User:Mark Bajus at Clear Labs/draft

Clear Labs is a private genomics testing company headquartered in Menlo Park, California. It sequences the DNA of food products to verify the food's ingredients, GMO status, or whether it is contaminated by harmful pathogens. Clear Labs also produces a database of the genomic sequence of plants and animals commonly used in food and is used during product development to test the shelf life of different formulations.

Clear Labs was founded by Mahni Ghorashi and Sasan Amini in 2014, both of whom left their jobs at genomics companies to start Clear Labs. They acquired $6.5 million in series A financing in 2015 and then initiated a Kickstarter campaign intending to raise an additional $100,000. In 2017, the company closed a $16 million Series B funding round.

Clear Labs has publicized various reports on the results of performing DNA testing on common food products. For example, the company found traces of meat in vegetarian burgers, traces of rat DNA in other meat patties, and more calories than the burgers were labeled for. According to Vox, finding trace amounts of foreign DNA in food is normal and safe, but the report's findings on misleading consumers about calories and the vegetarian status of food were more concerning.