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LAB PROFILE New autonomous lab at University of Toronto to improve drug formulation

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APPLICATION NOTE 5 ways AI is revolutionizing life sciences

AI-ENABLED

DISCOVERY

How the medical and bioscience industries are transforming with the help of machine and computational advancements

Training an AI model to predict new antibacterial molecules

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GUEST EDITORIAL

FEATURE

WHAT AI MEANS FOR THE LIFE SCIENCES SPACE

AT THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TIPPING POINT

As technologies continue to evolve and their capabilities expand, it seems only a matter of time until the real impacts of AI begin to take hold

NEWSMAKER

TRANSFORMING THE CURRENT AND FUTURE STATE OF GYNECOLOGICAL CARE

Canadian start-up advancing gynecological research and work by addressing pelvic floor disorders in women

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NEW AUTONOMOUS LAB AT UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO TO IMPROVE DRUG FORMULATION

FIGHTING A SUPERBUG WITH PREDICTIVE COMPUTATION By harnessing the power of artificial intelligence, Canadian researchers have managed to target a potential treatment for a drug-resistant bacteria

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EMPOWER HEALTH HELPING TO CLOSE GAPS IN THE SYSTEM

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By leveraging data and the power of artificial intelligence, healthcare services can be defragmented to better connect patients with medical professionals » The science of food and beverage

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THE MATERIALS REVOLUTION

The ten most influential ways in which artificial intelligence and machine learning are being leveraged to advance medical research and innovation

VOLUME 38 • ISSUE 4 • WINTER 2023

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he life sciences and biomanufacturing industries have been built on tireless research, curious exploration, and boundless innovation. With the continued advancement of technologies, particularly those driven by the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, the potential that’s posed going forward seems limitless. And, although many of the possible applications of AI within the sectors are still a bit pie-in-the-sky, this issue of BioLab Business explores the very real utility for its use. To better understand the current state of the use of AI and machine learning within life sciences and healthcare, we sit down with Amol Deshpande, Senior Director Health Sciences, Ecosystem and Capital, Venture Services, MaRS Discovery District, who suggests that we may be at the tipping point of widespread adoption and leveraging of the advanced technologies within the medical and drug manufacturing industries. We take a look at the incredible research that’s been done recently by a McMaster Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences Assistant Professor, Jonathan Stokes, and his team that has involved the harnessing of AI in an effort to target a potential treatment for a dangerous, drug-resistant bacteria. From trained AI models and predictive algorithms to the development of incredibly complex and accurate medical devices, we profile Cosm Medical Corp. and its breakthrough innovation that combines novel diagnostics, AI, cloud software, and 3D printing to create patient-specific gynecological devices, improving the lives of millions of women living with the effects of pelvic floor disorders. In addition, a new autonomous lab that's being built in the University of Toronto’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy is explored, highlighting the ways in which the state-of-the-art facility will help to design and optimize formulations that will improve bioavailability, stability, and efficacy of a range of different drugs. We also profile Empower Health, a digital health company that, through the use of AI, is helping to defragment the Canadian healthcare landscape and close some of the burdensome gaps that exist, connecting Canadians in need of healthcare services with the closest professionals that are available to help them. Finally, given the extent to which advanced research being conducted by scientists and their teams is being supported by the power and precision of AI and machine learning, we take a look at the top 10 ways in which the technologies are being used to help revolutionize healthcare and medical discovery. The possibilities presented by AI and machine learning to enhance life sciences research and work is astounding. It represents a new age of medical exploration, study and diagnosis. Combined with the intelligence and intuition of humans, AI and machine learning is set to transform the way we look at health and wellness forever.

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WHAT AI MEANS FOR

THE LIFE SCIENCES SPACE

BY MANISHA SINGH AND SHIKHA SINGH

AI has certainly paved the way in the BIOLAB BUSINESS VO L U M E 3 8, I S S U E 4 • 2 0 2 3

pharmaceutical industry, owing to the availability of enormous amounts of data related to clinical trials and patients in general.

2019 report from the World Intellectual Property Organization stated that AI emerged in the 1950s, with the first mention of the term appearing during the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence in 1956. Generative AI (a type of artificial intelligence technology that can produce various types of content, including text, imagery, audio and synthetic data) tools have led to the invention of things such as virtual assistants, self-driving cars, smart homes, chatbots, and surgical bots. We understand that AI is a computer science field that covers a wide range of areas intended to improve the ability of machines to make data-driven decisions and accurate predictions of events. By setting up sophisticated AI tools, an enormous amount of unstructured data consisting of text, images, and sounds can be comprehended in a faster and more efficient manner. In many scientific fields, AI is being increasingly considered and integrated. For instance, the most popular and commonly used OpenAI tool ChatGPT has become prominent in our daily lives in a short span of time. With the maturation and advancement of AI, it is set to have a significant impact on the life sciences industry. In combination with other tools such as machine learning (ML) and natural language processing, which make it possible for the algorithms to learn from experiences, AI and ML will help life sciences companies in different fields provide faster solutions in a cost-effective manner and with better public reach. The development of AI-based tools, particularly machines using AI, are helping industries to achieve commercial gains and are also contributing to the creation and management of their intellectual property rights portfolios. PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY AI has certainly paved the way in the pharmaceutical industry, owing to the

availability of enormous amounts of data related to clinical trials and patients in general. It has been an important tool in revolutionizing drug discovery and development, clinical trials, and other critical activities. According to GlobalData’s thematic research report Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery leading companies that have included AI in their business activities are AstraZeneca, Takeda, Pfizer, Sanofi, Novartis, Roche, Johnson & Johnson, GSK, Merck & Co. Bristol Myers Squibb, Bayer, Lilly, Merck, and Astellas Pharma. DRUG DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT In wake of the introduction of AI-related technologies, it is now common for pharmaceutical companies to leverage these technologies for maximum gain (fast-tracking drug discovery and thereby reducing the cost involved). In the beginning of 2020, the British start-up Exscientia and the Japanese pharmaceutical firm Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma used AI to develop a drug for OCD. Typical drug development processes? usually take around five years to reach the trial stage, but this drug took only a year; AI reduced the drug development time to one-fifth of what is typical. A few examples of AI tools include: DeepChem: an open-source deep learning framework for drug discovery. The Python-based framework offers a set of functionalities for applying deep learning in drug discovery. It uses Google TensorFlow and scikit-learn to build neural networks for deep learning. Open Drug Discovery Toolkit (ODDT): An open-source tool for computer-aided drug discovery. ChatPandaGPT: a chat functionality that

has been integrated with the algorithm-based platform PandaOmics developed by Insilico Medicine Canada for targeted drug discovery. This functionality allows the user to query a knowledge graph (obtained by the platform) and identify the relationships between the data provided. ChatPandaGPT makes the knowledge graph more accessible and user-friendly, as well as making the information more understandable. CLINICAL TRIALS Owing to the pandemic and the revolution in digital sciences at the same time, the ways in which clinical trials are being designed and conducted earlier are gradually transforming. In particular, the important components of the clinical trial process, such as study monitoring and patient enrolment, are benefiting from these transformations. AI algorithms, combined with effective digital infrastructure, could enable a continuous stream of clinical trial data to be cleaned, aggregated, coded, stored and managed. In addition, improved electronic data capture could also reduce the impact of human error in data collection and facilitate seamless integration with other databases. The adoption of AI technologies is therefore becoming a critical business imperative, specifically for life science-based companies. SUPPLY CHAIN Drug manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies are transforming their businesses through AI. For instance, AI makes it easier to forecast demands and subsequently scale production on a needs basis. It also monitors in-line manufacturing processes to ensure the safety and quality of drugs. These interventions will certainly give life sciences companies confidence that their manufacturing processes are operating at a high standard and not putting the organization in breach of regulations. Importantly, the bottlenecks caused by the pandemic tested the resiliency of the entire supply chain ecosystem. In a report issued by Deloitte, five critical areas and processes of the biopharma supply chain have been identified where AI is likely to have the highest impact. COMMERCIAL AND REGULATORY PROCESSES Nowadays, reviewing promotional content for compliance purposes is a necessary yet limiting stage for any pharma or biopharma company. The current medical, legal, and regulatory review processes for approving product marketing materials are uncomfortably relaxed and might be inconsistent, leading to repetitive cycle times. AI and ML have proven

GUEST EDITORIAL

to significantly reduce the medical, legal, and regulatory review time, while improving the accuracy of the content. This approach will certainly improve the speed and reliability of the processes, enabling therapies to get to market quicker. PRODUCING PERSONALISED MEDICINE Usually, while producing a drug or pharmaceutical product, the one-size-fits-all approach is applied in terms of medicine dosing. Little information about an individual patient is considered when a therapy is designed or a dosage is set. By continuously monitoring several parameters, AI may enable medical practitioners to adjust the dose size or, if the disease condition varies by, say, mutation, then the therapy can be revised and a more effective alternative can be developed. In this respect, the software company Enlitic specializes in developing deep learning medical tools that analyze unstructured records (medical history, images, blood tests, electrocardiograms, and genome reports), helping doctors cater to the patient’s real-time needs. ACCESSIBILITY OF THERAPIES AND DRUGS In the past, more than a decade and billions of dollars were needed to introduce a new drug to the market earlier. However, now with the help of AI, data can be accumulated and obtained from myriad sources (hospitals and research labs) in a compatible format. Besides this, AI can also help develop better healthcare networks and protocols, speeding up their introduction to the market at a reasonable price. MEDICAL INDUSTRY In this industry, with the advancement of biomedical technologies, a lot of exciting and encouraging developments have been witnessed over the course of the past few years, which are now reaching a peak. Medical devices incorporating AI hold the promise of revolutionizing the healthcare industry, helping medical professionals more accurately and effectively diagnose and treat their patients and improve their overall care. As technology advances, medical device companies are developing AI medical devices that serve the following three main functions: Chronic disease management: Medical devices with AI could monitor patients and deliver treatment or medication as needed. For instance, diabetes patients could wear sensors to monitor their blood sugar levels and administer insulin to regulate them.

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Medical imaging: Companies are developing medical devices with AI to conduct medical imaging with better image quality and clarity. These devices would also reduce a patient’s exposure to radiation.

Surgeries can be performed in previously inaccessible places using the da Vinci Surgical system. BIOLAB BUSINESS VO L U M E 3 8, I S S U E 4 • 2 0 2 3

Once trained, the System will be competent enough to perform operations consistently and accurately. It is touted to be superior to human performance, which predictably declines the longer the surgery lasts.

IoT: The Internet of Things for medical devices is a system of wireless, interrelated, and connected digital devices used by medical professionals to manage data, keep patients, informed, reduce costs, monitor patients and work more effectively and efficiently. Companies are using the IoT in collaboration with medical devices with AI to improve patient outcomes. For example, the use of AI in telehealth has allowed for the creation of AI chatbots, which can review a patient’s symptoms and suggest next steps, such as an in-person follow-up where necessary. DIAGNOSTICS AI and ML are effective at identifying characteristics in images that cannot be perceived by the human brain. Incomplete medical records can lead to erroneous predictions and disease diagnosis. Buoy Health is an AI-based chatbot that listens to the patient’s health issues and associated symptoms, and then uses algorithms to guide the patient to the correct therapy. In addition, current diagnostics processes rely on either invasive techniques or gaining insights from radiological images. These include data from CT scans, X-rays, and MRI machines. AI-based radiology tools will enable the clinicians to develop a more precise and detailed understanding of how a disease progresses by performing virtual biopsies.

