Learning food quality and safety from wireless stickers

Abstract

Can we sense food quality and safety using wireless signals? In this paper, we explore how we can discover properties of a container's contents without opening it and without any physical contact with its contents. Our idea is to exploit electromagnetic interactions between wireless stickers placed on the container and materials in their immediate vicinity (i.e., inside the container) to determine food quality and safety. We show how a preliminary prototype implementation of our technique enables us to answer questions like: Is a baby formula inside a container pure or tainted? Is the alcohol content of a bottle safe? These capabilities pave way for ubiquitous wireless sensing technologies that can inform their users about the health and safety of their food.