Local group to launch food safety app

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The latest salmonella outbreak linked to peanut butter from Sunland , based here in New Mexico, has put concerns about food safety at the forefront.

That is why one local company is launching an app to help you shop safe at the grocery store.

Instead of going to the store and taking your best guess, a new website and soon-to-be app aims to give you what you need to make an educated decision.

“A lot of things will show up at grocery store that are less than rigorously produced or regulated,” says John Cousins, CEO of Food Sentry.

Food Sentry is a food safety service based right here in Albuquerque.

Subscribers pay $19 a year for access to import and recall alerts, along with a food rating system.

You type in what the food is, where it's from and it's rated on a five star scale, with five stars being the safest.

The database includes 300,000 pairs of different foods from different countries.

“We have about twelve language skills on staff with our analysis team, and they can search every day to find out what food may be of risk coming into the country and we do the same analysis domestically too,” Cousins says.

Right now the preliminary site is just available on the computer, but Cousins hopes to have the app and the official website with all the features available by next month.