Is it right to consume stored foods? Is it still fresh? These were the questions which keep haunting you when you are in front of leftovers. We usually check the expiry date of packaged foods. That’s it. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 600 million illnesses and 420,000 deaths due to food pathogens are reported every year. Now, our scientific field has delivered more reliable and user-friendly methods to detect the status of contamination and the presence of pathogens on food items, if any.

A research team including Hanie Yousefi and Thid Didar from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario invented a small transparent patch impregnated with harmless molecules, which could be easily incorporated directly into food packaging. This easy and cost-effective product is named ‘Sentinel Wrap’. Contamination status would be detected by scanning the food or beverage by a smartphone.

The lead author Hanie Yousefi said, "In the future, if you go to a store and you want to be sure the meat you're buying is safe at any point before you use it, you'll have a much more reliable way than the expiration date.”

This product is still waiting for its commercialization and regulatory approvals. The lead authors claimed that not could this technology could be applied in the food industry, but also in surgical tools, in order to ensure sterility.