Eating fruits and vegetables is great, as they make for really good sources of vitamins, minerals, and dietary fibers without exposing you to the health risks associated with regular meat consumption. If you’re going to be that conscientious about what you put in your body, though, you probably want to be sure your produce is free from all the pesticides and various chemicals widely used in modern agriculture. The Asus PureGo PD100 is designed to give you that information.
As it turns out, dirt isn’t the only thing you’re actually removing when washing fruits and vegetables in the sink. Instead, you’re also rinsing off the invisible chemicals that come in contact with the food during its journey from the farm to your table. Since they’re invisible to the naked eye, you just have to trust blindly that the washing you do is thorough enough to wash all that gunk away. Well, that doesn’t have to be the case anymore.
Billed as a “fruit and vegetable cleanliness detector,” the Asus PureGo PD100 vows to bring lab-standard food safety testing equipment into the home kitchen by detecting the presence of pesticides and similar chemical impurities in your home produce. That way, you’ll know for certain whether you’re actually adding clean vegetables to that salad, as this thing can tell you whether it needs another round of rinsing under running water.
To use, simply soak your fruit and vegetables in clean water for three minutes to allow any pesticides and residues to dissolve in the water. After that, you place the device on the same water (it’s safe to immerse, according to the outfit). If there are impurities, the ring indicator will glow in either red or orange, which should tell you the produce requires a little more rinsing. After you wash the veggies, do the same thing and repeat until the device’s ring indicator turns green, which signifies that all your produce are pollutant-free.
The Asus PureGo PD100 measures around 4 x 3.9 x 1.9 inches, so it’s small enough to keep right by the sink next to your kitchen sponge. It comes with its own stand, too, so it won’t just be loosely rolling around in the counter when unattended. The stand, by the way, doubles as a wireless charging cradle, so the device is always charged every time you take it out of the dock, provided, of course, that you actually plug the stand to a wall outlet.
For those who like to obsess over data, it comes with a smartphone app (iOS and Android) that can keep tabs on each measuring session, allowing you to compare the amount of chemicals you get from one set of produce to another. That way, you can track how much pollutants are present on the leafy greens from one grocery compared to the next, if you’re the type of guy who cares about that stuff. Oh yeah, the mobile app is optional, as the device is meant to function on its own, whether you use the app or not.
The Asus PureGo PD100 is available now, priced at $199.
