1 in 13 children under age of 18 have food allergies that could potentially be deadly. Colleges and Universities are not prepared to accommodate the needs of this rising wave of the population.

SpotLight is the on campus service meant to accommodate students with allergies to make their college transition and experience safe and seamless.  

Finding the Problem:

Many of the stories we heard were centered around the dining hall as this is where the greatest risk of reaction occurred.  Students often lose trust in the system and and only use the safest option.

"I asked for almond milk; I was given almond flavored skim milk."     -College Senior

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​"The risotto was labeled vegan, but it had cheese in it. It was one my worst reactions ever."     -College Sophomore

"I feel like taking the first bite is the ultimate test"     -College Freshman

Because of the stories we heard, we wanted to provide students with allergies more safe food serving options in the dining hall that they could trust.

Breaking the Problem Down:

All the serving options at the dining hall can be graphed in reference to each other by means of number of options, and safety for students with allergies.

Self Service Customizable, like a salad bar, was interesting to us.  Since no hidden ingredients are used in a salad bar, students can identify what it is they can and cannot eat just by looking at it and it presents a high number of customizable options.  The only barrier to use was due to cross contamination which we thought we could fix through design.

A dairy allergy also means no pineapple in this case: foods often end up in other bins

Scoops and tongs often fall into other bins or are "double dipped"

Tacos are now a potentially deadly option for a student with dairy allergies

Where all does cross contamination come from in a salad bar?

Solving the problem:

Use Poka-Yoke principals to eliminate not mitigate risks of cross contamination.

Vertical Salad bar with top 8 allergens underneath. Eliminates risk of dropping allergens in to safe food.

Zero contact dispenser replaces picking and placing with gravity feed.

We built a prototype from acrylic and a 3D printed Archimedes screw to push the contents along.  This prototype communicates the Zero Contact Principal and could be modified to be used with others in a vertical salad bar concept.

Further testing needs to be done to determine the best mechanics to dispense the variety of allergenic foods that a typical salad bar might offer.

Response:

The design was met with much optimism and excitement when presented to students with allergies, their parents, and the people in that community:

"I would be so excited to have the salad bar as an option when I get [to college]"     -Highschool Senior

"Seeing that my needs were considered in the design makes me feel much more comfortable using it"     -College Sophomore

Projects