The Food Warden is a system for detecting food spoilage. When a package of meat is saved after opening, a closed sticker containing Bacillus subtilis spores is activated by breaking the middle compartment (similar to activating a glow-in-the-dark stick), whereby Alanine and water are mixed with the spores to cause germination. When the germinated microbes come in contact with volatiles from rotting meat, a pathway is activated which results to the production of a pigment. When this happens, the consumer knows that he has to throw away the food.
Discover the different states of the Food Warden system below!
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