The partnership will further explore the blueprint for a health-forward and regenerative food system while accelerating Danone’s development of category-leading plant-based products
Leading global food & beverage company Danone and biosciences company Brightseed, creator of Forager artificial intelligence (AI) that maps and predicts the health impact of plant-based compounds, have announced a partnership to advance Danone’s plant-based expertise. Through a multi-year strategic collaboration, Danone and Brightseed will co-build an unparalleled understanding of the world’s most common crops and will explore lesser-known plant sources.
The partnership is to establish the blueprint for a health-forward and regenerative food system while accelerating Danone’s development of category-leading plant-based products. It builds from the success of last year’s partnership between Danone North America and Brightseed, demonstrating the value of this first proof of concept study. The partnership comes after Brightseed uncovered groundbreaking information with Danone North America, one of the world’s largest B Corp and maker of leading plant-based brands like Silk, So Delicious and Follow Your Heart.
Since last year, the two companies have focussed on identifying new biological connections between bioactives present in Danone’s raw plant sources to human health. In one single plant, in a matter of months, Forager uncovered 10 times more bioactives than previously known and 7 new health areas.
Bioactives in plants provide significant health benefits for humans, yet currently, less than 1 per cent of these compounds are known to science. Only 12 plants — crops such as corn, rice, wheat, soy, oats and others — account for 75 per cent of the global food system. With Brightseed’s capabilities using Forager, there is a wealth of untapped potential to more deeply understand how these plants maintain their health integrity as the cornerstone of the world’s food supply and explore new territories for plant-based innovations.
