The genius behind the newest iPhone food app, NutriSleuth, must have seen me recently in the grocery isle and taken pity on me. Our profile goes something like this: Mom is grocery shopping for her family. Her husband recently announced plans to cut out all frozen, processed and packaged foods (try finding something tasty to eat now!).
Her son has peanut allergies and she personally would be happy to lose at least ONE pound without having to spend three hours daily in the kitchen…
The new app, available mid-July, claims to be “a professional-grade mobile application that reports whether foods are okay for a user with an allergy or medical condition to eat.”
A user creates a profile, selects the nutrition criteria on their mobile and then uses the phone’s camera to scan the UPC barcode on a product, quickly determining if a food meets the dietary choices.
Within seconds of scanning a UPC barcode label, the NutriSleuth app searches a database of +200,000 name-brand grocery store products and delivers instant results.
No WiFi access is necessary and the iPhone application instantly “translates doctor’s orders” of dietary requirements for common conditions into a visual “yes or no” for a food product based on accepted professional medical standards. Watch the video demonstration.
For example, “Mom picks up a box of crackers – are they safe for everyone? She shakes her iPhone, aims the camera at the UPC barcode on the package and with a quick scan NutriSleuth gives her a readout: a Red Light indicates a severe conflict with her son’s profile. There’s no need to read the ingredients, she puts the box down and moves on…
According to NutriSleuth founder Valerie Daly, a registered dietician and allergy expert, there are no other applications – web, mobile or otherwise – available on the market to handle the tasks this program can.
The NutriSleuth app costs $4.99.
About Becky
Hi Peanut Allergy Mom.
I saw this come through my feed and I thought you’d be interested in learning about the FoodEssentials Scanner. It provides people with the ability to scan barcodes and learn the allergen, additive, ingredient and nutrient properties of any product.
The unique advantage of our system, and of particular interest to those with food allergies, is that it considers not just the claims on the product but also every single ingredient in the product. So, even if the product has no claims, the foodessentials scanner will alert you to the presence of an ingredient that is or may be positive for a specific allergy property.
The database behind the FoodEssentials Scanner is the most comprehensive ingredient database in existence and is used by government agencies and research institutions alike. It has been in development for 5 years by our team of dedicated health professionals and with considerable input from various consumer advocacy organisations.
Recently featured in the babble.com top 50 iPhone apps for mom’s list, it is presently available in itunes for $0.99 (check out foodessentials.com for a link).
We’d love to hear what you thought of our tool as we’re always looking for insightful ways to improve it. Otherwise, if you have any questions or would like to take it for a test run just let me know.
Sincerely,
Anton Xavier
Founder – FoodEssentials.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBbh1OoPNOE