While I’m on the topic of AI—a hot issue in the food business—here are a few items I’ve collected recently.

• AI watch: The latest on artificial intelligence in food: While some fear artificial intelligence spells the end of humanity, others back its potential for positive disruption. How’s this playing out in food and drink? We bring you the latest…… Read more
• Study: AI-assisted personalized diet program supports weight loss and gut microbiome health: A dietary and lifestyle program tailored to individuals’ genetics and gut microbiome, as well as self-reported and wearables data, had a positive effect on the gut microbiome and showed significant associations between the gut microbiome and weight loss, according to a study by Digbi Health in the USA, reported in Frontiers…. Read more
• AI Drives New Era in Food and Beverage: Experts at Monday’s IFT FIRST keynote panel agreed that artificial intelligence is and will continue to be a transformative force reshaping the science of food industry.
• Coca-Cola leverages AI, technology to drive sales, volume in difficult economic climate: The Coca-Cola Co. is “leveraging digital and tech-enabled innovations” in marketing and price-pack architecture to drive incremental sales and volumes of new products in the critical second year after launch – helping the CPG giant beat expectations in its second quarter despite price hikes and ongoing financial pressure on some consumers, according to company executives…. Read more
• Danone partners with Microsoft on AI project: Danone has partnered with tech giant Microsoft on a multi-year collaboration to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) throughout the manufacturer’s operations…. Read more

I definitely wanted to read more of this article from the newsletter, NutrIngredients-Europe:

ASA targets menopause claims with AI assisted crackdown:  The UK’s advertising standards authority (ASA) has warned supplement firms they must remove ads which make claims to treat or cure the symptoms of menopause, as part of a wider AI-assisted campaign…. Read more

Apparently, the UK’s version of our Federal Trade Commission is using artificial intelligence to monitor supplement advertising claims.   The AI system picked up ads for supplements made by Rejuvit Labs and FemTech Healthcare.

An ad for Rejuvit Menopause Relief supplement

included a customer testimonial that stated, “round 2-8 weeks after my first capsule, I already had extra room in my pants (everyone was asking how I lost weight), I felt more energized, and the hot flashes [sic] were gone […] I just keep feeling better, healthier, and happier.”

The ASA stated: “We considered that consumers would understand these to be claims that the product could treat symptoms of menopause, including resolving menopause-related weight gain, increasing energy levels and stopping hot flashes.”

The ASA takes a dim view of non-medical “cures” for menopausal symptoms and is going after them.

With AI algorithms!

It’s a brave new world out there.

I was interested to see this report in the BMJ (formerly British Medical Journal): Revolving door: You are free to influence us “behind the scenes,” FDA tells staff leaving for industry jobs. BMJ 2024;386:q1418. doi: 10.1136/bmj.q1418.

The “Revolving Door,” of course, is the term used to describe how officials of federal regulatory agencies leave to take jobs with the industry they formerly regulated, and vice versa.  I’ve written about this previously. Others have written about the FDA’s “revolvement” with the drug industry.

You can easily imagine why a food company would want to hire a former FDA official.  That person will know how to deal with annoying regulatory issues, and will no doubt still have friends and former colleagues in the agency who can help smooth the way.aa

So what does the BMJ add to this?  Plenty, unfortunately.  Evidence from e-mails obtained through FOIA (freedom-of-information) requests.

Internal emails show that the US Food and Drug Administration informs employees leaving for industry jobs that, despite restrictions on post-employment lobbying, they are still permitted to influence the agency…The legal ability to work “behind the scenes” is enshrined in federal regulations2 and highlights a “critical, critical loophole” in US revolving door policy, says a leading consumer advocate.

Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist for the organisation Public Citizen, told The BMJ that the rules forbid various forms of direct lobbying contact but permit lobbying activity that is indirect. “So, people will leave government service and can immediately start doing influence peddling and lobbying,” Holman explained. “They can even run a lobbying campaign, as long as they don’t actually pick up the telephone and make the contact with their former officials—and that’s exactly the advice that’s being given here.”

The BMJ notes:

Since 2000 every FDA commissioner, the agency’s highest position, has gone on to work for industry. These include Robert Califf, the agency’s current chief, who re-established ties with industry in between his two stints at the agency’s helm.

One argument here is that the human resources folks are just explaining existing ethical requirements.

But a legitimate worry is corporate “capture.”  When federal regulatory agencies are “captured,” they neglect public interest in favor of corporate interest.

This has been a concern about the FDA for a long time.  The FDA needs to do all it can to restore public trust in its integrity.

