EDITORIAL Open Access

Personalized diet oriented by artificialintelligence and ethnic foodsDae Young Kwon1,2

Abstract

In the future, societies will endeavor to move beyond the framework of the industrial economy and the world willenter a new era marked by super-aged populations, artificial intelligence (AI), and the lifestyle economy. It ispredicted that humanity will shift away from the industrial economy to a lifestyle economy where the main focus ishuman happiness. Human thought and behavior is influenced by emotions and cannot be explained entirelythrough rational decision-making. Accordingly, AI and other super connection technologies that drive big data anddeep learning will facilitate the introduction of personalized and decentralized services, which represent a shiftaway from the era of mass production, centralization and automation. This means that more attention will be paidto designing unique lifestyles instead of production. In the future, super-aged societies will no longer be steeped inindividualism, and become more people-centric. In such societies, obtaining an accurate understanding of people’snoneun style (other activities style beyond working as leisure, play, and others) and dietary style to deliverpersonalized foods conducive to healthy eating and healthy lifestyles will be of great importance. Personalized dietswill be developed based on structured data drawn from human genes, which do not change. However,unstructured data about epigenetics and microbiomes, which can be influenced by lifestyle and diet, will beimportant for designing personalized foods and lifestyles. Diversity in foods is the most important factor ingenerating this unstructured data. Because the responsibility for maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle falls onindividuals, developing personalized food and lifestyle products is an important step towards reaching thecentenarian era. Developing personalized diets requires technologies such as super-connectivity, AI, and theInternet of humans (IoHuman) rather the internet of things (IoT), but researching these technologies is not a job forthe food industry. Technologies developed in other fields can be used in food science research, and thesetechnologies fall under the umbrella of “foodomics.” Such technologies include genetic analysis, whole genomesequence analysis, nutrigenomics, metabolomics, nutrigenetics, nutriepigenetics, microbiome technology,sensomics, and culturomics, as well as “sikdanomics.” Korea has a lot of potential when it comes to personalizedfoods and diets. Because Korea has a long agricultural history, the country has a wide range of natural foods, andmany ways to prepare and eat these foods. This means that Korean foods, in particular traditional Korean foods, arewell positioned to meet the demand for diversity in personalized foods. In a super-aged era characterized by AI,Korea has a good chance of becoming a country where people can live to 100 in good health and also has thepotential to be a global leader in personalized diets. To achieve this, food scientists and medical professionals needto work together to convince the Korean government to lead the industry in the right direction.

Keywords: Fourth industrial revolution, Artificial intelligence (AI), Personalized diet, Foodomics, Epigenetics

© The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, andreproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link tothe Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver(http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Correspondence: dykwon@kfri.re.kr1Korea Food Research Institute, 245, Agribio Rd., Iso-myun, Wanju-kun,Chollabuk-do 55365, Republic of Korea2Korea Academy of Science and Technology, 42, Dolmaro, Bundang-ku,Songnam, Kyongki-do, Republic of Korea

Journal of Ethnic FoodsKwon Journal of Ethnic Foods (2020) 7:10 https://doi.org/10.1186/s42779-019-0040-4

IntroductionMany people like to discuss and make predictions aboutfuture societies. Some talk about population problems,while others discuss economic issues or what our liveswill look like in the future. During the 1960s and 1970s,when industrialization was in full force, a lot of futurolo-gists believed that the food industry would become dom-inated by processed foods, as this was the most efficientway to obtain the caloric intake necessary to fuel pro-ductive work. Some even predicted that people wouldonly need to eat a single capsule per day in the future,and a number of food scientists openly stated thatcultures like Korea where foods were difficult to prepare,took a long time to eat, and produced a lot of disheswould end-up disappearing. Following this logic, manyadvocated that all foods should be processed and mademore convenient, and the tone of these policies still hasa lasting impact on development in the Korean foodindustry today.However, these predictions proved to be incorrect.

This is because food scientists focused their attentiononly on food’s primary function of providing calories,while ignoring other aspects of food production. Eatingis not just about nutrition. It is also about enjoying thefood’s taste, finding joy in the act of eating, and interact-ing with others. However, food scientists failed to takethis into account, viewing time spent eating as anobstacle to industrialization that needed to be removed.Nowadays, the world takes great interest in the history,

culture, and health benefits of Korean food, and manyscientists and futurologists believe Korean food has greatpotential to grow further in the global food and foodculture market. With growing interest in gastronomy,alongside the culture of finding joy in preparing andeating food together with others, the rise of “slow food,”including foods which take a long time to prepare (andwere the enemy of efficiency-minded food scientists) hasboosted the value of Korean food.Although it is difficult to predict the future, it is

possible to ascertain some characteristics of what futuresocieties might look like. The first is that society willcontinue to transition away from the industrial paradigmwhich is marked by competition through production andmove towards “post-industrial logic” which is morepeople-centric and in tune with nature. However, humanactivities and lifestyles are also likely to drasticallychange as a result of technological advancement, espe-cially AI (artificial intelligence) [1]. Second, advancementin medicine and biotechnology will extend the humanlifespan, leading to super-aged societies. This means hu-manity will transition from an industrial economy to alifestyle economy that is focused on human happiness.The industrial economy will take a backseat within thebroader framework of the lifestyle economy. The third

industrial revolution was marked by great advances inproductivity that was made possible through high-speedcalculations. However, the development of core tech-nologies such as AI will help humanity move past thismindset to reach the 4th IR, where the introduction ofmachines that are able to “think” using deep learningtechnology capable of analyzing human cognition andbehavior will lead to a greater focus on individual life-styles instead of production.In the book “The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4th

IR),” Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab of WorldEconomic Forum (WEF) advocates for changes to oureconomic systems and social structures based on the AIrevolution brought about by convergence between digitaland bio-technology [2]. Nations around the world, in-cluding the USA, Japan, Germany, and China, have real-ized that they need to prepare for the Fourth IndustrialRevolution, and laid out strategies to this end. This is ahighly sensitive issue in Korea. The Fourth IndustrialRevolution is the latest in a line of buzzwords including“going green,” “sustainable growth,” and the “creativeeconomy.” In fact, Korea accounts for up to 97% of on-line searches worldwide for the Fourth Industrial Revo-lution. The Korean government believes that Korea willfall behind in global competition if it fails to adapt to theFourth Industrial Revolution, and it appears that rele-vance to the 4th IR and the potential to develop futureeconomic growth engines are treated as importantcriteria for evaluating the activities of all governmentdepartments. In fact, 4th IR has even become a hot topicin religious circles.However, behind this enthusiasm lies the fact that a

misguided understanding of the 4th IR can lead to ser-ious consequences. One example is viewing the 4th IRthrough the lens of the production economy, believingthat it merely represents an extension of the automation,convenience, and efficiency that marked the Third In-dustrial Revolution [3]. This is rooted in a false under-standing of the nature of the 4th IR, and the Koreangovernment continues to operate on the understandingthat the Korean economy is purely an industrial econ-omy. Although there is a lot of talk about the develop-ment of autonomous vehicles through AI technology,the 4th IR is about more than just producing autono-mous vehicles to beat the competition. It is about thesocial and lifestyle changes that will be brought about bytechnology such as autonomous vehicles. In the samevein, the discourse about the 4th IR in the agriculturalsector is mainly focused on 3D printing, smart farms,and smart logistics only in terms of profits of companythan the happiness of human. This obsession with pro-duction is merely an extension of the Third IndustrialRevolution (3rd Industrial Revolution) and does nottruly represent the 4th IR. In discussions about the

