Analysis of possibility to laser mark and engrave on food, and options for application in food industry

Abstract

Fruits and vegetables traceability plays important role in these days where need to preserve environment is a crucial. Currently fruits and vegetables are marked with plastic or paper stickers which lacks reliability due to those being easy removable. Packaging and traceability legislation forms a bases for all the information needed to be provided to consumer when purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables. Laser engraving or laser marking is technology which provides environmentally friendly method of capturing information about the fruits and vegetables and allows for effective traceability and does not compromise on safety of fruits and vegetables. Laser can directly mark figures or i.e. codes on fruits and vegetables which after scanning can pro-vide extensive information to consumers. Most common lasers used for marking and engraving on fruits and vegetables are CO2 laser marking systems. This thesis provides overview of various laser marking methods and provides overview on how laser marking can be applied in food industry. Existing case studies presented in this thesis shows, that laser marking is effective and ecological way when used correctly and can be used for marking fresh fruits and vegetables.