The first night of CES 2025 featured Kirin Holdings, a Japanese company known for its beers and beverages. Its new electronic spoon It makes your food more salty. The company says its spoon uses a weak electric current to concentrate sodium ion molecules in your food, adding a stronger umami and salty flavor to low-sodium foods.
The limited supply of the electronic salt spoon goes on sale in Japan in 2024 for US$127, but Kirin expects to sell the device worldwide in the coming years. The company claims this device can dramatically increase the “saltiness” of your food without adding any additional sodium.
A crowd tried some of the soup using Kirin's spoon at CES in Las Vegas. TechCrunch hasn't tried it ourselves. Because there's something about a generic tech conference spoon that just doesn't taste that good.
The spoon may sound too real, but there may be some credible research behind it. Kirin's product introduction of the spoon marks the first commercialization of that technology. Received the 2023 Ig Nobel Prize.A satirical award for unusual scientific research. Although the researchers behind it first published their paper in 2011, spoons, Forks and lights pass electrical currents into the food.
Kirin says the spoon was created to help people eat less salt. This problem is relevant in Japan, where the country's adult population consumes more than double the World Health Organization's recommended intake.