THE FUTURE OF FOOD

Some of you may recall the organic journey I did in 2010 where I ate only organic for a year (even processed), quadrupled my calories and in result lost 70+lbs. The assessment at the end of the year was that the chemicals in our food were obviously causing me to gain or hold on to weight.

What caused me to stop eating entirely organic was because it was also the year EVERYONE was labeling their product as organic (not just natural) when in fact it was only a marketing ploy. I knew this because I would end up with sores on my body or breakouts in my mouth either immediately or within the 24 hours of consuming the food. I would go back to the restaurants or suppliers and tell them about what happened and they would finally admit that they were organic "where they can be". Funny enough some consumers were not so amused and several of these companies are now in multimillion dollar lawsuits for false advertising.

Gusto Organic's restaurant owner in NYC explained to me that Organic is the new emperor's clothes. What these restaurants do is buy a few things that are organic and then supplement the rest of their stock with industrial foods hoping the consumer doesn't know any different. How deceptive and depressing!

I'm an extreme example of how I react to my food, but it worried me that I was becoming even more sensitive to my food so I stopped and picked up 40 lbs of the weight I had lost. You can read more about my journey on Food Inc Avenue.

Now a game-changing product has arrived. Last September a spectrometer, called TellSpec came up on my radar with Indiegogo, a fundraising site. A spectrometer, or rather spectroscope is a device that labs use to identify materials.

According to the creators of TellSpec their product is a three-part system which includes: (1) a spectrometer scanner (2) an algorithm that exists in the cloud; and (3) an easy-to-understand interface on your smart phone. Just aim the scanner at the food and press the button until it beeps. You can scan directly or through plastic or glass. TellSpec analyzes the findings using the algorithm and sends a report to your phone telling you the allergens, chemicals, nutrients, calories, and ingredients in the food. TellSpec is a fast, simple, and easy-to-use way to learn what's in your food.

I had been in contact with TellSpec shortly after their campaign launch on Indiegogo to try to include them for an upcoming TV pilot, but somewhere the ball was dropped. I'm sure they are just overwhelmed with the media attention they recently have been getting.

In the end my only concern is what the regulatory bodies will do about this device. TellSpec is in Canada. The food lobbyists in our country have spent a lot of money to make sure we don't know or even label certain things in our food. GRAS or Generally regarded as safe to me is all relative.

I doubt the real question will be about what is in our food. I think the real question is how long will TellSpec stay available to the mass market? Perhaps they should just call themselves a calorie counting machine in the meantime?