If going out to eat at a non-vegan restaurant always has you in fear that you’re going to end up with meat or dairy in your food, you’re not alone: Imogen Adams, a product design engineering student at Brunel University London, was in the same boat while she was traveling abroad last summer. But instead of forever wondering whether what she’s eating is truly cruelty-free, she decided to create a product that reveals exactly that.
The lightweight device called “Ally” is small enough to carry in your pocket and can currently tell you if there’s any dairy in your food in only 60 seconds. To use it, all you need to do is put a small food sample and a few drops of water in a silicone pod. After dipping in a test strip then inserting that strip into a slot in the device, you simply press a button and check the corresponding app on your phone. If it detects lactose, it’ll let you know — and if you don’t have your phone handy, “Ally” also vibrates to reveal a positive or negative outcome.
Right now the device only reveals if there’s dairy in the food, but Adams is working on having it detect traces of meat as well. Although it’s not on the market to buy just yet, she thinks it will run for about $39 when it’s available for purchase — which isn’t too shabby considering it could save you from a whole lot of worry and even prevent you from getting sick.
The future of veganism is looking pretty bright, huh?