I saw this announcement in Food Navigator: Study: Nutrient dense formula could improve cognition and behaviour in infants.

My immediate question: Who paid for this?

I went right to it.

The study: Schneider N, Hartweg M, O’Regan J, Beauchemin J, Redman L, Hsia DS, Steiner P, Carmichael O, D’Sa V, Deoni S. Impact of a Nutrient Formulation on Longitudinal Myelination, Cognition, and Behavior from Birth to 2 Years: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Nutrients. 2023; 15(20):4439. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15204439

Conclusions: The results suggest that brain development may be modifiable with brain- and age-relevant nutritional approaches in healthy infants and young children, which may be foundational for later learning outcomes.

Funding: This study received funding from the Société des Produits Nestlé S.A.

Conflicts of Interest: This study received funding from the Société des Produits Nestlé S.A. The funder had the following involvement with the study: study design, study monitoring and oversight, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, and preparation of the manuscript.

Comment: Some of the authors of this study are employed by Nestlé (no relation).  Their disclosure statement is unusually candid: the funder was totally involved in every aspect of the research.  It’s refreshing to see that dislosed.  But the underlying issue still holds: industry-funded reseach all too often produces results favorable to the commercial interests of the funder.

The concern here is that promoting infant formula as better than breast milk is a marketing strategy, as described in reports from the World Health Organization.  And see my previous post on this.

This book was sent to me by its publisher (Penguin) and was it ever fun to read.  Twilley’s subtitle says it all.  She connects it to everything.

I particularly enjoyed two things in this book: its broad scope, from home ice boxes to economic development in Rwanda, and her personal experiences visiting icy cold packing plants, storage facilities, trucks, and seed vaults on the Faroe Islands.

Here is Twilley on bananas, of all things:

Contrary to popular belief, bananas are the ultimate refrigerated fruit.  In order to be a global commodity rather than an exotic luxury, the banana depends on a seamless network of thermal control.  This comes as something of a shock to most people.  Indeed, it seems to directly contrdict the advice issued by one of America’s most memorable brand mascots, Miss Chiquita….this sultry lady banana warned viewers, “Bananas like the climate of the very, very tropical equator / So you sould never put bananas in the refrigerator.”   In reality, before the advent of refrigeraion, bananas were a rare and expensive treat outside their tropical homelands.

Bananas, she tells us, are picked green and refrigerated, sometimes for weeks “between their places of harvest and their ultimate country of consumption.”

Refrigeration, she points out, changed the American diet, especially with respect to meat.

The ripple effect of this transformation shapes the geography and economics of American meat to this day.  Urban stockyard workers had been unionized since the 1930s; employees of the new rural processing plants were not: they were and are paid much less.  With the savings on labor and food costs, the new meat-packers could cut beef prices while still making more money, and Americans responded by eating ever more meat.

The book focuses on the Big Picture:

In short, our food system is frostbitten: it has been injured by its exposure to cold.  Part of the reason for that is that refrigeration was implemented, for the most part, in order to optimize markets rather than human and environmental health.

I thought this was a great read, totally deserving of its front page review in the New York Times.

But I wish she had cited Hi’ilei Julia Kawehipuaakahaopulani Hobart’s Cooling the Tropics: Ice, Indigeneity, and Hawaiian Refreshment (Duke University Press, 2022)   Hi’ilei’s terrific book covers some of the same themes with respect to Hawai’i.  She got her doctorate in my NYU department and is now teaching at Yale.  We are proud of her!

And one tiny quibble.  Twilley makes the point that refrigeration technology is so solid that refrigerators last for decades.  Well, they used to.  Today, not so much.  Those big expensive machines are not expected to last more than a few years, not because of the refrigeration mechanisms but because of the electronics.  These burn out but by the time they do, the companies are no longer making replacements–as expensive and wasteful example of planned obsolescence as anyone can imagine.  I was sorry she didn’t mention this.

I’ve been collecting articles on snacks.

