Tyson Ventures, the venture capital arm developed by Tyson Foods, Springdale, Ark., announced plans to invest in Clear Labs Inc., a Menlo Park, Calif.-based food safety testing company that uses a robotic platform to detect pathogens like salmonella.

This is Tyson’s first investment in the food safety space, according to Reese Schroeder, managing director of Tyson Ventures.

“Tyson Ventures has invested in Clear Labs, a technology company dedicated to food safety,” adds Schroeder. “Clear Labs offers an automated and intelligent next-generation sequencing platform built for food safety testing that’s fast and accurate. Food safety is an area of focus for Tyson Ventures, and this was a good first investment in that field for us.”