SURGERY Nowadays, surgeries can be performed in previously inaccessible places using the da Vinci Surgical System. Once trained, the system will be competent enough to perform operations consistently and accurately. The consistency and accuracy of the surgery will be irrespective of the duration of the surgery; it is touted to be superior to human performance, which predictably declines the longer the surgery lasts. This shows that AI, when employed appropriately in this domain of the life sciences sector, can create wonders. EXPANDING HEALTHCARE ACCESS IN DEVELOPING REGIONS AI has enabled access to life-saving care in regions where trained professionals, such as radiologists or ultrasound technicians, are unavailable or rare. This is commonly observed in emergent and developing parts of the world. The AI-powered tool Telemedicine, which equips patients to tackle and prevent certain health concerns, has become popular in these regions. Further, the healthcare start-up WeDoctor independently conducts 11 diagnostic tests and uploads data for consultation in an automated fashion. Considering all of the possibilities and potential already mentioned, it’s easy to view AI as a boosting agent for the life sciences industry. Not only will AI improve the functioning of these industries, it will also help them to protect themselves from any pitfalls that they might face in the future. This article was first published by IAM in August 2023; for further in-depth analysis, please visit IAM's The Guide to to Life Sciences: Key issues for senior life sciences executives 2023.

SUZUKI MATTERS

BY DAVID SUZUKI with contributions from The David Suzuki Foundation's Senior Editor & Writer IAN HANINGTON

DON’T BE COWED BY

Dr. David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author, and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Learn more at davidsuzuki.org.

limate change shouldn’t be political. The evidence is there for all to see, and people everywhere are feeling the effects. Government leaders from every nation and ideology have signed agreements to address the crisis, and reputable organizations from the International Energy Agency to the World Bank have analyzed the necessity and benefits of acting quickly. Why, then, do so many politicians and governments act as if they represent the coal, oil, and gas industries rather than the people who elected them? Are they in denial? Are they simply ignorant? Do they care more about short-term profits and political prospects than human health, well-being and survival? Some actually cite biblical prophecy about the “end times” as an excuse to ignore the emergency. It’s no wonder so many young people are anxious, scared, and uncertain about their futures. Most can see where we’re headed if we don’t pick up the pace of real climate action. And political leaders are failing them — failing us all. We see it here in Canada, where some provincial leaders reject every climate solution — from carbon pricing to wind energy — and continue to promote polluting, climate-altering fuels that everyone who has studied the issue says must be left in the ground. They put the brakes on the rapidly growing, profitable, and job-creating renewable energy industry. They parrot the fossil fuel industry in promoting “natural” (fossil) gas and expensive, largely unproven technologies such as carbon capture and storage (which is little more than a lifeline for a dying industry) as climate solutions. Astoundingly, some political figures outright deny we have a problem. Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott recently called climate science “ahistorical and utterly implausible,” repeating easily debunked disinformation. In the United States and elsewhere, you can often gauge a politician’s stance on climate science by how much money they get from fossil fuel interests, with some even owning stakes in companies. That anyone could witness or directly experience the increasingly frequent and intense heat domes, droughts, floods and record high temperatures and claim we don’t have a

problem is insanity! Most have no knowledge or background in science and couldn’t tell you the difference between a scientific fact, hypothesis, theory, and law even if those terms were clearly explained. These people are delaying critical climate action and jeopardizing all life. Even politicians who understand and care about the climate emergency often compromise and water down policies to appease voters and ensure their success in the next election. But every molecule of carbon dioxide we emit into the atmosphere remains for hundreds of years, which means even if we immediately stopped burning all gas, coal, and oil, and destroying carbon sinks like forests and wetlands, global average temperature would continue to rise. As George Monbiot recently wrote, “What we are living through today, unless sudden and drastic action is taken by us and our governments, is the sixth great Earth systems collapse.” Although these catastrophic events are usually referred to as “mass extinctions,” Monbiot argues extinction is a symptom of systems collapse. We’re now reaching tipping points at which vanishing Arctic sea ice caused by global heating will trigger even greater heating as reflective ice is overtaken by darker, sunlight-absorbing water and land — as well as more extreme weather events as the northern atmospheric jet stream weakens. Rapidly melting Antarctic sea ice could lead to the cascading collapse of the freshwater ice shelves perched above the sea ice, with catastrophic results for rises in global sea levels. Deforestation in critical areas like the Amazon could seriously affect precipitation patterns, flipping it from rainforest to savannah. We’re also seeing massive declines in plant and animal species, with more facing extinction every day. As the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook 2023 illustrates, we’re making progress, but we’re quickly running out of time. We all need to do everything we can to make sure those with decision-making power — from politicians to industry leaders — understand this crisis and take it seriously. We need to speak up, write letters, sign petitions, march in the streets, and vote only for those who recognize the need to shift to a world with cleaner air, water and soil, better jobs and economic opportunities, and a stable climate. Let’s not waste precious time on denial.

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CLIMATE SCIENCE DENIAL

CANADIAN NEWS

PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN GOVERNMENTS OF CANADA AND UNITED KINGDOM TO BOOST BIOMANUFACTURING INNOVATION A partnership between the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom was recently announced, signifying the declaration and commitment of each country to the advancement of a cooperative biomanufacturing program. The agreement, which was signed by the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Canada's Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and George Freeman, the United Kingdom’s Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology), details each parties’ responsibilities and is meant to boost existing cooperation between the two countries and mutual support related to innovation and economic growth. The agreement builds on the tradition of scientific, technological, and innovative cooperation and collaboration

across a number of different sectors. And, according to the Champagne, it’s one that allows each country the opportunity to utilize their capabilities and drive growth. “The United Kingdom and Canada have a uniquely profound and positive relationship, nourished by our shared history and values," he said. " Today’s memorandum of cooperation on biomanufacturing and the joint statement on quantum science and technology are important steps in making the most of our world-class capabilities, which will drive innovation and economic growth in both our countries. We will continue to work together to foster greater collaboration in science and research to shape the economy of the future.”

INVESTING IN RESPIRATORY RELIEF

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In an effort to continue rebuilding Canada’s beleaguered but rebounding biomanufacturing sector, the Government of Canada is investing to ensure the country can develop safe and efficient treatments for Canadians domestically. Over the course of the past three-and-a-half years, since just shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government has contributed more than $2.1 billion to prop up the country’s vaccines, therapeutics, and biomanufacturing capacity. Recently the government announced it has invested $23 million into Ontario-based Edesa Biotech, Inc. as part of its Strategic Innovation Fund, supporting the company’s efforts to develop therapies for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome, a life-threatening form of respiratory failure and leading cause of death in COVID-19 patients. It’s an investment that, according to the Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development, represents another step forward for Canada’s biomanufacturing sector. “Today’s investment in Edesa Biotech reflects Canada’s commitment to medical innovation and economic growth, securing Canadian lives and jobs while fostering clinical trial expertise in Canada," she said. "This is also an investment in Markham. It will create 50 jobs and 26 student co-op positions nationwide, bolstering our clinical trial capabilities and skills.”

Seneca boasts new state-of-the-art laboratory for life sciences innovation Toronto's Seneca College, with the help of the Honourable Jill Dunlop, Ontario Minister of Colleges and Universities, recently unveiled the brandnew Seneca Centre for Innovation in Life Sciences. It’s a dedicated hub for industry-focused applied research in biotechnology, cosmetic science formulations, and life sciences diagnostics. And, located within the Seneca Polytechnic, the Centre is anchored by a sophisticated lab that features a BSL-2 containment room, a specialized room for the storage of controlled substances, and a GMP-certifiable clean room — all of which allow Seneca to better serve the research needs of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Greater Toronto Area. It’s an unveiling that the Jill Dunlop, says will reap science and innovation benefits for generations to come. "I would like to congratulate Seneca College on the grand opening of its new Centre for Innovation in Life Sciences," she said. "The Ontario government is proud to support the construction of this impressive facility, as it is an important investment in the college's future that will benefit postsecondary students, local businesses and our province's economy. Through this new facility, Seneca College students will have access to more experiential learning opportunities that will equip them with the skills and expertise they need for future jobs in the fields of biological science, applied chemistry, and cosmetic science."

WORLDWIDE NEWS

AREAS OF FOCUS FOR LIFE SCIENCES AND PHARMACEUTICALS INDUSTRIES

Pioneering a biomanufacturing platform for proteins In the Querrey InQbation Lab at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, a scientist and her team recently came upon a revolutionary discovery that’s resulted in the creation of proteins that pose a number of different uses. Led by Danielle Tullman-Ercek, Co-Director of Northwestern’s Center for Synthetic Biology, the team of researchers has developed a platform for proteins that’s highly enabling and allows them to circumvent the traditional complexities involved in current systems, providing routes too difficult to produce proteins. The invention, which shows incredible promise, could lead to the creation of affordable and animal-free precursors to products like biofuel for transportation and meat alternatives for the development of plant-based substitutes for meat products. Since her team’s discovery, Tullman-Ercek has built a start-up company named Opera Bioscience, a majority woman-owned and veteran-run company that is working to create affordable, high-purity proteins for the aforementioned commercial applications, and more.

As communities in countries all over the world continue to move further away from the most significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the business needs for different industries and sectors are changing. As they do, so, too, does the focus and investment of those operating within those industries and sectors. With this in mind, Unispace Life Sciences recently published a new piece of research within a report titled Forefront which reveals the top areas that have been identified as priorities moving forward by those operating within the global pharmaceutical and life sciences industries. The report found that, among other concerns and priorities, the greatest focus is being paid toward enhancing sustainability practices and progress, equipment recapitalization, and navigating through the current and future digitalization of the world around us. To back up its claims, the report finds that more than half (56%) of global pharmaceutical companies currently have formal sustainability goals with supporting practices in place. Twothirds of these companies have, or will have, a sustainability budget, and 25% said they are adding a dedicated sustainability role at corporate and site levels to help meet their goals. In addition, most organizations are replacing equipment at individual manufacturing sites for reasons related to end-of-life (31%) and reliability risks (22%). Within five years, leaders acknowledge current equipment will likely be rendered obsolete due to business needs exceeding current capacity and changes in production functionality (33%). And, in order to meet ambitious technology goals, pharmaceutical engineering leaders acknowledge personnel needs are changing. They cite the following functions as critical to the organization in the next five years: manufacturing execution system (MES) engineers (60%), data scientists (57%), and data management experts (57%). To address this gap in necessary skills, 85% of companies have said they are deciding to upskill their current workforce rather than outsourcing to a third party.

Leveraging a combination of quantum biology, artificial intelligence, and bioengineering, a team of scientists working out of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee have tapped into their collective experience and ingenuity to enhance one of the world’s most advanced and precise pieces of technology, the CRISPR Cas9 genome editing tool. The work that the team has completed significantly improves how the editing tool works on organisms like microbes that can be modified to produce renewable fuels and chemicals. Used to modify genetic code within a variety of species in order to improve on organisms’ performance or to correct mutations, the CRISPR Cas9 is an incredibly powerful bioengineering tool. However, by leveraging the multiple disciplines within the team at the ORNL, improvements were made to the modeling and design of guide RNA, and an explainable artificial intelligence model was built and trained on massive datasets. This work revealed key features about nucleotides that can enable the selection of better guide RNAs. As a result, a refined CRISPR Cas9 model provides scientists a much higher throughput pipeline to link genotype to phenotype, or genes to physical traits, improving the efficacy and impact of related research.

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Sharpening an already sharp tool

FEATURE STORY

FIGHTING A SUPERBUG

WITH PREDICTIVE COMPUTATION By harnessing the power of artificial intelligence, Canadian researchers have managed to target a potential treatment for a drug-resistant bacteria BY SEAN TARRY

W BIOLAB BUSINESS VO L U M E 3 8, I S S U E 4 • 2 0 2 3

hen it comes to medical discoveries that pose a significant impact on the future of research and innovation, few can be considered more important than the one recently made by McMaster University scientist Jonathan Stokes. Together with his research team, Stokes leveraged the power of artificial intelligence (AI), training a model in order to predict new antibacterial molecules against a bacterial pathogen called Acinetobacter baumannii. This bacterium is one of the ESKAPE pathogens, a highly virulent and multidrug-resistant group of pathogens that pose incredible difficulty and challenges when an outbreak occurs. In fact, A. baumannii, a hospital-acquired pathogen, is at the top of the World Health Organization’s list of bacterial pathogens for which new antibiotics are urgently needed.