Some things to know about snacks:

• They are hugely profitable
• They have largely replaced meals among some population groups
• They are mostly ultra-processed
• The more snacks you eat, the more calories you are likely to take in

With that said, here are some recent items:

• The Evolution of the Snacking Category:  Several food giants are turning to better-for-you ingredients and new flavors to meet changing consumer needs and strengthen their presences in the snacking category. Learn more in this Trendline.
• How to be snack-savvy: Key insights for 2024:  SNAC International has released its 2024 State of the Industry Report, which highlights category dollar and unit sales, the top performing brands and the influences that continue to shape consumer behavior and preferences…. Read more
• PepsiCo sees slowdown in US salty snack business, plans to ‘make disciplined commercial investments’:  PepsiCo’s second quarter 2024 earnings released this morning, revealing new challenges to its Frito-Lay North America business, as company Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta vows to tap into consumer demand for zero-sugar and functional products and increase productivity initiatives and commercial investments to spur growth…. Read more
• Conagra ‘nudges’ up snacks, frozen food volumes with merchandising, advertising & innovation:  Conagra successfully boosted “meaningful” volume sales of key snacks and frozen foods in the past year despite “a challenging consumer environment,” in which shoppers gave a cold shoulder to some competitors, including PepsiCo, thanks in part to strategic merchandising, advertising and innovation, CEO Sean Connolly told investors yesterday during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call…. Read more
• Why are snack prices continuing to rise? Analysis sheds light on inflation versus the costs of potato chips, chocolate chip cookies, yogurt and ice cream…. Read more
• ‘A snack is a snack, not a meal replacement’: UPFs, Nutri Score, the EC elections, regulations and other issues impacting the European snacks sector: A major concern for the European Snacks Association (ESA) is the debate over ultra processed foods (UPFs), which director general Sebastian Emig believes is not based on scientific fact and is causing confusion among consumers. We caught up with him at Snackex to find out how changes in the European Commission (EC) could impact regulations…. Watch now
• Bringing the snacks industry up to date on acrylamide:  Acrylamide – the naturally occurring chemical compound that forms in carb-rich foods like potato chips and pretzels during high-temperature cooking processes such as frying, baking and roasting – is an ongoing concern for the salty snacks sector…. Read more

And last but not least…

• Toothpaste chips anyone? Just how adventurous are you prepared to be?  With Snackex coinciding with Euro 2024, Hügli created mixes inspired by familiar dishes from the participating European countries, while Euroma showcased ‘crazy’ flavors that took snackers into new realms…. Read more

NutraIngredients-Europe is interested in AI.  Here’s another item:

ChatGPT’s nutrition advice is limited for NCD patients: Study: ChatGPT is “unable to replace a healthcare professional’s consultation”, new research has concluded, following an assessment of the chatbot’s ability to handle prompts for nutrition advice for patients with multiple noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

I went right to the study:

Ponzo V, Goitre I, Favaro E, Merlo FD, Mancino MV, Riso S, Bo S. Is ChatGPT an Effective Tool for Providing Dietary Advice? Nutrients. 2024; 16(4):469. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16040469.

The conclusion: “although ChatGPT exhibited a reasonable accuracy in providing general dietary advice for NCDs, its efficacy decreased in complex situations necessitating customized strategies; therefore, the chatbot is currently unable to replace a healthcare professional’s consultation.”

Here’s an exeerpt from an example:

Prompt: I have type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, and chronic kidney disease. Can you give me nutritional advice?

ChatGPT answer:
I’m not a doctor, but I can offer some general advice that you may find helpful. It’s important to consult with a healthcare professional or a registered dietitian who can provide personalized advice based on your specific health conditions and needs.

That being said, managing type 2 diabetes, obesity, and chronic kidney disease often requires a combination of healthy eating habits, regular physical activity, and sometimes medication.

[It then goes on an on about controlling portion sizes, limiting sugars, choosing lean proteins and healthy fats, etc, and ends with]

Consult a Registered Dietitian: A registered dietitian can create a personalized meal plan tailored to your specific needs, taking into account your type 2 diabetes, obesity, and chronic kidney disease.

Comment

AI is only as good as its programming.  This is boilerplate.  I don’t know about you but I don’t like talking to machines and robots (dealing with Verizon, anyone?).

Part of the demonstrable effectiveness of health care professionals is the human interaction; someone cares enough about you to offer personalized advice.

Is this kind of thing better than nothing?  I remain to be convinced.

I was interested to see this article in The Lancet: Mexico’s bold new law on adequate and sustainable nutrition.  

Mexico’s new General Law on Adequate and Sustainable Nutrition (Ley general de Alimentación Adecuada y Sostenible) is a substantial step towards transforming food systems to address NCDs and promote environmental sustainability… It enshrines the human right to food…It prioritises health, environmental stewardship, water access, children’s health, enhanced food supply and distribution, the promotion of nutritious food, reduced food loss and waste, food provision in crisis situations, and social participation in food strategies…>It includes specific goals such as the prevention of diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and the mitigation of global warming….