Smart Oven that takes cooking instructions from the barcode

Samsung has launched what it is called the “Dream Kitchen Invention” – an oven that will cook food to perfection with the help of a barcode

14 March 2006 11:30 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Samsung has launched what it is called the “Dream Kitchen Invention” - an oven that will cook food to perfection with the help of a barcode.

While most people are starting to worry that they eat too many ready meals, Samsung and Birds Eye are offering the mealtime “revolution” in the guise of a Smart Oven that uses Smart Codes, (unique 2D barcodes) with pre-programmed settings for individual food products and frozen pre-prepared meals.

So far it seems that just Birds Eye has signed up to the service but it does mean that all you have to do is scan the Smart Code on the food packaging and the oven automatically cooks the food to the right times.

Although we personally have never heard of a barcode oven before here at Pocket-lint towers, according to Samsung recent research commissioned by Birds Eye, reveals that nearly one in five people (17%) rate a barcode controlled oven as the kitchen innovation they crave most.

Freezing expert, Phil Balderamos from Birds Eye, said: “Our research revealed that people want more convenience in the kitchen but the new Smart Oven goes one step further than that. Not only does it make cooking easier, it also enhances the end result. Now you'll be able to tuck into a shepherd's pie ready meal with a crusty top just like your mum used to make it in a matter of minutes”.

Birds Eye's Phil Balderamos said: “This launch could just be the start of many more futuristic kitchen innovations. Other ‘smart' inventions that the research highlighted include mobile technology controlled freezers that, when triggered, become ovens, enabling consumers to dial in on their way home from work and have a delicious cooked meal awaiting them on arrival”.