AI-GUIDED DISCOVERY

Commonly found on surfaces in clinical settings, the pathogen is known to cause diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis, resulting in a number of different complications for patients battling other unrelated illnesses and, indeed, for the physicians and healthcare professionals attempting to treat their illnesses. It’s a pathogen that, until the introduction of AI to the conversation and set of tools available to researchers, has been exceptionally stubborn

with respect to revealing its vulnerabilities or weakness against antibacterials. By training an AI model, however, using laboratory data assessing the antibacterial efficacy of a large collection of molecules against A. baumannii, Stokes and his team set out to expose its frailty by predicting new antibiotics against it. “We started the project by going into the lab and testing somewhere in the region of 7,500 molecules to see which of these would inhibit the growth of A. baumannii in a dish,” he explains. “After performing this chemical screen, we trained a model on the structures of all the chemicals that were able to inhibit the growth of A. baumannii — hits — as well as the structures of the chemicals that were not able to inhibit the growth of A. baumannii — non-hits. We then took this ‘binarized’ dataset and trained a neural network model on the structures of all hits and all non-hits. What the model learned were chemical features associated with antibacterial activity, as well as chemical features not associated with antibacterial activity.”

TRAINING THE MODEL

Once the model was trained, Stokes goes on to explain, he and his team were then able to show it structures of the roughly 7,000 novel compounds it had not seen during its original

FEATURE STORY

THE PROMISE OF NARROW-SPECTRUM ANTIBIOTICS

The observation that abaucin is narrow spectrum can also be clinically significant, Stokes continues, explaining further that conventional antibiotics are so-called broad spectrum, meaning that they target pathogenic bacteria. But they also display antibacterial activity against commensal species, the “good” bacteria that live in and on everyone, and contribute to overall human health. “Broad spectrum antibiotics induce dysbiosis, which has been shown to result in a wide array of negative health outcomes,”

McMaster University scientist Jonathan Stokes

he asserts. “Narrow spectrum antibiotics are likely to avoid significant dysbiosis when administered to patients, thereby resulting in improved outcomes from antibiotic treatment. Moreover, the spread of antibiotic resistance to narrow spectrum agents is likely to be reduced relative to broad spectrum antibiotics since the former does not impose a universal selective pressure to drive resistance through entire ecological niches. This means that narrow spectrum antibiotics might have a longer duration of clinical utility without widespread resistance.”

AI’S SIGNIFICANT IMPACT

It's a discovery that represents an enormous amount of promise with respect to not only the future cleanliness and sterility of hospital and clinical settings, but to the future of drug and antibacterial research and innovation. And, according to Stokes, it’s a discovery that has been aided significantly by the use of AI's predictive qualities, which are making this type of work less onerous with respect to time and cost. “In this study, AI was used as a method to help us rapidly assess chemicals for potent antibacterial activity in silico, which reduced the number of experiments we had to perform in the laboratory,” he says. “Stated differently, we used AI as a chemical prioritization tool. Indeed, AI models can perform predictions for novel antibacterial molecules’ orders of magnitude more rapidly than we can perform growth inhibition experiments in the laboratory. For reference, a screen of 7,000 molecules for antibacterial activity might take a few weeks of time to conduct and analyze. Our AI models can perform predictions on 7,000 molecules for antibacterial activity in a little over an hour and suggest the top few hundred molecules to test in the laboratory.”

CONTINUED INFLUENCE

In light of the fantastic results of the research executed by Stokes and his team, the project lead suggests that it’s only reasonable to expect AI-driven technologies and software to continue playing a larger role in drug and disease research and innovation going forward. “AI-guided drug discovery is here to stay, with the goal of

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training. In the end, the model was able to predict which molecules might be antibacterial against A. baumannii and which were unlikely to be, based on their chemical structures alone. After assessing the most likely antibacterial molecules for laboratory activity based on model predictions, the team filtered the laboratory-active molecules for structural novelty before discovering abaucin as a structurally novel and potent antibacterial molecule against A. baumannii. “Abaucin is a structurally novel antibacterial molecule with a novel biochemical function that displays ‘narrow spectrum’ activity against A. baumannii,” says Stokes. “In the context of new antibiotic discovery, structural and functional novelty is essential to overcome resistance to existing antibiotic classes.”

FEATURE STORY

Given the availability of sufficient quantities of high-quality diseaserelevant data, AI methods can be used to help us understand disease biology and develop new therapies.

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increasing the rate at which new drugs are discovered while simultaneously decreasing the associated costs,” he says. “Indeed, there are hundreds of companies now leveraging AI methods for drug discovery across a wide array of diseases. In our lab, we are developing AI models for new drug discovery against numerous fungal pathogens, as well as against a type of brain cancer called glioblastoma.” Stokes recognizes the potential that his team’s discovery represents, in addition to providing further exposure and examples regarding the utility of AI. However, he suggests that in order to properly see through a vision of the future that includes even greater AI-facilitated research and medical breakthroughs, scientists will need a lot more data concerning just about every pathogen and disease, and data that’s shared and accessible to all. “Given the availability of sufficient quantities of high-quality disease-relevant data, AI methods can be used to help us understand disease biology and develop new therapies. However, it is often the case that large quantities of high-quality disease-relevant data do not exist in repositories that are easily accessible. In order to

maximize the utility of AI for medical and life science research, we as a community of scientists need to make efforts to ensure that everyone has unrestricted access to datasets that we develop. Moreover, we need to ensure that all of these published datasets are accompanied by clear descriptions of the methodologies through which they were curated. Given that a diverse array of AI models are becoming increasingly accessible, I am confident that more researchers in health and life sciences will identify unique opportunities to accelerate their research programs through the thoughtful application of AI.”

“ In our lab, we are developing AI models for new drug discovery against numerous fungal pathogens, as well as against a type of brain cancer called glioblastoma.”

Schematic workflow for incorporation of AI for antibiotic drug discovery for A. baumannii

FEATURE STORY

AT THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

TIPPING POINT

As technologies continue to evolve and their capabilities expand, it seems only a matter of time until the real impacts of AI begin to take hold

s technological innovation continues to advance at bewildering speeds, the related capabilities of the tools we use and the computational power with which we work enhances significantly, impacting just about every aspect of our lives. When it comes to its use and utility within the life sciences and healthcare industries, it’s just as prevalent, helping to shape the future of discovery and care every day. Driven by the wonders of AI) and machine learning, the promise within many fields of medical science is being tapped in earnest for the very first time, leading to brand new areas of research and an entire new world of potential and

possibility for scientists and their teams everywhere. With this continued innovation and advancement in mind, BioLab Business sat down with Amol Deshpande, Senior Director Health Sciences, Ecosystem and Capital, Venture Services, MaRS Discovery District, to explore the current state of the use of AI and machine learning within the life sciences and healthcare sectors, the ways in which these technologies are being deployed today, some of the challenges that are limiting its impact, and the extent to which they’ll be leveraged in the future to aid further scientific research and discovery.

B I O L A B M AG.C O M

BY SEAN TARRY

FEATURE STORY

BioLab: When it comes to health sciences, how important is the continued evolution of technologies, particularly those driven by machine learning and artificial intelligence?

AMOL DESHPANDE: Technology is absolutely critical to all of life sciences and health sciences, all the way from drug development and diagnostics to therapeutics and predictive technologies. It's critical to the lifeblood of healthcare. If you're looking at AI or machine learning, it will eventually touch all points of life sciences, from drug discovery through to clinical care. It's only a matter of time before machine learning pervades each of those areas. Within drug discovery, we're certainly seeing lots of AI use, from big pharma to start-ups and everyone in between, in efforts to tap into the power that AI can potentially provide. I believe that we still haven’t quite reached the tipping point of adoption and use. However, investments are being made by many of the larger companies, including Sanofi, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck & Co. They’re all looking at how they can leverage AI and machine learning to really ramp up that aspect of their own development portfolios.

With the potential of machine learning, we suddenly have the opportunity to predict the development of diseases in individuals who are not yet even symptomatic, possibly saving many lives as a result.

BL: In your estimation, in what way(s) is AI most dramatically impacting the future of health sciences? BIOLAB BUSINESS VO L U M E 3 8, I S S U E 4 • 2 0 2 3

AD: If we're looking at where AI is deployed today in terms of actual use cases, it's still very early stages regarding the drug discovery pathway, and that’s often for very good reasons. Regulatory issues don’t pose much of a hurdle. Our ability to train systems has also enhanced over recent years. We have lots of patient data. But the problem is that we don’t have a lot of curated patient data. Currently, systems can be trained using data in highly contrived settings. However, when we put it into practice to use out in the real world, the data is incomplete for a number of different reasons. Because of this, the deployment of AI and its impact on patient care may take a little more time. But, as mentioned, on the front end AI is being used widely to enhance areas like drug discovery and diagnostics with respect to assisting instrumentation.

BL: How important is the

digitization of healthcare and the role that data plays when it comes to closing gaps within the healthcare system?

AD: The generation of curated actionable data is absolutely paramount to the future of life sciences innovation. Without it, machine learning cannot happen., rendering the training of AI models impossible. However, as I already mentioned, the quality of the data reflects to a large extent our ability to use it to train models. So, we need to somehow figure out how to go from research environment data to data that’s

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FEATURE STORY

pancreatic cancer or the development of it is identified in the patient, it’s often too late; the patient is already experiencing symptoms, and the tumour has already become enlarged, reducing the patients’ life expectancy to about another 10 to 15 months, at best. So, with the potential of machine learning, we suddenly have the opportunity to predict the development of diseases in individuals who are not yet even symptomatic, possibly saving many lives as a result.

BL: In your estimation, what is the greatest untapped potential offered by AI and machine learning when it comes to health sciences?

AD: The biggest challenge that I anticipate is in figuring out a way to allow this technology to permeate throughout the entire healthcare ecosystem. How do we, for instance, better identify patients for clinical trials? If a company spends $100 million on a clinical trial, their hope is that the data they get out of it is accurate and favourable. However, if the wrong patients are selected, the data can absolutely be skewed, altering the efficacy of the trials. Machine learning has the ability to fine-tune clinical trials. And, once we’re able to correct these inconsistencies, the next big thing for AI and machine learning will be predictions. If we feed these technologies enough optimal data, the predictions are going to get closer and closer to more and more accurate results. One clinician in a room knows what they know. However, if that one clinician suddenly has the power and insights of all the other clinicians who are seeing similar patients, multiplying their knowledge and experience by 10,000 or so, they’re able to serve their own patients better. This just isn’t possible without machine learning.

AD: The biggest potential of these technologies, without a doubt, is the impact that machine learning can possibly have on clinical care, particularly with regards to diagnostic capacity. There’s a recent study that was published within JAMA [Journal of the American Medical Association] in which electronic health record (EHR) data was used to predict an individual's chance of developing pancreatic cancer. But that's not the ‘aha’. The ‘aha’ is the fact that they could put a timeframe on it. So, not only were physicians able to let the patient know that they had pancreatic cancer, but they knew exactly when the disease was going to be contracted. Again, this was done using only standard EHR data. There weren’t any genomics used, or biomarkers. This discovery is such a breakthrough because until now, when

BL: Looking ahead over the course of the next one to three years and beyond, what might present the biggest hurdle to the continued advancement and use of AI and machine learning in healthcare?

CMY

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going to help in the real world. This is going to require tweaking the ways in which we’ve digitized healthcare. With respect to the data, at least, some believe that some sort of standardization might work by which everyone feeds their data into a cloud that’s anonymized from which the AI can access it, as opposed to reaching way back into the hospital system itself to find it. There are ways that the proper digitization of the healthcare system in this way can be achieved. And, although nothing has yet come to fruition, I firmly believe that the power and potential inherent in AI and machine learning within the healthcare environment will become so great that we’ll be forced to do what we need to do in order to facilitate its full potential.

NEWSMAKER

TRANSFORMING the Current and Future State of Gynecological Care Canadian start-up advancing gynecological research and work by addressing pelvic floor disorders in women BY SEAN TARRY

or women living with pelvic floor disorders, options available to treat symptoms have traditionally been limited, cost prohibitive, and ranging with respect to invasiveness. And, presenting conditions that can severely affect the muscles, tissues, and ligaments of the female pelvic floor, organs are often impacted, resulting in incontinence, varying degrees of discomfort, and an overall reduced or restricted quality of life. However, following years of research and work, Cosm Medical Corp. is bringing forward a solution that combines the latest in advanced technologies to create personalized vaginal devices that could positively affect the lives of millions of women around the world.

