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Food safety label wins top science award

IoN member, UWI Technology, wins prestigious award

UWI Technology’s warning label is activated as soon as a jar or other packaging is opened and begins an easily visible countdown, which shows when a product expires – green while the product is safe and red when it is not.

It could revolutionise safety standards in sectors as diverse as medicines, cosmetics and industrial glues.

Inventor Pete Higgins came up with the concept after he almost served dangerously out of date food to his young son – now he has seen it claim top prize at the Scottish Enterprise Life Science Awards.

Last night he said: “I was delighted to be shortlisted because that placed UWI Technology alongside some of the smartest people in Scotland’s thriving life sciences sector.

“We genuinely were just pleased to be sharing the same platform. When our name was announced, I was utterly thrilled.”

The win comes just months before UWI Label goes into mass production.

After coming up with the invention five years ago, Pete gave up his job and ploughed his life savings into pursuing the development of the technology.

He worked with a team of scientists at Heriot-Watt University to develop the prototypes.

Pete added: “When you come up with an idea and put absolutely everything into it, there are times when you start to doubt yourself and whether it will ever emerge as a product. The wonderful thing now is that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is looking brighter each day.

“Recognition with Scottish Enterprise, Life Science Award for Innovation is a huge testament to the benefits of the technology we have developed. The cream of the life science sector have just made it clear they think UWI Technology has what it takes. For our business that is tremendous, but it also means an awful lot to me personally.”

The label is also being hailed as a potential anti-counterfeiting tool for pharmaceuticals in tablet form and the high value spirits market, while it is also seen as an ideal warning system for industrial glues and sealants which must be used within specific timeframe for safety reasons, particularly in the aviation sector.

Pete added: “Life science and industrial glues and sealants are the main areas we are concentrating on. But this technology is suitable for any sector where products have a critical shelf life once opened. It’s been a long hard slog to get here, but it looks like 2012 will be our breakthrough year.”

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