In the news

After recently raising additional $21M, Clear Labs has raised a total of $45M to date from Menlo Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Wing Venture Capital, and others. Clear Labs claims to be the only automated and intelligent NGS (Next Generation Sequencing) platform built specifically for food safety testing. The company’s main food safety product is a high-volume testing for Salmonella. Clear Lab expects to add additional pathogens and software features in 2019. The company is currently conducting customer evaluations in preparation for general availability. The company enrolled companies constituting 90% of the U.S. poultry market, 85% of the pet food market, and 50% of the U.S.’s third-party service labs. Clear Safety combines state-of-the-art NGS sequencing, advanced microbiology, robotic automation, data science, and software analytics to significantly lower the costs of pathogen testing while achieving 99.9% accuracy. The NGS platform collects hundreds of millions of data points per analysis that can be used to learn everything about a pathogen in a single test. This data also serves as the foundation for new applications from predictive risk assessment to nutrigenomics to new product development. Since its founding in 2014, the company has built the world’s largest food genomics database, which is comprised of millions of entries. Clear Labs has over 40 customers globally, including many of the leading food brands and service labs around the world. @ https://www.prweb.com/releases/clear_labs_raises_21m_series_b2_to_expand_clear_safety_worlds_only_automated_ngs_platform_for_routine_pathogen_testing/prweb15878205.htm

The FDA announced that Barcelona Nut Company of Baltimore, Maryland recalled 239 cases of roasted and salted in-shell pistachios because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. The roasted and salted in-shell pistachios were distributed in Washington D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, California, Virginia, Ohio, New Jersey, and Georgia through retail stores and direct delivery. No illnesses have been reported to date. Barcelona Nut Company’s processor and supplier, ARO, voluntarily initiated the recall after a separate and unaffiliated manufacturer performed a routine test which revealed salmonella. Since Barcelona Nut Company received product from the same lot, it was necessary to take precautions. Barcelona Nut Company has ceased the production and distribution of this particular lot of roasted and salted in shell pistachios as the FDA and the companies involved continue their investigation. @ https://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm625001.htm

J&J Snack Foods Handheld Corp. of Holly Ridge, NC recalled two lots of Fit & Active Southwest Veggie Stuffed Sandwiches due to potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella. The products have an expiry date of Feb 09, 2018 and Feb 14, 2018. While the product is not ready-to-eat and has baking instructions, without appropriate baking it can cause illnesses. The potential for contamination was discovered after McCain Foods, IL, the supplier of some frozen vegetables used in the product, announced it was recalling the vegetables. Products were distributed between 08/22/2017 – 09/20/2017 to Aldi retail stores in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont, and West Virginia. The product was also available for purchase to ALDI customers in the Atlanta area through the company’s partnership with Instacart, a grocery delivery service. @ https://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm624568.htm

According to the lawsuits brought by United’s former senior manager of food safety, Marcia Lee, General Manager of the Newark catering facility Eliot Mosby, and Newark Food Safety Manager Gustavo Moya United Airlines failed to address critical food safety issues at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, endangered passengers and retaliated against employees for speaking up. The airline did not address persistent maintenance issues at its catering facility at Newark airport, which allowed the spread of Listeria monocytogenes. The lawsuits are seeking damages of $7.5 million. United denied these allegations and said the lawsuits were without merit. Additionally, United told CNBC it is unaware of any foodborne illnesses confirmed to be linked to any food served on its flights and is currently cleaning and repairing several areas of the Newark facility as part of routine maintenance. In November 2017, USDA recalled some chicken and pork products produced at United’s Denver catering operation after the facility notified regulators that one of its products had tested positive for L. mono. In August 2018, a news organization reported that United had found Listeria at its Newark location. At the time, United said it found Listeria in its cooler but noted Listeria had not been found in food served to its customers or on food-contact surfaces. @ https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/29/united-airlines-mishandled-listeria-contamination-lawsuits-claim.html