|
|
Dec. 9, 2005
Kosher food detector
New technologies help out in the kitchen.
DAVE GORDON
Kosher food is becoming more sophisticated and, to keep up, the
way we make food is becoming more high-tech, too. Last week, the
17th annual Kosherfest at the Javits Centre in New York showed futuristic
ways to prepare foods in your kitchen.
The Connect IoIntelligent Oven is the world's first Internet-controlled
oven that allows you to connect remotely from your cellphone or
Internet connection anytime, from anywhere in the world. This new
appliance is the first to feature built-in refrigeration to keep
food fresh and Internet connectivity, allowing you to change any
cooking function from anywhere. What you see on the Internet is
exactly what you see on your oven control panel in real time.
Food placed in the oven stays refrigerated until cooking begins.
At any time you can use your cell-phone or office computer to log
on to the oven and change commands right over the Internet. And
just as easily, you can also control your Connect Io from a standard
telephone landline through your touch-tone keypad. Now there is
no need to wait for dinner; it adjusts to your schedule. This means
being able to conveniently store your prepared meals for cooking
later. Also great for extra cold storage, the refrigeration mode
keeps foods fresh and can even be used to chill beverages when guests
arrive. The unit is Shabbat-friendly, meaning you can program when
to make cholent long before the lunchtime cravings.
But before your food ever gets to the oven, you'll want to be certain
that its kashrut inspection is up to snuff. New technology, developed
by an Israeli firm, can help protect the authenticity of kosher
tags and labels, according to Yoav Dvir of Advanced Coding System.
Its main product is known as AuthentiFiber Tags. The specially produced
tags cannot be forged and, if an attempt were made to do so, the
reader would immediately detect them.
According to Dvir, the technology has already been used with tags
on poultry in Israel, giving rabbis a new weapon against fraud.
He says that the tags can be used with almost anything, including
food trays, meat, fish, wine and cheese.
"This technology can help protect its most valuable assets,
its kosher certification," said Dvir. Eventually, there will
be handheld pens available to the kosher consumer, which will instantly
be able to verify the authenticity of the kosher product they are
about to buy.
Dave Gordon is a freelance writer based in New York. ^TOP
|
|
