Machine Learning, Text Analytics Aid in Food Safety at FDA

A new automated data analytics program is crucial for the early detection of signals and predications for regulated chemicals that may pose highly hazardous health risks at the Food and Drug Administration. The agency's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition first initiated the project, called the Emerging Chemical Hazard Intelligence Platform. It allows the center to anticipate potential chemicals associated with adverse health events before they get out of control, explained its Office of Food Additive Safety's Informatics and Information Systems Lead and Senior Policy Advisor Ernest Kwegyir-Afful. "Every time we have one these big [food safety] incidents, we have to drop everything so we can actually deal with it," said Kwegyir-Afful at SAS' Unleash Analytics: Making AI & Analytics Real event Aug. 20. This includes U.S. food supply chemical incidents, such as detecting products that increase the production of melanin in babies to measuring arsenic toxicity, he said.