Apr 22, 2009 5:51 pm US/Eastern
High-Tech Labels To Hit Supermarket Shelves
Labels Will Release Tantalizing Scents Of Food As You Walk By
Bar Codes For Contaminted Products Will Trigger Alert At Register
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Many stores are now turning to some sweet-smelling secrets tempting you to buy more. (File)
AP
Freshly baked bread is tough to pass up at the supermarket, so imagine what it would be like to face tantalizing scents all over the store! Many stores are now turning to some sweet-smelling secrets tempting you to buy more.
Imagine the smell of brownies grabbing your attention while you roam the aisles at your neighborhood market. It may smell fantastic, but the scent might not be coming from the mix inside the box, but from an electronic label programmed to release a bit of mouth-watering aroma every time a shopper walks by.
"If you got coffee, they'll send out the coffee aroma when they sense you're coming by," says Peter Harrop, Chairman of IDTechex, the company behind the new technology.
What's behind this trend? To get your hunger hormones cranked up and induce you to open your wallet.
That isn't the only kind of new technology debuting on store shelves. New high-tech bar codes can now change colors to prevent the sale of a product subjected to temperature changes, risking contamination.
"When you scan [a contaminated product] at the checkout counter instead what you come up with is "Error, bad product," says Brett Lucht, a University of Rhode Island researcher.
Other labels being tested will protect you even after you take the product home to warn you of possible food contamination in your own refrigerator. And another label does even more:
"[The label] will be talking to you when you touch it, in addition to giving you print that may scroll, like on your computer, to give you instructions in whatever size font you want," says Harrop.
And other new labels will come with computerized messages for promising free prizes.
The projected cost per product? About 4-cents per label. It's triple what you're paying right now, but manufacturers are betting that this is one that is going to pay off.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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