Kwon Journal of Ethnic Foods (2020) 7:10 Page 2 of 16

essence of the 4th IR, very few people are talking aboutthe issues of social structures and social values or howthe agricultural sector can produce food which helpspeople live happy and healthy lives. An example of real4th IR technology is the use of 3D printing to producecustomized human organs that function as nerves, veins,or muscles based on big data analysis. Similarly, insteadof focusing on technological factors such as facilities, theproduction environment, and automation, discussionsabout smart farms should center around the use ofblock-chain technology to produce a diverse range ofpersonalized foods through processes such as “hormesis”that can fulfill the biological and cultural needs of con-sumers [4]. This means that food industry should beconsidered highly relevant to the 4th IR. It appears thatthe food industry was passed over because those workingin the industry do not have a complete understanding ofthe 4th IR and failed to convince the government oftheir industry’s importance. However, before placing theblame on those in the industry, it is important for foodscientists including myself to admit their share ofresponsibility.It is crucial that those in the food industry have an

accurate understanding of the 4th IR and use this asa foundation for engaging in discussions with thegovernment. At present, claiming that the food indus-try has the greatest potential of all industries in the4th IR is likely to be met with quizzical stares oreven scorn. This is the reality we live in. However,because the 4th IR represents a great change in thestructure of human lifestyles, the food industry islikely to be at the forefront of the revolution since itaccounts for a large proportion of the leisure indus-try. Due to advancement in AI and biotechnology [5],diet and eating habits will continue to play an evermore important role in human health, so accurateanalysis of consumer demands for health, taste, andwellbeing will form an important part of providingpersonalized food and lifestyle products. This willserve as the foundation for sustaining happy andhealthy lives, and it is the 4th IR that will enablepeople to live such lives.For example, when providing personalized food prod-

uct services, companies may be able to obtain genetic in-formation about people through deep learning to makeaccurate predictions, then provide dietary guidelines toindividuals to maximize their health and happiness. Pro-viding personalized food and lifestyle products based onan accurate understanding of each individual’s leisureand dietary style will be particularly important in thesuper-aged, personalized, people-centric societies of thefuture. Personalized diets will be developed based onstructured data drawn from human genes, which do notchange. However, unstructured data about epigenetics

and microbiomes, which can be influenced by lifestyleand diet, will be an important form of big data for de-signing personalized foods. This is why it is important tounderstand lifestyle patterns as well as structured dataabout personalized diets, unstructured genetic dataabout individuals, epigenetic data, and microbiome data.Super-connectivity, AI, and the IoT are the hard-

ware technologies that lie at the heart of the 4th IR,while interactive data systems (platforms), technologyto recognize lifestyles and lifestyle patterns, biotech-nology, machine learning, and deep learning make upthe core software. Big data is also part of this. Thesuccess or failure of the 4th IR hinges on the quantityand accuracy of big data for each of these factors. Inparticular, it depends on how much accurate informa-tion each individual has about the ingredients con-tained in each food. The hardware and softwareelements do not require further research in the foodscience industry as long as the basic concepts areunderstood. The hardware and software industriescontinue to advance at breakneck speed thanks toelectronic engineers and IT (information technology)experts, and Korea ranks among the global leaders interms of hardware.However, generating big data about food is a task that

cannot be performed by those in the hardware and soft-ware industries. Because this represents data about dietand lifestyle, it can only be produced through fieldssuch as agriculture, food science, bioscience, and lifescience. In this era, foodomics and life science technol-ogy are required to generate the necessary data abouthealthy living and lifestyles. More specifically, the tech-nology required includes biotechnologies such ashormesis, whole genome sequence analysis, nutrige-nomics, metabolomics, nutrigenetics, nutriepigenetics,and microbiome technologies, as well as foodomicsdisciplines such as sensomics, gastronomy, culturomics,dietary style, leisure style, and even “sikdanomics (sik-dan is food table which is composed of main dish andside dishes).” Of course, there is no need to developsuch core technologies within the food science sector.Data about the value of Korean foods should be generatedby obtaining a clear understanding of these modern bio-technologies and applying them appropriately, while at thesame time keeping up with the rapid pace of developmentand change in global biotechnology. There are also manyaspects of food-related life science that require researchbefore existing biotechnologies can be applied to our lives.Many countries are already hard at work utilizing thesecore technologies to generate big data. Although many be-lieve that big data from other advanced countries can beeasily imported to Korea, this is incorrect due to the food,cultural, ethnic, and dietary differences between Koreaand other countries.

Kwon Journal of Ethnic Foods (2020) 7:10 Page 3 of 16

From the perspective of diversity, the Korean food in-dustry is well placed to play an important role in the de-velopment of personalized diets and could become aglobal leader if quality big data can be generated. Koreahas a wide range of natural foods because of its longagricultural history, and Korean food has many advan-tages when it comes to responding to diverse demandsfor personalized diets.This paper aims to deliver an accurate understanding

of the 4th IR and point out errors and other issues withthe Korean government’s current 4th IR policy. As a keysector in the 4th IR, this study aims to approach person-alized foods from the perspective of science and the so-cial sciences, while also providing a brief outline of thebiotechnologies and life science technologies required toproduce such foods. Finally, this paper discusses somepolicy recommendations for the Korean government.

The food industry and the Fourth IndustrialRevolutionCharacteristics of the food industryLow appropriabilityMost people are familiar with foods and the food indus-try. It is rare to come across someone who knows noth-ing about these subjects, and the majority of people canentertain a discussion about food and the food industry.However, this also means that there is a greater amountof misinformation about the food industry. Some peoplebelieve that the restaurant business and the foodindustry are among the easiest industries to understand.Although this is technically correct, it also causes anumber of problems. In reality, the food industry is notas technology intensive as people thought, nor does ithave a high level of technological protection or high bar-riers to entry [6]. This can be summarized as low appro-priability [7]. Development in the food industry is notdriven by production and technological advancement. Indeveloping countries, the longstanding problem is foodsupply and agricultural production because of foodshortages. In the industrial era, the food industry wasable to grow simply by increasing production, and theindustry was capital-intensive and production-focused.However, in the future, industrial production will be theproblem, and the new focus will be on meeting the de-mands of consumers. Consumers are interested in manyother factors outside of a full stomach, including taste,culture, health, and happiness, and a purely techno-logical approach to food production cannot satisfy thesedemands. Accordingly, the government’s current foodindustry policy, which is skewed towards developmentand production, will not be able to turn Korea into aglobal leader in this field. The government’s focus onR&D has led to a situation where profits are monopo-lized by only a few companies, and the first step towards

a solution is addressing this problem. The goal of na-tional food R&D should be promoting health, happiness,and national prosperity instead of chasing corporateprofits through technology transfers.The Third Industrial Revolution was able to provide

answers through production, but the commercialization,automation, and standardization of the production econ-omy cannot satisfy a diverse range of consumer needs.The 4th IR will enable companies to satisfy consumerswith different characters and preferences, and this is theonly way forward for the Korean food industry.

Public natureA nation’s food industry is closely intertwined with thehealth, safety, and happiness of its people, as well as thenational economy [6, 7]. This is why both governmentsand the public are very sensitive about issues of foodsafety, and governments closely monitor the price offood and food products. Accordingly, unlike in other in-dustries, it is rare for a company in the food industry tohave monopolizing power, and even if such a companyexists, it cannot abuse this power by raising prices as itpleases. Food prices have a substantial influence on in-flation across the whole economy. This is why govern-ments seek to control food prices in an attempt toexercise influence over inflation. It is also important tokeep in mind that the safety and healthiness of foods areimportant criteria for judging public health and well-being in a country. A few years ago, a large Korean com-pany released a new product developed with qualitymaterials, but were asked by the government to lowerthe price after complaints that it was too expensive. Thisis one of many instances where companies released anew product but then abandoned it shortly due togovernment price control.This means that unlike in other industries, it is diffi-

cult for companies in the food industry to make a for-tune by developing and manufacturing a new product,but the government and scientists continue to focus themajority of their attention on product development asthe main driver of growth in the food industry. Whenviewed in this light, the government’s current food de-velopment and production policies are misguided andill-fitted to meet the needs of society in the future. Onthe other hand, the government has no way of control-ling personalized diets that have been designed to matchthe specific preferences and cultural and biological traitsof individual consumers. This is why personalized diet isa high value-added industry.

