Czech researchers develop app to help visually impaired detect food mold

Czech researchers are developing a new mobile application called bMyVision v2.0 to assist blind and visually impaired individuals in assessing food safety. Using a smartphone camera, the application can identify early signs of mold or check expiration dates, providing feedback to the user via voice commands.

The project is a collaborative effort involving Mendel University in Brno, the Technical University of Liberec, and TyfloCentrum Liberec. Experts from Mendel University’s Institute of Food Technology are specifically assisting with the evaluation of food photographs to expand the database used to train the recognition system.

To ensure high reliability, developers aim to expand their current dataset of approximately 1,400 images to 10,000. The team is currently focusing on bakery products, as distinguishing mold from other surface textures like sugar can be challenging. The public has been invited to contribute by sending photos of moldy food to designated email addresses. The application is expected to be available to first users by the end of this year.