Food allergies can make eating at a potluck party or buffet a frustrating and potentially dangerous experience. But what if you had a device that could sense the presence of potential allergens like nuts, eggs or soy? Swedish design student Erik Borg has come up with the concept for a food allergen detector that can do just that. Check out the commercial after the jump.
The detector is a small, handheld device that, when pointed at a dish of food, alerts the user to the presence of milk, eggs, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, peanuts, soy or wheat, the eight items that account for 90% of food allergies. "The Nose" was developed in collaboration with Philips electronics, and is unfortunately still in the conceptual stage, but the idea is so smart, we're hoping it will be a reality at some point.
• Read more: Food Allergen Detector at knegadesign
Related: Help, I Have Food Allergies. What Can I Cook?
(Image: Erik Borg)
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As someone with a toddler with anaphylaxic allergies to many of the top 8, I don't know if I'd ever even use of of these "smart" tools if it ever became available.
The ONLY treatment for severe life-threatening food allergies is strict avoidance. Hence, my son NEVER eats anything that hasn't been made by me, or is made in a dedicated facility confirmed by a call to the company, as you can just never be sure about not only ingredients but also cross contamination with cutting tools, cutting boards, pots/pans, the processing plant equipment and the like.
Sounds like a great concept but in reality the risk of the tool malfunctioning and causing an anaphylaxic reaction seems too great of a risk.
I can't wait till this is available.
This would change my life.
I would buy this.
If they had one that would detect onions and garlic, I'd get one!
Amazing.
hmm... misschryth raises a good point. The question is the threshold amount that the detector picks up, combined with the potential for user error. If you're pointing the "nose" at the food to be tested, I would imagine the distance from the sensor to the device matters somewhat.
This also reminds me of the infared thermometer - good idea, but it only allows you to see the temperature of the outside of the item... so does the sensor pick up allergens inside the food as well? these things matter quite a bit.
I would prefer a testing device that analyzed a physical sample of the food you're going to eat, instead of "sniffing" it from a distance. BUT - good concept! and I'm very hopeful that this kind of research will yield great benefits in the future!!!
Can there be one for food spoilage, too? Perhaps one for poisoned food? How about food with too much sodium? Poorly made food?
In all seriousness though, the concept is great, but like misscryth said, since there's still a risk for it, and how ashleydrake said that there's a huge opportunity for error, it's pretty unfeasible. Sometimes it's just better to go things the old fashioned way and either avoid questionable foods or risk it.
Yeah, considering the consequences of a false negative, would you trust something like this? I'd be very reluctant.
My food allergies aren't to any of the top 8 :( corn and tomatoes. maybe eventually they'll be recognized
the key being "concept" - this sort of thing has a long way to to. Developing the sensing technology and then packing it all into that little pointer is a while off...