PhD candidate Michael Sheridan has developed a unique app to warn of food dangers.
A James Cook University PhD candidate and his supervisor Andreas Lopata at AITHM have developed a unique app that notifies the user of food recalls.
2014 saw the highest number of food recalls ever recorded by Food Standards Australia and New Zealand. Following the 2015 mixed berry hepatitis A scare and recall, Mr Sheridan identified the opportunity for the alert system and began work on the app.
“It was developed as a tool for those concerned about food recalled from stores due to contamination or undeclared allergens,” he said. “It’s the first time there has been an app available in Australia specifically for food recalls.”
Mr Sheridan won the Early career Environmental Health Officer of the Year award from Environmental Health Australia (EHA) for his work on the warning system. It is now endorsed by EHA and advertised nationally as a food safety tool for Environmental Health Officers to use.
Mr Sheridan is studying a part-time PhD in food allergy with AITHM and is also an Environmental Health Officer (EHO) at Townsville Public Health Unit (TPHU) working on food safety compliance. He said he is especially keen to have the app adopted by school tuckshops.
Mr Sheridan received a $1000 payment as part of the award for further professional development.