Endless choiceThe end consumers of the food industry are ordinarypeople. Although the same applies to many other indus-tries, ordinary people are not the end consumers for

Kwon Journal of Ethnic Foods (2020) 7:10 Page 4 of 16

pharmaceuticals. In this case, it is doctors that make upthe end consumer group, while the end consumers formachines and equipment are companies. This is whyordinary consumers do not have a “right to know” whenit comes to pharmaceuticals. However, because foods areconsumed by everyday people, they have the right toknow about the safety, health benefits, and origins of thefoods they consume. Consumers also have the right tochoose. The same applies to automobiles, smart phones,and home appliances, for which ordinary people are theend consumers. However, cars and cell phones are gen-erally used for 5–10 and 2–5 years, respectively, so ittakes a long time until consumers are presented with an-other purchasing decision. Once a consumer buys a caror phone, they will not have to make another decisionfor at least several years. On the other hand, consumershave to make at least 200–300 choices, or sometimes upto 1000 choices every year when it comes to foods. Be-cause choices about foods are so frequent, consumerswant to know a lot about foods and exercise their rightto know. The rights to know and to choose are import-ant factors that need to be taken into account in discus-sions about growth in the food industry.Accordingly, the factors that consumers take into ac-

count when choosing foods should be part of the dis-course as well. Korea has a history of focusing only onthe supply side when it comes to discussing consumers’right to choose. In other words, the majority of attentionwas focused on nutrition to prevent people from goinghungry, prices that consumers could afford to pay, anddistributing food in a way that prevented them from get-ting sick. The government remains stuck in the para-digm that corporate enrichment equates to developmentin the food industry. However, in the future, industrialdevelopment that caters to corporate profits will not besufficient to achieve true growth in this industry. In-stead, it will be necessary to pay more attention to taste,gastronomy, and healthy lifestyles. It is also necessary tohave an accurate understanding of the criteria that con-sumers consider when choosing between foods. Thereare three key differences between foods and pharmaceu-ticals when it comes to consumer choice.

Unique characteristics of foods

Taste Even though health has become an important cri-terion for making decisions about food, taste remains asa king criterion. In the industrial era, the importance oftaste caused many companies to add sugar and salt totheir products to make them more flavorful, but this ledto a number of severe side effects including obesity. Inscientific terms, salt and sugar are the tastiest substanceson earth. When combined with greater calorie counts,people’s desire to eat tasty food has led to an obesity

epidemic and a host of obesity-related diseases includingdiabetes and cardiovascular disease. In the USA, the epi-center of the global food industry, the obesity rate hassoared to above 60% and become a serious social prob-lem. Taste rules when it comes to choosing foods, andfuture growth in the food industry will depend on howwell companies are able to develop products that are fullof healthy flavor without the side effects of causing obes-ity and metabolic diseases. This is why the food industryneeds to adopt an approach that looks beyond techno-logy and production.Since the 1980s, the food industry in Korea has been

treated as less important than other sectors such aspharmaceuticals, as it is considered less technical andless worthy of academic attention. Those speaking aboutthe importance of biotechnology in the food industryhave tended to be ignored by pharmaceutical scientists,and even by bureaucrats in terms of priority for under-standing and granting. However, in this day and age,foods are one area that cannot be touched by experts inpharmaceuticals or biotechnology. This is because foodshave certain characteristics that are not present in phar-maceuticals. It goes without saying that the first of thesetraits is taste.

Culture Culture is another unique aspect of food. Dur-ing the industrial era, when technology-based food pro-duction was the main goal, culture was not taken intoaccount. However, a closer examination of the food in-dustry reveals that culture is a key factor in consumerchoice and very important for development in the indus-try. The Korean food industry cannot develop into a glo-bal leader without cultural support. Despite this, theMinistry of Agriculture and Foods (MAF) currently hasno plans to research this aspect of food due to the influ-ence of some scholars who spread inaccurate informa-tion. This misinformation is hindering growth in thefood industry. The MAF needs to move away from itscurrent paradigm which caters to product developmentby a small number of companies. Without a paradigmshift, the Korean food industry will be unable to grow.

Taste fatigue During the 2000s, a number of pharmacyprofessors were appointed to work on research projectsto fight obesity and extend healthy life expectancy, buttheir poor understanding of food led to a number of er-rors. The most glaring mistake was coercing companiesto develop “obesity prevention” products, based on thefalse belief that food could be treated as a kind ofpharmaceutical. They asked companies to develop prod-ucts to “prevent” obesity or even “prevent” air pollutioncaused by yellow dust. These scientists believed that byeating such products, everyone would be able to live to100. However, even if such a product could be developed

Kwon Journal of Ethnic Foods (2020) 7:10 Page 5 of 16

and distributed to every person, those people would diemuch faster than their peers. This is because even if an“obesity prevention” product were very effective, anyoneforced to eat it only would grow sick of the taste after afew days and prefer to starve to death than eat nothingbut that product for the rest of their lives. Unlike withmedicine, people grow tired of the taste of food overtime. Even now, Korean bureaucrats continue to include“preventing something” as part of indexes for evaluatingprojects, despite the fact that this is based on a falseunderstanding of foods. This is a foolish policy.Developing foods that can satisfy the diverse cultural,

biological, and lifestyle needs of consumers is the key toglobal success in the future, but bureaucrats seem hell-bent on promoting the development of monotonousfoods rooted in an outdated industrial era mindset. TheKorean food industry will struggle to develop unless thischanges. It is regrettable that this line of thinking stillunderpins many government projects. The governmentneeds to rapidly abandon its corporate-oriented foodpolicy and replace it with one that caters to the public.Because consumers make hundreds of choices about

foods every year, choice is the key for both lifestyle andlife itself. It needs to be recognized that Korea’s currentapproach to product development and production isundermining growth in the food industry.

Life style science and Technology for the PublicAs discussed earlier, the food industry is an integral partof our lives. Accordingly, even if every other industry de-veloped by humanity falls by the wayside, the food in-dustry will remain as long as humans still exist on earth.Although ordinary people are the end consumers ofsmart-phones and cars, these industries are not consid-ered part of life science. This is because once a personhas decided between buying an Apple or Samsungphones, it has very little impact on their life thereafter.The same applies to choosing between different brandsof cars. On the other hand, decisions about food need tobe made every day, and the foods a person chooses toeat will influence their taste, health, life, and even happi-ness. This is why the food industry is one of the life stylesciences [8], and why this industry should be approachedfrom the perspective of life style science technology thatcan enrich people’s lives and make them happier andhealthier, instead of industrial technology with a focuson production. Such an approach focuses on foods thatare tastier and healthier and help people to live happyand healthy lives. It also dictates a greater focus on theconsumer economy, respecting consumers’ right toknow and ensuring that consumers have access tohealthy, safe foods that improve their quality of life.For example, when it comes to food safety, the status

quo is biased towards developing technologies such as

speed radars to catch speeding vehicles on expressways,and search vehicles that are found to be speeding onmultilane roads. Meanwhile, companies that producespeed radars are only interested in increasing sales.Companies are ultimately obsessed with the bottom lineand profit indicators. But money should not be an issuewhen it comes to public safety. Even if it costs extra,software systems should be built into hardware thatallow ordinary people to detect and prevent safetythreats, and public safety should be the primary focus ofsoftware development. Rather than continuing to de-velop new products or technology, a paradigm that com-bines existing technologies to contribute to public safetyand quality of life is paramount.The food industry also needs to shift its goals towards

public health and cultural development. It is time for thegovernment to step up and generate scientifically veri-fied big data to improve public health and safety, as wellas promote access to accurate information. There is notime to waste on product and technological develop-ment, and the development of technology that poolsdata together is not a job for food scientists anyway. Thegovernment should view generating big data and pro-viding such data to individuals and companies as a toppriority, as data is crucial for helping both groups makebetter decisions.The ultimate goal of the state should be ensuring that

people live happy and healthy lives instead of encour-aging competition through endless work.

