Samsung Food+ with Vision AI recognises ingredients in photos taken with a mobile phone and adds them to the Food List shared with Family Hub screen

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. has announced new features and updates for Samsung Food^[1] — a personalised, AI-powered food and recipe platform — to celebrate its first anniversary, all of which will be showcased at IFA 2024. Since its debut at IFA last year, Samsung Food has garnered over six million users,^[2] becoming an essential tool for meal planning and cooking in the modern home. The platform’s most popular features include Recipe functions, Shopping List, and Meal Planner.

“As people look to get more out of their food — with help from their appliances — we’re thrilled to be upgrading Samsung Food with different types of powerful new functionality,” said Moohyung Lee, EVP and Head of Customer Experience Team for Digital Appliances Business at Samsung Electronics. “Moving forward, with a key focus on user experiences, we will continually enhance the platform with AI and other technologies to support the preparation of meals that are easier, simpler and healthier.”

Samsung Food

Benefit From Customised Food Experiences

Samsung Food is a holistic food platform available on various Samsung devices, including and beyond home appliances. Samsung Food+, the premium subscription service^[3] of Samsung Food, elevates the experience by integrating a health profile and goals, providing personalised meal plans with recipe recommendations. And now, AI is being added to bring differentiated functionality to users around the globe.

Samsung is making food preparation more convenient by rolling out the Vision AI technology for Samsung Food+, which allows users to add items to their Food List by simply snapping a photo of their food items with a smartphone. This functionality means that users owning Bespoke refrigerators with an internal camera that recognises food items that go in and out of the fridge — can now also easily add items with photos to their Food List.

Other benefits of the Samsung Food+ subscription service include automatically adding purchased ingredients to the Food List when users check out at the store or online, and searching for recipes based on the contents of the Food List. Users can also get alerts to help them use the items before the manually set use-by-date, helping reduce food waste.

Samsung Food+ further provides the meal plans based on users’ Food List to support sustainable food practice goals by personalising each plan based on the ingredients in users’ Food Lists, prioritising those nearing use-by-date. And with the new “Search with Your Food List” feature, recipes using the ingredients listed in their Food Lists will show on top of the search results to help users with ideas on what can be made with what they have. Recipe recommendations are also provided based on the Food List. And whatever has been used from the Food List is recommended to be added to the Shopping List. This intelligent approach helps inventory maintenance and reduces food waste while ensuring fresh, tasty meals.

Reach Health Goals With Personalised Meal Plans

Samsung Food now features enhanced tools designed to support users to better maintain their health and to reach wellness goals. The platform provides nutrition-focused meal plans that track and monitor caloric intake within daily meal schedules, whether for recipes or individual food items. It offers “Tailored for You” plans^[4], delivering weekly recipe and snack recommendations based on users’ nutritional needs^[5], chosen diets and previous recipe preferences. The system tracks macronutrient intake within daily meal plans and allows customisable calorie and macronutrient targets for individual health objectives. While Samsung Food users receive three days of recommendations per week, paid and subscribed Samsung Food+ users benefit from a full week of recommendations, with the intelligent platform also factoring in the manually set use-by-dates of ingredients.

Now available in eight languages across 104 countries,^[6] Samsung Food will ensure that all updates are accessible in each of the eight languages and region of availability.

[1] Samsung Food is a mobile application that is downloadable on any smartphone platform. Samsung account log-in is required.

[2] As of July 2024.

[3] $6.99 per month

[4] This feature is provided based on the users’ personal details, profile information, information that the users voluntarily provide about their food, dietary and nutritional preferences, health data and more. Full list of collected information and usage can be found at Privacy Policy (UK) – Samsung Food

[5] Nutrition goals are set and recommended based on research and studies done by various organisations such as The World Health Organisation (WHO), The 2020-2025 American Dietary Guidelines, The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Master of Science qualified Registered Nutritionist-Dietitian (RND).

[6] The Samsung Food app supports English (U.S.), English (U.K.), German, Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Mexico), French, Italian and Korean. Supporting languages may be added at a later date.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 7 May 2018 – The most used appliance in a home is hands-down the fridge. Its not just an essential item for keeping drinks cooled and ice frozen, it’s absolutely vital for ensuring food safety. Today’s refrigerators are far smarter and more energy efficient than ever before and while you may be satisfied that yours is keeping the milk from going off, you’ll find the benefits of a more advanced model will make a positive impact.

The optimal temperate for food safety is 4 degrees Celsius in the fridge and -18 degrees Celsius for the freezer. If yours isn’t quite up to the job, a shopping trip may be in order. But how do you choose the right fridge for your needs? We unpack some important considerations to make your decision easer.

Space – with so much variety in fridge sizes, its important to measure the available space in your kitchen before purchasing one. Always remember that a fridge needs a few centimetres of breathing room on the sides and back for it to operate efficiently. Be sure to measure height, width and depth, especially if your fridge needs to fit in-between built-in cabinets – you don’t want it to stick out beyond the front of your cupboards. Also consider the direction the fridge and freezer doors swing – you’ll need additional space for the doors to open out.

Mike van Lier, Director of Consumer Electronics for Samsung South Africa, says, “Refrigerator technology has advanced to such an extent that choosing the right one for your lifestyle does become difficult. However, energy saving and sized-for-purpose are two important aspects. Samsung has a range of fridges that will suit any requirements and our innovative technology means you’ll get superior cooling and storage.”

What’s inside – your unique lifestyle is fundamental to the amount of storage space you require for a fridge, as well as the configuration. A basic guide to the capacity of a fridge/freezer combination is 200-380 litres for one to two people; 350-530 litres for a family of three to four; and if its over five people, you’ll need at least 440 litre capacity. When it comes to choosing a fridge that has a freezer on top, on the bottom or on the side, it does come down to personal choice. A freezer below the fridge means your fridge items are at a height that doesn’t require you to bend down to get the items at the bottom of the fridge. There are myriad choices when it comes to the interior configuration of your fridge and adaptability of drawers and shelves is vital to ensure you get the best storage spaces for your needs.^{<[i] <[ii]}

Consider the types of food you like to eat, what quantities you buy and how often. If you often stock up on frozen meals, ensure you have enough freezer space, but if you’re more likely to eat fresh produce than frozen food, make sure you choose a fridge with multiple drawers and shelves. If you love entertaining, its important to ensure your fridge can accommodate large platters or additional drinks. Avid entertainers will also love the conversion mode created by Samsung – allowing you to turn your freezer into a fridge when extra space is required.

“The Samsung Food Showcase fridge offers exceptional convenience – it is designed for the way your family lives and eats, so everyone can easily find what they want from it. It includes six generous cases to store specific types of food (cheese, sauces, drinks, snacks, kids and multi items) and is divided into three zones for different family members, so it’s really easy for everyone to find what they want,” notes van Lier.

Whatever your unique refrigeration needs are, be sure to do your research before making a purchase – from the space available in your kitchen to the space you’ll need inside the fridge, as well as energy efficiency and innovative, smart technology.

^{[i] https://www.appliancesonline.com.au/academy/appliance-questions/what-size-fridge-do-i-need/}

^{[ii] https://www.searshomeservices.com/blog/how-to-choose-a-new-refrigerator-5-questions-to-ask}