New ways to keep food fresh, LED lighting extends freshness

At present, supermarket food, especially cooked and fresh food, is generally illuminated by fluorescent lamps. This traditional high heat lighting system can cause damage to meat or meat products, and can also form water vapor condensation inside plastic packaging. In addition, the use of fluorescent lighting often makes elderly customers feel dazzled, making it difficult for them to fully see the food situation.
LEDs are cold light sources that emit less heat compared to traditional lighting fixtures, and they also have energy-saving features that reduce the consumption of electricity in shopping malls or food stores. From these advantages, they are already superior to fluorescent lighting fixtures commonly used in shopping malls. However, the advantages of LEDs are not limited to this, they also have antibacterial effects. Scientists have stated that acidic foods such as freshly cut fruits and ready to eat meats can be preserved without further chemical treatment in a low-temperature and blue LED environment, greatly reducing the aging of meat and the melting of cheese to minimize product loss. This has led to rapid development in the field of food lighting.
For example, in the Journal of Animal Science, it was reported that fresh light illumination has an impact on myoglobin (a protein that promotes the deposition of meat pigments) and lipid oxidation in meat. A method was found to prolong the optimal color time of meat products, and it was found that fresh light irradiation can keep food fresh, greatly reducing the operating costs of shopping malls or food stores. Especially in the consumer market of the United States, consumers often value the color of ground beef when choosing it. Once the color of ground beef turns dark, consumers usually do not choose it. Such meat products are either sold at a discount or become reimbursed meat products in the billions of dollars lost by American supermarkets every year.