Personalized diets in the fourth industrial Revolution eraAn accurate understanding of fourth industrial RevolutionThe term “Fourth Industrial Revolution (4th IndustrialRevolution)” was first used in “Industry 4.0,” one of tenmajor projects included in the German government’s“High-Tech Strategy” released in 2010. It refers to con-vergence between the manufacturing and IT industries.In 2016, “Mastering the 4th IR” was chosen as a maintheme for the Davos Forum held in Geneva [5]. Thiswas the first time the Davos Forum, which is known forcovering economic issues such as low growth, inequality,and sustainability, had dealt with a topic related to sci-ence and technology. The 4th IR then became a talkingpoint around the world when it was added to the WorldEconomic Forum (WEF)’s agenda, and many futuro-logists and research institutes worldwide have since dis-cussed the industrial and social changes that the 4th IRwill bring about.As an advocate of the 4th IR and WEF Executive

Chairman, Klaus Schwab defined the revolution as “Atechnological revolution that builds on the Third Indus-trial Revolution and is characterized by convergence be-tween digital technology, physics and the bio-industry,bringing about rapid changes to economic systems and

Kwon Journal of Ethnic Foods (2020) 7:10 Page 6 of 16

social structures” in his book ‘The 4th IR.’ He wrote“We are on the cusp of a technological revolution thatwill fundamentally change the way we have lived andworked until now. The scope and complexity of thischange will be unlike anything humanity has ever seenbefore.” The First Industrial Revolution (1760–1840) wasmarked by production through machines due to the in-vention of railroads and the steam engine, while the Sec-ond Industrial Revolution (late nineteenth century-earlytwentieth century) enabled mass production systemsthrough the invention of the electric light and produc-tion lines. The Third Industrial Revolution led to the ad-vent of the information era through semiconductors andmainframe computers (in the 1960s), personal com-puters (in the 1970s to 1980s), and the Internet (in the1990s). Building on the first three revolutions, the 4th IRwill be one of super-connectivity and hyper-intelligence.It is expected to bring about a more advanced society byconnecting people and objects together through ICTtechnologies including the IoT and cloud computing, aswell as big data and AI.This has also caused controversy about the validity of

the generational concept put forward by Schwab. Rifkin[3], who was the first to use the term Third IndustrialRevolution, has stated that it is too early to talk about a“Fourth Industrial Revolution.” He believes that theamazing changes currently taking place are merely anextension of the information revolution brought aboutby the Third Industrial Revolution.In this sense, the 4th IR has been mainly discussed in

terms of social and economic changes in the post-industrial era, while in Korea the discussion has beenlimited to topics such as production, efficiency, and con-venience. This is because the Korean government be-lieves that economic growth in Korea hinges ondeveloping the industrial economy. However, this missesthe point of the 4th IR. Although there is a lot of talkabout the advent of autonomous vehicles due to ad-vancement in AI, the goal of developing autonomous ve-hicles in the US is to improve the quality of life forelderly or disabled people who cannot drive, while inKorea the focus remains squarely on how to produceand sell more autonomous vehicles. This is based on themisconception that all cars will be autonomously drivenin the future, an argument which ignores the fact thatthere is both life style and pleasure in driving and treatshumans as slaves to automation. The 4th IR is aboutmore than just efficiency and producing autonomous ve-hicles that are able to beat the competition. It is aboutthe changes to lifestyles and social structures that will bebrought about by technology such as autonomous vehi-cles. In the same vein, the discourse about the 4th IR inthe agricultural sector is mainly focused on productionand distribution systems such as 3D printing, smart

farms, and smart logistics. But this focus on productionis merely an extension of the Third Industrial Revolutionrather than a true 4th IR. In a future with advanced AI,humanity also runs the risk of losing the very things thatmake us human. This is why the 4th IR needs to bedriven in a direction that improves quality of life and hu-man happiness.

Elements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution The 4thIR can be understood as a revolution in industry andlifestyles that is fuelled by AI and life science. Humanityneeds to ensure that advancement in AI is accompaniedby greater human happiness instead of allowing ma-chines to achieve dominance by taking away humanintelligence. There is a lot of confusion between AI andthe 4th IR among the general public. It must be remem-bered that AI and life science refer to technology whilethe 4th IR refers to lifestyle. Accordingly, an understand-ing of AI is required to make sense of the 4th IR. Ratherthan replicating human brains, AI should be viewed aslearning how humans think and the processes that makethought possible [9].

(a) Hardware factors

AI needs to be equipped with hardware similar to theneurons and genome that enables humans to think andsolve problems. There is no need for those working inthe food industry to understand this hardware. However,the view held by certain bureaucrats that food science isnot a core part of the 4th IR because those in the indus-try do not understand the technical aspects is misguided.These bureaucrats are unable to see past the outdatedlogic of the industrial era, believing that producing highquality machinery at a competitive price equates to eco-nomic development. Producing such machinery shouldbe left to the digital and electronics industries, while thefood industry need only apply this technology to createimprovements in quality of life in terms of happiness.

(b) Software factors

The 2012 Davos Forum in Geneva, hosted by theWEF, was held under the theme of the importance ofsoft power. The power of AI software lies in building onthe mechanical aspects by enabling machines torecognize their surroundings, environment, and behaviorso that they can put this data together, draw conclu-sions, and take action, in other words, creating systemsthat allow machines to act like humans. In this sense, AIis a discipline that cannot develop without an accurateunderstanding of the biological processes that underpinthe mechanisms of the human brain. The core AI tech-nologies involve developing super-connected and hyper-

Kwon Journal of Ethnic Foods (2020) 7:10 Page 7 of 16

intelligent algorithms and programming AI systems.Similar to hardware, those working in the food scienceindustry need only understand the basic principles anddo not require detailed knowledge of the technology. Alack of knowledge about these systems does not meanthat the food industry will be left behind in the 4th IR.Instead, the task for the food industry is applying thesesystems to successfully produce personalized diets andhelp develop Korea’s food industry into a global leader.Putting it this way may give the impression that the

food industry can sit back and do very little in the 4thIR. However, this view is based on a lack of knowledgeabout the characteristics of the food industry. The Presi-dential Advisory Council on Science on Technology inKorean Government decided to exclude the food indus-try from a list of ten core 4th IR industries on thegrounds of being unrelated, but this decision is rooted inan incomplete understanding of the importance of bigdata in the food industry. These bureaucrats know noth-ing outside of hardware, software, and the production ofAI machines. Personalized diets will be a core industryin the 4th IR, so it is important that the government hasa clear understanding of what the revolution is all about.This paper discusses why personalized diets will play animportant role in the 4th IR.

(c) Big data

Even with top quality machinery and software, AI can-not function without data. Because the Third IndustrialRevolution was based around centralized control with asingle correct answer to each problem, the only thing re-quired was the data and equation to perform the neces-sary calculations. In this context, an abundance ofinformation can actually hinder calculations and makethings more difficult to control. On the other hand, theadvent of more powerful hardware in the 4th IR meansthat a lack of information is now fatal to making accur-ate decisions. A large number of data points are requiredfor optimal decision-making. Accordingly, accurate anderror-free data sets are an essential part of AI. Cutting-edge hardware and software are largely meaningless un-less they are supported by a sufficient quantity of data.Success or failure in the 4th IR is dependent on big data.Although the term big data is used, the accuracy of thedata is often more important than its quantity. This iswhy it is important for governments to filter out noiseand fake data.Unfortunately, despite the Korean government’s fan-

fare about the 4th IR, no investment is currently beingmade in big data generation or filtering out fake data.The Ministry of Agriculture and Foods spends in KoreaGovernment less than 1% of its R&D budget on big datageneration, while this figure should be above 30% in

order to properly prepare for the future. In discussionsabout data generation, there are inevitably some bureau-crats who argue that using data from other advanced na-tions such as the USA will suffice. However, even if thehardware and software systems of other countries can beimported, data about foods, food products and the per-sonalized diets most suited to individuals cannot be useddue to the differences between Korea and other coun-tries. In fields such as life science, data obtained fromAmericans will not work in Korea. Korea not only hasdifferent foods, but other differences exist in lifestyles,biology, and traditional foods. In order to develop Ko-rean foods into global products, data about such foodsmust first be obtained. This means data about Koreanculture and the Korean people. Without generating bigdata applicable to Korea, the country has no chance ofsucceeding in the 4th IR. This is an example of softpower.

