Picture it: You’re eating an especially messy burrito, taco, or wrap and the filling begins oozing out. If you’ve found yourself in this predicament and wished someone would invent a magic glue or adhesive tape that would keep the item intact, your wishes have just been answered.
The invention is called “Tastee Tape,” and it’s the brainchild of a group of engineering students at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. As the name suggests, the tape is edible. “All its ingredients are safe to consume, are food grade, and are common food and dietary additives,” one of the student inventors is quoted as saying, though the group has declined to provide further details pending their application for a patent. What they are willing to divulge is that the adhesive strip (which they have dyed blue to make it easier to see) can keep “a fat burrito completely secure from spillage.” As proof, they admit to having tested the invention on “too many burritos to count.”