IDM ¦ Markets
Bioinformatics
Food and health become more entwined
LUX Research has recently published
a new report entitled “Applications
and Impacts of Bioinformatics
Across the Agrifood
and Health Ecosystem”. The authors
found that food, health and agriculture
no longer are separate valus chains.
Former differences have started to blur
due to modern science. Exactly here, bioinformatics
enters the stage.
Most companies view agriculture,
food, and health as distinct value chains;
however, the reality is that they are pieces
Discovery
Health and pharma
Personalization
Risk assessment and safety
Agriculture
Diagnostics
Quality and optimization
Food
Traceability
of a single, interconnected system of
technologies, markets, and demands.
Consumer preferences are a core driving
force in this ecosystem. In addition to
seeking unique experiences, consumers
are taking more active roles in maintaining
wellness, leaving innovators at the
mercy of fleeting trends and struggling
to foresee major shifts. Bioinformatics is
playing a key role enabling companies to
be more agile and more certain about innovation
efforts across verticals for each
sector.
Agriculture ecosystem
The agriculture ecosystem is rapidly changing
as digital technologies gain recognition.
Bioinformatics is no different as it
enables innovation in crop protection, crop
nutrition, and crop development targeting
regional agricultural challenges. Crops generically
include livestock.
Consumer demands push trends like
clean label, personalized nutrition, convenience,
and safety. Food, ingredient, and
CPG companies need to develop strategies
to meet those demands while being constrained
by cost, regulatory pressures, and
complex supply chains.
The divide between health and wellness
becomes less clear, and data continues
to become a unifying foundation.
Bioinformatics resides at the developmental
crossroads for precise, personalized,
preventative, and participatory advances in
diagnostics, treatment, and care.
Bioinformatics continues to play an important
role in all aspects of safety, from
the detection and prevention of active ingredient
off-target affects to the improvement
of food and feed security. These
technologies are slowly making it to the
point-of-use for producers.
Quality is a significant area of advancement
for bioinformatics in agrifood, especially
as synthetic biology and the microbiome
provide novel, specific, and bio-based
solutions. These solutions require industrial
optimization and quality control. In addition,
improved quality crops drives innovation.
Food safety
Bioinformatics will play a more important role
in all aspects of food safety from the detection
and prevention off-target affects (allergies) to
Discovery and risk assessment drive applications
across the ecosystem (Graphic: LUX Research)
6 · September/October 2020 ¦ international-dairy.com
/international-dairy.com