Characteristics of the Fourth Industrial Revolutionfrom the perspective of the food industry(a) Decentralization

The 4th IR involves a transition from production sys-tems and integrated information systems designed for ef-ficient production towards hyper-connected systems thatcan produce a range of personalized products catered toindividual consumers. Accordingly, this is not an effi-ciency war aimed at competing on price or production.Decentralized systems are a leading example of an eco-nomic model designed for consumers. For example, ablock-chain system that generates clean energy for a spe-cified consumer block in a certain region and sells anyleftover energy. This kind of block-chain system cancategorize consumers into blocks based on their bio-logical traits, preferences, culture, or history to deliverproducts or systems that meet their specific needs. Ofcourse, further development in AI and big data is neededto reach this level of decentralization, but technologicaladvancement could eventually move beyond block-chainto create P2P (person to person, product to person)models with greater levels of stratification and diversity.In this sense, decentralization is a core element of the4th IR.

(b) Personalization

If sufficient quantities of data are generated about eachindividual and object, deep learning technology will beable to put the pieces together to enable the provision ofpersonalized hobbies, culture, travel, relaxation, health-care services, and foods for individuals instead of groupsor blocks of consumers. Advancement in life sciencecould even enable distinctions to be drawn not only

Kwon Journal of Ethnic Foods (2020) 7:10 Page 8 of 16

between individuals, but also between the emotionsand biological rhythms within an individual. It wouldalso make personalized services possible that helpeach person find their own happiness, the ultimatepursuit of all humans. Of course, this is conditionalon the generation of suitable data, but if this can beachieved then the food industry would be able to pro-vide personalized P2P diets or foods based on an in-dividual’s lifestyle data and even genetic data. In thisway, personalized diets that help individuals stayhealthy will be a key industry in the 4th IR.Those who believe the 4th IR is all about production

through automated technologies such as 3D printingand smart farms suffer from the misguided view that itis a production revolution, when in reality it is a revolu-tion in personalization. Instead of manufacturing imita-tion foods with 3D printers, using the technology toproduce customized human organs that function asnerves, veins, or muscles based on big data analysis is atrue application of the 4th IR. It must be rememberedthat as the 4th IR unfolds, shifting towards natural andsustainable foods is the path towards human happiness.Similarly, instead of focusing on technological factorssuch as facilities, the production environment, and auto-mation, discussions about smart farms in the 4th IRshould center around the use of block-chain technologyto supply consumers with a diverse range of specializedproducts through processes such as “hormesis” that canfulfill their biological and cultural needs.

(c) Value sharing and sharing economy

In the 4th IR, all data and things, especially values andfacilities, could be connected and shared specifically per-son to persons, and person to things due the develop-ment of super connectivity by AI and IoT. Thus, sharingeconomy will be fully activated and creation of sharedvalues will be more important for new sharing economy.

(d) The first lifestyle Revolution

In Korea, lifestyle revolutions have come about fromthe introduction of technology that enabled the countryto join the ranks of advanced nations in terms of mind-set and sophistication. For example, the introduction ofshowers in every home led to better disease preventionand improved quality of life. In the same way, the 4th IRwill bring about lifestyle changes that ultimately lead togreater human happiness. This is why the 4th IR can beviewed as the first lifestyle revolution. Until now, the Ko-rean economy has been measured through productionindexes such as GDP and GNP. However, dramaticgrowth is no longer possible in these terms. In order tobecome a truly advanced nation, Korea needs to take the

lead in developing new lifestyle indexes that measurepublic happiness and prosperity.The Korean food industry has a solid foundation com-

pared to that of other countries and is therefore wellplaced to be competitive in the global food industry. It isunlikely that the USA will be a leader in the food indus-try of the future, as the country does not have a longagricultural history and produces food which is lackingin both tastes and culture.The 4th IR will be the first lifestyle revolution. Because

the food industry is closely connected to lifestyles andconsumption, it will serve as the cornerstone of the 4thIR in the future. Human thought and behavior is influ-enced by emotions and cannot be explained entirelythrough rational decision-making. Accordingly, AI andother 4th IR technologies that drive big data and deeplearning will facilitate the introduction of personalizedand decentralized services. This means that the mainfocus will be designing unique lifestyles instead of pro-duction. Accordingly, it is regrettable that discussionsabout the 4th IR in the agricultural sector pay little at-tention to values and how the food industry can developin a way that promotes happy and healthy lifestyles andsocial structures.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution and personalized dietsPersonalized diets based on individual geneticsAll humans wish to live healthy and full lives. It is hu-man nature for people to begin paying more attention tohealth and take steps to manage their health as they getolder. This holds true across all ages and all cultures.Korea has already become an aging society. In the fu-ture, 4th IR technology will be applied to the food indus-try. For example, when providing personalized diets,companies may be able to obtain genetic informationabout people through deep learning to make accuratepredictions, then provide dietary guidelines to individ-uals based on their nonen style (leisure style) and dietarystyle to maximize their health and happiness.As biotechnology continues to develop, we will be able

to understand not only the entire human genome, butalso how individual genes are connected to the expres-sion of certain diseases. Many genetic factors are relatedto health and disease, and we now know that they play adominant role in determining certain aspects of humanhealth and longevity. In the future, genetic analysis willreveal which individuals are susceptible to certain dis-eases. Because the primary structure of DNA does notchange in response to lifestyle or the external environ-ment, structured big data about individual genomes willbuild up over time. If this kind of structured data is gen-erated alongside big data about the foods of each coun-try, it will be possible to produce a range of personalizeddiets. The problem is that although advancement in

Kwon Journal of Ethnic Foods (2020) 7:10 Page 9 of 16

biotechnology has led to large quantities of data aboutgenetics, health, and susceptibility to diseases, more datais required about the chemical, biological, and agrono-mical features of Korean foods and cooking methodsspecifically. The lack of such data is concerning as itcould lead to poor decision-making that causes Korea tomiss out on an opportunity to play a larger role in theglobal food market. Nevertheless, although big data ofthis nature is currently unavailable, data about the genesof individuals can still be used to provide some degree ofpersonalization for medicines and nutrition.

Personalized diets based on lifestyle habitsWhat do people do to stay healthy? Ironically, mostpeople eat and do whatever they please while hoping toremain in good health, forgetting the fact that it takes alot of patience and effort to stay healthy [10]. More spe-cifically, people wish to live long and healthy lives butfail to take steps to make this happen. Lifestyle is crucialwhen it comes to remaining in good health. Lifestyle canbe broadly divided into three categories: working style,nonen style (leisure style is one of nonen style), and diet-ary style. It is possible to add “sleeping style” to this list,but because lengthy scientific explanations are requiredto understand the way in which people sleep, this factorwas omitted for the sake of brevity. Since many peopledo not have much control over their working style, andthere are fewer differences between individuals, this hasless of an impact on health. On the other hand, nonen-style (leisure style) and dietary style have a much greaterinfluence on health and longevity.The Korean verb non-da can be translated as “to play”

in English, but this is not a complete translation. Wordssuch as exercise, enjoy, be idle, be lazy, healing, rest, andgamble also fail to capture the meaning. The verb non-da implies relaxing both mentally and physically in away that heals the body. It also means to enjoy oneselfand have a good time. On the other hand, non-da canalso have a more negative connotation that denoteswasting one’s time without doing anything productive.The Korean people used to have an appreciation for thearts, but at some point the culture began to place lessvalue on having fun, exercising, and resting, and insteadfocused solely on working. This is largely due to the in-dustrial economy. In any case, the verb non-da is usedto refer to time spent on activities other than eating,working, and sleeping. Of course, leisure is generally notsomething that is formally taught. Knowing how to relaxis important because our leisure style is closely con-nected to our health and lifespan. Non-da is a word thatillustrates part of the Korean worldview. In this sense,“noneun style” does not simply refer to the way a person“plays” or engages in leisure. Since leisure style, timespending style, has a large impact on our health and

lifespan, learning how to make proper use of our leisuretime is also very important. Of course, learning to useyour leisure time in a healthy way is a difficult processthat requires patience.Third, it is necessary to improve our dietary style to

live a long and healthy life. This refers to the type offoods we eat and how we eat them. The food that wechoose to eat on any given single occasion is less im-portant because dietary style includes both cultural andhistorical factors. However, most people only focus onwhat they eat and pay little attention to improving theirlifestyle, which requires more patience and effort. Theyare reluctant to change their noneun-habits or eatinghabits, hoping to become healthy through food choicealone. Of course, it is true that the substances containedin the food we eat matter, there are correlations betweennonen style and dietary style, and the noneun activitiesthat accompany eating have cultural importance.Since many people do not have the chance to deter-

