Using Technology to Make Food Safer

Mobile technology may have prevented the spread
of beef products containing horse meat in the U.K.

Highly publicized stories over the past few years have made the people very wary about the caution taken in food preparation.  Foodborne illnesses such as mad cow disease as well as the relatively high rate of food poisoning contracted at restaurants have led to calls for higher oversight on food preparation and restaurant cleanliness.  The recent horse meat scandal in the UK and the case of hundreds of dead pigs floating in Chinese rivers have prompted consumers to request better traceability in food.  Cloud technology and wireless sensoring technology is now available to fill these needs. 

Elektron Technology recently launched the Checkit food safety monitoring system.  The system can be placed in food storage areas, including refrigerators. The system monitors temperature, humidity, and door status on a 24 hour basis.  If an issue arises with the food storage system, an alert can be sent immediately to a computer, tablet, or phone.  It is estimated that about 16% of resturaunt patrons gets sick from foodborne illness each year in the U.S. This system has the potential to save patrons from consuming food that has been exposed to bad conditions, while saving restaurants the high costs of disposing of spoiled food.

Researchers concerned with food safety have also come up with a way that new technology can be used to trace ingredients in food that can prevent fraud and also stop the sale and consumption of tainted food.  JDA, a consulting firm that specializes in food safety, has found that cloud computing can be used to store huge amounts of ingredient data from individual product barcodes.  JDA believes that 100% traceability of ingredients is possible.  The researchers acknowledge that retailers would likely be unwilling to incur the costs associated with running tracing systems, and that they might provide biased reports.  However, the firm believes that if third party groups concerned with food safety paid the costs to trace food, or if the government implemented regulations similar to the ones they place on pharmaceuticals  then the system could become viable.

Cloud Technology to Fight Horse Meat Type Fraud
Harnessing Technology to Fight Foodborne Illness