When you get a pizza you might be so excited to tear off those hot slices of cheesy goodness, that you'll pay little attention to one genius contraption.

But the delicious takeaway would be reduced to a melting shambles without a helping hand from one humble invention - the little white table.

The plastic stool, dubbed the 'pizza saver', isn't for decoration or to keep the slices together, but actually separates the pizza box's lid from the meal's toppings - so they don't end up stuck disastrously to the top.

The little white plastic contraption in the middle of your pizza helps to to stop the cardboard lid sagging and melting into the toppings - causing a huge mess

The frustrating mess is caused by the condensation from the hot, steaming pizza which makes the lid sag - and melt into the sticky cheese and toppings.

But a doting mother turned inventor, Carmela Vitale, came up with the ingenious solution, according to Eater.

The 46-year-old, of Dix Hills, New York, submitted a drawing of the piece of plastic with the three arms extending down to sit on top of the pizza.

The deceptively simple idea of the 'package saver'got a patent in 1985.

Bearing in mind takeaway joints provide the 'pizza saver' - your meal should arrive fresh and in one piece

However Twitter is overrun with frustrated diners complaining that their much-anticipated pizzas have arrived in a dire condition - and minus the white plastic gem

Many shared photos of their ruined meals on social media, with toppings stuck to the top after they ripped the lid open

Carmela, who had two daughters and a husband to feed, no doubt came up with the answer after buying one too many pizzas from Long Island pizzerias that arrived in a mess.

She wrote for her patent filing in 1983: '[Delivery products] require a relatively inexpensive and disposable box or carton.

'Due to the quality of the board and their large size, there is a tendency of the covers to sag or to be easily depressed at their center portions so that they may damage or mark the pies or cakes during storage or delivery.'

Carmela's invention can 'resist temperatures of as high as about 500° F' according to her patent, and became widely used around the world.

This pizza came minus the 'pizza saver' - causing melting cheese to stick to the lid

This pepperoni offering faced the same fate after being delivered in a rush

Bearing in mind takeaway joints provide the 'pizza saver' - your meal should arrive fresh and in one piece.

However Twitter is overrun with frustrated diners complaining that their much-anticipated pizzas have arrived in a dire condition - and minus the white plastic gem.

Many shared photos of their ruined meals on social media, with toppings stuck to the top after they ripped the lid open.