Monthly Forecasts Review: December

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Welcome to December’s edition of our Monthly Forecasts Review, where we review the incident forecasts for the previous month to understand the effectiveness of the forecasting models.

How is the performance of the forecasts reviewed? 

We perform a comparative analysis of the forecasted incidents trend for each food product category, hazard, and risk category for December as seen in FOODAKAI against the actual recorded incidents for that month. 

FOODAKAI utilizes trend forecasting models that take advantage of more than 250 distinct factors in order to produce robust generalized models and accurate predictions that help food & beverage companies to drastically enhanced food risk prevention

This time we are back to examine incident trends forecasts for 10 key food categories and hazard trends forecasts for the top Biological, Chemical, Foreign Bodies, Allergens Hazards as well as Food Fraud.

For our previous edition ─ the November report, read here.

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Key Food Categories Forecasts Review.

Firstly, let’s start with the overall incidents trend forecasts in 10 Key Food Categories for December.

food categories forecasts review

FOODAKAI successfully forecasted the incident trends in 9 out of the 10 key food categories: Cocoa, Coffee & Tea, Fruits & Vegetables, Dairy Products, Poultry & Poultry Meat Products, Herbs & Spices, Cereals & Bakery, Fats & Oils, Nuts & Seeds, and Meat & Meat products. The forecast for the Confectionary category was not successful.

Highlights:

  • In the Cocoa, Coffee & Tea, Fruits & Vegetables, Herbs & Spices, and Meat & Meat Products categories, while FOODAKAI forecasted the trend, it managed so with a big difference in the percentages from forecasted to actual increase. While in the first three product categories, the large amounts of data could offer better forecasts in the future, in the latter category this is mainly attributed to the latency in the announcement of the incidents by public sources.
  • In the Diary Products, Poultry & Poultry Meat Products, and Nuts & Seeds categories the platform forecasted with great accuracy the trend with only a slight difference between the forecasted vs the actual result
  • For Cereals & Bakery and Fats & Oils products, a near-perfect forecast was achieved by the platform’s AI-powered models.
  • Unfortunately, for Confectionary the failure to predict the forecasts means there should be a fine-tuning of the model.

Hazard & Risk Categories Forecasts Review

Now, let’s review the performance of the hazard & risk trend forecasts in comparison to the recorded number of incidents.

FOODAKAI managed to successfully forecast the incidents trend in 4 out of the 5 Hazard and Risk types: Chemical, Allergens, Food Fraud, and Foreign Bodies. It didn’t forecast correctly the trend for Biological incidents.

Highlights:

  • For Chemical Hazards incidents, the platform forecasted a decrease of the actual increase.
  • In the Biological, and Fraud Hazard type categories, the platform managed an exceptional forecast of the trend.
  • In the Allergen, and Foreign Bodies Hazards type categories, while the platform correctly forecasted the increase, the resulting forecast was much bigger than the actual trend. 

Biological Hazards Forecasts Per Food Category

Finally, let’s dig deeper into the forecasted vs the actual trends for incidents associated with biological hazards for these 10 Food Categories.

biological hazards per food category

The platform forecasted the incident trends for biological hazards in 8 out of the 9 food categories: Cocoa, Coffee & Tea, Fruits & Vegetables, Diary Products, Herbs & Spices, Cereals & Bakery, Confectionary, Nuts & Seeds, and Meat & Meat products. For the  Poultry & Poultry Meat Products category, the incident trend was not forecasted successfully. For the Fats & Oils product category, no biological incidents were reported.


Highlights:

  • For Biological Hazards in Fruits & Vegetables, Diary Products, and Meat & Meat Products, the platform forecasted the trend with only a small difference in the percentages between the actual and forecasted number of incidents.
  • For Biological Hazard incidents in Cocoa, Coffee & Tea, Herbs & Spices, Cereals & Bakery, and Confectionary products, FOODAKAI forecasted the increasing and decreasing trend accordingly but with a large difference between the actual and forecasted number of incidents.
  • In the Poultry & Poultry Meat Products FOODAKAI failed to forecast the trends.
  • Finally, in the Nuts & Seed product category, FOODAKAI achieved almost perfect accurate forecasting.

As food & beverage companies are increasingly facing a landscape of unexpected supply chain disruptions, novel food risks, it is now more than ever vital for them to be able to anticipate emerging risks and mitigate them before they escalate. AI and predictive analytics are no longer an experiment but a tested solution that can empower companies to companies to proactively identify potential hazards and incidents before they occur. 

FOODAKAI helps F&B companies to leverage the power of accurate forecasts for biological, chemical, allergen, and food fraud risks, to ensure product safety, prevent costly recalls, and maintain consumer trust. 

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