Food Protection Trends - July/August 2020 - 272

GENERAL INTEREST PAPER

Artificial Intelligence Opportunities to Improve
Food Safety at Retail
Adam Friedlander1 and Claire Zoellner2*
1

FMI, 2345 Crystal Drive Suite 800, Arlington, VA 20002, USA

2

iFoodDecisionSciences, Inc., 10400 N.E. 4th St., Suite 500, Bellevue, WA 98004, USA

SUMMARY
Food retailers drive food safety programs throughout the
supply chain, within their stores, and across e-commerce platforms to mitigate the risk of foodborne illness for consumers.
Delivery of food safety from the producer through retail
requires strong food safety culture, reliable data, robust database management, and technical expertise. Artificial intelligence (AI) has been proposed for its potential to advance and
transform food safety practices and outcomes. This article
aims to introduce AI terminology and definitions to a food
safety audience and to outline the opportunities, challenges,
and ethical considerations when adopting AI-based technologies at retail. For food safety at retail, the applications of
AI presented here are categorized as vision, text, interactive,
analytical, or functional-based solutions. As AI capabilities
continue to develop, food safety professionals will have a
role in shaping the tools and algorithms that are adopted
across the food industry, including at the retail sector. AI can
strengthen food safety but, to be successful, will require strategic collaborations across the supply chain, including with
technology providers, regulators, and academics.
OVERVIEW
The retail food industry employs more than 6 million
people and contributes $800 billion USD to the U.S.
economy (8). Retailers are responsible for the food safety
of all products sold in their facilities. This responsibility
includes sourcing food from suppliers with validated food
safety practices, developing strong food safety programs
within retail facilities, and providing consumers with
fundamental food safety information to reduce their
likelihood of foodborne illness. In the United States, 93%
of shoppers trust food retailers to sell safe food and remove
specific products when recalls and outbreaks are announced
(7, 9). Single-store independent operators, traditional brickand-mortar grocery stores, multinational supermarket chains,
e-commerce delivery platforms, and producers all provide
consumers with abundant food choices but must evolve the
methods employed to prevent, predict, and, when necessary,
respond to harmful food safety events. It is strategic for
retailers to understand how new technology and research can
be used to improve food safety programs and response time,
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Food Protection Trends July/August

in addition to promoting diverse employment opportunities
and expanding leadership capacities.
The 2019 International Association for Food Protection
(IAFP) Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, convened
two symposia on the topic of artificial intelligence (AI)
within the food industry, titled "Impact of Robotics and
Artificial Intelligence on Food Safety" and "Artificial
Intelligence and Machine Learning: What They are and
Their Potential Applications for Food Safety." Both symposia
introduced how these technologies could be considered to
improve food safety outcomes for different segments of the
food industry. This article builds upon one presentation from
the conference focused on surveying emerging AI technology
relevant to retail food safety issues and analyzing the role
food safety professionals should play in development and
implementation of new food safety tools involving AI.
Leveraging AI-based technology to create a safer food
supply will require food safety professionals from retail to
collaborate with strategic partners. For example, in some
areas of the industry, data needed to identify and prevent
contamination may be lacking or unavailable for retailers.
Other areas may be so data rich that retailers alone are
unable to process it in a meaningful way to prevent product
contamination or proliferation of an outbreak. Food
safety should be considered in the design and integration
of AI and robotic solutions, especially as the solutions
for food retail progress from individual tasks to broader
capabilities. Therefore, the goal of this article is to facilitate
communication between the food and technology industries
on where and how AI tools can be applied to gain experience
and/or learn about managing food safety risks at retail.
BACKGROUND
Within the past decade, growing global interest in AI and
business automation, due in part to increased access to and
generation of data and advances in computing power, has
sparked new research, investment, and applications across
many industrial and service sectors, including the food
industry. Whereas AI scientists are proficient in problem
solving, food safety subject matter expertise and access
to quality data are the underpinnings of AI tools that will
provide meaningful solutions to retail food safety challenges.
http://www.foodprotection.org/files/food-protection-trends/jul-aug-20-genint-friedlander.pdf
Food Protection Trends - July/August 2020

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