Next time you're strolling the streets of your fair city, slide into your local grocery store.
Head to the juice aisle and take in the rows of delicious fruit beverages.
Without looking closely, try to guess which bottles have been opened and closed before and which remain unsealed from the factory.
The difficulty in doing so is the reasoning behind tamper-evident packaging.
Tamper-evident packaging actually performs a variety of related tasks.
The one alluded to above is an extremely common one -- keeping you safe from expired foods.
Many foods and drinks require refrigeration after opening, and without special packaging, figuring out whether you're at risk can be difficult.
By promoting safer packaging, shrink wrap companies are able to prevent potentially life-threatening consumption of spoiled foods.
Another important benefit is alerting you to whether something has been opened by somebody without access.
For parents concerned about their children accessing illicit materials such as cigarettes, or alcohol (though these products don't readily expire), the ability to easily note whether a seal has been broken is an important tool to keeping their families safe.
Outside of the home, companies and stores may employ tamper-evident packaging to ensure that unauthorized parties have not taken unauthorized permissions.
Different types of the packaging can even determine the types of tools used to gain entry, what knowledge was used, and who the tamperer might be.
The next time you crack open a cool juice or serve up some delicious dip, take a second to appreciate how much information you can get before you even break the seal.
Tamper-evident packaging can communicate a whole lot of information without a single word.