Safetyspect Inc.

Safetyspect Inc., a self-certified small disadvantaged business manufacturer based in Grand Forks, North Dakota, designs and manufactures handheld multimode imaging and spectroscopy systems for food safety inspection and contamination detection, operating as a prime contractor on nearly all federal work (93% of recent awards) under total small business set-asides and full-and-open competitions.

Safetyspect's capability portfolio centers on proprietary contamination detection hardware and software platforms: the Contamination Sanitization Inspection (CSI) system, which uses fluorescence imaging and machine learning to detect invisible fecal contamination in poultry processing; the CSI-D+ system, which adds disinfection capability for post-cleaning audits in long-term care facilities; and multimode imaging and spectroscopy scanners for real-time meat freshness assessment and plant health monitoring. Recent prime work includes a $288 thousand purchase order from USDA Agricultural Research Service for CSI-D imaging systems with embedded NVIDIA Jetson computing to support AI model development in meat processing food safety (awarded May 29, 2026, completion August 28, 2026); a $174 thousand definitive contract from the Shared Services Center (likely NASA) for Phase I development of a plant health monitoring system using multimode imaging and AI (awarded September 29, 2025, completion March 27, 2027); a $98.25 thousand purchase order for handheld fluorescence imaging scanners from USDA Northeast Area (awarded September 25, 2025, completion November 10, 2025); and an $80.25 thousand purchase order from USDA Agricultural Research Service for CSI and CSI-D+ systems supporting food safety research (awarded August 30, 2024). Safetyspect also received a $99.09 thousand EPA Office of Research and Development SBIR Phase I contract for real-time red meat freshness assessment using multispectral spectroscopy and machine learning (awarded December 1, 2023).

Federal grant work positions Safetyspect as a prime recipient under USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program (CFDA 10.212) and under National Institute on Aging and NOAA cooperative agreements. A $174.92 thousand NIFA SBIR Phase I project grant (awarded September 1, 2025, completion April 30, 2027) funds development of the CSI System for poultry processing, integrating fluorescence imaging and deep learning to detect Salmonella and Campylobacter contamination. Earlier, Safetyspect received a project grant from the National Institute on Aging (awarded September 15, 2022, completion August 31, 2023) for contamination inspection and disinfection systems designed to audit cleanliness in long-term care facilities. A July 2022 cooperative agreement with NOAA runs through June 2025 on integration of multimodal unmanned aerial vehicle sensors for preharvest food safety monitoring.

Customer concentration heavily favors USDA. The top five customer agencies account for 79% of recent awards by count; USDA Agricultural Research Service Northeast Area alone holds five awards totaling $619 thousand in combined potential value. NIFA, EPA Office of Research and Development, and NOAA round out the active set. By potential value, the same customers dominate — USDA Northeast Area leads at $619 thousand, followed by the Shared Services Center at $174 thousand and EPA at $99 thousand. Awards have clustered in 2025 and 2026 (three and one award, respectively) after a sparse 2023–2024 window (two and one award). Three awards carrying combined potential value of $462 thousand reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, generating recompete opportunity across USDA and Shared Services Center accounts. Safetyspect holds one sub-award under a prime contractor relationship (September 28, 2023), where the company supports design and prototype development of CSI handheld scanners with machine learning algorithm training in collaboration with a university partner. The vendor manufactures analytical laboratory instruments under NAICS 334516 (Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing) and PSC 5180 (Laboratory Equipment and Supplies).