Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

We would like to figure out the most scientific method of measuring the results of the product called "Always Fresh Containers". How do we go about measuring the company's claim of keeping edibles fresher up to "weeks" longer than ordinary storage? How do we measure the spoilage of the food, visually?

We want to prove or debunk the claims of this product, while scientifically measuring the spoilage of the items. Please help! Thank you!

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Hello. Definitely a useful experiment and data to share with others, whether it is a good news or bad news story!

Visually identifying spoilage will be easier on some foods over others. For things like bread and berries, simply looking for mold makes you not want to eat it. Fruits with peels will be more difficult. I recommend you stick with bread or berries.

To test the claims, I would leave some of your food out in the open or the refrigerator (whichever method you use to typically store fruits). This will be your control group. I would then place some of your food in the Always Fresh containers next to your control group. This will be your experimental group. Be sure your experimental group is in the same environment as the control group (refrigerator or kitchen counter, same amount of light and temperature, etc).

Leave them there for a few days / weeks until mold grows in both the control and experimental groups. Theoretically, mold will appear in the control group faster than the experimental group. I would log your observations and perhaps take pictures every day as the experiment progresses. As they do on their website, these pictures can be a demonstration of your visual comparison. Unless there is at least a 2 week (to match their weekS claim) difference between time mold begins to appear, you have proven them wrong!

While I'm sure there are more scientific ways to measure food spoilage, since this is an elementary school project, visual identification will be sufficient. I know I certainly won't eat fruit with white fuzz on it!

I hope this helps. Be sure to write back if you have any more questions and certainly let us know the results!
Cheers,