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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

food allergy

Allergy Amulet Expands Seed Round to $4.1 Million

Allegy Amulet, which makes a portable device to detect food allergens, announced today via press release that it has expanded its Seed round of funding to $4.1 million. This represents an additional $800,000 over the initial $3.3 million announced last August. The new investment comes from Aller Fund and Lightship Capital, and brings the total amount of funding raised by Allergy Amulet to roughly $5.6 million.

As we wrote previously:

There are two parts to the Allergy Amulet system: A USB stick-sized reader and the accompanying test strips. Users swab their food with the test strip and insert it into the test strip case. That case is then plugged into the device, which “pairs molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) technology with an electrochemical system to detect target allergenic ingredients” and returns results in under a minute. There is also an optional mobile app to help store and share results (to alert others about allergens at different restaurants, for example).

According to the Allergy Amulet FAQ, the company plans to offer tests for the eight most common food allergens: peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat, eggs, milk and soy, as well as gluten and sesame. It aims to launch the peanut and soy tests “towards the end of 2021.”

The Food Allergy and Research and Education (FARE) website reports that “32 million Americans have food allergies, including 5.6 million children under age 18,” and that every year, 200,000 people require emergency medical care because of allergic reactions to food.

Other startups tackling problems associated with food allergies include Nima, which also makes portable sensors to detect peanut and gluten, Further up the chain is Ukko, which is looking to engineer gluten without any of the compounds that trigger allergic reactions.

Allergy Amulet says it will use its funding to speed up manufacturing, expand its allergen detection and grow its team.

Israeli Startup allerguard Raises $1.5M Seed Round to Scan Your Food Vapors for Allergens

Today allerguard, an Israel-based startup that makes a device to detect airborne food allergens, announced that it has raised a $1.5 million seed round (h/t Agfunder). The round was led by Coshare with participation from eHealth Ventures and the Israeli government’s tech investment arm. This brings the company’s total funding to $2.2 million.

Founded in 2016, allerguard makes a small handheld device that uses airborne detection methods to scan your entire plate for food allergens in 60 seconds. The details of how all of this actually works are pretty scant, but according to its website, you hold allerguard above your plate and the device absorbs vapors emitted from the food. It then uses AI to analyze the chemical structure of the vapor molecules to determine the presence of common food allergens, such as peanuts or eggs, down to parts per billion.

Hopefully allerguard is as accurate as it claims, since when it comes to severe food allergies there’s not a lot of room for error. According to Food Allergy Research & Education, in the U.S. roughly 200,000 people require emergency medical attention for a food allergy reaction per year. That number is set to increase as food allergies in children are on the rise.

So it’s no surprise that allerguard isn’t the first company to try and make it easier for consumers to analyze their food for allergy triggers. Nima makes handheld peanut and gluten detectors, and Israeli company SensoGenic makes a sensor that can analyze food for common allergens.

However, both of those devices require users to insert a sample of food in order to detect allergens, so if someone isn’t able to include every part of the meal in that small sample, it wouldn’t be comprehensive. Since allerguard is reliant not on a physical sample of food but on the molecules in vapors emitted over a plate of food, it claims that it can analyze an entire meal at once.

Both Nima and SensoGenic are already to market, whereas allerguard is still in testing stages (according to its website, the device will be available to the public “soon”). But if it can follow through on its promise to scan an entire meal at once that could mark a major game change in food allergy detection tech.

SensoGenic is Making a Handheld Sensor to Detect Many Different Types of Food Allergens

It’s estimated that there are 32 million Americans with food allergies, which includes 5.6 million kids under the age of 18. Israeli startup SensoGenic wants to help those afflicted by allergies with its portable, handheld sensor that can detect allergens in food (h/t Israel21c).

SensoGenic has two parts, the base unit that holds the electronics and a disposable one-time use test pad. Users place a small sample of food into the test pad and insert it into the base unit. Here’s where things get all science-y: SensoGenic Founder and CEO, Alon Yasovsky, told me by phone that the system uses cellulose, which will bind to an allergen. It will then use an antibody to create a reaction, and the sensor detects the specific allergen on the cellulose. The test takes about three minutes and results are beamed to an app on a user’s smart phone. Yasovsky said it can detect allergen levels at 10 parts per million.

