Food Freshness at a Glance

Have you ever wished you could tell if the food in your refrigerator was spoiled without having to guess or smell it?  Soon you may only have to glance at a container of food to determine its freshness. During the most recent American Chemical Society Meeting and Exposition researchers presented the idea of color changing tags on packages to indicate freshness of food products. Small gel tags have been developed that would appear as various color codes on packaging. For example, red would indicate peak freshness and as the food product continued to get older the tag would change to orange, then yellow, and finally green to indicate food spoilage. The tags have been successfully tested with E.Coli bacteria and researchers say they can be easily customized to other food and beverage products. The next step to get these added to packaging is to contact manufacturers and explain their usefulness. Soon you may only have to glance at a tag to determine if your milk or can of green beans is still fresh.