mine their own working habits, and noneun style is notsomething we formally learn, these habits can be difficultto change even if we invest money into doing so. How-ever, eating is necessary for survival. Whether rich orpoor, most people eat three meals a day. This meansthat everyone has three opportunities per day to fix theirdietary style. Eating habits can be changed through con-scious effort. In order to help consumers improve theirdietary style, they need to be provided with accurate in-formation about foods, including safety, functions, tradi-tions, and culture. There is currently a lack ofinformation in this respect. Because this kind of infor-mation is in the public interest, governments should in-vest in research to create it if no such data exists.Without accurate, useful, and up-to-date data, it is im-possible to provide services that help people improvetheir diet. Most experts believe that improved eatinghabits and lifestyle, as well as healthy food choices, canextend an individual’s lifespan by 5–6 years. Further-more, if children are taught about healthy noneun habitswhen they are young, it can add another few years totheir lives. As an aged society comes, the number ofpeople involuntarily engaging in noneun time (peoplenot-engaged in works) increases.This means that depending on our lifestyle, the foods

we eat and the way in which we eat those foods is veryimportant. In ancient times, people ate different foodsfor breakfast depending on what they had for dinner theprevious night. In Korea, people would eat haejangkukwith bean sprouts rich in aspartic acid if they had beendrinking the night before, or haejangkuk with vitamin-rich ox blood if they had stayed up all night working. Inthis sense, Koreans have been eating “personalized fit”food products for thousands of years. If advancement inbiotechnology and AI can be linked to food and

Kwon Journal of Ethnic Foods (2020) 7:10 Page 10 of 16

individuals, it will be possible to deliver personalized di-ets that cater to each individual’s lifestyle and prefer-ences, allowing everyone to live to 100 in good health.Although leisure and dietary style are individual habits,they contribute to public health and longer life-spans,which reduces medical costs and lowers the healthcareburden on the government, ultimately contributing togreater fiscal soundness. We have to learn how to leanabout good noneun habits and best dietary style. This iswhy noneun leisure and dietary style are crucial to livinglong and healthy lives. They are closely linked to person-alized diets.

Epigenetics and personalized dietsEven as adults, people tend to like the foods they ate aschildren and even the foods that their mother enjoyedwhile carrying them. In Asian countries, it is believedthat eating habits are passed down between generationsand that a person’s favorite foods are determined basedon the traits of their mother. Many people view this asunscientific, pointing out that eating habits cannot begenetic as genes are not affected by diet. However, mod-ern biotechnology has shown that many lifestyle habits,including eating habits, are hereditary. Although lifestylehabits do not affect the primary structure of DNA, theycan impact the proteins that combine with DNA (his-tones) or cause methyl groups in OH radicals in DNAside chains to be removed or added. In this sense, eatinghabits are related to genetics, and this discipline is calledepigenetics.It has also been discovered that diet has a large impact

on the distribution of gut bacteria, which in turn affectsgut health, immunity, overall health, physical consti-tution, and even “guts” in the colloquial sense. Thisbiological phenomenon is called the microbiome. Ac-cordingly, collating big data on how certain foods or in-gredients from different countries affect the distributionof gut bacteria is an important part of designing andproviding personalized diets. Although food cannotchange our genetic information, it can have an impacton the microbiome and epigenetics, and this influencecan carry over between generations.In a similar vein, although data is limited at present,

there is some evidence that noneun style and dietarystyle have an epigenetic impact and cause changes in themicrobiome. These epigenetic habits can also be passedon to future generations. This kind of unstructured datais an integral part of big data as it can be used to designpersonalized diets that vary based on the each individ-ual’s lifestyle and the environment they grew up in.In scientific terms, bacteria distribution and epigenetic

changes are related to sense of taste, which in turn islinked to eating habits and ultimately overall health andwellbeing. These factors also impact other biological

elements including our genome, proteome, and RNAand are connected to health and even general feelingsabout life. In other words, the microbiome and epigen-etic changes are linked to many other phenomena in-cluding chromosomes, mitochondria, DNA, genes andgenomes, the brain, and our habits. This is similar to thedeep learning mechanism in AI and can open the era ofreal personalized diet in future.In addition to epigenetic and microbiome data, big

data on food diversity will be equally important. Along-side accurate data about the genomes and environmentof each individual, generating a variety of accurate andup-to-date data on the taste, historical, geographical,agronomical, and cultural characteristics of foods is anecessary precondition for the 4th IR. Unfortunately, atpresent, the Korean government has shown little interestin generating big data about foods, while the agriculturalindustry remains focused on R&D and production. Thisis a misguided policy that fails to consider the futureand is stuck in an outdated paradigm of industrialism.This pattern of favoring short-term benefits over long-term paradigm changes is common among governmentbureaucrats. As the Korean government catches on tothe importance of the 4th IR, they have launched a num-ber of convergent research projects. However, the gov-ernment believes that establishing platforms bycombining foods and biotechnology research with ICT issufficient to achieve success, when in reality the FourthIndustrial Reality requires far more than just platforms.These efforts will prove fruitless unless combined withdata about lifestyles, including biological data. The gov-ernment needs to promptly change its stance on thismatter.

Personalized diets and life scienceWhy is modern biotechnology important?How and where can the big data described above begenerated? Producing personalized diets to meet the de-mands of the 4th IR, requires many technologies (super-connectivity, AI, the IoT), but these will not be devel-oped by the food science industry. The same is true ofbiotechnology. All that is required is applying thiscutting-edge technology to produce personalized diets.We live in an age of science. Personalized food promisesto be an industry that can help people live happy andhealthy lives through life and diet. The data of life anddiet are closely related on life science of human, and thisbig data can be generated through modern biotechnol-ogy. In other words, the personalized food industry is atthe forefront of modern biotechnology. Fake data is ofno use to the personalized food industry and canactually serve as an obstacle to discovering the truth, butbiotechnology also has the capacity to filter out suchfake data.

Kwon Journal of Ethnic Foods (2020) 7:10 Page 11 of 16

Understanding modern biotechnologyThe author has coined the term foodomics to refer tobiotechnology related to foods. This term encompasses awide range of biotechnologies including whole genomesequence analysis, nutrigenomics, metabolomics, nutri-genetics, nutriepigenetics, and microbiome technologies,as well as gastronomy, sensomics, culturomics, dietarystyle, noneun style, and even “sikdanomics,” which em-bodies the Korean diet. Another form of technology re-quired for producing personalized agricultural productsis hormesis. As mentioned earlier, although the food in-dustry is not responsible for developing such technolo-gies, a basic understanding is required in order to applythem to generate big data.

Hormesis: technology for producing personalized farmproducePlant bodies, the substances that make up foods, ex-hibit a hormetic reaction upon receiving micro-stimulation or nutrient stress. This phenomenon canbe used to boost antibiosis within the plant body orpromote the proliferation of substances that serve ahealth function. This technology is called hormesis[4]. When the power of hormesis is effectively har-nessed, DNA stimulates the organism to a restorablelevel, manipulating metabolism within cells andthereby inducing the plant body to remain in homeo-stasis. This can be utilized for industrial purposessuch as increasing the production of phytochemicals.

Requisite modern biotechnologies for personalized dietsWhole genome sequence analysisThe development of NGS (next-generation sequencing)technology and other biotechnologies has enabled aperson’s entire genome to be analyzed at a low cost, andalso shed light on how specific genes (SNP) are con-nected to certain diseases. The analysis of genetic make-up has facilitated the development of personalized medi-cine and nutrition by grouping people according to bodytype or susceptibility to certain diseases.

NutrigeneticsAlthough it is well known that eating food providescalories through the nutrients contained inside, mod-ern biotechnology has revealed that the impact offood on DNA expression has a greater influence onhealth and biological phenomena within the bodythan the nutrients themselves. Accordingly, learningabout the expression of different genes allows us todetermine the health effects of eating different foodsand ultimately develop personalized diets as big dataaccumulates in this field.

