Q. Please tell us about yourself. What brought you to your current position?
I’m Ben Cahoon, the CEO of Techcyte. I have a computer science degree and an MBA, and have been in the software industry for 30 years. I’m passionate about building beautiful software that solves real-world problems and love putting together all the puzzle pieces to build a great company.
I invested in Techcyte in 2016 and have been involved in the day-to-day details of building and getting our solutions to the market. I’m excited about the food safety industry because our artificial intelligence (AI) and workflow platform perfectly fits the problem set. We can provide accurate results fairly quickly, which will have a significant impact on the safety and delivery times for food products.
Q. What is your favorite part of the work you’ve done in this field?
Our team at Techcyte stands by our mission: “To improve the work of labs and transform healthcare worldwide.”
We want to make a significant, positive impact on people, pets, and the environment using digitization and AI. The ability to save lives and reduce illness with our food safety solutions fully aligns with our core values and empowers us to keep innovating.
Q. What is your talk about?
My presentation introduces Stericyte, a new platform developed by Techcyte to modernize mold, yeast, and bacterial testing in the food industry.
We look at the current landscape of microbiological testing and the increasing need for faster, more consistent, and more accurate results, especially as regulatory, financial, and reputational pressures continue to grow. We walk through the Stericyte workflow, covering sample collection, preparation, whole slide imaging, AI-based analysis, and digital reporting. We’ll outline how each part of the process can be improved through automation, digital tracking, and real-time insights.
We then discuss the benefits of a cloud-based, AI-driven approach, including easier scalability, centralized data access, and better system integration. We’ll also discuss some of the challenges that come with shifting to new technologies, such as validation, data quality, and adoption. Finally, we talk about where this technology is headed next and invite collaboration for pilot testing, feedback, and data sharing to help shape the future of food safety testing.
Q. Why do you think it’s important to discuss this topic with our audience?
The intersection of high-speed internet, cloud computing, graphics processing units (GPUs), and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) has unlocked new possibilities in diagnostic testing—allowing for the kind of speed, scalability, and precision that traditional methods can’t match. Other industries, like veterinary diagnostics and digital pathology, have already laid the groundwork for this transformation, and it’s clear that food safety is next in line.
Some 600 million cases of foodborne illness, over 400,000 deaths, and nearly 2,000 recalls every year: Given the scale of the problem, there’s an urgent need to modernize how we test and monitor our food supply. High-profile outbreaks at well-known as well as ongoing issues across global producers underscore that this is a global crisis.
Therefore, it’s time we apply the proven advances from other fields to build solutions like Stericyte that support the growing demands of the food testing industry. With smarter, faster, and more connected systems, we can improve outcomes, reduce risks, and ensure safer food for everyone.
Ben Cahoon is a serial entrepreneur who earned an undergraduate degree in computer science and an MBA from Brigham Young University, UT. For the past seven years, he’s helped launch Techcyte, working on everything from the product to projections, marketing, partnerships, and funding. Ben has worked in large ventures such as Intel, Lenovo, and start-ups in digital microscopy, IT, automotive performance, education, real estate, and the fund industry. He’s had two successful exits, with the last one being sold to Lenovo.
Register today for free to attend Ben’s and other insightful webinars at the 2025 Microbiology Week!
