€3M AI project to develop new food products faster

Transforming How The Food Industry Accelerate Food Innovation.

Creme Global has joined with Dawn Farm Foods and University College Dublin’s digital development hub, CeADAR, on a €3M Industrial Research Project to change the landscape of food innovation forever. As part of this, they have secured co-funding from the highly prestigious Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund by the Irish Government.

Traditionally food companies use human panels to scientifically evaluate how any potential products are perceived by the 5 human senses – sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. But combining that evaluation with other food industry concerns around customer wellness and health, allergens, quality, and safety is complex and takes time. The ability to rapidly launch healthy, tasty, quality products becomes tougher and tougher.

Is there an AI Solution?

The project, called PERCEPTION, will predict how your product is perceived by the consumer before you even make it. It will be the first place you go when considering any new products. Creme Global will lead the development of an artificial intelligence platform to rapidly predict human response to new food products, combining taste, health benefits and food waste reduction. It will digitalise the human senses relating to the flavour, odour, appearance and mouthfeel of food products.

Why Does This Matter?

With increasing world population and changing demographics, the increase in diet-related diseases and the demand for health and wellness food products are key challenges faced by the food industry. In addition, the food supply chain is currently being significantly impacted by climate change and the rise of ethical consumer habits relating to food sources.

This platform will address these challenges and reduce the new product development cycle by at least 50%. This will transform how the food industry can accelerate development in a way that reduces the use of energy, water and food waste.

This technology will allow food manufacturers to expand into a functional food market, increase productivity, create flexibility in their business model, create a highly skilled workforce, and achieve sustainable competitive advantages through faster time-to-market, better efficiency, and higher quality products. The revolutionary technology will also contribute towards changing consumer preference towards healthier foods by creating great-tasting functional food products.

The Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund

The Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund was established by the Government in association with Enterprise Ireland under the National Development Plan in  to invest in research and innovation in life sciences, medical devices, ICT, AI, manufacturing and environmental sustainability. Its purpose is to drive collaboration between Ireland’s world-class research base and industry for the development and adoption of new technologies.

Dawn Farms

Dawn Farms is Europe’s leading dedicated multi-species cooked meat ingredients company. As a family company with a global reach, exporting to over 44 international markets, Dawn Farms are proud to supply many of the world’s most loved food brands in retail and QSR/fast casual restaurants from our state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Ireland, Germany and the U.K. Their extensive product range is further complemented by a growing selection of plant-based cooked protein options to meet today’s developing consumer trends.

CeADAR

CeADAR is funded by Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, is headquartered in University College Dublin and is a partnership with the Technological University Dublin (formerly DIT). CeADAR is Ireland’s national centre for Applied AI and Data Analytics and is a market-focused technology centre that drives the accelerated research, development, and deployment of AI and data analytics technology and innovation into businesses.