There is finally a pocket-sized gadget that can determine if your food contains gluten.
The 6Sensor Nima is a handheld Bluetooth device that uses sensors to scan tiny pieces of food, and tell you if they contain the proteins found in wheat. It was created for the various reasons one might stick to a gluten-free diet—whether that be because of a sensitivity, dietary decisions, or celiac disease.
Nima is comprised of two parts: a capsule, and a triangle-shaped base. To use the device, one just needs to put a pea-sized piece of food into the capsule, and screw on the lid to grind the sample. The capsule then gets inserted onto the base; after about three minutes, it tells you what it found out about the make up of your cuisine.
If the device determines your food is free of gluten, the OLED screen will display a smiley face. You will see a wheat symbol if even a trace amount is found.
The results can be uploaded via Bluetooth to your iPhone and shared with the world, so folks know what restaurant dishes or grocery items to look out for.
A 12-pack of the non-reusable capsules costs around $60, so find some space in your wallet if you plan on testing everything you eat.
It’s also important to note that Nima should act complementary to whatever gluten-free plan you follow.
“It’s true that Nima cannot guarantee an entire dish is gluten-free, since Nima takes a sample of food from your dish,” Nima spokeswoman Heather Sliwinski told CNET. “With any form of testing, whether Nima or lab, you can’t guarantee the dish, the box, or the lot you didn’t test is gluten-free based on one test result.”
H/T CNET