Improving gynecological care

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The innovative Toronto-based company’s gynecological platform leverages AI, cloud software, and 3D printing to modernize vaginal devices, designing them to meet patient-specific needs and accommodate each unique body. Cosm’s first product is expected to hit the market next year and is set to change the way pelvic floor disorders in women are treated forever. Its Gynethotics pessaries, the world's first personalized gynecological prosthetic for pelvic floor disorders, will address prolapse and incontinence, which are disorders that will affect half of all women in their lifetimes. Beyond pessaries, Cosm’s platform also presents expansive opportunities for the company to improve the continuum of pelvic care, from obstetrics to elderly care, ushering in an age of digital gynecology and significant improvements to the lives of over one million women around the world by 2030.

Personalized pessaries

Derek Sham, Founder and CEO of Cosm Medical Corp., is no stranger to medical innovation. The ex-engineer whose claim to fame is his development and commercialization of the most utilized urodynamics system in the world is the brains behind the invention. He also provided the impetus for it, having worked with some of the best doctors in the field of urogynecology in efforts to help his grandmother whose life was drastically affected by pelvic floor disorders. He was unable to

find her the treatment she required, leading to his recognition of the need for advancement within the field. “Currently available gynecological prosthetics have existed for over 2,000 years, and haven’t changed much since the 1970s,” he explains. “With over 100-plus shapes and sizes fit by trial and error, current pessaries have a 30% failure fitting rate. In fact, about half of all women stop using them within a year or two due to discomfort or a combination of other issues. And, over half develop complications as a result of long-term use. With over 10 million devices sold globally per year, pessaries are a commonly used medical device that many people haven’t heard about. Every woman is different. By replacing trial and error with personalization, Cosm is leading the future of digital gynecology by partnering with providers to develop Gynethotics, personalized gynecological devices for precision care. We are the world’s first personalized pessary to have received market approval and are creating a product category to modernize care much like the established and mature billion-dollar industries of custom orthotics, dental, and hearing.”

Improving quality of life

The company is utilizing AI in much the same way many others are finding use for it. Its capabilities around medical image segmentation significantly improves access and quality while lowering overall labour and the amount of effort required to analyze the large amounts of data. And, it’s combined with biomechanical models in order to predict designs for clinicians. What Cosm has accomplished to date is really quite remarkable, offering hope and promise for so many women living with the effects of pelvic floor disorders all over the world. And, for Sham, it’s an opportunity that excites him a great deal. “We are currently beginning to serve payers, providers, and patients starting in Canada before expanding into the United States and beyond. We have a set of clinical studies set to begin for Gynethotics pessaries for our core intended uses of stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, alongside novel indications that expand the use of conservative therapy for an issue that affects half of all women in their lifetime.”

LAB PROFILE

New autonomous lab at University of Toronto to

IMPROVE DRUG FORMULATION

new autonomous lab being built in the University of Toronto’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy will help to design and optimize formulations that will improve bioavailability, stability, and efficacy of a variety of drugs. Christine Allen, a professor in the faculty whose research focuses on drug development and disease diagnostics, is co-leading the lab with Frank Gu, a professor in the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. “I see huge potential for artificial intelligence machine learning, and automation in pharmaceutical sciences, for formulations and beyond,” says Allen, an expert in drug formulations. “The world is finally

understanding the impact of formulation technology and how powerful it is. Now we can marry that technology with AI and machine learning, so we’re kind of unstoppable.”

THE IMPACT OF SELF-DRIVING LABS

The self-driving lab at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy is one of six being built at U of T through a $200-million Canada First Research Excellence Fund grant to the Acceleration Consortium, a global network of government, industry, and academic researchers accelerating the discovery of materials and molecules needed for a sustainable future. The new facility is known as a self-driving lab because it uses AI,

automation, and advanced computing to test different combinations of materials and iteratively develop the best formulations. This approach will allow researchers to evaluate a much larger number of materials, significantly reducing both the cost and time required to identify a new drug formulation. Allen explains that formulation scientists are often working under tight time constraints to get a product to market by deadline, and the final formulations are the best that can be done with the time available, but are not necessarily the best possible option. “We’re providing a solution to that, accelerating development while looking for the best formulation,” says

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BY EILEEN HOFTYZER

LAB PROFILE

A STRONG COLLABORATION

Allen says that the lab’s strong collaboration between pharmaceutical scientists and computer scientists also provides unique educational opportunities for trainees that will provide them with key skills needed for a career in the pharmaceutical industry. “The trainees are experts in both fields this is where the future is going, and that to me is the power in all of this. It is true interdisciplinary collaboration,” Allen says. “The trainees are gaining knowledge, expertise, and experience, and they are then able to secure exciting positions in industry and be leaders in the field.”

The lab it uses AI, automation, and advanced computing to test different combinations of materials and iteratively develop the best formulations.

From left: PhD trainee Zeqing Bao, Professor Christine Allen, Allen Lab Director of Research and Partnerships, and Pauric Bannigan. Photo by Steve Southon.

Allen, whose team worked in collaboration with Professor Alán Aspuru-Guzik’s research group to develop a prototype of the self-driving lab last year. BIOLAB BUSINESS VO L U M E 3 8, I S S U E 4 • 2 0 2 3

THE FUTURE OF PHARMACEUTICALS

Allen played a key role in launching the Acceleration Consortium during her time as Associate Vice-President and Vice-Provost, Strategic Initiatives. As a co-lead on the project, Gu is bringing his expertise in nanotechnology engineering to develop high-quality, precise formulations that use nanotechnology to improve the delivery, bioavailability, and efficacy of drugs. “Nanotechnology engineering has revolutionized the pharmaceutical industry, and its potential applications in a self-driving lab are both imminent and paradigm-shifting,” Gu says. “By harnessing the power of nanotechnology in a self-driving lab for pharmaceutical formulations, my lab is working with Professor Allen’s team to unlock many advantages that will transform drug development, formulation, modular manufacturing, and patient care.”

Last year, Allen took a leave of absence from the university to take on a leadership role with adMare Bioinnovations, an organization that helps support Canadian life science companies and researchers. She has now returned to the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy full-time and brings back a wealth of new experience in entrepreneurship that she plans to apply to her research and the work of the Acceleration Consortium. To that end, Allen is also chairing the Acceleration Consortium’s committee on commercialization and partnerships, and is also developing a graduate course in innovation and entrepreneurship.

IMPROVING PATIENT OUTCOMES

With the lab’s focus on translational research and commercialization, both Allen and Gu are excited about its potential to generate new formulations that will ultimately improve patient outcomes. “The self-driving lab is the most cutting-edge technology to help the pharmaceutical industry to drive toward digitization, and automation, and ultimately improve efficiency in product development and production,” Gu says. “With its unique capability in bridging automation and iterative discovery process, it is also the key to helping us accelerate the development and production of personalized medicines, which is prohibitively expensive and labour-intensive to be done today.”

COMPANY PROFILE

Empower Health

helping to close gaps in the system

BY SEAN TARRY

he entire world has now well and truly entered the age of digitization, where most things, whether physical or not, come with an electronic companion or digital duplicate. It’s enabled the recording and filing of a plethora of information related to just about everything. And, among what seems to be a mess of information are datasets on datasets that, if compiled and linked properly, can improve and enhance a number of different services and sectors that everyone relies on. With this in mind, recognizing many of the more significant gaps that exist within the Canadian digital healthcare ecosystem, Empower Health was founded in order to defragment the landscape and connect Canadians in need of healthcare services with the professionals that are available to help them.

Healthcare connector

The digital health company has developed an accurate data infrastructure which it relies on in order to connect the many silos and defragment the Canadian healthcare system. It works by allowing patients to access the Empower Health website or mobile app, search for clinicians based on a number of simple preferences, and book appointments online. It’s a breakthrough that is set to change the way the Canadian healthcare system operates to a degree, taking the guesswork out of the equation for patients, freeing up the process of incumbrances and bottlenecks. And, it’s one that, according to Ryan Doherty, Founder and President of Empower Health, benefits the entire health ecosystem.

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By leveraging data and the power of artificial intelligence, healthcare services can be defragmented to better connect patients with medical professionals

LAB PROFILE

“Our system helps patients connect with clinicians when they need to most,” he asserts. “It also serves to put clinicians in front of more people who are seeking the type of specialized care that they offer. It also takes a strain off of the system itself, connecting more people with the help they truly require and allowing services to become optimized for the purpose which they were intended for. In addition, if a patient needs to see a nurse but doesn’t want to or is unable to visit a hospital, the Empower Health platform can be used to easily book zoom appointments that connect them with clinicians within a few hours at which time they can be referred for other services that are available.”

Facilitating change

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The connecting qualities of the Empower Health platform alone make it a worthwhile service. However, where it really becomes interesting is the way in which it leverages artificial intelligence in combination with its data infrastructure, taking the information from within its system concerning where services are available, who's offering them, and how, and ensure for the end-user that the information is accurate and reliable as a result of it being generated in realtime. In addition, Empower Health is also able to harness the power of AI to predict where and when services will be available in the near future based on historical data. And, it all started, as Doherty explains, as a result of hearing time and again from people about the struggles that they experience related to the Canadian healthcare system. “The impetus of the company was sparked on the patient side,” he says. “I’m an academic, and keen on being an innovator and changing something for the better. It was during my studies when I was talking to a lot of people who shared with me their stories of challenge and difficulty when it came to the healthcare system in the country, and the frustrations that they experienced. And it struck me that there were major changes that needed to be made in order to help people get the care they require in their moment of need, when they feel lost and as though everything’s broken. I thought that there were ways that we could leverage advanced technologies like AI in order to close those silos that cause anxiety and frustration among patients.”

Data-driven

Although the Empower Health service runs on a national framework and strives to service every province across the country, the most comprehensive service that the company offers is in Ontario as a result of a mature market and largely digitized datasets. In fact, as Doherty points out, it’s data aided by the digitization of the world around us that is directly related to the success of a platform like the one that Empower Health offers. “The only way that services like the one that we’ve created works, fulfilling its potential, is by gathering and gaining access to as much data as possible,” he says. “It’s critical. And, the digitization of everything around us is really supporting us in our efforts. What we’re doing is enabling patients to capitalize on the ease and convenience of the digital world, and the online world where everything is literally just a click of a button away. Because the digital world provides a certain level of connectivity, there’s an immediacy that comes with it. But what the Empower Health service does more so that anything else is it takes the guesswork out of the process for patients, saving them time and aggravation by coordinating the system for them.”

Structured data

Doherty suggests that critical services like the one that Empower Health offers will soon be commonplace, and very much the way of the future. However, he says that as we move forward, it isn’t just about the data, but about structured data that can be relied upon as accurate and trustworthy. That, he suggests, is

he only way that services like the one T that we’ve created works, fulfilling its potential, is by gathering and gaining access to as much data as possible.

COMPANY PROFILE

Empower Health works by allowing patients to access the Empower Health website or mobile app and search for clinicians based on a number of simple preferences.

Shift in knowledge

It’s with better standards around

the data and processes that Doherty suggests will result in the creation of greater efficiencies all around, allowing the Canadian healthcare system to run smoother, leveraging fewer resources on smaller budgets. In fact, he goes on to say that the challenge in finding every Canadian a family doctor can be solved relatively easily using a service like Empower Health’s, explaining that there are technically enough doctors available; their availability simply needs to be managed differently. However, in order to realize these possibilities, Doherty believes that a bit of a shift in mindset is required to enable a necessary digital evolution. “The one main barrier to the widespread adoption and use of AI today is a reluctance by organizations, institutions, and individuals to move away from the traditional processes and ways of doing things,” he says. “So, in order to remove that barrier, people just need a bit of a shift in knowledge to provide them with a better understanding of the nuances of the technology and the benefits that it can result in, and addressing any negative assumptions that they might

have concerning its use, whether those assumptions are around security, privacy, business models, or anything else.”

