Scottish tech startup LiberEat has secured £209,000 in grant funding from Innovate UK.

The investment will be used to accelerate development of the Aberdeen-based firm’s allergen platform and further advance its machine learning capabilities.  

LiberEat’s platform minimises risk for food safety professionals by detecting and alerting businesses to errors and allergens missed during manual checks.  

The innovative platform earned LiberEat a place on Tech Nation’s Applied AI Accelerator, as well as recognition in the 2021 Tech Nation ‘Rising Stars’ cohort. 

The funding also follows a major pivot by the firm earlier this year. In July, it officially retired its app as part of a move toward a more business-focused model.

Commenting on the investment, Founder and CEO Barry Leaper said: “The grant funding we’ve received will go a long way in bringing our unique technology to more food businesses whilst accelerating our future technology roadmap. 

“We have created a platform that protects consumers from harm and puts food safety professionals’ minds at ease, reducing the risk of huge costs businesses face from food recalls and menu errors. We are on a mission to make food safe for everyone.”

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In the UK, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has reported over 100 food recalls in the last 12 months due to allergens not disclosed on food product labels, such as undeclared nuts, eggs, gluten, sulphites, mustard or milk.  

The agency has also recalled items that were originally declared vegan but were found to contain animal products.  

Errors such as these fall through the cracks because food safety procedures include human checks and manual data input. 

According to Leaper, LiberEat’s technology already “significantly outperforms” current methods of processing and checking food data – ultimately helping to keep consumers and businesses safe.  

The company will now focus on tackling a more “comprehensive range” of allergen and food supply chain safety risks.

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