ProteomicsAs described above, the food we eat influences DNA ex-pression. In turn, this impacts the tRNA signal transduc-tion system, causing several proteomes to besynthesized. These proteomes regulate growth and bal-ance within the body. Accordingly, they can be used as amechanism for bodily regulation through food choiceand also to generate more data about food and health.

NutrigenomicsAccording to nutrigenetics, although food has an impacton genetic expression, the differences between the gen-etic structure of individuals (SNP analysis, gene sequen-cing) also cause bodily changes in metabolomicexpression when food is consumed. This means thatnutrigenomic data obtained after consuming differentfoods or nutrients is an important part of creating per-sonalized diets.

MetabolomicsThe fact that food has a nutrigenomic and proteomicimpact also influences bodily activity and metabolism.Accordingly, researching the metabolomes found inurine or blood can give insight into the bodily changesthat occur during daily life. Lifestyle also has an impacton metabolomic expression based on the differences ingenetic structures between individuals. Obtaining moredata about metabolomics could facilitate a greater un-derstanding of how lifestyle impacts health and open thepath towards disease prevention in the future. This iswhy metabolomic big data is a key to developing person-alized diets.

NutriepigeneticsAlthough lifestyle habits do not affect the primary struc-ture of DNA, they can impact the proteins that combinewith DNA (histones) or cause methyl groups in OH rad-icals in DNA side chains to be removed or added. Thisdiscipline is called epigenetics. It is now known thatmany lifestyle habits, including eating habits, have anepigenetic effect that is passed between generations. Theunstructured nutriepigenomic data obtained from thesechanges is also of great use in developing personalizeddiets.

MicrobiomeStudies have shown that the food we eat not only im-pacts our genes, but also the genomes of the bacteriathat live in the gut, ultimately altering the distribution ofgut bacteria. This biological phenomenon is called themicrobiome. The gut microbiome is related to healthand immunity. Although food cannot change the geneticmake-up of gut bacteria, it can cause changes in the

Kwon Journal of Ethnic Foods (2020) 7:10 Page 12 of 16

microbiome. This is why big data about the microbiomeis crucial for designing and producing personalized diets.

BioinformaticsBioinformatics is a core technology built on the founda-tion of big data obtained through modern biotechnolo-gies. It is used for predicting an individual’s biorhythm,designing biological systems, and developing alternativesystems by biological big data, and these can be con-trolled and optimized through personalized diets andchanging life style. This is an important aspect of soft-ware for algorithm development.

Life science technology: convergent foodomics forpersonalized dietsSensomicsAlthough food has many characteristics including flavor,fragrance, and texture, the most notable feature is taste.Modern science has added a number of additional ele-ments such as nutrition and health functions, but thenumber one attribute of food is still taste. Taste can bedefined as the sense that stimulates the palate and nosewhen food is eaten, as well as the receptors in the mouththat measure pain, feeling, and temperature. Sensomicsrefers to technology that treats taste as a living thing tobe studied, thereby generating big data. This involves anumber of scientific, sensory, chemical, and physio-logical disciplines and is highly sensory in nature as tastecan vary between individuals. Taste is undoubtedly animportant factor in personalized food because it is themain criteria by which the quality and desirability of afood is judged.

GastronomyTaste is king when it comes to choosing foods. Gastron-omy refers to the study and pursuit of taste and is nowjoined by the field of molecular gastronomy due to ad-vancement in food science and biotechnology. Gastron-omy is concerned with the chemical changes that occurin the texture, structure, taste, and ingredients of foodsas they are cooked and also studies the relationship be-tween taste and function through molecular biology toproduce new flavors and textures. Furthermore, shed-ding light on the relationship between taste, ingredients,and cooking is a fundamental part of food branding.Molecular gastronomy is already developing into an im-portant field in consumer economics and life science inFrance, Italy, and Spain [11].

CulturomicsAs described in earlier sections, culture is an import-ant characteristic of food. Culturomics is the study ofthe traditional cultural elements embodied in food. Inaddition to history, the traditional knowledge and

traditional techniques found in ethnic foods are im-portant parts of culturomics. In some cases, seeminglyirrational cultural practices play an important role infood choice. Traditional knowledge and culture areoften intertwined with the development of ethnicfoods in a certain region, along with traditionalmanufacturing techniques. Due to heightened interestin the health functions of foods, knowledge writtendown in ancient documents is being reinterpretedthrough the lens of modern biotechnology, generatingbig data through scientific verification. In terms ofmodern life styles and noneun culture, culturomics isan important discipline for promoting growth in thetourism industry and developing personalized dietsbased on local geographic conditions. Consumerswant personalized diets that are healthy and alsoembody a variety of traditional techniques.

Taste fatigue and sikdanomicsOne feature of foods that does not apply to medicine isthat people get sick of eating the same thing. This iswhy personalized food must encompass an entire diet(bapsangomics) or software content (sikdanomics) in-stead of consisting of a single product. The system offood choice available in Korea have guaranteed con-sumers’ right to choose. Unlike western cultures wherepeople often eat a single food, Korea’s traditional dietconsists of bap (boiled rice) eaten alongside a variety ofbanchan (side dishes). Another feature of sikdanomics islooking out for one another, since numerous banchansare shared between different people at the table (bap-sang). Accordingly, sikdanomics is about eating a varietyof foods to avoid taste fatigue, maintaining a balanceddiet, and providing many options for consumers tochoose from. As more big data is generated, sikdanomicswill become the main choice for a system of personal-ized food that guarantees consumers the right to choosebetween a variety of products based on their tastes, pref-erences, and habits.

The outlook for personalized diets in the FourthIndustrial RevolutionThe outlook for personalized diets in KoreaAlthough Korea is a leader in hardware, the country islagging behind in software, which is one of the key com-ponents of the 4th IR. Thanks to several decades of con-tinued investment, Korea is now on par with globalleaders in biotechnology, but still lacks software capableof drawing links between human health, foods, and dataobtained through biotechnology. The Korean govern-ment is supporting many convergence projects, but mostof these projects are focused on hardware convergencethrough technology and products, with very little re-search on integration between hardware and software,

Kwon Journal of Ethnic Foods (2020) 7:10 Page 13 of 16

such as convergence between technology and lifestyle ortechnology and consumers.Creating software to generate value and data is a

key element of the 4th IR, but the government has sofar been miserly in supporting such initiatives orother big data projects. This is because during the in-dustrial era, Korea adopted a catch-up R&D strategyto achieve economic growth in which technologicaldevelopment was more important than content ordata, as the latter could simply be imported fromother countries. Although the value of technical pat-ents as intellectual property is recognized, intellectualproperty rights pertaining to data or content have notbeen treated with the same importance or respectand are still routinely ignored. However, it was pre-dicted at the Davos Forum in 2012 that in the future,software will have a much greater influence on a na-tion’s competitiveness than hardware. The Koreangovernment needs to rapidly shift its paradigm. With-out sufficient quantities of data about Korea, inparticular Korean foods, ingredients, agricultural, andmarine products, the country has no chance of suc-ceeding in the 4th IR.Fortunately, the Korean food industry possesses vast

troves of resources that rival the capacity of any na-tion and have the potential to generate a lot of bigdata. Because Korea has a long agricultural history,the country is home to a variety of natural foods andnumerous methods for preparing and eating suchfoods [6, 10]. Thanks to this agricultural legacy,Korean food is rich in flavor, culture, and history.Even under the lens of modern science, Korean foodholds its own against traditional foods from any na-tion in terms of healthiness [8]. If scientific big dataabout Korean food were produced, the country wouldbe well-placed to develop healthy personalized diets,and Korean foods have a number of advantages forsatisfying the diverse needs of consumers. Korea hasgreat potential to become a global leader in thepersonalized food industry, but to achieve this, foodscientists and medical professionals need to work to-gether to convince the government to lead the industry inthe right direction.