Greater connection and impact

The impact and influence that Empower Health has already had on the Canadian healthcare system is tremendous, showing the real potential inherent in the use of AI and data. However, looking forward, he says that there’s still a lot of room for the service to grow and expand, reaching a lot more patients in need and clinicians who are available to offer their care. “We’ve had a lot of really great success so far working with a number of healthcare organizations, nonprofits, and other groups in efforts to ensure that the Empower Health service is as beneficial as possible. But we can improve what we offer. Ultimately, my goal is to expand the reach and availability of our services nationally, enhancing healthcare processes, improving efficiencies, and increasing the impact that we’re already making.”

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where real traction will be achieved with respect to the use of AI to help improve the use of electronic health records and the facilitation of connections between patients and clinicians. “The real opportunity when it comes to the use of AI is when better connectivity is achieved and the quality of the data that’s being used is enhanced,” he asserts. “When these two things happen, we’ll really start to see the true potential and benefits of the technology. It can form a foundation for a lot more tangible benefits to follow. It’s one of the major challenges for a lot of different companies at the moment; they have the framework and ideas, but the quality of the data’s missing. As a result, there are gaps in the data. But, with consistently better standards around data and processes, the quality of the data that we’re generating will improve, and so, too, will the efficacy and overall performance of systems and software that are driven by the power of advanced technologies like AI.”

APPLICATION NOTE

THE

MATERIALS REVOLUTION The ten most influential ways in which artificial intelligence and machine learning are being leveraged to advance medical research and innovation BY SEAN TARRY

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ne of the most incredible qualities shared by both the life sciences and biomanufacturing industries is the fact that they are perpetually driven forward by a continuation of research into the unknown in efforts to uncover or reveal something new that will enlighten mankind further and broaden our understanding of life on the planet and the ways in which to properly utilize and protect it. Aiding much of the more advanced research that’s being conducted today by scientists all over the world is the power and precision of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Considering current innovations and breakthroughs within the life sciences and biomanufacturing sectors, as well as those that will be enabled in the future, here is a look at the top ten ways in which AI and machine learning are helping to revolutionize healthcare.

1. DRUG DISCOVERY AND DESIGN

With respect to the current and future health and well-being of the people living on the planet, there are few areas of research more important than that of drug discovery and design. Currently, on the discovery side, AI algorithms are being used to help identify ideal candidates for drug trials while predicting the efficacy and safety of those drugs and medications, streamlining and significantly fast-tracking the entire drug discovery process. And, on the design side, similar algorithms are being leveraged to predict how certain compounds might interact with a range of biological targets, allowing manufacturers to optimize their compounds to enhance efficacy and reduce the presence of negative side effects.

2. CLINICAL TRIALS

When testing newly developed drugs for potential introduction to the market, it’s imperative that drug manufacturers gather the most ideal, diverse group of trial subjects possible in order to test the efficacy and effects of drugs. AI algorithms can help identify patient populations significantly quicker and with less cost than traditional methods would have allowed.

3.MEDICAL DEVICE DESIGN

Another area where great strides are being made thanks to the introduction of AI is that of medical device design. The advanced computational power of AI allows for the effective execution of this complex and difficult process with extreme accuracy and efficacy, helping to create medical devices that are highly effective within sensationally optimized designs. Part of this optimization involves the determination of the different materials, sizes, and shapes that a device might be constructed into, benefitting designers a great deal by empowering their decision-making with information and insights, while reducing the time and cost associated with their development and introduction to the market.

4. PERSONALIZED MEDICINE

One of the most impressive and meaningful impacts that AI has had on life sciences to date has got to be the support it’s providing toward the development of personalized medicine. Working with an innumerable number of datasets, AI can be leveraged to generate insights based on biomarker

APPLICATION NOTE

5. MEDICAL IMAGING ANALYSIS

When it comes to the proper medical diagnosis of patients, medical imaging tools like MRI and CT scans are incredibly valuable in helping physicians achieve efficacy and accuracy. Unfortunately, a number of variables, including human error and misinterpretations, lead to inaccurate readings and, therefore, incorrect diagnosis of patients. Through the power of AI, these types of medical images can quickly, easily, and accurately be read and analyzed, enabling the early detection of diseases or other ailments, empowering physicians and eliminating the need for further diagnostics and testing.

6. ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD ANALYSIS

One of the most dramatic evolutions currently taking place as a result of the influence of AI is the transformation of electronic health records and the ways in which they’re now being leveraged in digital form. For instance, AI-driven programs have the ability to scan and analyze the records of individuals, helping to identify signs that might indicate a problem or complication that needs to be addressed earlier than physicians might be able to. This type of revelation and advancement allows healthcare providers with the ability and confidence to make more informed decisions regarding the care they prescribe, improving outcomes for patients.

7. DISEASE DIAGNOSIS

As a result of the vast amounts of data that AI is capable of analyzing, immense improvements are being made to diagnosis, especially in cases that have traditionally presented challenges to physicians and technicians in properly and accurately identifying diseases and ailments that have until now been next to impossible to detect until it’s too late and the disease has advanced within an individual to a dangerously progressed stage. AI allows for the analysis of these vast amounts of data, recognizing patterns and trends that might present indicators that enable physicians to catch things they may not have been able to catch prior to the development of algorithms that can scan and disseminate massive amounts of data enhancing the accuracy of diagnosis and, in some cases, patient outcomes.

8. GENOMICS RESEARCH

There are few areas of research and study that are more

important to the advancement and protection of life on earth as that of genomics. It is, however, laborious work that requires an extraordinary amount of analysis in order to understand each individual organisms’ DNA sequence and the ways in which genes function and interact. As is the case with many other areas of medicine and healthcare, the use of AI facilitates the research and work being done around genomics, expediting medical advancements further by enabling scientists to identify genetic variations within organisms that make them susceptible to disease and prone to certain weaknesses. And, based on this information, scientists are then able to develop appropriate therapies to correct or treat disease and sickness.

9. PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS

An area where AI has yet to make a significant impact, but one where it seems placed on the precipice of major advancement, is its potential to predict. So, in addition to its remarkable ability to help physicians identify disease and sickness earlier than ever before as a result of the analysis of large amounts of medical data and patient records, it will soon have the ability to see into the future, if you will, to warn patients and physicians of the likely development of disease, and to predict the potential efficacy of certain treatments.

10. PATIENT MONITORING

Another revolutionary impact that AI will increasingly have on healthcare, improving outcomes for patients, is its ability to monitor the health of individuals, in real-time, remotely, 24 hours a day. By equipping patients with medical devices that can read their vitals and other levels like glucose or blood pressure, AI can assist physicians in monitoring patients, and alerting them to respond if medically required. This advancement poses the potential to improve the efficacy of treatments, empower physicians with more information, and improve the overall quality of healthcare provided. As a result, the possibilities presented by AI’s power to predict could prove to be the greatest purpose that the technology ultimately serves. Given the current capabilities that AI presents scientists, physicians, technicians and researchers all across the country, it’s no wonder that the technology is making waves. However, looking ahead, it seems that the potential that AI poses is even greater than anything we’ve experienced within biomanufacturing and life sciences to this point, and that we are, indeed, on the tipping point of a revolution within the industries that is set to result in massive improvements to the ways in which we study, diagnose, and treat patients going forward.

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information and other data in order to personalize treatment plans based on an individuals’ specific needs and reactions, reducing costs for patients and the healthcare system while optimizing the efficacy of treatments.

LAB WARE

Increasing cell viability The Invitrogen Neon NxT Electroporation System by Fisher Scientific is a next-generation electroporation platform that leverages the unique and trusted Neon electroporation technology, which increases transfection efficiency and cell viability. The system streamlines the transfection of mammalian cells, including primary, stem, and difficult-to-transfect cells, for fast and efficient delivery of nucleic acids. Featuring proven performance with up to 90% transfection efficiency in many cell types, including primary, stem, and difficult-to-transfect cells, while preserving cell viability with electroporation tip technology, the flexible, simple-to-use, customizable electroporation system uses a proprietary, biologically compatible pipette tip chamber that maximizes the distance between the two electrodes while minimizing their surface area, generating a more uniform electric field. This design allows better maintenance of physiological conditions, resulting in high cell survival compared to conventional electroporation. www.fishersci.ca

Got the picture? The iMLayer™ AERO by Shimadzu provides users with the ability to easily obtain images with high sensitivity and high spatial resolution. To acquire high spatial resolution (5 to 10 μm) images and increase sensitivity, a two-step vapour deposition method has been implemented in combination with the development of the iMLayer matrix vapour deposition system. This unique experiment can only be implemented using Shimadzu sample preparation solutions. Incorporating a sample stage that moves at a controlled rate while maintaining the same distance from the spray nozzle, stable matrix spraying is enabled. Over multiple strokes, the sample becomes laminated with fine matrix crystals, enabling high sensitivity and high spatial resolution. www.shimadzu.com BIOLAB BUSINESS VO L U M E 3 8, I S S U E 4 • 2 0 2 3

Light sources, combine! Sutter Instrument’s Lambda 421 Beam Combining Pentagon is a new, concept for combining separate light sources with different spectra into a single common output beam. Each separate light source is collimated before entering the optical path through a bandpass filter. The filters for each light source also function as mirrors that reflect the collimated beams from the previous light sources. The optical paths are outlined for each position including the reflections that occur and are capable of combining any light source. In addition, any suitable filter can be placed in any of four positions without concern for the order, while wavelength selection and beam reflection is accomplished using Semrock STR Filters. www.sutter.com

Sealing the plate Featuring all-electric operation, the Ultraseal ePro by J.G. Finneran is a full electrical operation plate sealer that removes the risk of cross-contamination inherent in compressed air powered sealers. The use of force-sensors allows dynamic feedback during the entire sealing process to ensure a complete homogenous seal. All operations are controlled through an intuitive touchscreen interface. Capable of handling foil lengths between 116 mm and 128 mm, the ePro automatically compensates for variations in plate heights. Combining 40-plus years of manufacturing, engineering, and designing, J.G. Finneran’s plate sealer makes for an excellent addition to any laboratory setting. www.jgfinneran.com

Cabinet of safety and security The Telstar Bio II Advance Plus series is a new generation of Class II biological safety cabinets that provides a compact design for easy installation within the laboratory without losing valuable working space. It has also been designed with high standards of safety, ergonomics, energy efficiency, reliability, and ease of use in its class. The Bio II Advance Plus series is backed by Telstar’s world reputation and commitment to provide the market’s most secure safety cabinets for biological products. Tested and certified by TUV Nord in Hamburg to meet the European Standard for Microbiological Safety Cabinets EN12469, Bio II Advance Plus guarantees the maximum level of safety for the product, the personnel, and the environment. www.telstar.com

Exceptional capacity Meet clinical and research protocol needs with the Thermo Scientific™ Sorvall™ ST 8 small benchtop centrifuge series—now available in both ventilated and refrigerated models. These centrifuges provide exceptional capacity in a compact design with a smart, simple interface and the flexibility to support numerous applications. Secure, push-button Thermo Scientific™ Auto-Lock™ rotor exchanges in as little as three seconds with trouble-free rotor installation and removal. In addition, biocontainment sealing options, including certified Thermo Scientific™ ClickSeal™ lids, offer glove-friendly, one-handed operation, make this benchtop centrifuge a popular choice for laboratories and their technicians everywhere. www.thermofisher.com

LIST OF ADVERTISERS & WEBSITES

BioTalent page 2.........................................................................biotalent.ca Pittcon page 5...............................................................................pittcon.org Ag-West page 17........................................................................agwest.sk.ca fcc page 29.....................................................................................fcc-fac.ca California Figs pages 31 & 45...........................................californiafigs.com Canadian Pharmaceutical Distribution Network page 50.............cpdn.ca

» The science of food and beverage VOLUME 38 • ISSUE 4 • WINTER 2023

Leveraging data to

MAKING CROP PRODUCTION MORE PROFITABLE, EFFICIENT, AND SAFE

B I O L A B M AG.C O M

satisfy tastes

EDITOR'S NOTE

PUBLISHER & CEO

Christopher J. Forbes cforbes@dvtail.com

MANAGING EDITOR

Sean Tarry starry@dvtail.com

COPY EDITOR

Mitchell Brown

CONTRIBUTORS

Jana Manalakos

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Leesa Nacht lnacht@dvtail.com

