AI food R&D:How can AI help food businesses?

AI’s ability to identify patterns and discover innovations is a critical prospect for the technology. For the food businesses as well, AI can bring a significant shift. The food industry is overdue for technological advancement, and there are plenty of areas where AI can help. This blog will discover applications of AI for food businesses and the benefits of introducing AI in the food industry.

The need for AI in the food industry

The food industry is long overdue for technological advancement. Major evolution in the food industry is restricted to new appliances, food processing machines, and recipes. It’s about time that AI helps advance the food industry further.

Food industry leaders are clear about it. Almost 72% of food manufacturers and food and beverage executives are firm that product & service innovation is their priority strategy for business growth. With the introduction of Artificial Intelligence, the food industry can overcome its inefficiency and challenges while introducing a new level of customer experience.

Applications of AI for food R&D

There are many different areas in which AI can actually contribute to food R&D. Here is how AI might end up transforming R&D in the food industry:

• Innovating food product development

AI can contribute to food R&D by introducing an informed and innovative approach. It can be used to collect and process data, allowing food businesses to develop new products with a higher probability of commercial success. AI food product development would allow the food industry to conduct more informed research and introduce significant changes over time.

• AI food modeling

Food modeling is a tricky part of food R&D. AI can analyze the target customer base, their preferences, and the market trends. Based on that, AI can recommend ingredients that would meet target taste profiles while managing nutritional values and regulatory needs. AI can help model foods that are cost-effective, tasty, and yet healthy.

• AI to learn consumer preferences

AI can help with customer preference mapping so that customers can learn customer feedback on food taste, crispness, and aroma. Through sensor data collection, AI can map large data sets and understand patterns to meet consumer preferences.

• Precision fermentation

Precision fermentation would allow food businesses to create food with alternatives to traditional ingredients. AI can offer sustainable options for ingredients like dairy items and plant-based proteins. 

For example, Vivici is a company using fermentation to produce dairy proteins for dairy alternatives. They partnered with Ginkgo Bioworks to use Generative AI to produce nature-equivalent whey protein.

• Food product upgrades & enhancements

AI can also be used to improve existing food products, introduce new variations, and adjust to customer feedback. AI can understand market trends and recommend opportunities to enhance and innovate the company’s product portfolio.

• Better food formulation

Food manufacturers often struggle with skepticism and regulatory concerns about certain ingredients. In such cases, they can leverage AI to replace the ingredients or mitigate any risk by using the proper food formulations.

There are not just use cases of AI; these are the actual AI applications that are put into practice. An example of this is Olam Food Ingredients (OFI), which uses AI to research online recipes, menus, and food websites. They tracked flavor trends such as growing interest in Asian flavors in the West, sesame and dragon fruit growing in Europe, and lychee and yuzu being popular in the USA.

AI could allow food businesses to enhance R&D operations and achieve precise market penetration by meeting customer expectations. That’s not all; AI can also help with areas surrounding food R&D.

AI in the food industry: agriculture to customer experience

Here are some more applications of AI apart from food R&D that could still impact the food industry:

• AI for agriculture:

AI can help the food industry by enhancing agricultural operations. Soil data, weather predictions, soil nutrition, and even precision irrigation can help improve crop output through informed farming practices. AI in agriculture can help sustainable farming with optimized resource consumption and higher crop yields.

• AI for customer experience:

AI can also help food businesses manage their customer interactions. For customer experience, AI can leverage chatbots to interact with customers, answer their queries, and collect their orders. Moreover, AI can also help make food recommendations to customers.  

Challenges of using AI in the food industry

Introducing AI in the food industry can catch the industry by surprise. As such, there are some challenges and concerns that food businesses must consider.

• Regulatory challenges:

The food industry has very strict regulations and compliance requirements. AI can help with food formulation and ingredient mappings, but it’s vital that the final food meets the regulatory guidelines.

• Market acceptance:

AI formulating food can be a new change for customers, and with such an innovation, there can be significant skepticism among customers. Brands must address all doubts and concerns to gain consumer acceptance.

• Data availability:

AI in the food industry would require significant relevant data. However, this data is quite limited in the food industry, making it difficult for ML models to feed and train. This scarcity could make AI’s inceptions into the food industry a bit more difficult.

What’s in it for the food industry?

Food businesses should leverage AI to overcome the vast competition within the industry. AI can drastically expedite the R&D time within the food industry, reducing the time to market. AI can also be helpful to food businesses as they evaluate expanding their product portfolio.

AI can help food businesses experiment, be more creative, and save money on research. It can also help with supply chain management, farming, chatbots, and regulations so that food businesses can focus on delivering the right food to the market.  

Conclusion

Food businesses often undermine technological advancements, and they may have had a good reason so far. However, AI finally has the potential to transform the industry drastically and overcome its long-standing challenges. AI in the food industry could lead to healthier, tastier, and more affordable food for everyone.