Is your meat spoiled?

摘要

Mit chemists have developed an inexpensive, portable sensor that can detect gases emitted by rotting meat. This handy product will give consumers the capability to check if the meat in their grocery store or refrigerator is safe to eat. The sensor could also be integrated in smart packaging that would offer much more accurate safety information than the expiration date on the package, according to Timothy Swager, the John D. MacArthur Professor of Chemistry at MIT. Besides contributing to food safety, knowing when food is safe or not also cuts down on food waste. "People are constantly throwing things out that probably aren't bad," said Mr Swager, who is the senior author of a paper describing the new sensor in the journal Angewandte Chemie.