ART DIRECTOR

Charlene Everest ceverest@dvtail.com

SECRETARY/ TREASURER

Susan A. Browne

MARKETING MANAGER

Stephanie Wilson swilson@dvtail.com

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Crystal Himes chimes@dvtail.com

CANADIAN FOOD BUSINESS ADVISORY COMMITTEE Zack H. Abdi, Managing Director and Founder, Provectus Enterprising Inc. Anton Angelich, CFS Melanie Budicky, VP, R&D and Regulatory, Giraffe Foods Dr. Hamed Vatankhah, Chief Executive Officer, Scipertech Heidi Loney, Executive Director, Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST)

Canadian Food and Business is published 4 times per year by Jesmar Communications Inc.,

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905.886.5040 Fax: 905.886.6615 www.canadianfoodbusiness.com One year subscription: Canada $35, US $35 and foreign $95. Single copies $9. Please add GST/HST where applicable. BioLab Business subscription and circulation enquiries: Garth Atkinson, biondj16@publicationpartners.com Fax: 905.509.0735 Subscriptions to business address only. On occasion, our list is made available to organizations whose products or services may be of interest to you. If you’d rather not receive information, write to us at the address above or call 905.509.3511. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced either in part or in whole without the written consent of the publisher. GST Registration #R124380270. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40063567 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. 205 RIVIERA DRIVE, UNIT 1 MARKHAM, ON L3R 5J8

LEVERAGING DATA TO FIND FOOD EFFICIENCIES, REDUCE COSTS, &

IMPROVE OVERALL RESULTS

he food and beverage industries are continuously tasked with the unenviable requirement to constantly evolve with the tastes and preferences of the consumer. It’s an objective that seems next to impossible to achieve. However, as the world around us continues to undergo an accelerated digitization, the data that’s being generated as a result is serving to inform and inspire. With this in mind, this issue of Canadian Food Business is focused on the ways in which data is being leveraged to enhance productivity, increase efficiencies, reduce costs, and facilitate growth for those working within the food and beverage industries. First, we sit down with Jeff Chemeres from Croptracker Inc. about the integrated digital software and hardware provider’s solutions that help growers of fruits and vegetables succeed and grow within today’s hyper-competitive market. Through its visualization technology and use of data and artificial intelligence, the innovative company is helping to make food production safer, more efficient, and more profitable for its clients. In efforts to turn food waste upside down, Inverte — a Newfoundland-based automated technology provider — has developed an innovative way by which restaurant owners and operators can track food portions in real time, resulting in significantly improved food management, reduction in labour costs, and enhanced operational consistency. It's helping to divert a considerable amount of food from ending up in waste bins, too, while also preventing the harm that it would ultimately cause to the environment. We also take a peek inside Tag’s 2024 Flavour & Trend Forecast report, which sheds some light on things to expect heading into the new year, revealing its predictions concerning the food and beverage trends and flavours that will whet the most appetites over the course of the next 12 months, as well as insights into the ingredients, cooking techniques, and culinary ideas that will help drive innovation going forward. We sincerely hope that the content we offer within this issue of Canadian Food Business helps to inform, and that the innovations highlighted inspire you and your teams to continue pushing the limits of creativity on your journey of growth and success within the Canadian food and beverage industry.

Sean Tarry EDITOR

email: biond@publicationpartners.com

BioLab Business, a sister publication of Canadian Food Business, is a proud member of BioteCanada and Life Sciences Ontario.

Publisher of BioLab Business Magazine Printed in Canada

In 2022, the Canadian Institute of Food Science & Technology (CIFST) and Canadian Food Business launched a partnership to create a platform for leading experts, innovators, and scientists to showcase the latest trends, knowledge, and developments that are changing the face of Canada’s food industry today. For further information, contact sbrowne@dvtail.com.

Financing your food and beverage business If you produce it, process it, pack it or move it, we finance it. Partner with the only lender 100% invested in Canadian food. And that includes businesses like yours. Let’s talk and see how we can keep you moving forward. 1-800-387-3232

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inside FEATURES

FOOD RECALL: HOW MISSTEPS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A RECALL PROCEDURE CAN LEAD TO JUDICIAL ACTION INVERTE: TURNING FOOD WASTE UPSIDE DOWN

36 feature

Tracking food portions in real time to better manage food and labour costs and enhance operational consistency

MANAGING CROP GROWTH IN THE DIGITAL AGE

MOMENT IN TIME

THE TASTE OF 2024

standard GUEST EDITORIAL 32 NEWS BITES 34 FOODWARE 46

GUEST EDITORIAL

CANADIAN FOOD BUSINESS VO L U M E 3 8, I S S U E 4 • 2 0 2 3

Increasing role of data in the food industry By Richa Singh, Marketing Manager, Giraffe Foods

n today’s world, data analytics is transforming just about every part of human life, including the relationships built between businesses and consumers. Businesses are increasingly dependent on data insights to enhance their productivity, processes, and presence in the industry. In the last few years, the food and beverage industry, in particular, has been greatly benefitting from databased technology, trends, and insights to make informed decisions.

GUEST EDITORIAL

From understanding consumer preferences to learning about their daily dietary routines and habits, data is providing science behind every action that a consumer takes. As a food and beverage brand, one tries to see data-based trendlines across different touchpoints, from weekly grocery shopping trips and cooking patterns to visits to drive-through restaurant and snacking preferences. The availability of different data platforms like Mintel, Technomic, Datassential, and Euromonitor is providing big data analysis to foodservice operators and retailers to help them achieve various business objectives, including • getting ahead of competition; • menu innovations and elevations; • understanding product launch cycles; • tapping into hidden consumer needs; and • leveraging global flavours and foods. Food manufacturers like ours, Giraffe Foods, a leading company in developing custom culinary sauces, dips, dressings, and marinades, are empowering business-to-business customers with consumer insights and food trends to help them understand the competitive landscapes, launch products to expand their consumer base, and expedite their sales volume. Food trends and consumer insights have become an increasingly popular and important part of the process across food segments, while operators understand that it’s crucial to make use of the available reports to validate their products launches. The most positive impact resulting from the trends and insights is the fact that today’s operators want to make informed decisions based on menu or customer basket analysis, or future trends like flavour adoption lifecycle and insights to invest in new products. Data has made it possible for food professionals to become forward-looking, especially for food scientists, product developers, and food researchers. They are leveraging data analytics to develop various types of flavours, food formats, and textures that are going to trend in the upcoming years. An example of such innovation is the continuous improvements that are being made to the texture of plant-based proteins to close the gap between the perceived and actual meat-based protein food items, given that more and more consumers are

likely to add alt-protein in their dietary habits. However, this cohort also does not want to compromise on the taste and textures. In today’s business, each action taken by an organization or a consumer can be seen as a data point to analyze their behaviour and future preferences. Predictive analysis is helping consumer packaged goods brands, foodservice chains, and retailers to prepare their business goals for the next five to ten years. This, in turn, enables them to prepare their supply chain, inventory management, and operations, while enhancing their production capacities and capabilities as they can see into the future. The food and beverage industries are also heavily dependent on other industries like raw materials, oil, and logistics, and thus, any volatility in these trades would also impact the food and beverage products’ pricing with a cascading effect on the end consumers. Food and beverage organizations are seeking support from data analytics to mitigate such type of risks attached to the larger economic forces. Data platforms are providing in-depth pricing analysis based on historical trends as well as looking into the current and future course of events to help businesses make smart decisions to better control the pricing for the end products. Therefore, data is helping both large and small businesses make calculated planning and forecasting choices. Usage of data also plays a key role in the research and development and regulatory sensory insights fields too. Predictive analysis can help • determine shelf-life protection; • control quality and maintain standards; and • measure quality attributes, especially with the amount of alcohol in the brewing industry. Industry professionals anticipate the role of data to only increase within the food and beverage industries for various reasons. As a result, more and more organizations will realize the incredible benefits that result from data trends and insights to enhance their food and beverage offerings. Businesses will depend on it to make their planning and forecasting decisions cost-effective, guarding from external economic factors. And food professionals will innovate products even before consumer needs become wants.

C A N A D I A N F O O D B U S I N E S S.C O M

Giraffe Foods, is empowering business-to-business customers with consumer insights and food trends to help them understand the competitive landscapes

NEWS BITES

Mercy for animals?

The third annual Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard was released by Mercy for Animals in October — a report that attempts to highlight pledges made by major food companies to address animal welfare issues within the industry and assessing the progress that they've made. In addition, the report goes one step further in offering its opinion as to whether it thinks the organizations have been transparent concerning their related progress. All of Canada’s major food companies operating today, including those in the restaurant, supermarket, food manufacturing, and food processing sectors were assessed within the report, which spotlights practices like the development of cagefree eggs and crate-free pork, among others, in an attempt to end industrial farming.

CANADIAN FOOD BUSINESS VO L U M E 3 8, I S S U E 4 • 2 0 2 3

Boost for Northern Ontario agri-food innovation

It was announced recently by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNor) that an investment of $450,000 is being made in order to help support the continued development of the critical agri-food sector in the region while strengthening food supply chains for Canadians. In addition, the investment will provide a boost for entrepreneurs within the space by providing training, mentoring, and market development support, including trade show opportunities outside of the region. In addition, it will serve to support a shared commercial test kitchen in Sault Ste. Marie while also supporting other like-minded organizations in their efforts to develop similar food distribution and commercial kitchen infrastructure across Northern Ontario. It’s hoped that the investment and the work that it facilitates will result in improvements in packaging, processing, and waste reduction, and help promote the increased use of sustainable products, the strengthening and expanding of the country’s supply chain networks, and the development of new growing technologies including vertical farming and hydroponics prototypes.

Thinking inside the box to detect food contamination

Two researchers at McMaster University may have just revolutionized the way in which salmonella and other dangerous pathogens are detected within food. Together, Akansha Prasad and Shadman Khan, co-lead authors of a paper that describes their invention, have created a new packaging tray that does just that, alerting manufacturers, packagers, grocery store attendants, and consumers of the presence of dangerous pathogens within packages of raw or cooked food such as chicken. The duo’s invention is a real game-changer within a number of different sectors, including restaurant, manufacturing and processing, packaging, and grocery, providing operators within each sector the ability to detect in real-time the safety of sealed food without the need to open packages. There are approximately 600 million cases of food-borne illness every year throughout the world, many of which are the result of the consumption of pathogen-contaminated food products. Although the invention created by Prasad and Khan is still in the prototype stage, they are hopeful that it presents a means to simplify cumbersome and expensive lab-based detection processes while reducing the number of people impacted by contaminated food.

NEWS BITES

Improving Canada’s food security

In an effort to help strengthen and improve Canada’s food security through the enhancement of growing best practices here at home, the Weston Family Foundation has launched the Homegrown Innovation Challenge, highlighting the necessity—and opportunity—for innovation, integration, education, and collaboration in the Canadian agricultural sector. The Challenge, which will award an estimated $33 million to growers throughout the country who have developed innovative ways in which to increase Canada’s fruit and berry production, was launched in February 2022 with 15 teams across Canada working toward food security improvements. Currently, there are 11 teams remaining. The challenge is also meant to help encourage Canadian farmers and tech innovators to play a more significant leadership role in the future of food production in the country. The competition will be whittled down to four deserving teams that will each be granted $5 million to build and demonstrate their systems at farm scale in Canada, with the overall winner of the Challenge receiving $1 million.

Reducing agricultural methane emissions

$12 million will be awarded to innovators advancing low-cost and scalable practices, processes, and technologies designed to reduce methane emissions produced by cattle. It’s a way by which Canada can further boost its progress toward 2030 emissions reduction goals.

