Advancing the development of novel food protection technologies
Technology can play a key role in protecting the food supply and consumer safety. There is currently an urgent need for new tools that quickly, affordably and accurately detect contamination so handlers and regulators can take swift remedial action.
In pursuit of our mission to advance the development of technologies that protect global food safety, GFPI has established the Emerging Technology Accelerator (ETA).
Target technologies
The ETA is pursuing technologies that streamline food monitoring by improving sample collection, sample preparation and by making detection more cost and time effective:
Sample collection needs technologies that can test entire batches or shipments, thereby removing the random sampling errors that can sometimes miss trace contaminants.
Sample preparation needs
- Portable methods for preparing samples in the field, without complex or expensive laboratory equipment
- Technologies that can quickly concentrate target analytes to detect microbes that are present in low cell counts
Detection needs
- Tests that can detect several contaminants in one pass
- Portable tests that cut down the need for complex or expensive laboratory equipment
- User-friendly tests that can be used by people with a minimum of training
Technology platforms
Technology platforms of interest
- Rapid, sensitive nanoparticle-based assays for food based toxin detection
- Antigen-detecting biosensors for early pathogen detection
- Surface Plasmon resonance spectroscopy
- Antibody-based biosensor kits to detect food pathogens such as mycotoxins
- Molecular sensors to detect trace amounts of molecules in food and water
- Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technologies on integrated circuit chips
- Naturally occurring bacteriophages for capture and detection of bacteria and endotoxins
- Microfluid-based diagnostics
Promising discoveries
ETA provides entrepreneurial support to fast track the development of emerging technologies that could safeguard public health. This initiative will turn promising discoveries into compelling commercial opportunities by identifying, evaluating, and financing them, while also helping manage the pathway to market.
If you’re an investor looking for opportunities, click here.
If you're an entrepreneur with a new technology in food safety, enter the ETA and Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest Business Plan Competition, click here.
