WATCH: How digital fingerprints can help prevent food fraud and supply chain disruptions beyond Covid-19

AI solutions to track and trace raw materials and ingredients will likely gather pace in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, where supply chains were disrupted and many firms had to source supplies from alternative providers.

One such solution is ProfilePrint, an A.I portable analyser developed by Singapore-based company teapasar, which can track and trace the authenticity of tea and dried foods like herbs and spices through a small sample provided.

It is able to analyse information on the products’ geography, taste profile and nutritional value.

According to the firm’s executive director Alan Lai: “Despite the proliferation of accessible technologies, the industry continues to be heavily reliant on human judgement: see, touch, and taste ingredients to ascertain suitability and quality.”

Since the technology was launched in 2017, the company has since expanded its applications beyond tea, such as coffee, flour, grains and juices.

Lai told us the firm recently launched its ProfilePrintX platform, an online B2B marketplace which allows users to match, source and sell their food ingredients. Buyers just need to match the molecular fingerprint or desired characteristics of their required products and the products can be purchased, shipped and delivered without any physical contact.

Lai said: “Buyers are no longer limited to the existing suppliers or require a long lead time to conduct quality checks based on samples shipped and will be able to consider a significantly larger number of options with molecularly matched products online.”

He told us it was especially during times of pandemic that companies were now seeing the value of digitalising their supply chain.

He concluded: “I do not think that in the next 10 years, AI technology can replace human in taste profile, but technology can help do things more efficiently and quicker which allows humans to be more productive overall.”

Watch the video to find out more.

Edited using StreamYard.