C A N A D I A N F O O D B U S I N E S S.C O M

As part of its ongoing commitment to reduce methane emissions, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada recently launched the Agricultural Methane Reduction Challenge. On behalf of the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Francis Drouin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced the launch of the Challenge, through which $12 million will be awarded to innovators advancing low-cost and scalable practices, processes, and technologies designed to reduce methane emissions produced by cattle. It’s a way by which Canada can further boost its progress toward 2030 emissions reduction goals, and one that MacAulay believes will benefit the sector as well. "Canadian farmers and ranchers are stewards of the most sustainable cattle in the world, and are continually doing more to meet the global demand for our world-class products," he said. "By partnering with the sector, we can move further and faster to reduce agricultural methane emissions, and the new Agricultural Methane Reduction Challenge will help the sector continue to grow, while contributing to Canada's 2030 methane reduction goals."

FEATURE

MANAGING CROP

GROWTH IN

THE DIGITAL AGE Cutting-edge farm management software helping growers of fruits and vegetables enhance productivity and improve traceability By Sean Tarry

CANADIAN FOOD BUSINESS VO L U M E 3 8, I S S U E 4 • 2 0 2 3

hen it comes to growing fruits and vegetables, farmers across the country are starting to turn toward tools and resources that can not only help them succeed and grow within today’s hyper-competitive market, but will also support their efforts in an increasingly digitized world. With this in mind, Canadian software developer Croptracker is dedicated to make global food production safer, more efficient, and more profitable through the continuous development of its integrated software and hardware solutions. In fact, according to Jeff Chemeres, the company’s Business Development Lead, the suite of tools that Croptracker offers the producers of fruits and vegetables is about as complete as it can be. “Our system runs on modules that provide users with a number of different applications, with a host of benefits,” he explains. “Our technology can provide details about yields, right down to the row. Our technology can also be used to provide excellent product traceability, tracking everything including the location

of the field, grower who placed it in the field, the place it’s shipped, how it's packed, and everyone else who touches the product along the way. We’re also very good at helping farmers track and manage their labour, including orchard managers and crew leads, making our software solutions some of the most comprehensive that you’re going to find.”

FEATURE

Quite the vision

In addition to these types of modules, including Croptracker’s farm, cultivation, and orchard management software solutions, the company also offers its industry leading computer vision technology. Aimed at helping growers increase the efficiencies of their operations, the size of their yields, and the quality of their product, it’s technology that’s helping growers at all stages of production to quickly, objectively, and accurately assess their crops. It represents a powerful piece of the Croptracker offering, one that Chemeres says helps the company make the biggest impact for its clients. “Our Harvest Quality Vision is probably our most used and relied on module,” he asserts. “It’s an extremely powerful tool that allows growers to determine the colour and size distribution of harvested produce within seconds, capturing hundreds of data points for each piece of detected fruit in seconds. The scans, which are conducted via mobile device, are accurate within 3 mm in optimal conditions. And, they can be shared with and viewed by a grower’s entire team to ensure that everyone is on the same page, enabling key decisions to be made quickly and with confidence. It’s also an incredibly useful tool in helping growers standardize quality control practices and procedures within their operations.”

Chemeres goes on to explain that as a result of the inordinate amount of data that’s generated through the Croptracker modules, it can all be leveraged by its clients to track their progress and the performance of their crops year-over-year in order to better inform future crops and practices. It can also be used to course-correct picking during harvest, and allows for the recognition of like fruit which can be loaded together on the same truck

C A N A D I A N F O O D B U S I N E S S.C O M

The power of AI

FEATURE

for shipping, and prioritization regarding which bins leave the orchard and in what order. Data can also be used to route truck loads to the most appropriate storage locations, removing the guesswork on arrival. It’s an incredible suite of tools and digital capabilities that Croptracker provides for its users, and one that Chemeres says would not be possible without the involvement of artificial intelligence (AI). “Our entire suite of modules leverages AI in order to provide users with the most effective scanning and assessment tool possible,” he says. “However, our Harvest Quality Vision module is driven heavily by the power of AI. It works by using LIDAR camera technology in conjunction with trained AI models in order to be able to quickly and accurately identify any type of fruit, any abnormalities that it might contain, as well as other characteristics that are beneficial for the grower and their teams to be aware of.” CANADIAN FOOD BUSINESS VO L U M E 3 8, I S S U E 4 • 2 0 2 3

Digitizing the operation

Because the large amounts of data that’s being captured through the use of Croptracker technology is being stored and backed up using cloud software, incredibly powerful centralized reporting is available to growers and their teams, enabling an extensive amount of post-harvest analysis to be conducted, benefitting growing operations immensely. And, they’re benefits that Chemeres suggests would not be realized if it weren’t for the power of data-informed, AI-driven technologies like those developed and introduced by Croptracker. “I evangelize about the wonders of technology and AI-driven solutions every day,” he says. “And, I actually think it’s kind of funny that with Croptracker technology, we’re still sort of at the early adopter stage and have not quite yet reached mass adoption. But I believe that we’re nearly at the point where growers, despite the size of their operation, are going to need to integrate technologies and embrace their use, or they risk being left behind the rest of the industry. Digital technologies removes a lot of the guesswork from

growing, helping operators manage their workforce more efficiently, predict outcomes with greater accuracy, and generally improve their businesses and bottom lines. In the end, digitizing the growing business today is becoming more and more essential, and will soon be the differentiator between successful growers and the rest.”

Further advancements

Looking ahead over the course of the next one to three years or so, and beyond, it seems as though Croptracker has the tools necessary for growers to digitize their operations and begin reaping the benefits of this type of AI-enabled and -driven technology. However, Chemeres suggests that it’s only the start for the Kingston, Ont.-based company, alluding to some innovations and developments that have not yet been introduced to the market, but which seem to be ready to add to the impact that Croptracker’s modules have already made on the industry. “We’re absolutely committed to continuously enhancing and improving the efficacy and accuracy of our current tools and digital modules in efforts to help growers maximize the quality of their yields and optimize the data and information that their working with to improve their businesses," he said. "To that end we’re about ready to introduce the ability to not only scan the top of bins, but to scan trees as well. It’s a capability that will move data availability related to the grow even further back down the vertical chain, before the apples have even been picked. We’re also looking to digitize the traditional starch test which lets growers know when best to pick their crops. These are advancements that are going to eliminate the need for cumbersome processes, reducing the time required to achieve some of the results that Croptracker technology can arrive at in seconds. Essentially, what we aim to do is continue improving and enhancing our visualization technology and the solutions that we provide in order to further decentralize the growing operation and create greater efficiency along the way.”

FOOD RECALL: HOW MISSTEPS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF

A RECALL PROCEDURE CAN LEAD TO JUDICIAL ACTION M

istakes happen. With food manufacturing, mistakes can take the form of malfunctioning equipment or cross-contamination of ingredients. Sometimes a key, trusted player in the supply chain sources an ingredient from a new supplier to meet demand, and that new ingredient contains an undeclared allergen. Sometimes, despite rigorous testing and sampling procedures, salmonella finds its way onto the production line and contaminates a lot. For most stakeholders in the food value chain, mistakes are terrifying. Mistakes signal lost product, lost revenue, lost time, and energy, but most importantly, lost trust with consumers who relied on the safety of a consumable. Mistakes can signal the need to enact a voluntary recall of product, and thus converse with the regulator — the Canadian

Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and/or Health Canada. Under the Safe Food for Canadians Act (SFCA), regulated entities are required to prepare, keep, and maintain a recall procedure as part of their Preventative Control Plan (PCP). Further, regulated entities have to conduct recall simulations at least once every 12 months to test the viability of their recall procedure. These documents and drills are designed to prepare regulated entities for the probable: a mistake. And while they should serve to ensure corrective action in the face of a mistake, thereby eliminating the fear of judicial action, the reality is that any oversight or misstep in enacting a recall procedure can lead to court action, and in particular a class-action lawsuit.

C A N A D I A N F O O D B U S I N E S S.C O M

By Glenford Jameson and Cora James

FEATURE

CANADIAN FOOD BUSINESS VO L U M E 3 8, I S S U E 4 • 2 0 2 3

Mistakes signal lost product, lost revenue, lost time, and energy, but most importantly, lost trust with consumers who relied on the safety of a consumable.

With the 2023 decision of Bowman v. Kimberly-Clark Corporation, we learn that recall and refund programmes can be extensive and broad in application, but still not address alleged harm done to all parties affected by the recall. While this is not a food-related decision — it addresses bacteria found on flushable wipes in 2020 — Justice Matthews’ decision to allow a class-action lawsuit to proceed for the Personal Injury Subclass of claimants because they did not receive adequate notice of their right to make a claim for personal injury or adequate compensation demonstrates the need for regulated parties to engage all levels of the supply chain down to the consumer with their recall, and to document the process. An oversight in this case resulted in Justice Matthews’ decision to allow a class proceeding to commence in order to contemplate a wrong faced by those who claimed to suffer personal injury as a result of using the recalled lots of product. It would be an understatement to stress the importance of being thorough with one’s recall procedure. Kimberly-Clark, for example, went to great lengths to ensure their contaminated wipes were isolated, destroyed, and generally removed from the market. Kimberly-Clark worked with the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. and Health Canada to initiate a recall notice and issue it to retailers. They then followed up with retailers by phone to ensure affected product was removed from shelves. Following this, Kimberly-Clark set up a webpage dedicated to the recall with instructions for consumers. They posted about their recall on Facebook and Twitter. The recall was picked up by news channels across the country, and Health Canada published a notice

on its recall website. Some retailers even sent recall notices to their purchasers on Kimberly-Clark letterhead. Consumers were provided with refunds, albeit undocumented in terms of quantum and rationale for quantum, through an expanded customer service team that Kimberly-Clark hired to deal with incoming inquiries and refund requests. And yet, these actions were not enough for Justice Matthews to find the non-judicial alternative of a recall to be sufficient in ensuring access to justice, judicial efficiency, or behaviour modification – the three objectives to consider when determining whether a class proceeding is the appropriate forum to redress a wrong. The case of Kimberly-Clark is not an anomaly, though. A review of case law shows a history of class-action claims following an initiated recall. In 2018, for example, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice heard the case of Richardson v. Samsung, regarding a recall for defective cell phones. However, unlike in Kimberly-Clark, a class-action lawsuit did not proceed against Samsung Electronics. Judge Rady stated in the decision that “class-actions are an important vehicle to redress wrongs to those who would not otherwise bring action because it would be economically ill-advised.” Judge Rady determined that Samsung Electronics’ recall programme met the needs of access to justice, and therefore the corporation did not require behaviour modification. She wrote, “In my view, the defendant’s prompt response in concert with Health Canada to safety issues, the

Class-actions are an important vehicle to redress wrongs to those who would not otherwise bring action because it would be economically ill-advised. - Judge Rady

recall, the termination of sales, and the compensation package, demonstrates the response of a responsible corporate citizen. It is behaviour that should be encouraged rather than discouraged.” In other words, Samsung Electronics had implemented a recall programme broad enough to redress wrongs throughout the supply chain: from consumer, through to retailer, and up to distributor. To utilize an example relevant to food, the case of Romero v. The Meat Shop at Pine Haven was heard in Alberta in 2022 to determine whether a class-action lawsuit was the preferable proceeding for claimants to claim damages for consumption of pork contaminated with E.coli. Ultimately, despite issuance of a recall notice and working with CFIA and Health Canada to address the contamination, a class-action proceeding was found to be a fair and efficient process for resolution of the common issues. Likewise, a case before the Supreme Court of Canada, in 2020 saw Mr. Sub franchisees pursue a class-action lawsuit against Maple Leaf Foods Inc. for reputational damage suffered during a voluntary recall of deli meats, as well as economic loss. In this instance, the food manufacturer (i.e., Maple Leaf Foods) had an obligation to ensure the safety of consumers, but also to mitigate the economic and reputational, loss of its supply chain.

