APURN
The Project
APURN - Advanced Produce Utensil Rot Notifier Have you ever been unsure about if your food is safe to eat? This uncertainty leads many people to waste good food. ReFed estimates that 27% of all food in the United States, 63 million tons, goes to waste destinations. Foodborne illness sprout and go undetected many times, which leads to many cases and deaths of food poisoning on the globle annually. That's where I got inspiration for my project, APURN. APURN is an Arduino-powered device designed to detect spoilage in foods before consumption with the goal of lowering food wastage and sickness. APURN uses a gas and alchohol sensor to detect growth of harmful microorganisms. The system features a self calibration system to adapt to the user's surroundings and give more accurate readings. The user can either press a physical button or press the scan button in an app I built using the MiT App Inventor. The app and device communicate by means of bluetooth to scan and display results. If the amount of alchohol or carbon dioxide is above a certain threshold, which is calibrated by the device, spoilage is detected and the user is informed. There are three levels to spoilage; safe, moderate, and spoiled. APURN gives users a cheap and portable way to test for spoilage without the use of lab equipment. Designed with accessibility and reliability, APURN empowers people to smart food safety practices at home.