Right now, SensoGenic is focused on discovering eggs and peanuts in food, but the device could be used to detect all kinds of different allergens (soy, dairy, fish, etc.). SensoGenic is currently in the R&D phase and is building the first prototype to scale up for beta users. The company is targeting mass production in 2022, with the U.S. being its first market. When it becomes available, Yasovsky said the SensoGenic device itself will retail for $199 with tests costing about 95 cents a piece.

Having the flexibility to test for different allergens and at a price point to where you could run multiple tests affordably during a multi-course meal could be a game changer for those with food allergies. Right now, Nima makes gluten and peanut sensors that each retail for $229, with its one-time cartridge tests costing $6 a pop. Nima, however, is very much a real product already at scale that people can purchase today, and it will have three years to further develop and iterate its sensors before SensoGenic would even hit the market here in the U.S.

Thus far, SensoGenic has raised $720,000 from eHealth Ventures and the Isreal Innovation Authority. If SensoGenic works as promised hopefully it can raise more and scale quickly so kids and adults with food allergies can feel more confident about eating out.

Nima Unveils Portable Peanut Sensor to Make Meals Safer

The startup behind the world’s first portable gluten sensing device is launching a peanut sensing version at CES this week. The new Nima Peanut Sensor is a handheld device designed to detect peanut particles in food by testing small samples in an insertable cartridge.

According to the Food Allergy Research & Education organization, around 15 million Americans suffer from food allergies and around 1/5 of those have some type of peanut allergy, ranging from mild to severe. The Nima Peanut Sensor aims to give people with peanut sensitivities or parents of children with peanut allergies a portable tool to test liquid or solid foods before they take a bite.

The sensor shares the same form factor as the gluten version – a compact black triangular device with room for a testing cartridge and a readable diagnostic screen. But, instead of coming with capsules that create a reaction when interacting with gluten particles, the peanut sensor ships with cartridges designed to detect 20 parts per million (ppm) of peanut protein or more in foods or drinks. Users take a portion of the item they want to test and insert a small sample into the cartridge and place both inside the sensor. After three minutes, the test gives a simple reading; if the peanut sensor detects peanut protein, the portable device will display a peanut icon. If no protein is found, a smiley face pops up letting the user know the food is safe to eat.

When Nima first launched its gluten sensor, the real excitement around the company’s innovation was around the technology – and science – inside each cartridge. What Nima’s founders have done is essentially developed a mini-laboratory in every device and a capsule with the right test materials to detect the unique proteins found in gluten. But as many pointed out, the setup Nima created could be used to detect other allergens and even beyond.

“There’s no reason it can’t be used for dairy or peanuts and there’s nothing stopping them from going to pathogens either,” food tech VC Brian Frank told the Spoon at the 2016 Smart Kitchen Summit.

While the gluten sensor goes after a growing segment of awareness of gluten intolerance in the U.S., the peanut sensor hits an even bigger market and one that’s close to the heart of many parents. Peanut allergies tend to appear in childhood and can produce a life-threatening reaction. Parents and caregivers will be able to use the Nima Peanut Sensor to test foods on the go, at birthday parties and restaurants to avoid a reaction.

Just like the gluten sensor, the peanut sensing device will connect to the Nima mobile app to share test results and build a user database of peanut-free friendly restaurants and packaged foods.

Nima’s peanut sensor is only available for pre-order right now in the U.S. and Canada through March 8 and starter kits are $229 during this promotional period. A starter kit will come with the sensor, a twelve pack of test capsules along with the charger and a carrying case. The sensor will ship at retail later in 2018 and regular price for the peanut sensor starter kit is $289 and additional cartridges will be $6 each and sold in twelve packs. Nima also offers an auto-delivery or membership option which lowers the price of capsules to just under $5 a piece (sold in packs of twelve.)

Interestingly, Nima also has waitlist signs up available for soy, tree nuts, dairy, shellfish and eggs. The company clearly has plans to be the go-to for the millions who suffer from all kinds of food allergies in the future.