Some of you might have heard the news in which there have been reports of a potential salmonella outbreak. Now as much as producers and retailers try to minimize food contamination, sometimes bad stuff happens, but if researchers at MIT have it their way, we could soon spot foods that might have been contaminated.
This is thanks to the researchers who are developing an RFID system called RFIQ that when placed on food or food packaging, will be able to tell us whether or not that item might be contaminated or has gone bad. Sometimes it can be obvious when a food item has gone bad with indications such as smell and feel, but sometimes it can be hard to tell, like how would you know if your food has salmonella in it?
That’s where the RFIQ system comes in handy, where it leverages wireless signals given off by RFID tags. According to the researchers, “The researchers’ system leverages the fact that, when RFID tags power up, the small electromagnetic waves they emit travel into and are distorted by the molecules and ions of the contents in the container.” From there, a reader can be used to scan the tags to determine if the food might have been contaminated.
While it sounds like a great system, there are some problems due to the fact that food is packaged in all kinds of containers, meaning that the technology needs to be done in such a way that it can be applied to all kinds of packaging.