# Food That Texts You When It Spoils Mold Alerts By Alex Covert | Published 2008-09-22 | Unique Source: Trend Hunter, https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/rotton-food-alarms References: [switched](http://www.switched.com/2008/09/21/food-that-e-mails-or-texts-you-when-its-about-to-go-bad) A few years back, a scientist developed food labels that told you when [fruits and vegetables were ripe](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/avocado-scanner) (which I still haven't seen at the grocery stores). Well, now a group of scientists at Manchester University have developed another set of food labels, this time telling us when the [food is about to go bad](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/expiremate). It is hoped that this technology could be used to contact us via messages to our cellphones. Business meetings may soon sound like this: "Excuse me, I have to take this call. Hello? Oh, my sour cream is going bad? OK. Thanks." -Photo from j[effk (Flickr)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffk/1260858596/) ## Trend Insights (Trend Hunter) - Score: 1.3/10 - Popularity: 3% | Activity: 28% | Freshness: 8% - Audience gender: 50% men, 50% women - Primary generations: Millennial, Gen X - Top markets: North America ## Categories [Trend Hunter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends) > [Unique](https://www.trendhunter.com/unique) > [Bizarre](https://www.trendhunter.com/bizarre) ## Key Themes ### What Makes This Trend Stand Out - **Smart Food Labels:** Smart labels that track food freshness and send notifications via cellphones are a disruptive innovation opportunity for food retail and distribution industries. - **Real-time Food Monitoring:** Real-time food monitoring via IoT-enabled smart labels is a disruptive innovation opportunity for food safety and quality control industries. - **Personalized Food Notification:** Personalized notification systems for food freshness based on individual consumption patterns is a disruptive innovation opportunity for the food industry, particularly in reducing food waste at consumer level. ### Sectors Adopting This - **Food Retail:** Smart food labels that track food freshness and send notifications present a disruptive innovation opportunity for food retail industry, especially as consumers become more conscious of food waste and demand better quality control measures. - **Food Safety and Quality Control:** Real-time food monitoring via IoT-enabled smart labels is a disruptive innovation opportunity for food safety and quality control industries, who can leverage the data to prevent potential outbreaks, recall contaminated products and improve production processes. - **Smart Packaging:** Personalized notification systems for food freshness based on individual consumption patterns is a disruptive innovation opportunity for smart packaging industry, which can incorporate tracking and communication features for food products with the help of machine learning and AI technologies. ## Related on Trend Hunter - [Food Freshness Fridge Tags](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/nudge-tags.md) - [Freshness-Tracking Food Containers](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/vorkoster-lid.md) - [Intelligent Anti-Food Waste Systems](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/foodtusker.md) - [Dynamic Food Safety Detectors](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/food-safety-detector.md) - [Smart Food Management](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/ai-fridge.md) - [Food Longevity Stickers](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/keep-food-fresh.md) - [Food Safety Tracking Devices](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/ecotracker.md) - [Food Management Apps](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/kiff.md) - [Eco-Friendly Food Coatings](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/plantbased-coating.md)