Cardiff Met wins funding for AI food safety project

19 August 2026

Cardiff Metropolitan University has secured £176,000 to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) could improve food safety in workplaces and at home.

The Smart Hygiene Intelligence project, led by Dr Issam Damaj from Cardiff School of Technologies, has received funding from Behavioural Research UK (BR-UK) through its Commissioning Fund. The award is part of a wider £1.3 million Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) initiative to strengthen behavioural research across the UK.

The project will bring together behavioural science and AI to develop new ways of improving food hygiene habits and food safety compliance. Researchers will investigate how AI-powered systems could encourage safer food handling and help reduce the risk of foodborne illness.

Poor food hygiene remains a leading cause of foodborne illness. While food safety is often managed through training, audits and inspections, AI could offer a more proactive approach by:

Identifying unsafe practices in real time
Prompting corrective action
Improving compliance with hygiene procedures
Providing insights into behavioural trends
Supporting stronger food safety cultures in workplaces and homes

Researchers will work closely with end users to co-design AI tools that help identify risks, encourage good hygiene habits and support better decision-making. One area being explored is AI-powered hand hygiene monitoring.

Dr Issam Damaj, Head of Department of Computer Science and project lead, said: "Food safety depends not only on knowledge and regulations, but also on everyday human behaviour. This project will explore how behavioural science and AI can work together to deliver practical solutions.

"By bringing together experts in technology, food safety and behavioural research, we aim to develop intelligent tools that are effective, trusted and capable of making a real difference across the food sector and beyond."

The work draws on expertise from Cardiff Met's Centre for Engineering Research on Intelligent Sensors and Systems, Professor Elizabeth Redmond and Dr Ellen Evans from the ZERO2FIVE Food Industry Centre and Dr Fiona Carroll from Cardiff School of Technologies, alongside industry partner Forward NPD.

The project builds on Cardiff Met's strong track record in food safety research and highlights the University's growing expertise in applied AI and intelligent sensing technologies.