Kirin's electric spoon leaps from Ig Noble infamy to the dinner table
20/05/2024 11:32
By Tom Bateman
TOKYO, May 20 (Reuters) - Japanese drinks giant Kirin
Holdings 2503.T will start selling an electrified spoon that
researchers claim can promote healthier eating by enhancing
salty tastes without extra sodium.
Monday's product launch marks the first commercialisation of
technology that last year won an Ig Nobel Prize, which honours
unusual and whimsical research.
Kirin will sell just 200 of its Electric Salt Spoons online
for 19,800 yen ($127) this month and a limited run at a Japanese
retailer in June, but is hoping for 1 million users globally
within five years. Sales overseas will start next year.
The spoon, made of plastic and metal, was co-developed with
Meiji University professor Homei Miyashita, who previously
demonstrated the taste-enhancing effect in prototype electric
chopsticks. The effect works by passing a weak electric field
from the spoon to concentrate the sodium ion molecules on the
tongue to enhance the perceived saltiness of the food.
Kirin, which is pivoting towards healthcare from its
traditional beer business, said the technology has particular
significance in Japan, where the average adult consumes about 10
grams of salt per day, double the amount recommended by the
World Health Organization.
Excess sodium intake is related to increased incidence of
high blood pressure, strokes and other ailments.
"Japan has a food culture that tends to favour salty
flavours," said Kirin researcher Ai Sato. "Japanese people as a
whole need to reduce the amount of salt intake but it can be
difficult to move away from what we're used to eating.
"That's what led us to develop this electric spoon."
Weighing 60 grams, the spoon runs on a rechargeable lithium
battery.
Miyashita and his co-creator, Hiromi Nakamura, were
presented with the Ig Nobel Nutrition Prize by immunologist and
Nobel Prize laureate Peter Doherty in an online ceremony last
year.
($1 = 155.8400 yen)
(Reporting by Tom Bateman; Writing by Rocky Swift
Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Susan Fenton)
((rocky.swift@thomsonreuters.com))