With this myriad of case law related to deficiencies in recall, procedures, what should regulated parties do, then, when faced with mistake? First, the preparation and maintenance of a thorough recall procedure, and more generally a PCP, is important to ensure that everybody understands their role when faced with mistakes, and steps are followed to correct them. Regulated entities can make both preventative and protective decisions related to their recall procedures to avoid greater cost and stress when mistakes arise. If a regulated entity is unsure about its recall procedure or PCP, contact a legal professional to review what’s in place. Second, if a regulated entity determines that voluntary recall is the appropriate action to ensure the health and safety of consumers, consider engaging a legal professional to negotiate with the regulator on your behalf. Have a legal professional guide you through this crisis situation, as sometimes the stress of a recall leads to oversight or misstep. While a legal professional is not a guarantee against court action, engaging one could make the difference between a Kimberly-Clark and a Samsung Electronics. And while regulatory processes are generally preferred to judicial action in Canada, and courts provide a great deal of deference to the decisions of non-judicial bodies, class-action lawsuits will continue to exist as an option for classes of claimants that otherwise do not believe their concerns have been addressed or fixed. For regulated parties, this serves as a reminder to prepare for mistakes, and work to ensure corrective actions are implemented throughout the supply chain when faced with them and voluntary, or mandated, recall. For assistance concerning food recalls and the steps that should be taken by organizations, G.S. Jameson and Company.

C A N A D I A N F O O D B U S I N E S S.C O M

FEATURE

CANADIAN FOOD BUSINESS VO L U M E 3 8, I S S U E 4 • 2 0 2 3

INVERTE:

TURNING FOOD WASTE

UPSIDE DOWN

Tracking food portions in real time to better manage food and labour costs and enhance operational consistency By Sean Tarry

FEATURE

It was clear that the No. 1 cause of food waste in restaurants is related to inefficient and wasteful portioning of food ingredients at line stations within the establishment

s technology continues to evolve and advance, and the food and beverage industries consistently search for ways to streamline and optimize their operations, their intersect is about set to kickstart a revolution within the kitchen — a robotic one that automates some of the more repetitive tasks within a restaurant, reducing the food waste that’s generated, and significantly decreasing the negative impact that the foodservice sector has on the environment. And, at the leading edge of the kitchen revolution is St. John's, Nfld.-based company, Inverte.

Leveraging technology to eliminate food waste

Led by Founder and CEO Johan Arcos-Mendez, the company that specializes in intelligent portioning tools conducted more than 100 industry interviews to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the problem of food waste in kitchens and the ways in which it’s created in order to develop

the right solution to address it. “After speaking with a number of different people working in and around the industry in a range of roles and responsibilities, it was clear to me that the No. 1 cause of food waste in restaurants is related to inefficient and wasteful portioning of food ingredients at line stations within the establishment,” he explains. “And, despite the kind of establishment it is, whether casual dining, fine dining, or fast food, the line station type of model is the one that’s universally used. And, because most of them also rely on the same or similar mechanisms to serve and plate food for diners without any way to ensure the correct or proper portioning of food and ingredients, relying instead on bagging inventory ahead of time, there isn’t a reliable and consistent way by which they can control portioning or cost. It’s a major problem within the industry, and one that can prove to be the difference between success and failure for some.”

Intelligent portioning

It's this combination, explains ArcosMendez, of helping to remove waste from our environment and supporting foodservice operators in their quest to optimize their operations and reduce their costs that drives him to do what he does every day. And, with the technology that Inverte has developed, he and his team are able to achieve both goals. “With our technology, we’re able to help address the two main sources of waste related to portioning among kitchen staff,” he asserts. “Overserving is likely the biggest cause of food waste, as cooks are basically eyeballing the portions of food and ingredients that they’re using, tending to use more rather than less of a serving. The other main culprit behind the problem is that of employee mistakes. When employees in kitchens make mistakes, it’s often the policy of establishments to discard

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plates that have been assembled wrong or contain the wrong ingredients. Each of these examples results in a significant amount of food waste, and obvious harm to the profitability of the business.”

Digitizing foodservice

In order to help restaurateur and others within the foodservice industry alleviate this problem, Arcos-Mendez and his team developed intelligent portioning which helps kitchen cooks better understand how to apply the right amounts of ingredients with real-time guidance, preventing overserving as well as underserving, and improving the levels of quality and consistency within the kitchen. Using digital scales and portioning tools in combination with advanced software, Inverte’s suite of solutions integrate effortlessly into any foodservice operation, providing an easy plug-and-play type of setup. And, not only is the integration of Invert’s technology easy, Arcos-Mendez says that it also makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. “The fact that we’re helping restaurant owners and others operating within the foodservice industry digitize their businesses is a real differentiator for us at the moment,” he asserts. “We’re pioneering intelligent digital portioning and the only company that’s able to help foodservice providers track every single portion of ingredients used from their inventories. It’s helping users optimize their operations in a number of different ways, most importantly from a quality consistency and cost savings perspective.” CANADIAN FOOD BUSINESS VO L U M E 3 8, I S S U E 4 • 2 0 2 3

Aggressive plans to scale

Arcos-Mendez is quick to credit the team around him for much of the success that Invert has already experienced, stating that it’s filled with innovative individuals who together combine their skills from a range of backgrounds, including software developers, hardware engineers, technicians, and marketers. He explains further that the company is currently entering into a project with the Canadian Food Innovation Network, which will allow it to expand its team further. And, pilots that were launched in early 2022 with the likes of East Side Mario's and Little Caesars have been incredibly successful, and have allowed the company to go through several product iterations, refining its technology to near optimal performance. In fact, the pilots have been so successful, with feedback coming in so positively, that ArcosMendez has plans to scale the Inverte solution sooner rather than later. “We’ve got aggressive plans ahead of us,” he says. “Within the next 12 to 15 months, we want to place the company and our solutions in the position to be able to scale up across

North America. The problems of food waste and less than optimal performance are challenges that just about every player within the foodservice industry faces, despite where they operate, across the entire continent. And I really believe that with our technology and digital solution, Inverte has the opportunity to disrupt things in the best of ways and to make a significant impact by helping operators become more efficient and profitable.”

Disruptive future

The technology and solutions that Inverte is introducing to the market are incredible and are sure to help the foodservice industry strengthen operations. However, as Arcos-Mendez points out, he and his team at Inverte don’t have any plans on relenting the work that they’re doing just yet, and are working on further enhancing their solutions and benefits behind their uses. “Looking ahead beyond the next 12 to 15 months or so, our long-term vision is to expand our intelligent portioning control technology and offer recipe guidance beyond restaurants, introducing our solutions to hotels and catering centres. And then, maybe a little more than a few years down the road, we’re working on introducing something truly disruptive, figuring out a way to allow diners to control their own portions, personalizing their orders right down to single ingredients. But, for now, we’re definitely focused on making our current technology and solutions that we offer as efficient and effective as possible in efforts to help foodservice providers grow and succeed, while eliminating the harm caused by food waste.”

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Figs are trending! They certainly have their place in ancient history but today chefs and consumers are rediscovering the fig and simply can’t get enough. In fact, new products containing fig ingredients are on the rise around the world for flavor, functionality and nutritional benefits. This is likely due to the fig’s ability to fit into today’s top trends: organic, kosher, GMO-free, high-fiber, allnatural, gluten-free, trans fat-free, on-the-go and more

FOOD WARE

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Got it covered?

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The SureCoat® Breading Applicator by Heat and Control provides its users with the ability to uniformly apply pre-dust, breading, and flake coatings even to the most difficult to coat products, while achieving some of the industry's fastest changeover and cleaning times. In addition, the Breading Applicator also enabled superior coverage of all product surfaces using flour or batter pre-dust, granular, and non-free-flowing breadings, even delicate Japanese-crumb and flake coatings. heatandcontrol.com

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It’s a grind The WEILER 868 Grinder combines the unique Weiler® twin overlapping paddle mixing system design with the industry-leading engineering of Weiler® grinders to create a total solution that’s quick and gentle, ensuring the most premium end product possible. Plus, rugged, stainless-steel construction, easy-to-operate controls with clean mode provides for a safe and reliable sanitation. mmequip.com

Forming into something The Traymatic by Deighton Manufacturing UK Ltd. combines accurate food forming and portioning with an innovative product traying system. Designed for continuous production within the bakery industry, the Traymatic is successful with a wide variety of mixtures and products. Maintaining the flexibility of the Formatic range of food forming equipment, the Traymatic enables the operator to produce multiple product lines. vancouverfoodmachinery.ca

FOOD WARE

Keep ‘em separated Improve protein isolate output and quality by cost-effectively separating suspended plantbased proteins with the Alfa Laval Plant Protein Separation System. Optimizing protein separation equipment with advanced technology reduces energy use and raises separation efficiency. Perfect for new installations or retrofits, this system makes it easy to install a new, energy-efficient plant protein separation system or retrofit an existing one while reducing the total cost of ownership. alfalaval.ca

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Cold chicken The CMP Poultry Giblet Chiller has been manufactured to serve as a trough chiller for giblets, heart, gizzards, feet, liver, and necks for today’s modern poultry plant. Available in several sizes, CMP’s Poultry Giblet Chillers feature a dewatering feed conveyor, central rotating paddle to ensure uniform chilling, and a dewater incline belt at the discharge. The units are indirectly cooled by cycling chilled glycol through a dimple jacket in a closed system. cmpequipment.com

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Don’t forget your coat

MOMENT IN TIME

The taste of

2024

Report reveals predictions for the trends and flavours that will whet the most appetites over the course of the next year By Sean Tarry

A CANADIAN FOOD BUSINESS VO L U M E 3 8, I S S U E 4 • 2 0 2 3

s we approach the end of 2023, everyone involved within the food and beverage industries across the country is beginning to look ahead toward the coming year and what it might hold in store for their businesses going forward. And, as much of their projections and looks ahead are often rooted to consumer tastes and preferences, any and all insights concerning their desires and appetites are coveted by manufacturers, restauranteurs, and other foodservice providers. With this in mind, The Hot Plate, Tag's Food and Beverage Center of Excellence for brands and agencies, recently released its 2024 Flavor & Trends Forecast report. In the report, valuable insights and predictions are shared related to the latest ingredients, cooking techniques, and culinary ideas that are set to impact the food and beverage industries over the course of the next 12-plus months, driving innovation and further influencing the tastes and preferences of consumers.

MOMENT IN TIME

SUPREME FLAKE The croissant, known for its traditional layers and flaky texture, has become a canvas for artistic reinterpretation with its multiple flakey layers and decadent fillings. WILD NOT MILD Beyond its tantalizing heat, spicy foods offer a sensory adventure, awakening taste buds and triggering endorphin rushes, providing a thrilling dining experience. BALKAN CUISINE The fusion of Mediterranean, Eastern European, and Middle Eastern influences create a sensational medley of tastes, attracting food enthusiasts who seek adventure. MINDFUL CAFFEINE Energy alternatives that don’t produce side effects. EXOTIC FRUITS Undeniable, fruity flavours, bringing novelty and adventure. FOOD FOR THE SKIN The convergence of culinary choices and beauty rituals. GRILL SEEKERS The age-old sizzle of the grill adds a New Age flavour twist to food. NEWSTALGIA Retro foods and flavours from long ago are becoming new again.

In addition, the report also offers a glimpse a little further into the future, offering a handful of other trends that it considers to be on the tipping point of making real impact on the industries: PIXELS TO PALATE While still in its infancy, 3D-printed food is gaining traction among chefs and food enthusiasts. Allowing for the assembly of a number of different, intricate recipes and culinary creations, it’s a technology that’s increasingly being considered around the world. CULINARY CONVENIENCE The report suggest that other technologies like vending machines are also increasing in popularity due to the convenience that they provide users. Integrating a number of different technologies including payment, inventory management, and automated robotics, these machines are more than simply dispensers and could be set to become more mainstream. ECO-GASTRONOMY As environmental sustainability continues to gain momentum in the minds of consumers around the world, its impacts are being felt everywhere, including within the food and beverage industries. In fact, the Climatarian diet, which is an environmentally conscious eating approach, is becoming more widespread among consumers and will likely begin influencing manufacturers and purveyors of food sooner rathe than later. AI MEETS APPETITE Just as it’s influencing everything else around us, AI and machine learning will begin to play a bigger role within kitchens and other food operations within the coming years, allowing for greater personalization and quality. To access the entire 2024 Flavor & Trends Forecast report, visit tagww.com.

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As a taster, the report offers the following eight trends that it suggests will emerge above all others in 2024:

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