The American Chemical Society (ACS) is pushing for the widespread adoption of new retail packaging design that effectively alerts consumers when their food is going bad and when it's completely spoiled. Using gel tags that are inlaid with nanorods crafted from gold and silver, the packaging detects changing composition of gases and other chemicals within packages. As the composition changes from fresh, edible food toward the spoiled end of the spectrum, the tags change color from red to green to violet — with shades in between — denoting the stages of decay.
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