf life and after this life, the risks of spoilage of foods are very high. Consumption of deteriorated products poses a serious threat to human health.
In the current art, the expiry dates are written on the product packages with coding devices. Industrial coding machines write the relevant information on the product packaging in a serial way so that consumers can easily notice the relevant information. In addition, special inks are used to ensure that the date is not erased and is permanent. Therefore, the expiry date is under the control of the consumer who receives the product. At the same time, sales and/or department personnel check the dates of the products at certain time intervals and separate the expired products. However, both labor and time are wasted here, and problems such as missing the date or not paying attention occur for consumers. As a result of the research on the subject, the application numbered TR 2013/07170 "Product Expiry Date Change Monitoring Device" was found. The application is an electronic system that allows to observe the time remaining until the expiry (best before) dates of the products that need to be kept at certain temperatures by using different division rates of bacteria at different temperatures. The system consists of electronic circuit elements containing receiver and exciter. These receivers and exciters calculate and display the remaining time on the screen thanks to a microprocessor containing a temperature sensor and an algorithm depending on the ambient temperature and the elapsed time and warn the consumer with light indicators when the expiry date is approaching. An electronic circuit containing a receiver and a stimulus is used in said invention. This system is a difficult and expensive system to implement.
As a result of another research made on the subject, the application numbered TR 2022/009902 "Purchasing Products without Examining the Expiry Date" was found. The application relates to the development of a barcode software system in order to ensure that the products can be purchased reliably without the need to examine the expiry date during shopping. In cases where we cannot examine the expiry date of the products, such as when the time is limited or the number of products is high, it is aimed to eliminate the risk of buying a product that has expired. In said invention, a barcode software system has been developed.
The inventions mentioned and found in the research on the subject are insufficient in solving the existing problems and make it necessary to make a new development that will eliminate the disadvantages in the related technical field.
Object of the Invention
The object of the invention is to solve the abovementioned disadvantages by being inspired from the current conditions.
The main object of the invention is to provide an alert mechanism for products that have reached the expiry date of the products.
Another object of the invention is to eliminate the possibility of the consumer to miss the expiry date. Another object of the invention is to protect human health.
Another object of the invention is to provide ease of control for sales personnel.
Another object of the invention is to prevent job, labor, and time losses.
Another object of the invention is to prevent financial losses for both the producer and the consumer.
Another object of the invention is to prevent customer losses that may occur in terms of the seller.
In order to realize all the advantages that will be understood from the abovementioned and the following detailed description, the invention is a date alert mechanism that is developed to protect human health, prevent food spoilage, provide convenience for both the consumer and the employee in determining the products that have reached the expiry date in the stores and/or warehouses where the food is sold, and warns the person by spreading the dye; the mechanical chamber that houses the entire mechanism, the meter in which the best before date of the product is entered by the department/warehouse officer and/or the end consumer, the capsule in which the dye is stored, the capsule in which said mechanical chamber is entered, the needle that explodes the capsule by moving towards said capsule when the time expires, when the meter is reset, and the needle that allows the spreading of the dye, said mechanical chamber and the packaged food product to protect it from external factors and to prevent the dye material formed inside from coming out and it contains a low density polyethylene material product storage bag.
The structural and characteristic features and all the advantages of the invention will be understood more clearly by means of the figures and the detailed description with reference to these figures given below and therefore, the evaluation should be made by taking these figures and the detailed description into consideration.
Brief Description of the Figures Figure 1 The general view of the inventive alert mechanism.
Figure 2 The view of the mechanical chamber in the alert mechanism of the invention.
Figure 3a The closed view of the meter in the alert mechanism of the invention.
Figure 3b The open view of the meter in the alert mechanism of the invention.
Figure 3c The view of the capsule in the alert mechanism of the invention.
Figure 3d The view of the spring-loaded piston in the alert mechanism of the invention.
List of the Reference Numbers
1. Storage bag
2. Mechanical chamber
3. Capsule
4. Meter
5. Needle
6. Spring-loaded piston
A. Date alert mechanism
Detailed Description of the Invention
The date alert mechanism (A) of the invention, has been developed to provide convenience for both the consumer and the employee in determining the expired products in the stores and/or warehouses where the food is sold, to prevent food deterioration and to protect human health, and in general, it consists of a mechanical chamber (2) containing mechanical elements, a mechanical chamber, and a storage bag (1) wrapping the product packaging.
As seen in Figure 1, the storage bag (1) surrounding both the product and the mechanical chamber (2) is produced from nylon material; low density polyethylene. There is no interaction of said storage bag (1) with chemical substances. The use of the nylon storage bag (1) is flexible, there is no easy tearing, destruction, puncture. Since it is water-resistant, there is no contact with the mechanical chamber (2) it stores in the liquids it may be exposed to from the outside. The product and the mechanical chamber (2) are placed in the storage bag (1); thus, both the mechanical chamber (2) is protected from external factors and the dye used as an alert is prevented from coming out. The mechanical chamber (2) in Figure 2 is supported by the meter (4) used to set the expiry date and the capsule (3) where the dye is stored. The meter (4) shown in Figures 3a and 3b is adjusted according to the expiry date of the product to be used. In Figure 3b, the needle (5) in the meter (4) provides the detonation of the capsule (3) seen in Figure 3c when the time comes by the operation of the meter (4).
The user first installs the meter (4) according to the expiry date of the product to be placed on the shelf. The product and the meter (4) are then placed in the storage bag (1) made of low- density polyethylene. When the expiry date of the product is reached, that is, when the installed meter (4) is reset, the spring-loaded piston (6) in the meter (4) moves thanks to the meter (4) and triggers the needle (5). It moves towards the capsule (3) by triggering the needle (5) and explodes the capsule (3) containing dye.
With the exploding capsule (3), the paint in the capsule (3) is dispersed and easily visible from the outside. Since the product and the mechanical chamber (2) are located in the storage bag (1), the paint does not come out.
Thus, the determination of the expiry dates, which are important for both the manufacturer, the consumer, and the seller in terms of health, is easily made visibly with paint. With the aforementioned date alert mechanism (A), first of all, health is prioritized and food poisoning that may occur due to the deterioration of nutrients is prevented. On the other hand, labor and time losses incurred for the product expiry date control, and financial and prestige losses for the consumer and the seller are prevented.