There is a very good reason why there is a “use by” date on our food and drinks – simply because food can turn bad, and that would not be too good for your tummy then. However, we humans love to be more efficient in the way we do things, which is why it is interesting to see how much more passive things can get with this new color coded tag that was developed by researchers that can be placed on food and beverage containers in order to determine as to whether the products within are spoiled, or can still be consumed.
For those who know what the smell of spoiled milk or rotten eggs are like, I am quite sure it is not an experience that you would like to go out of the way in order to relive them. With this smart tag, all that you need to do is to check the color of a small tag that is located on the container. Being roughly the same size as that of a corn kernel, these tags are able to tell whether food has gone bad, or should medication still be active.
Lead researcher Chao Zhang shared, “This tag, which has a gel-like consistency, is really inexpensive and safe, and can be widely programmed to mimic almost all ambient-temperature deterioration processes in foods.”
It would be interesting to see how sensitive these tags can be, and does it work across a band of all foods, or only certain kinds of food?
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