Testing to Find Out if Foods Are Really Organic

Image courtesy of MyDx, Inc.

Consumers continue to call for the right to know not only how their food is grown, but what’s in their food. With the growth of the movement has been the growth of the organic industry. But is the food you’re eating really “organic” and free from chemicals such as pesticides? A new analyzer will give consumers the power to know what, if any, pesticides are in the food they are eating.

OrganaDx is a battery operated, handheld, electronic analyzer for consumers that contains a sensor to test for certain pesticides.

According to Daniel Yazbeck, the founder and creator of the MyDx Analyzer, the analyzer and first sensor were created for the cannabis industry. He explains the device is about the size of two iPhone 5s stacked together that fit into the palm of your hands. It contains a chamber in which you put your slightly grounded sample. The MyDx Analyzer is connected via Bluetooth to a smartphone app. You then push “measure” and in three minutes you have a complete analysis of the breakdown of various chemicals in the sample. For consumers using marijuana as a medical aid, Yazbeck says they can begin to create a profile of how different chemicals make them feel and ultimately enable them to find the perfect strain that best treats his condition.

With this product under the company’s (also referred to as MyDx, Inc.) belt, Yazbeck says it turned to food with an initial focus on primary pesticides and the dirty dozen fruits and vegetables. “Pesticides is such a relevant topic,” says Yazbeck. “The primary pesticides we are focused on are the most common three linked to cancer by the World Heath Organization in 2015.” These include glyphosate, malathion, and diazinon.

“People have heard the phrase ‘trust and verify’. This product helps ‘verify’,” says Yazbeck.

The OrganaDx is still in R&D but Yazbeck says the company has first generation data and its analyzer can detect parts per billion of traces of the aforementioned pesticides, much below EPA limits.

In the case of OrganaDx, the consumers will have to do some of the tests at home. But they will be able to know if their food is actually “organic.” However, says Yazbeck, greens, for example, like spinach, could be done in the store.

Another element of the analyzers and their corresponding sensors is that people can report their data in the app. The data will be crowdsourced (but the person who enters the data will be hidden) so others can have access. “Imagine all the people testing different fruits and vegetables and then reporting in the app. People will know who is actually producing organic food,” says Yazbeck.

When the OrganaDx is released, for consumers who already have MyDx, they just need to add the sensor. The analyzer is the same. “That’s why we call it MyDx. It’s my personal diagnostic tool,” adds Yazbeck.

Next on the docket is the AquaDx. Yazbeck says the same pesticides that are found in food can also be found in water so it’s a natural progression.

The goal is to release OrganaDx sensor next summer. Yazbeck says the company is hoping to get the analyzer into the hands of some consumers for testing. Once the next phase of testing is complete, it will announce the official launch date and consumers can begin pre-ordering OrganaDx and getting one step closer to really knowing what’s in their food.