ISSAI data scientist Aknur Karabay and NU School of Medicine Professor Mei-Yen Chan participated in the conference “AI in detecting falsified food products”, held by the Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization Coordinating Committee for Europe of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (FAO/WHO CCEURO). The aim of the conference was to raise awareness of AI methods used to detect counterfeit food. These methods are crucial for the fast detection of counterfeit food products in times of global challenges, such as the global hunger crisis predicted by the UN FAO.
The conference was opened by CCEURO Regional Coordinator Dr. Nailya Karsybekova. More than 1,200 participants from different countries, such as Kazakhstan, China, Ukraine, Serbia, and Russia, attended the event both online and offline.
Aknur and Prof. Chan gave a presentation on their current research project “Potential Applications of AI for Food Authentication and Dietary Interventions”. The project uses computer vision techniques to identify and classify Central Asian foods and aims to create an online dietary assessment system. The project goal is to implement effective nutritional surveillance to reduce diet-related diseases and deaths.
Other speakers at the conference included state and technological organizations and companies, such as EGISTIC, Astana Hub, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, the Ministry of Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the World Information Technology Union, the United Nations University for Peace, the International Food Standards and Certification Organization and others.
Participants in the event discussed the possibility of opening an AI center to detect food falsification in the Eurasian region and adherence to universal AI ethics principles.