Mobile phone to facilitate consumers' wholesome food choices

The Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), together with the University of Kuopio and the Helsinki School of Economics, has developed a prototype for a service that can help consumers in their food choices. Consumers will be able to read product-specific information directly from a package’s barcode using a camera phone, or by using the service at home via the Internet. The service shows the energy and nutrition information of food and also offers the possibility to use a food diary and an exercise calculator. Finnish test groups experienced the pilot system as rewarding.