A shopping trolley that knows what shelf your favourite goodies are on and can tell you if you are eating unhealthily has been unveiled.

The MediaCart looks like a normal shopping cart except for a 12in computer screen and small keypad.

Using technology from Microsoft, it contains a number of features that not only include locating items and checking prices but also the ability to suggest recipes, show your previous shopping lists and tot up your bill as you shop.

The American-made MediaCart, which could be in British supermarkets within a year, is being promoted as "the next generation digital grocery experience".

Using wi-fi radio signals, like a laptop computer, the trolley can plot the most efficient route for your shopping trip based on the shopping list you download.

It also has voice-recognition technology that allows it to take instruction from shoppers.

"They would simply press the button and say, 'Where's the cereal?' The trolley then shows its current location, the product and the best route there," said a spokesman for Media Cart.

"You just find the barcode on the bottom of the product, scan it and it pops up on your screen, as you go around it will subtotal all the items."

The Mediacart will advise on special offers and personalised features - including diet checks and remembered shopping lists - are activated when a shopper inserts a store loyalty card.

But in case any shifty shoppers take too much of a fancy to the Mediacart they should be warned - if it feels it is roaming too far from its home store it will phone for security assistance.

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Story by Dean Murray