Puratos Joins Forces with an AI Research Group

The company has teamed up with the longest established AI research group of Europe and has secured funding from the Agency for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (VLAIO) to transform recipes into healthier alternatives thanks to artificial intelligence, according to a press release. This funding will allow Puratos Group to implement data science, machine learning, and predictive modeling. The project, called AI Healthy Food Project, is the result of the collaboration with the “The  Artificial Intelligence Lab (aka “AI Lab”) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the first-established research lab for AI in Continental Europe, in the framework of the Lifelong Learning Program.

With the AI Healthy Food project, the company aims to implement data science and machine learning as a measure to translate the Health & Well-Being strategy in the design of nutritionally optimized recipes by identifying healthier ingredients and understanding their behavior during and after baking processes. Predictive modeling will then serve to translate these insights into automatic recommendations for the development of recipes with healthy characteristics and a more balanced nutritional profile while maintaining the end characteristics of the finished good such as its taste, texture, or freshness.

“We wish to use data science to translate expectations and experiences from food cultures around the world into new, healthy recipes to help our customers be more successful with their business,” comments Sophie Blum, chief marketing officer at Puratos. “This project is unique as we will perform research on multi-objective predictive AI, which is at the forefront of innovation. This will undoubtedly further establish Puratos’ role in shaping the food tech industry,” said Benjamin Bado, data manager at Puratos.