SAN FRANCISCO — At times attendees of the Future Food Tech conference held March 21-22 in San Francisco may have been skeptical about the futuristic discussions taking place during the program and on the exhibit floor. At other times, it all came together and made sense. And even better – it made sense for right now.

“Foods have to be delicious and nutritious,” said Isabelle Esser, chief research and innovation, quality and food safety officer for Danone SA, Paris. “Technology needs scale and impact. It’s all about positive nutrition, and this requires collaboration.”

That’s much of what Elo Life Systems, Durham, NC, is striving to accomplish. Elo Life’s molecular farming platform produces ingredients that may be difficult to harvest from natural sources and may not be synthesized through artificial or other techniques. The company produces easy-to-grow crops as bio factories for the ingredients.

“We’re on a mission to unlock nature’s abilities to make consumers’ favorite foods more delicious, healthy and planet friendly,” said Todd Rands, chief executive officer of Elo Life Systems. “It’s about making foods more nutrient dense, not calorically dense, which has been the case with our food system since the second half of the 20th century.

“We use AI (artificial intelligence) and proprietary algorithms to gain deeper insights across native genomes, genes and traits. Innovation with healthy and sustainable food is desperately needed, and our collective future depends on creating new solutions that do not exist today.”

The company’s first product is a monk fruit-derived sweetener that will launch in 2026. Rands said the company is working on the production of varied bioactive ingredients and novel proteins.

Algorithms enable machines to learn and make decisions. Otherwise known as generative artificial intelligence, the technology is “transforming possibilities into reality,” said Lanette Shaffer Werner, chief innovation, technology and quality officer, General Mills, Minneapolis.

“For us, AI is a member of the team,” said Shaffer Werner. “It’s like having an intern on the team, who contributes like all other team players. AI provides input to our final decision. We still keep the consumer at the heart of everything we do.”

 She explained how AI is an active player behind the scenes and how AI allows us “to have one eye on today and one on the horizon. For example, before a new product goes into test market, we can work with digital concepts generated by AI.”