You Need to Know About This New Machine if Your Kid Has Peanut Allergies

Peanut allergies are pretty common these days, and while there are some tricks to preventing food allergies in kids, in some cases it’s unavoiadable. While most parents to a kid with a peanut allergy are pros at knowing exactly what products to avoid, a new machine may help make life a little bit easier.

Meet the Nima Peanut Sensor, a newly-launched device that tests food samples to detect peanut protein. Parents place a small amount of food into a new peanut test capsule, insert the capsule into the sensor, push the button, wait a few minutes, and then see the result.

Since Nima tests a sample of food, not your entire dish, it should be used as another data point in addition to all the normal precautions.

Nima claims it can test almost any food—soups, sauces, ice cream, salads, nut butters, baked goods, cereals, granola, packaged foods, and more—with a few exceptions including, alcohol, solid chocolate, turmeric, cayenne, sesame, eggplant, tomato paste/sauce, and pure paprika.

The Nima team isn’t new to the allergy scene. In fact, it’s a driving force behind allergy research, and was awarded a grant from the National Institute of Health to develop the peanut sensor.

While it won’t completely guarantee that an entire meal is free of the food you are avoiding, it is a powerful machine to add to your protection against peanuts. At the very least, it’ll help bring a bit more piece of mind to everyday life.

Please note: The Bump and the materials and information it contains are not intended to, and do not constitute, medical or other health advice or diagnosis and should not be used as such. You should always consult with a qualified physician or health professional about your specific circumstances.