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Forbes
01-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How AI Is Transforming The Food Industry
Katy Jones, CEO Trustwell. AI is reshaping the food industry in ways that were once thought impossible. From improving food safety and compliance to revolutionizing supply chain management and consumer experiences, it's driving efficiency and innovation across the sector. As the food industry faces increasing pressure to meet safety standards, reduce waste and improve traceability, AI is emerging as a game changer. Companies are using it to enhance quality control, automate inspections, improve traceability and optimize food production processes. With growing ingredient regulatory requirements and consumer expectations for transparency, AI's role in food safety and compliance is more crucial than ever. Food safety is a top priority for consumers, regulators and businesses alike. AI is helping the industry move from reactive to proactive safety measures through: Algorithms analyze vast amounts of data to detect potential risks before they become food safety issues. By monitoring supply chains, production environments and past recall patterns, AI can predict contamination risks and recommend preventive actions. Computer vision and machine learning are improving food safety inspections by automating quality control processes. AI-powered cameras can detect contamination, improper labeling and foreign objects in food products faster and more accurately than the human eye. AI-driven sensors and diagnostic tools can detect harmful bacteria like E. coli and salmonella in food production environments in real time, reducing the risk of outbreaks. For example, a microbiology startup, uses AI-powered pathogen detection technology to reduce testing time from days to minutes. With $23 million in recent funding, the company aims to accelerate real-time microbial testing, helping food businesses identify contamination faster, prevent recalls and ensure consumer safety. AI is playing a significant role in food product innovation and nutritional labeling. Food companies are leveraging it to: • Develop New Products Faster: It can analyze consumer preferences, ingredient interactions and market trends to suggest new product formulations. • Enhance Nutritional Labeling: Our food nutrition database and AI-driven tools ensure labels are accurate, compliant and tailored to meet consumer expectations. • Personalized Nutrition: AI-powered apps provide personalized nutrition recommendations based on individual dietary needs, health conditions and food preferences. AI can drive efficiency at retail or restaurant locations so employees have more time to focus on food safety and quality. For instance, McDonald's is deploying it across its 43,000 global locations to expedite service and alleviate employee stress. This initiative includes AI-enabled drive-throughs and predictive maintenance for equipment like ice cream machines, aiming to boost customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. Similarly, Taco Bell has introduced "Byte by Yum," an AI tool designed to assist restaurant managers with tasks such as scheduling and inventory management, thereby streamlining operations and improving service delivery. Regulatory compliance in the food industry is becoming increasingly complex, with companies facing evolving global and national food laws. AI is now helping businesses stay ahead by automating compliance processes and simplifying regulatory requirements. Traditionally, food businesses have relied on manual processes to ensure compliance with food safety laws, labeling regulations and traceability requirements. However, AI-powered regulatory assistants can help companies: • Quickly interpret complex regulations and provide instant answers to compliance-related questions. • Automate regulatory workflows to reduce the burden of manual compliance checks. • Minimize the risk of noncompliance to avoid costly fines and recalls. Our AI-powered regulatory assistant, AskReg, helps food businesses navigate complex regulatory environments by providing real-time regulatory guidance, automating compliance workflows and ensuring businesses remain up to date with the latest food safety laws. By integrating similar compliance solutions, companies can streamline their operations, reduce compliance risks and focus on delivering safer, higher-quality food products to the market. For food businesses looking to integrate AI, the journey begins with building internal readiness across personnel, processes and company culture. Here are a few tips to get started: • Leadership Alignment: Leadership should establish clear objectives for adoption, whether improving food safety, optimizing supply chains or enhancing quality control. • Training: AI development and adoption should not be siloed within IT teams but also involve food scientists, quality assurance specialists and other key stakeholders. • Data Hygiene: Auditing existing data infrastructure ensures companies have clean, structured data that AI systems can effectively analyze. • Set Policy And Change Management: From a policy standpoint, businesses should develop ethical guidelines and compliance frameworks to align AI implementation with food industry regulations. Overcome resistance to change by piloting projects on a smaller scale, measuring impact and demonstrating quick wins before scaling up. • Human Perspective: Begin with scenarios where AI is augmenting decision making rather than completely replacing human expertise. By strategically preparing in these areas, food businesses can navigate implementation more smoothly and maximize its potential benefits. AI's impact on the food industry is only beginning. As technology advances, we can expect even more breakthroughs such as AI-powered robotic chefs and food preparation systems, as well as enhanced food waste reduction through predictive analytics. It's not just a tool for efficiency—it's shaping the future of food safety, compliance and innovation. Companies that embrace AI-driven solutions will not only stay ahead of regulations but also gain a competitive edge in an industry where transparency, trust and efficiency are more critical than ever. The food industry is entering a new era, and AI is leading the way. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Axios
18-03-2025
- Business
- Axios
Nvidia and Yum! Brands team up to expand AI ordering
Yum! Brands — the parent company of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut — is teaming up with technology giant Nvidia in a move that could accelerate the adoption of AI ordering in drive-thrus. Why it matters: The future of fast food is here with AI already taking orders at some restaurants' drive-thru lanes. Driving the news: Yum! — the world's largest restaurant company with more than 61,000 locations — and Nvidia announced an "industry-first collaboration" Tuesday. It's Nvidia's first AI restaurant partnership and the technology will power and scale the fast-food company's existing Byte by Yum! platform. The big picture: Artificial intelligence can help restaurants simplify and speed up the drive-thru experience, which could boost sales and cut costs. Andrew Sun, Nvidia's global director of retail, CPG and QSR business development, said working with Yum! they hope to "drive forward innovation for the industry by solving some of the hardest problems together." Zoom in: Joe Park, Yum! Brands' chief digital and technology officer, told Axios they've already "begun piloting AI solutions in select Taco Bell and Pizza Hut locations." Park said the companies plan to roll out AI solutions to about 500 restaurants across the four Yum! Brands, including Habit Burger & Grill, starting in the second quarter of the year. One focus is on "voice automated order taking" in the drive-thru or when calling into a call center for Pizza Hut, Park said, noting AI can also help count the number of cars on the drive-thru to alert restaurant employees. "If our restaurant knows that there are four or five cars in line, they can then possibly suggest different items to customers that have a quicker turnaround time so that we could speed up the line," Park said. Between the lines: Yum! also plans to use AI to improve order accuracy and to use AI-driven analytics to access restaurant performance. The Golden Arches ended its AI drive-thru ordering pilot last summer after a number of errors embarrassed the company on social media. McDonald's said that it saw "tremendous opportunity" in the IBM-powered technology and had "confidence that a voice ordering solution for drive-thru will be part of our restaurants' future."
