How your mobile phone could keep you slim
defeating the obesity problem - or at least of getting the healthy
eating message through to a wider audience - claims a UK analyst
this week.
The increasingly widespread use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags on food products could provide one possible solution to the thorny issue of effectively communicating the pros and cons of certain foods, according consultancy firm Wireless Healthcare.
The ability to scan RFID devices with mobile phones could provide shoppers with a wide range of dietary- and healthcare-related information when buying their groceries, Kruger suggests, not only helping disseminate better information about food and health but also taking some of the heat off food manufacturers and retailers accused of not doing enough to fight the obesity problem.
A recent report compiled by the consultancy suggests that retailers could become important players in the public healthcare sector and highlights examples such as Wal-Mart and Basha Stores in the US who have already experimented with in-store testing for diabetes and skin cancer.
But it also stresses that there are a number of obstacles which would have to be overcome before such in-store systems become widespread, not least consumer opposition to RFID.
"While at present there is much talk of consumer resistance to RFID technology, [it] could support services that, far from threatening their privacy, could empower the consumer," the analysts suggest.
Self-scanning technology already in use in many stores - whereby shoppers scan the barcode of products they buy to save time queuing at checkouts - could be adapted, using more sophisticated RFID technology, to also alert them about the properties of what they are buying - an item which could potentially cause an allergic reaction, for example. Wireless Healthcare's report suggests that most retailers see this as one of the potential benefits of RFID technology, but that there are also far wider health-related applications, in particular in support of independent product information services.
"Such services would be welcomed by public health organisations that are keen to see the deployment of technology that helps people comply with diets and prevents, or manages, diseases such as diabetes," the report said.
But the analysts also suggest that there are potential barriers to such systems being introduced. "While this service would be useful in the promotion of public health, some information provided by third parties could be presented in ways that were at variance with the way the retailer and producer wished to promote the product," the report said.
Given the food industry's repeated insistence that there is no such thing as good or bad foods, simply good or bad diets, any system which could potentially improve consumer awareness about what they are eating is likely to be welcomed - at least as an alternative to labelling legislation.
But consumers are likely to remain sceptical about the quality of such information if such schemes are run by the retailers and, by extension, their suppliers. Independent information about food quality, safety, dieting and health is much more likely to be accepted by the consumer, but whether the retailers are prepared to go quite that far to keep their shoppers happy remains to be seen.
