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Grant for AI research to progress tastier plant-based products
Researcher Jack Yang and his colleagues from Wageningen University & Research receive 50 thousand dollars from the Bezos Earth Fund for research into AI and improving the taste experience of plant-based alternatives to dairy and meat. The project focuses in particular on the texture of these products, because texture largely determines whether we like something or not. "Consumers indicate that they often find meat and cheese substitutes too dry or too rubbery," says Yang. And improving that texture is no piece of cake.
From building blocks to full-fledged product
Creating a tasty meat substitute consists of roughly three components: molecules, building blocks and products. These work together. The molecules make building blocks and from those building blocks you make a product. But which molecules make the best building blocks and which building blocks lead to the best texture... that is often still the question. Artificial intelligence (AI) models can play a major role in solving these issues. “We are creating a model that maps out the aspects of the suitable building blocks. This can serve as a reference for food producers. That way, we can create food textures that we really like,” Yang said.
Never been done before
Although there are already several AI models available that can predict recipes for a product, an open source model has never been developed that can map the elements of texture so well. Yang: “In that respect, Wageningen is quite unique. Many parties are mainly focused on what happens in such a building block, but we have decades of experience in answering the question why certain things happen. As a result, we have many people who fundamentally understand that material.”
A model for the entire community
After building the model, Yang and his colleagues open it up to other relevant parties so that they can contribute and it becomes a joint product of the sector. Everyone can then add data and use it for their own means: “It really has to become a model for the entire food technology community. In this way, it can be filled with as much relevant data as possible, which means that the development of tasty plant-based alternatives can be accelerated.”
Grant from Bezos Earth Fund
The grant is part of the first phase of the AI for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge. Each Phase I grant recipient is eligible to participate in Phase II of the challenge, where up to 15 projects will be selected to receive implementation grants of $2 million to scale their solutions over the next two years. The AI Grand Challenge supports bold, AI-powered ideas to combat climate change, halt biodiversity loss, and protect our planet’s future. Yang: "This is a big step towards more sustainable, animal-free food."
OLiMPuS is a research project of Wageningen University & Research of the groups Food Sciences & Technology, Plant Science Group and Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, supported by University Fund Wageningen. For more information, please contact Jack Yang, assistant professor food physics and contact person for this project.