Interviews

SwissDeCode: Portable DNA test kits detect food contamination within minutes

Co-founders Gianpaolo Rando (L) and Brij Sahi (R) © SwissDeCode

DNAFoil, the startup’s rapid and accurate on-site food safety testing kit, can be deployed by non-expert staff after a few hours of training, with no need for lab equipment

In the aftermath of several food contamination scandals in the 2010s, a pitch by Italian geneticist Gianpaolo Rando at a tech innovation event in 2014 caught the attention of international consultant and investor Brij Sahi. In 2015, the two men launched a Kickstarter-funded project, BeerDeCoded, using Rando’s DNA food testing model to test the waters for a potential business partnership. 
The Kickstarter project was a success, and Sahi (CEO) and Rando (CTO) co-founded SwissDeCode in Lausanne in 2016. In the same year, they launched their first product, DNAFoil – an on-site DNA testing...

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