Edible lasers for safety and authentication of food and pharmaceuticals

The goal of EdibleLasers is to make microlasers entirely out of edible materials and explore their potential for barcoding and sensing in food, pharmaceuticals and beyond. In the ongoing ERC Starting Grant Cell-Lasers we have developed several lasers made out of biocompatible and biological materials and implanted them in cells and tissues. If the microlasers are made from biological materials they can also be edible. Building on this work, we have specifically developed several microlaser types that are completely made of edible materials and can be embedded in edible products. Their well-defined spectral fingerprints have the potential to enable much-improved food quality control, safety and traceability, including unclonable security tags and novel barcodes. Because of their small size, edible lasers can be embedded in any food without changing its characteristics such as taste and appearance. The microlasers could detect the freshness of food, as well as measure other food properties such as pH and sugar concentration. Further, the unique emission spectra of each microlaser can encode information directly inside food, such as expiration date and manufacturer data. Here I propose to optimize the edible microlaser sensors and barcodes to be viable as commercial products, to patent this technology and to explore the path toward commercialization. Taken together, developing advanced edible lasers will lead to a great diversity of applications of benefit to the wider society.