Detection of food quality – An embedded approach

The food we eat helps build and provide nourishment to our bodies, it gives us the energy for our daily activities and influences our health in various ways. A correct diet is the most important factor in helping us to achieve and maintain optimum health. Cooked food kept at temperatures between 30–40 degrees Centigrade undergo rapid bacterial growth and decomposition of food. Consumption of stale food leads to various food borne illnesses and indigestion. Hence it is very important to monitor the quality of food products and cooked food available in the household to check for its staleness and quality before consumption. This paper provides an approach to develop a smart system on a plate with integrated sensors that can detect the quality of food and display the degree of freshness of food items. The system will ensure quality of the household food used by the consumers, and improve their health. Here we identify the sensors that can measure appropriate parameters for quality detection, such as, pH value, moisture content, monitoring the emissions from food items, etc. The sensor plate will be able to detect spoilage of common household items like dairy, meats and fried items. An android application is developed to communicate with the food detection system and provide input.