By Kevin Shen of NobleAI
From pumpkin-spiced lattes to blueberry beer, consumers are addicted to an ever-increasing variety of options when it comes to food flavorings. Coca-Cola flavored Oreos anyone? For food scientists who develop these flavors, the process can be time-intensive and laborious with lengthy research cycles and complex chemistry discovery and product formulation.
The time it takes to bring a new product to market often spans several years as developing new flavors and additives involves understanding intricate interactions between numerous different molecules. The resulting process is not only labor- and time-intensive, but costly as well, which is why replacing worrisome ingredients can be challenging for food manufacturers.
As consumers increasingly scrutinize food labels and regulators restrict the use of certain artificial flavors, colors or other additives, there is a growing list of ingredients coming under increased scrutiny, with more to come. For instance, how do you produce the perfect, colorful, shiny jelly bean without a non-vegan shellac coating?
Just last month, a new California law will ban six chemicals from being served in food in California schools. In referencing the California proposal, a spokesperson for the FDA said that reassessing the safety of chemicals in food as data becomes available was a priority for the agency.
This expected increase in regulatory action, as well as the increasing consumer desire and demand for safer components, has understandably spurred a desire for many companies to replace certain chemical ingredients with natural equivalents or safer chemical molecules.
But alternative ingredients that precisely mimic the role of existing compounds have been hard to identify … until now. New technology is enabling companies to seek and identify alternatives instead of waiting for pressure from regulators -- or worse, seeing customers jump ship. Artificial intelligence is making it possible for food manufacturers and food scientists to identify replacement ingredients at a fraction of the time it takes for lab-based experiments. This is good news for food manufacturers.
The integration of AI into flavor development offers a transformative solution to the pressing challenges posed by worrisome chemicals. By proactively adopting AI-driven approaches, food manufacturers can stay ahead of regulatory pressures, meet consumer expectations and continue to deliver delightful flavors without compromising on health or environmental standards. Science-based AI can transform food product lines to meet the demands of consumers and regulatory agencies and, most importantly, food manufacturers.
How AI works to identify natural replacements
Some of the more advanced AI for science approaches, like NobleAI’s Science-Based AI, work by analyzing complex datasets to identify toxicity of specific compounds and utilizing generative molecular exploration to identify new, replacement compounds that provide the same performance within existing formulations.
The process can replace costly and time-consuming experiments, accomplishing this by training an AI model with relevant scientific knowledge, understanding of physical systems and relevant data sets. Once this is done, scientists can explore the vast space of possible chemical formulations or combinations, identifying compounds that could replace toxic ingredients without sacrificing taste or quality.
One exciting opportunity that AI models unlock is to leverage their rapid speed to screen over large, natural product databases – chemicals produced by nature – to find naturally occurring chemicals that can serve as greener, safer sources of food flavors and additives. It is tantalizing that the solution to our artificial, human-made chemicals could be lying right under our noses, right there in nature.
Once such chemicals are rediscovered for new potential functionality in food, we can learn from how nature produces these chemicals to subsequently produce them in economical ways leveraging precision fermentation approaches that do not conflict with animal rights concerns nor environmental waste and destruction associated with agriculture.
It’s hard to predict exactly when new regulations are coming, and how extensive they will be. It is even harder to predict when consumer tastes and trends change. It’s challenging and expensive for multinational food manufacturers to continuously track the moves of regulators across countries and regions.
There are a growing number of allergens subject to labeling requirements in specific countries, where they must be listed on the product packaging if they are present above a certain concentration threshold. Many product teams around the world are currently evaluating their product ingredient list against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and European Chemical Agency, among others, but this is a slow, manual process, which makes staying ahead of the curve near impossible. AI presents an opportunity to get ahead of the rush to replace them.
The integration of AI into flavor and food additives development offers a transformative solution to the pressing challenges posed by dangerous ingredients. As regulatory landscapes tighten and consumer awareness around sustainability grows, the ability to swiftly identify safe and effective alternatives through AI becomes invaluable.
By proactively adopting AI-driven approaches, food manufacturers can stay ahead of regulatory pressures, meet consumer expectations, deliver delightful flavors, and even discover natural solutions that don’t compromise on health or environmental standards.
