AI model enhancing food safety and reducing waste featured in media coverage

An artificial intelligence–powered model developed at the Future Ready Food Safety Hub (FRESH@NTU) is helping to strengthen food safety while reducing food waste. The innovation, led by Prof William Chen, Cluster Lead at NTU Food Research Systems (NTU‑FRS), applies predictive modelling and machine learning to track microbial behaviour in food under real‑world storage and distribution conditions.

The model predicts how bacteria such as Salmonella grow over time in different foods, enabling more accurate estimates of shelf life and supporting better decisions on storage, stock rotation, and safety management. By shifting food safety monitoring from reactive checks to proactive, data‑driven prediction, the approach can reduce unnecessary disposal of safe food, lower energy use, and enhance food security - particularly important for Singapore, which imports about 90 per cent of its food.

This work represents the second aspect of FRESH@NTU’s two‑pronged food waste reduction strategy, which focuses on both upcycling food processing side‑streams and reducing waste generation. The innovation forms part of FRESH@NTU’s broader industry collaborations, including a joint lab with Amazon Web Services (AWS), and is currently in discussions with supermarket chains for potential trials starting in the second half of 2026.

The development has received wide media coverage – watch or read the coverage here:

• CNA

  https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/ntu-ai-model-food-freshness-reduce-waste-food-security-6040531

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2J0GaCLfbo

• CNA938

  https://www.channelnewsasia.com/listen/cna938-rewind/lab-supermarket-ai-tracks-food-freshness-in-real-time-6039966?cid=internal_sharetool_iphone_09042026_cna

• Channel 8

  https://www.8world.com/videos/news-bite/ntu-ai-model-food-safety-3107336