14-year-old Sirish Subash built an AI-powered pesticide detector
PC: USA Today How a 14-year-old created an AI-powered portable pesticide detector Why pesticide residues became the focus From a larger machine to something that
PC: USA Today How a 14-year-old created an AI-powered portable pesticide detector Why pesticide residues became the focus From a larger machine to something that could be carried The competition that brought the project national attention A 14-year-old Georgia student has turned a common kitchen concern into an award-winning science project. Sirish Subash, a ninth grader from Snellville, built PestiSCAND, a handheld device designed to detect pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables. As reported by USA Today, his invention earned him the title of America’s Top Young Scientist in October 2024, along with a $25,000 prize in the annual 3M and Discovery Education competition. Subash developed the device after becoming interested in the difficulty consumers face in knowing what may remain on produce even after it has been washed. Reportedly, using artificial intelligence, PestiSCAND was tested on spinach and tomatoes and recorded accuracy of more than 85%, according to 3M. Subash says the device is intended to complement washing, not replace it, by offering consumers another way to check their produce.Subash’s invention, called PestiSCAND, is intended to give people a way of checking produce at home rather than relying solely on washing.Pesticide residues can remain on food crops after they have been harvested, and consumers generally have little way of knowing whether traces are still present.Subash wanted to create a portable method for detecting them.For his project, he tested the device on spinach and tomatoes.
The system used artificial intelligence to help identify pesticide residues, and according to 3M, its accuracy was above 85%, meeting the project's targets for speed and effectiveness.That did not turn PestiSCAND into a replacement for washing. His suggestion is to rinse produce first and then use the device as an additional check. The purpose, as he described it, is to give consumers another piece of information about what is left on their food. The invention was not presented as a way to make washing unnecessary, but as a possible tool to sit alongside the habits people already have in their kitchens.Subash's presentation drew on figures from the US Food and Drug Administration's pesticide residue monitoring work. The FDA reported that 70.6% of samples produce items. The presence of a residue does not, by itself, establish that eating the food will cause illness. The health implications depend on factors such as the substance involved, the amount and the level of exposure. Subash's project instead focused on the basic problem of detection: if consumers cannot easily see residues, they have limited information about what remains on their produce.That question led him towards a device that could be used outside a laboratory. His interest was also connected to concerns about possible health effects associated with pesticide exposure.
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