Widget alerts you when milk's gone bad

Milk does a body good, but not when it's spoiled. Until now the old school sniff-and-taste method has been one way (perhaps the only way) to check milk, but an upcoming widget will put an end to unpleasant spoiled milk tasting. Switched says American and Chinese scientists have teamed up to developed a plastic widget that prevents bad milk from making it past the supermarket checkout.

The round plastic widget contains a metal strip that vibrates when the milk starts to decompose. It was designed to float inside milk cartons to check the milk's consistency in order to prevent food poisoning. If the milk is too thin or too thick, the alarm vibrates, and only a small scanner at the checkout counter is able to detect the discrepancy. An active alarm prompts the sales clerk to replace the milk before you pay for it and walk out the door, and everyone's happy. This widget is said to cost less than a penny per carton, and it could be used to monitor other liquids like soups and fruit juice. Naysayers will say expiration dates are just fine, but this would be a good system for those who forget to check the label before they pay.