New Sensor Can Detect Gluten in Food

An MIT spinout called Nima has a new portable gluten sensor that can detect the slightest trace of gluten in food.

Kristopher Sturgis

The Nima sensor is a 3-in.-tall triangular device that comes with disposable capsules that can be used to test food samples. Users can fill each capsule with a sample of food or liquid roughly the size of a pea, screw the top on the capsule, and place it into the device where it will be mixed with a solution that detects gluten. In just a few minutes time, a digital display appears on the sensor to indicate whether or not the sample contains gluten.

The device was developed by a group including MIT alumna Shireen Yates, CEO and co-founder of the company with the same name. As someone who suffers from multiple food allergies herself, Yates says that despite following a gluten-free diet, she still experienced accidental exposure with relative regularity.

"I found out in college that I had allergies to gluten/wheat, dairy, egg, and soy which meant I had to completely rethink the way I ate," she says. "I found that even after adopting a gluten-free diet, and doing my due diligence with wait staff, I was still getting unintentionally exposed. I always felt subpar."

The device was designed to be small and portable, so users can take it virtually anywhere and use it discreetly in any meal setting. The test works in minutes, and is designed to flash a wheat symbol across the display if the sample contains gluten, or a smile emoticon if the sample has less than 20 parts per million of gluten, the FDA minimum for a food item to be considered gluten-free.

The group even developed an app to partner with the device that can log information from the device about what foods test gluten-free, so that users can create a database of information. Other users can access this database that contains restaurant-specific information about which dishes test gluten-free, which can be used as a guide for making healthier food choices.

Yates says the genesis of the idea actually occurred when she attended a friend's wedding and had forgotten to pack a gluten-free snack pack--something she regularly kept on hand when she found herself in situations where gluten-free options would be limited.

"So I asked the waitress if the risotto balls were gluten-free," she says. "She responded, 'How allergic are you?' I was so tired of hearing that, and I thought to myself--what if I could just take a sample of food and test it to see if there was gluten in it? That's where the idea for Nima first started."

According to the National Institutes of Health, roughly 3 million people in the U.S. suffer from celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that leads to intestinal damage when gluten is consumed. And many more people claim to suffer from gluten intolerances. Those suffering from gluten intolerance can experience a variety of different debilitating symptoms from even the tiniest of food crumbs containing gluten. 

"If you touch a piece of wheat bread and then touch a piece of gluten-free bread, you have just contaminated that bread," Yates says. "Millions of people avoid gluten for other health reasons that range from non-celiac gluten sensitivity, to other autoimmune diseases, or even mental health issues. If I get 'glutened,' not only do I get sick, but I lose time and work because I'm sidelined for days. Having Nima has helped me avoid hidden gluten so many times already. It's helped me avoid getting sick at family functions, weddings, vacations, and important business trips. Having Nima means having peace of mind at meal time."

Which is exactly what Yates and her colleagues set out to do with this device. She knows that Nima can't guarantee your whole plate is gluten free, but it can provide an extra step in ensuring that your food is safe to consume. She even says their company is working to evolve the technology to work with other food allergies, so the device can be used to help even more users avoid accidental exposure to harmful food allergens.

"We are already developing sensors for peanut and milk to be release in 2017, and we'll keep expanding the Nima platform from there," she says. "We have a list of all the things people write in and ask us to develop a test for, and currently we're at 117 items. The sky really is the limit." 

Kristopher Sturgis is a contributor to Qmed.

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[Image courtesy of MIT]