Trends change faster than ever and within minutes or hours, something can go viral. This is especially true for the food and consumer goods industries, where social media popularity can realistically translate into higher sales or controversy, as seen late last year with Popeyes Chicken Sandwich and a Peloton bike advertisement. Signals Analytics, an AI-powered platform, helps companies in the food and pharmaceutical industries identify trends and capitalize on troves of previously untapped data streams. Frances Zelazny, Signals Analytics chief marketing officer and head of strategy spoke to TechRepublic about the food trends in 2020 and what people may be eating in six months based on their research. "We are focused on external data, so you should think about social media posts, product reviews, commentary on news websites, patent filings, research papers, conference agendas and other data sources. Think about what it would be like if you could have access to all that data and could use that data in order to make decisions. Most companies use two or three external data sources," Zelazny said.