You no longer need to sniff the meat that’s been languishing in your fridge for days to make sure it’s safe to eat. A wireless device can now do it for you and send all the information you need directly to your smartphone.

A group of scientists from the University of Texas at Austin and China’s Nanjing University created ‘nano-structured’ polymer-based gas sensors capable of detecting biogenic amines – the substances which give decomposing meat a bad smell. The verdict is then sent to the user’s smartphone.

Researchers placed the devices near pieces of meat stored for 24 hours at 30 degrees Celsius, claiming their tests proved to be successful.

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“Traditionally, many consumers just smell a food to detect spoilage, but this technique is only as reliable as the sniffer’s nose,” says Nano Letters, a peer-reviewed journal of American Chemical Society, which published the study on the rotten food-detecting device on Wednesday.

The invention can prevent food poisoning and foodborne diseases, including fatal cases. It is also expected to help shop employees and consumers at home to check the quality of food.

Some 48 million people in the US get sick from foodborne diseases every year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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