Foodstuff that is past its use-by date can be detrimental to one’s health in more ways than one. According to the CDC, about a sixth of all Americans—or 48 million people—suffer from food borne illnesses every year. Because it is sometimes difficult to determine whether food is fresh, food poisoning can be an especially difficult condition to prevent. It is to address this gap that a new product – the Foodsniffer – has been conceptualized and created by Augustas Alesiunas, a Lithuanian inventor.
This handy kitchen gadget helps people determine whether a food item is still edible by simply ‘sniffing’ the food and relaying the results of the sniff test to the user’s smartphone. The makers of this gadget claim that the Foodsniffer is the first electronic nose in the world. It can be used with a variety of food items such as fish, poultry and meat. The device makes use of a set of special sensors to gauge factors such as ammonia, humidity, temperature, and other dangerous organic compounds that are present in food that’s gone off.
Alesiunas stumbled upon the idea of inventing a gadget such as this when he fell severely ill after consuming stale food. He said that while people often try to identify whether food is still fresh by smelling, what they don’t realize is that some poisonous compounds can in fact, be odorless. Considering this aspect, it can be extremely difficult for people to ascertain whether food has gone bad. According to Alesiunas, food spoilage can sometimes take place as a result of contact with other foodstuff stored in the refrigerator or certain types of cookware.
The launch price of the Foodsniffer is US$120, and it will be available in the market starting March 2015. This gadget can help reduce food wastage by helping people ascertain whether food items are safe to consume.
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