KANSAS CITY — Consider artificial intelligence (AI) as a potential way to accelerate innovation in the food industry.
An example of this is the selection of ingredients.
“Artificial intelligence has the potential to have a significant impact on how we identify and select ingredients for new product development,” said Ashley Robertson, director of global marketing and communications at Corbion and based in Lenexa. , Kan. “By leveraging large data sets, AI can predict how different ingredients interact with each other and what impact they might have on the taste, texture and nutritional value of the final product. This approach can lead to innovative ingredient combinations that may not have been considered otherwise, thereby improving product innovation and competitiveness.
AI could also minimize the traditional trial-and-error approach to product development, she said.
“By using simulation and predictive analytics, AI can speed up the formulation process,” said Robertson. “This would enable faster iterations based on feedback, which could streamline the journey from concept to market.”
The food industry already has several examples of AI.
Months, not years
San Francisco-based Brightseed uses Forager, its AI-driven computing platform, to identify bioactives found in nature and their health benefits. Using Forager, Brightseed identified bioactive compounds from hemp husks in three months that help maintain a healthy gut and metabolism, said Jan-Willem van Klinken, MD, senior vice president of medical, scientific and regulatory affairs. . He added that the industry standard is three years. These compounds, N-trans caffeoyltyramine (NCT) and N-trans feruloyltramine (NFT), led to the creation of Brightseed’s first product, Bio Gut Fiber.
Brightseed partnered with Manitoba Harvest in Winnipeg, Manitoba in February to launch Manitoba Harvest Bioactive Fiber with Bio Gut Fiber. The ingredient contains six grams of fiber and is available at Whole Foods Market and on Amazon.
“Forager is built on machine learning and works in three parts: it predicts compounds from plant, fungal and bacterial sources; it predicts their activity in the body; and it predicts which source contains each specific health-beneficial bioactive,” van Klinken said. “Brightseed scientists source plants from around the world to power Forager, and we train our AI models with highly curated biomedical information to generate the world’s largest library of natural compounds and their predicted impact on human health . Forager is able to predict with unprecedented speed and accuracy which bioactive compound impacts a specific health benefit in the human body.
Forager allows Brightseed to reduce the time needed for bioactive discovery, biological validation and ingredient formulation from years to months, he said.
Rapid bioactive profiling gives Brightseed partners insight into phytochemical and bioactive accounts as well as predicted health benefits in six to eight weeks, van Klinken said.
“Rapid bioactive profiling can then be followed by more in-depth bioactive profiling in vitro, in vivo and clinical validation depending on the partner’s commercialization goals,” van Klinken said. “We also work with partners in targeted health areas within the microbiome. »
ADM, Chicago, partners with Brightseed to use Forager to examine chemical interactions between food plants and gut microbiomes. Forager identifies bioactive compounds in plants and provides information on cellular changes. The partnership aims to discover bioactives created exclusively through interactions with gut microbes such as salicylic acid. The companies hope to launch functional ingredients in food, beverages, dietary supplements and medical foods by 2025.
“We have profiled thousands of plants and have the world’s largest database of natural compounds mapped to their predicted mechanisms of action,” van Klinken said. “On average, Brightseed adds more than 130 plants to our compound library each month, which represents a rate of approximately 6 plants per day. Our goal is to map the entire edible and medicinal plant kingdom, which includes approximately 80,000 species.
Brightseed also mapped 23 consumer health areas. The company develops bioactives for its partners in the areas of dietary supplements, food and beverages, nutritional specialties and medical foods.
“Our current pipeline includes new products for near-term development that address important unmet consumer health needs in the areas of gut health and immunity, metabolic health, management weight, cognitive health, sleep, maternal health and other health areas targeted via the microbiome,” van Klinken said.
Smart ingredients
Neil Foster, head of strategic partnerships at Dublin-based Nuritas, explained how his company benefits from AI during a SupplySide West session on October 24, 2023 in Las Vegas.
“We are using artificial intelligence to create new smart ingredients,” he said.
Nuritas has been collecting data for eight years, including data on peptides, which are small proteins made of amino acids. Nuritas has over 6.2 million peptides in its library.
“Every living creature, plant, bacteria is actually like an encyclopedia of data and information,” Foster said.
He then made a comparison between the libraries. If researchers wanted to find a peptide with a specific biological benefit, such as managing carbohydrate intake or increasing muscle protein synthesis, they could read every “book” in the peptide library.
Or they could turn to AI.
“So what AI allows us to do is read these books infinitely faster, have perfect memory and perfect memory, know which word is where, and speed up the “the whole process,” Foster said. “AI allows us to find these (peptides) much, much, much faster. It also allows us to predict problems we might encounter not only finding the molecule, but also knowing that it’s something we can access and will be usable, affordable and sustainable.
Using AI, Nuritas created PeptiStrong, a fava bean ingredient that boosts muscle protein synthesis, reduces muscle protein breakdown, and decreases exercise-induced inflammation. PEP, Solon, Ohio, launched PEP bars containing PeptiStrong this year.
In supply chain management, AI could potentially generate more accurate forecasts, identify supplier risks, recognize unusual behavior patterns, optimize pricing and transportation plans, determine inventory levels, and provide a financial analysis, according to Info-Tech Research Group, a technology research and consulting firm. company serving more than 30,000 information technology (IT) professionals. Barriers to adoption include selecting the right vendor and implementing strategies.
“AI could significantly improve ingredient sourcing by making supply chain operations more efficient and sustainable,” Corbion’s Robertson said. “Through the analysis of global market trends, environmental factors and logistics data, AI has the potential to identify optimal suppliers of sustainable and healthy ingredients. Additionally, AI could refine inventory management and demand forecasting, contributing to more responsible and sustainable procurement methods.
She added: “AI could also influence the food ingredient category by automating quality control, predicting food trends, optimizing nutritional content and assessing the environmental impact of production processes.
“These applications could lead to higher quality products, more proactive adoption of trends, healthier food options and more environmentally friendly practices, demonstrating the vast potential of AI to benefit the world. industry and consumers. »
