RFID tags to enhance your social food experience

A new trend slowly cropping up is the use of RFID tags (radio-frequency identification tags, normally used for supply chain security) and barcodes on food products to send messages to your smartphone via Twitter, Facebook and Stickybits about your favorite flavors, ingredients and recipe ideas.

On September 9, the blog TrendWatch highlighted a US-based ice cream shop Izzy's that produces one hundred flavors but can only serve 32 fresh daily. So Izzy's created a way to not disappoint its customers and communicate with them in real time when their flavor has reached the display counter via "RFID flavor tags" that send signed-in customers an update. Take a look at the flavor grid, updates every three minutes: http://flavorup.izzysicecream.com/flavor-grid

Coca-Cola has also joined the RFID social media movement in Israel to turn Coca-Cola Village Amusement Park-goers into live social marketers. Every time you take a ride on a slide, you can update your Facebook status with what you "like" with the swipe of an RFID bracelet. See it in action: http://adland.tv/commercials/coca-cola-real-life-2010-israel

And, Merrill Stubbs, cofounder of food52, explained to Relaxnews this summer, how stickybits, a free smartphone application, and food52 are working together to make product barcodes more meaningful. "The idea is that anyone can download stickybits onto their iPhone or Android phone (sorry Blackberry-ers!) and then when they scan the barcodes of ingredients we've scanned, links to our recipes will pop up." http://www.food52.com/ and http://www.stickybits.com/gettheapp/.