It doesn’t take a science genius to know when milk has expired — you just take a whiff. But if a sour milk detection mechanism that consists of ‘your nose’ doesn’t appeal to you due to the fact that a positive involves you smelling rancid milk, you may be interested in British milk company Cravendale‘s latest gadget: A smart milk jug that detects sour milk via a pH sensor, which is connected to a LCD screen that displays “fresh” or “sour” depending on the results.
From their press release:
To help combat this uncertainty, Cravendale’s Research and Development team have joined forces with designer Oliver Newberry to create a radical, new, innovative milk jug which will alert people to when their milk has soured. The milk jug was discovered during Cravendale’s product research into the bacteria that turns milk sour. Key features of the Cravendale milk jug include:
· A unique PH sensor built in to the base of the jug. The sensor measures the PH acidity of the jug’s contents and updates the milk drinker via an LCD screen message
· The LCD screen reads “Fresh” or “Sour” offering a reliable analysis of the milk’s drinkability, meaning you will never have to experience sour milk again!
While the neat consumer angle is enough to sell the jug, Cravendale says they were motivated by rampant “milk wastage,” which the Department for Food, Environment, and Rural Affairs estimates leads to 170,000 tons of drinkable milk being thrown away each year in the UK due to people not using milk products in time — or thinking they haven’t.
(Cravendale via DVICE)
