This Device Will Sniff Your Meat and Tell You Whether It’s Gone Bad

There's an old adage surrounding food expiration that dictates, "When in doubt, throw it out." In other words, if you're staring into a half-eaten container of Thai food from late last week, brow furrowed in confusion over its scent and mind rapidly trying to determine whether the naked eye can see deadly microbes, you're probably better off cutting your losses and tossing it. Ditto that forgotten pint of half-and-half, or the last stragglers of the dozen eggs that you definitely didn't purchase anytime this month.

But despite the general reliability of the ol' stare 'n' sniff, many people are still throwing their hands up in the air when it comes to identifying food that is A-OK or has seen its day.

Lithuanian inventor Augustas Alesiunas devised Peres, a.k.a. "the Foodsniffer," for this very reason, after he himself was a victim of food poisoning. The Foodsniffer is just what it sounds like: essentially, a robotic nose that inhales the fumes coming off of your ground beef or days-old salmon filet, then analyzes them for signs of sketchiness. It then sends the results straight to—you guessed it—your smartphone.

Sort of resembling a newer-model vibrator and available in multiple enchanting colors, Peres is intended to be used with beef, pork, poultry, or fish, and measures a combination of temperature, humidity, ammonia levels, and the presence of harmful compounds.

Alesiunas argues that some of these variables cannot be detected by smell or appearance alone, only becoming apparent when your face meets your toilet. Peres will hit store shelves next month at the cost of about $120 USD.

Is it really necessary to hover a digi-nose over your pork chops before tossing them on the grill? Probably not for everyone, but there may be better benefits for people with compromised senses of vision and smell, such as the elderly, or those more concerned about foodborne illness, i.e. pregnant women. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that food poisoning by microorganisms sickens 48 million Americans every year, and kills roughly 3,000.

For others, using a Foodsniffer probably seems excessive—that is, until you consider the statistics about how dumbfounded Americans are about something as simple as whether their food looks legit to eat. Expiration dates prove unhelpful in many cases—a hilariously high 90 percent of Americans purchase a carton of milk without having no clue whatsoever what the date on its lip represents. That amount of discarded good adds up to about $2,000 worth of food each year that would have been totally fine to consume.

The executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council even released a statement this week that "you don't need to throw [food] out if it's past the date on the label." Expiration dates are generally decided by the foods' manufacturers, not guided by any kind of meaningful federal standards (with one exception: baby formula). That's why milk and eggs can last for days or weeks past their printed date, whereas yogurt and sour cream often adhere more closely to their proposed time of death. Some printed dates mean "purchase by … ," while others are more along "try to use by…".

And if you're really that freaked out, sleep easy knowing that scientists are currently mapping the genomes of hundreds of thousands of microbes so that food DNA scans are just on the horizon.

Or, you know, try keeping more of your perishables in the freezer, where they will be safe and sound for years to come.