Lumachain has raised $19.5 million in Series A funding to accelerate the global rollout of its computer-vision based artificial intelligence (AI) platform for meat and food processing plants.
The platform is designed to help solve the global meat industry’s challenges around plant operations, supply chain, worker shortages and limited technology options, according to a Thursday (Aug. 25) press release.
“Built in close partnership with the world’s leading meat and food processors, it creates a safer environment for workers, safer and higher quality food, and end-to-end transparency across the protein supply chain, driving improved [Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)] and environmental outcomes,” Lumachain CEO and Founder Jamila Gordon said in the release.
The Lumachain platform offers modules covering safety, yield, quality, efficiency and traceability, according to the press release.
One of the platform’s capabilities is tracking individual cuts of meat back to the animal they came from so that retailers and quick-service restaurants (QSRs) can capture provenance and ESG information that can be shared with consumers, per the release.
With the new funding, Lumachain will scale up its team of computer vision and software engineers as well as delivery and product experts from the meat industry, the press release stated.
“Lumachain’s mission is to transform the global meat industry, for the good of our customers, their employees and the planet,” Gordon said in the release. “Today’s investment accelerates our ability to achieve this mission.”
As PYMNTS reported in February, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been working on a rule for food traceability that seeks to establish additional traceability record-keeping requirements for those who manufacture, process, pack or hold some food designated by the agency.
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The goal of this rule is to help the FDA rapidly identify the recipients of these foods to prevent or mitigate possible illness outbreaks or threats of serious health issues.
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