Have you heard about the Safe Sushi smartphone app that the Sierra Club released last December? This handy app makes it easy to check which types of seafood are safe and sustainable. Here Rebecca Silver of the Sierra Club tells Sierra Club Green Home about the organization’s motivation to create this tool, and plans for future apps. (Photo by Kasia, Flickr)
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By J.S. Blalack
Have you heard about the Safe Sushi smartphone app that the Sierra Club released last December? This handy app makes it easy to check which types of seafood are safe and sustainable. Here Rebecca Silver tells Sierra Club Green Home about the Sierra Club’s motivation to create this tool, and their plans for future apps.
By the way, if you don’t have a smartphone, you can still check out the Sierra Club’s Safe Sushi poster, and you can also get the lowdown on sustainable seafood from celebrity chef Mary Sue Milliken.
How has the Safe Sushi App fared from its release up until now?
We launched the Safe Sushi app for iPhone and Android in December of last year during Mercury Awareness Week and we’ve been really pleased with the response! The feedback has been positive – 3,500 people have downloaded the app so far. A few people have shared how they use it, and one man even wished he’d had it when his wife was pregnant to use as a resource.
Describe the kind of team and process it took to develop this application.
Safe Sushi was a collaborative effort, utilizing the skills, experiences and knowledge of people from a multitude of departments at the Sierra Club, including the Beyond coal campaign.
The app took about two months to create and has a mini-directory — listed either A-to-Z or by toxicity level — of the most popular types of sushi (38 kinds are listed), which renders it useful at almost any place where sushi is sold. It also includes an educational component which explains how mercury in the environment originates from burning coal and ultimately ends up in our bodies.
Do you have plans to make an update?
We don’t have plans at this time for a significant update, but we continue to make the necessary programming tweaks so that the app continues to operate properly.
Why did you decide to concentrate on sushi for this app?
We focused on sushi because we believed there to be a need for it– this information was not widely available and there was no other app on the market that focused on mercury in sushi. We knew people had a lot of questions about it and we wanted to help. We don’t have plans right now for more apps in the food category, but we are planning to release apps for other uses.
What are your hopes for the future of the Safe Sushi App?
We hope people will continue to download the app and use it as a resource to help them make informed decisions about what foods to eat.
Anything else?
The app is a useful (and subtle!) resource when you’re out and about. But, if you’re looking for more detailed information about mercury, visit our web site www.beyondcoal.org.
© 2012 SCGH, LLC.
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