A Device That "Sniffs Out" Food Allergens

Dining out with food allergies can be nerve-racking. How do you know what is safe to eat? There are products on the market currently that can test your food before you ingest it BUT does that mean that your entire plate of food is safe? Having food allergies should mean being able to dine safely just like everyone else. Just because a person has food allergies does not mean they do not enjoy the idea of going to restaurants or eat on the go; it just has to be approached with more caution. What if I told you that there is a new option being created as we speak? A product that could test all of your food and include multiple allergens simultaneously?

No, this is not a wish list item, it is a reality and it's called AllerGuard. Some months ago, Shai Hershkovich (the founder) approached me about the product. Being the mother of a food allergic child who has multiple food allergies, we have been dragging our feet on trying some restaurant experiences. This could be life-changing for us and for millions of other people. I am always hopeful and this product has just added to that. I'm sure you are all curious as well so let me share some information to give you an idea what AllerGuard is all about.

Most recently, Shai was interviewed on a leading television channel in Israel.




Tell me about yourself: My name is Shai Hershkovich, an entrepreneur from Israel and the founder of a start up company called AllerGuard. Our company was created in order to bring allergic people an efficient and reliable way to know if there is a risk for them on the table while dining out in restaurants, at work or school. AllerGuard is a new way to really know if even a crumble of the food that puts you in danger has found its way to your plate.

How are you connected to the food allergy community? We all know people personally with food allergies. My partner's daughter has an allergy and a very close friend cannot consume dairy products. My niece also has a very severe allergy to gluten, which makes her parents struggle every time they eat outside of the home. Beyond the life threat which is obviously a huge concern, the issue here it the quality of life and endless efforts from the parents to an allergic child to minimize the risk in an uncontrolled environment. They describe the situation as watching your child playing in the middle of the highway, but without the ability to protect them there. We are developing AllergGuard to try to lower the risk for children and also to reduce the stress and burden on the worrying parents. Of course, this product is also for anyone of any age but this was part of our beginning focus.

What is so unique about the product that you are developing? When we started AllerGuard, we were looking for a new concept for allergens detection that will not limit the user to the sample he or she is taking while examining the food. Our focus was on the user experience and giving the allergic person a full dish analysis without limiting the test effectiveness to how many samples the user has taken, and to the chance that the allergen location is where the user was taking the sample. AllerGuard sensing technology is capable of detecting food allergens in trace amounts anywhere on your plate in less than a minute, without taking samples or even touching the food.

Will your product be able to detect multiple allergens simultaneously? Yes, the user will purchase a set of SenseCard consumables that are specific to the food he or she are allergic to. The cost will be less than one dollar for a whole day of use. If they are allergic to multiple allergens, they will insert every card into the sensor using the relevant cards. All will be scanned in parallel so the user will not have to wait too long to get the result. In the next product generation, there will be multiple allergen layers on the same card so that the user will be able to buy one card but will be able to get an alert on the presence of all of the allergens he or she is allergic too.

How does your product differ from other products, such as the Nima Sensor? We use a different technology and a different approach than Nima's. We look for the chemical signature in the air. We use nanotechnology and machine learning. In simple terms- our product smells the allergen. We can teach the sensor to identify different types of foods.

  

Can you tell me more about the company and the team? The company was established on 2017 by me and my partner, Mr.Guy Ayal, who brings tons of experience in technology and hardware development. Luckily Dr. Anastasia Kipnis joined our team. She is a brilliant chemist that always finds an innovative way to overcome technological challenges and to take the development another step forward. We started working in a local technology incubator called eHealth Ventures (EHV). EHV is the leading digital health incubator in Israel and a center of innovation for entrepreneurs who are looking for a home and a guiding hand through the journey of product development and moving from seed concept to a growing business with real value and market positioning. In March 2017, AllerGuard presented our product to the Digital Health Innovation Contest. 

What is your business strategy and who are your partners? We believe that in order to be successful, we need to create value and to bring the right partners on board. The reason we chose eHealth Ventures (EHV) is because of their significant value to the growth of our company and the commercialization of the product that we are developing. eHealth Ventures is a consortium of leading health care providers including the Cleveland Clinic Innovations, Maccabi Healthcare Services (leading HMO in Israel), Amgen, Medison Pharma and others. (EHV) is being led by Mr. Stephen Shapiro (US office), Mr. Talor Sax and Mr. Ophir Shahaf (Israel Office). Choosing partners like these gentlemen are the key for targeting the right markets, advanced product development and defining the right commercialization and marketing strategies.

What is the status of development and what is the next step for your venture? We are working very intensively to bring this product to market. Our focus is on product development, sensor design and technology validation. We have already developed an improved prototype with advanced detection capabilities and performance. We achieved the What's Next Israel Innovation Award last month. This award gave us an additional boost and the acknowledgement that what we do is innovative and an 'outside of the box' solution for a huge problem. We have recently started the series-A funding round and we get a lot of attention from local and global companies and VCs. We are currently looking for the right partner that, in addition to financial support, will get the key to the right doors of the US market.

Comment below to share your thoughts with AllerGuard and our food allergy community