New Barcode Replacement. Tracks Food and Drug Authenticity, Safety, and Origin.

Gould: Tech View Now

A startup called DNATrek is creating a solution to address the food traceability market; its DNATrax technology literally makes it possible to trace items like food products through the supply chain. This is crucial for both validating the quality and authenticity of premium products, as well as performing diagnosis and damage control in emergency scenarios such as widespread poisoning or disease outbreaks. Originally developed at Lawrence Livermore Labs as a mechanism for enhancing the country’s bio-defense and bio-detection capabilities, the technology that became DNATrax was licensed to DNATrek founder/CEO Anthony Zografos for commercialization in key markets—namely, agriculture, health care, and food industries, to mention a few. The latter holds the most opportunity for the technology, as the food traceability market alone is estimated to be a 14 billion dollar market.