container 18 may be provided to contain a powder such as sugar or a granular product such as ground coffee or coffee beans the containers 16 and 18 can be removed from the housing 12 for replacement refilling or cleaning the containers 16 and 18 may be molded unitarily from a synthetic resin to include an array of interconnected walls and at least one signal transmission chip 20 22 is secured fixedly to at least one wall of each container 16 18 more particularly the signal transmission chip 20 22 preferably defines an insert about which the walls of the respective container 16 18 are molded thus the signal transmission chip 20 22 is positioned accurately in the respective container 16 18 and is protected from external influences such as moisture preferably each signal transmission chip 20 22 is a rfid chip that is capable of communicating wirelessly with the controller 14 it will be appreciated that the signal transmission chips 20 22 are illustrated as being relatively large in fig1 and 2 however these relative dimensions are intended merely for illustrative purposes and the actual signal transmission chips 20 and 22 will be much smaller as compared to the size of the corresponding containers 16 18 the signal transmission chips may be operative to generate signals indicative of the presence of the respective container 16 and 18 in position on the housing 12.