ORGANIC, LOCAL, SUSTAINABLE. But can startups make sure food is safe?
Americans want to know more about what they’re eating: Where does this food come from? Was it grown in an organic, sustainable way that I can feel good about? And was it handled safely before it reached my plate?
Chipotle’s success and stumbles illuminate the demand for organic, local ingredients and the limited success in widely meeting it. Agriculture-tech entrepreneurs and investors are focused on two areas of business in the coming year: more controlled ways to grow food and more sophisticated ways to track it once it’s distributed.
Chuck Templeton, managing director of Chicago-based Seed2Growth Ventures, said 2016 will bring new ways for consumers to check the origins and quality of their foods to see whether they are pathogen- and antibiotic-free.
“This year, you’re going to start to see a number of devices, or a number of capabilities, that will show up in the consumers’ hand(s) and allow the consumers to hold the big companies more accountable,” said Templeton, founder and former CEO of OpenTable.
His venture capital firm is looking at investing in companies that would allow consumers to take a photograph of a food item and see details invisible to the human eye. Shoppers could scan for basic information, such as whether the food is organic or when it might expire, or use more advanced scans to determine the food’s physical qualities.
Seed2Growth has already backed Silicon Valley-based Shopwell, which scans food label information to highlight potential allergens and suggest alternatives.
Ron Meeusen, managing partner at food- and agriculture-focused Cultivian Ventures, said consumers sometimes conflate the idea that food is “local” or “natural” with the idea that it is safe, when in fact, less centralized control brings more variability.
But new technologies can improve the tracing process, making it easier to quickly identify sources of problems, said Meeusen, who previously led global biotechnology at Dow AgroSciences.
“Literally we’re heading for a day when ... every CDC agent or emergency room can do a 15-minute scan of suspect materials and say, ‘Gee, I know where that came from,’ ” Meeusen said.
Chicago entrepreneur Matt Matros, CEO of organic indoor farming startup FarmedHere, is working to provide reliable sourcing through a network of contained, controlled farms across the country.
Matros dealt with supply challenges first-hand as founder of Protein Bar, which he said used mostly organic, fresh ingredients. He sold half of that company to a private equity firm before joining FarmedHere.
Matros sees developments like more affordable LED lighting as key to the growth of indoor farming.
While the sun can deliver all the light a plant needs in six to eight hours, artificial light sources take much longer. Matros plans to buy LED lights this year that provide that same amount of light in 20 hours, down from 24.
It’s an incremental improvement, but the kind that will drive down operating costs and boost the industry, Matros said.
“For me, safety means knowing everything that’s going into the plant,” from seeds and soil to water and fertilizers, he said.
With no breakthrough answers in sight, it’s an issue investors and entrepreneurs may need to chase for a while.
“Local food is a very hot trend right now, and of course one of the concerns with that is is how does that supply remain safe,” said Brian Todd, president and CEO of The Food Institute, a New Jersey-based food industry information group. “Any technology or innovation that can help alleviate those fears would be something that would be in demand.”