# Handheld Food Analyzers The SCiO Can Instantly Analyze the Chemical Composition of Your Food By Rahul Kalvapalle | Published 2014-05-04 | Tech Source: Trend Hunter, https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/scio References: [gizmag](http://www.gizmag.com/scio-pocket-molecular-sensor/31840/) & [kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/903107259/scio-your-sixth-sense-a-pocket-molecular-sensor-fo) SCiO is a device that can detect and analyze the chemical composition of food, plants and medicines. It's essentially a miniature spectroscope that shines near-infrared light on materials and analyzing the light reflected by its molecules. This allows it to identify the chemical composition of the material. SCiO comes with an accompanying iOS or Android app, which sends its readings to a cloud, where algorithms process the data in real time. The results then appear on the smartphone's screen in mere seconds. The device is powered by a battery that provides around a week of use per charge. Its Israeli developer [Consumer Physics](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/ai-tax-assist) is raising funds for commercial production through the crowd-funding website [Kickstarter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/ascand-laser-scanner); a pledge of $179 will get you a unit in December if the crowd-funding campaign is successful. ## Trend Insights (Trend Hunter) - Score: 3.4/10 - Popularity: 28% | Activity: 66% | Freshness: 8% - Audience gender: 50% men, 50% women - Primary generations: Millennial, Gen X - Top markets: North America, Europe ## Categories [Trend Hunter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends) > [Tech](https://www.trendhunter.com/tech) > [Gadgets](https://www.trendhunter.com/gadgets) ## Key Themes ### What's Driving This Trend - **Chemical Analysis Technology:** The development of handheld food analyzers like SCiO opens up opportunities for advancing chemical analysis capabilities in various applications. - **Mobile Data Processing:** The integration of handheld food analyzers with smartphone apps and cloud-based data processing allows for efficient and real-time analysis of chemical composition. - **Consumer Health Monitoring:** Handheld food analyzers enable consumers to conveniently and accurately monitor the chemical composition of their food, promoting healthier dietary choices. ### Who This Affects Most - **Food and Beverage:** The food and beverage industry can leverage handheld food analyzers to ensure the quality and safety of their products, as well as provide detailed nutritional information to consumers. - **Pharmaceutical:** In the pharmaceutical industry, handheld food analyzers can be used for rapid and non-invasive testing of the chemical composition of medicines, improving quality control processes. - **Environmental and Agricultural:** Handheld food analyzers have applications in environmental and agricultural industries for analyzing soil composition, plant health, and detecting contaminants in crops. ## Related on Trend Hunter - [Fabric-Analyzing Smartphone Devices](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/nearinfrared-spectroscopy-system.md) - [Food Safety Tracking Devices](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/ecotracker.md) - [Dietary Food Scanners](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/nutrime.md) - [AI Food Scanners](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/ai-food-scanner.md) - [Dynamic Food Safety Detectors](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/food-safety-detector.md) - [Portable Gluten Sensors](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/portable-gluten-sensor.md) - [Portable Methanol Analytical Devices](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/analytical-device.md) - [Seed Oil Scanners](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/seed-oil-detector.md) - [Ingredient Analysis Tools](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/ai-scan.md)