The EU introduced mandatory legislation in 2027, but there are limitations to the proposed system.
According to a team at the University of Surrey, the system about to be brought into place across the bloc is static, and aimed at long-shelf-life products such as electronics. This means design, materials and recycling instructions can be recorded, but conditions in flux – freshness, safety and quality – cannot.
First published in the journal New Reviews Clean Technology, UK-based researchers are advocating a new comprehensive framework for dynamic digital product passports (D-DPPs). The system shows the difference which can be made with real-time sensing, supply chain digital twins, physics-informed machine learning and secure data when it comes to tracking produce lifecycles and changes.
As an item moves from farm to factory, transport and logistics to storage, distribution and retail, the technology assesses its condition and continuously updates records appropriately. By adopting this approach, spillages could be prevented, unnecessary waste cut, and transparency improved across the entire food and beverage supply chain.
‘Perishable products don’t behave in fixed ways – they change hour by hour as they move through real supply chains. Static digital passports simply cannot keep up,’ said Dr Lei Xing, Lecturer in Digital Chemical Engineering at the University of Surrey and lead author of the study.
‘We’ve demonstrated how integrating digital twins, real-time sensing and AI can evolve digital product passports from static compliance records into intelligent decision-support tools that enhance safety, cut waste and enable more circular supply chains,’ they continued. ‘Dynamic digital product passports could also help identify where quality begins to decline and why. That knowledge is invaluable for improving stock management and reducing the significant amount of food lost before it ever reaches consumers.’
Image: Muhammad Syahid Abdillah / Unsplash
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