Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Healthy Barcode Reader

Find out how much fat/salt/sugar is in your basket.
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My local supermarket has personal barcode readers, which are used for totting up the amount of money I spend as I shop.

This technology could be expanded to measure other aspects of my shopping. As supermarkets continue to row about how best to display fat/sugar/salt content on thier packaging, I'd like my hand held scanner to tot up the number of calories or the amount of salt I've added to my basket.

At the start of my shopping, I'd set my handset to "family of four" or "just shopping for me" or whatever, and it would give me useful messages as I walk through the isles.

"You have exceeded your recommended weekly saturated fat intake - replacing your tub of haagen daaz with a frozen yogurt would be a good idea!".

Obviously some purchases, such as a bag of sugar, a packet of lard or a box of salt would have to be discounted as longer term purchases.

Finally, there would be a "stop bugging me" button on the side of the handset if the whole experience became too depressing!

Fishrat, May 06 2006

Halfbakery: Ingredients Barcoding Ingredients_20Barcoding
More about allergens. [jutta, May 06 2006]

Halfbakery: Bar code info Bar_20code_20info
More about ingredients and other information. [jutta, May 06 2006]

Halfbakery: Palm Barcode Shopping-list Palm_20Barcode_20Shopping-list
General interface to recipes. [jutta, May 06 2006]

Healthful v Healthy http://dictionary.r...om/search?q=healthy
This distinction, though tenaciously supported by some critics, is belied by citational evidence: healthy has been used to mean “healthful” since the 16th century. [imaginality, May 07 2006]

[link]






       a naughty barcode reader might urge you to "go on, just one more 4-pack of beer"
po, May 06 2006
  

       "Why not replace the beer with a tasty low calorie..." <fishrat smashes his own invention>
Fishrat, May 06 2006
  

       Food has barcodes?
BunsenHoneydew, May 06 2006
  

       Dang, this lemon just *isn't* scanning right!
DrCurry, May 06 2006
  

       I keep trying to scan this banana, but nothing happens.   

       Seriously, does it keep track of purchases across stores? I have three places I typically shop.
Galbinus_Caeli, May 07 2006
  

       For fruit, just scan the barcode on the product label on the shelf and enter the weight. Or even better, chuck a spring or two on the thing and it can weigh the fruit for you.
imaginality, May 08 2006
  

       //Healthy Barcode Reader//
  

       I took this to mean a barcode tatooed my forehead, which the Healthy Barcode Reader would scan in the health clinic to find out how healthy I am. The barcode would change according to high blood pressure, temperature different from normal, etc. The barcode would be changed by intelligent pigmented cells, genetically engineered, <waves hands>.
SledDog, May 08 2006
  
      
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