China’s biggest search engine Baidu has revealed a pair of smart chopsticks, that it claims can help users avoid food poisoning and improve their diets.
The prototype device, known as Kuaisou in Chinese, is equipped with sensors that detect temperature and whether food was produced using gutter oil -illegally reused cooking oil that’s poisonous.
The chopsticks’ sensors are wirelessly linked to a smartphone or desktop app that shows whether the food’s contamination level is low or high.
Future models are also expected to measure PH levels, other food temperatures and calories.
"In the future, via Baidu Kuaisou, you’ll be able to know the origin of oil and water and other foods — whether they’ve gone bad and what sort of nutrition they contain," CEO Robin Li said at Baidu’s annual technology conference in Beijing.
Although the food safety device is not yet ready for production, a video released this week shows a user placing the electronic chopsticks in three cups of cooking oil.
