A household appliance for treating at least one item according to at least one cycle of operation, includes a treating chamber for receiving the at least one item for treatment according to the at least one cycle of operation, a treating chemistry dispenser receiving a unit dose container having an optically sensible element, a physical alteration element located proximate to the treating chemistry dispenser and operable to physically alter at least a portion of the optically sensible element, and a sensor to sense the physical alteration.