Policy suggestions to promote personalized diets in theFourth Industrial RevolutionIn order to make personalized diets a reality, prepar-ation needs to start now. Korea needs to give up onthe idea of borrowing products or systems from othercountries. Instead, the government should generate itsown big data to facilitate the integration of personal-ized diets with the biological and sensory needs ofKoreans, and develop platforms and services that canprovide many types of personalized diets to

consumers. The government is currently fixated ondeveloping platforms and systems for production, butmany of these developed platforms and systems sitidle without being used. This is like building a net-work of super-highways before there are any cars touse them. This is due to misguided evaluation stan-dards which view the development of a product orplatform as success in and of itself. In reality, prod-ucts need to sell and platforms need to be used inorder to be considered a success. The number ofproducts that have been developed but failed to sell israpidly growing across Korean companies. The gov-ernment needs to abandon the complacent belief thatsimply building platforms is sufficient. Once sufficientbig data is generated, companies will have no troublecreating and using platforms to earn profits. All thegovernment needs to do is provide a basic platformmodel.

Generating big data to promote personalized dietsAs discussed earlier, the key to success in the 4th IRlies in generating sufficient quantities of unique, up-to-date big data about Korea. Some may argue thatthe private sector is perfectly capable of generatingsuch data, but this is not a job for the private sector.Developing new drugs is a high-risk, high-returnstrategy, so it is commonly believed that governmentinvestment is required to manage the risk. This maybe true, but the same does not apply to food. Theprivate sector is unwilling to take on this task be-cause the food industry is characterized by lowtechnological barriers, low barriers to entry, lowappropriability, a public nature, and the fact that con-sumers have to make frequent choices about foods. Itis not that the private sector is incapable of generat-ing such data, but if one company did so then theywould be simply helping their competitors, becausethese public data should be opened immediately topromotion. This is why the private sector cannot pro-duce publicly available big data. Looking after publicsafety and health is the government’s job.

The role of governmentGenerating big data is the first task for the government,alongside serving as a “control tower” for communica-tion between groups from various sectors includingscience, culture, consumers, and suppliers. However, inorder to achieve this goal, the government first needs toabandon its industrial era logic and establish a cleardirection. When generating big data, the governmentshould continue to improve and filter the data so thatconsumers and companies have ubiquitous access tohigh-quality data. It is also the government’s job totackle legal and institutional problems and put

Kwon Journal of Ethnic Foods (2020) 7:10 Page 14 of 16

appropriate mechanisms in place to help the personal-ized food industry develop. In addition to this, the gov-ernment must contribute to improving quality of life byreviewing and monitoring the impact of personalized di-ets on public health and safety.

The role of private companiesThe task of creating personalized diets by integrating bigdata with available platforms ultimately lies with privatecompanies. Private company should collect the individ-ual personal biological data in terms of structured andunstructured data based on modern biotechnology.These personal biological data cannot be open due toPersonal Information Law or Human Bioethics Law. Asthese big data highly are conserved by law, private com-pany collecting and creating these big data can getpower in the personalized diet market.Once the personalized food industry is established in

Korea, the private sector also needs to work hard to be-come global leaders in delivering personalized diets thatcater to different countries, ethnic groups, and traditionsaround the world. This industry alone has the potentialto create large corporations.Since Korea has great potential in the personalized

food industry, if the industry becomes firmly establishedthen it would encourage many companies that movedtheir production operations offshore during the indus-trial era to return to Korea. This would be a new formof reshoring.

The role of consumers and new jobsBased on publicly available big data, ordinary consumerswill make an effort to maintain a healthy lifestylethrough personalized diets. However, due to the com-plex interactions between AI, biotechnology, the natureof the food industry and consumer health, “personalizeddiet designers,” or “personalized diet planner” may be re-quired to make sense of personalized diets. The topic ofdisappearing jobs often comes up in discussions aboutthe 4th IR, but this is one new job that will be created[12]. In simple terms, “personalized diet designers”would function as insurance firms or insurance planners.These individuals would need to be trained to seamlesslyintegrate information from a variety of fields includingbiotechnology, AI, and super-connectivity.In the future, the government will be called upon to

put in place systems to train these high-level profes-sionals. This will require specialized education and spe-cialized training institutes. At present, universities donot have the capacity to provide this kind of educationas they remain focused on product development. Unlessuniversities are able to evolve beyond industrial era logic,there is a risk that they might distort or ruin sucheducation if it is left in their hands.

Legal systems for personalized dietsObstacles and solutionsThe 4th IR represents a convergence between cutting-edge technology, traditional knowledge, and biotechnol-ogy. Although the arrival of the revolution is inevitable,there are many obstacles to overcome along the way.Privacy concerns are one issue that will need to be ad-dressed when generating data about individuals throughbiotechnology and designing personalized diets thatcater to individuals. In fact, finding ways to protect per-sonal privacy is of paramount importance. In addition tothis, the revolutionary development and changes broughtabout in industry and lifestyles are guaranteed to pro-duce stragglers who are unable to adapt to the changes.This will mostly be an economic issue, but it also relatesto knowledge and social systems. As mentioned in earl-ier sections, unlike medicine, the personalized food in-dustry will be part of the private sector rather than thepublic sector. This could lead to a situation where therich are able to stay healthy by eating personalized dietswhile the poor experience deteriorating health as theyare unable to afford these luxuries. This would widenthe gap between the rich and poor in terms of not onlyhealth, but also happiness. In addition to this, societiesmay become more individualistic. Finding solutions tothese issues will require a group effort.

Requisite systemsThe food industry as it currently stands will require alegal framework in order to develop into a personalizedfood industry. Legal considerations will also need to betaken into account to solve the social and economicproblems described above. Scientific and legal associa-tions will be called upon to come up with proactivemeasures for addressing these issues. In addition to this,institutional mechanisms will need to be put in place totrain personalized diet designers.

Personalized diets and ethnic foodsIn the future, all countries will endeavor to move beyondthe paradigm of industrialism. The world will leave theindustrial era behind and enter a new age of AI. Insteadof remaining fixated on mechanical efficiency, humanitywill transition into a lifestyle economy centered aroundhuman happiness. Advancement in AI will lead to theadvent of the 4th IR, which will revolutionize the waywe live.An accurate understanding of the food industry is re-

quired in order to discuss what the 4th IR really meansfor the industry. The food industry is not dominated bymonopolies, and due to the industry’s public nature, suc-cess cannot be achieved by trying to develop “block-buster” products. The food industry is also part of lifescience and the lifestyle economy, since consumers make

Kwon Journal of Ethnic Foods (2020) 7:10 Page 15 of 16

so many choices about foods. It is difficult to lookbeyond the logic of the industrial era without a clearunderstanding of the nature of the food industry.The 4th IR is about decentralization and personalization.

It is the first true lifestyle revolution. For the food industry,the ultimate pursuit in the 4th IR is public health, safety,and wellbeing instead of efficiency and competition. A na-tion’s success or failure in this era hinges on its ability togenerate big data that is accurate and error-free. It is up tofood experts and the government to correct misinformationin the food industry. Big data generated through biotech-nology needs to be scientifically valid to be useful as a coreelement of the 4th IR. Considering the public value of thisdata, it must be generated by the government so that theprivate sector can utilize it to create profits. At the sametime, knowledge must be provided to consumers so thatthey can exercise their right to know and right to choose,ultimately improving the wellbeing of society as a whole.For personalized diets, some obstacles need to be over-

come with many potential benefits. Life ethics concernsmust be addressed when generating big data throughbiotechnology, while mechanisms to protect privacymust be established when designing personalized dietsthat cater to the unique traits of individuals. In additionto this, other issues that require solutions are lookingafter those that are left behind in the wake of the indus-trial and lifestyle revolution, and the private nature ofpersonalized foods. In other words, only the rich may beable to afford such products. This is a challenge thatneeds to be addressed.The advent of personalized diets will soon be upon us.

In the future, it appears that the government will requirelarge numbers of professionals such as personalized dietdesigners. The government should start taking actionnow to prepare for this scenario. Universities and othereducational institutions need to begin designing pro-grams and training staff to teach courses in personalizeddiets. Experts in this field will need to be able to inte-grate information from a variety of disciplines includingbiotechnology, AI, and super-connectivity.In coming post-industrial era, personalized diet should

be a major food industry for human health and happi-ness. For the personalized diet, the competitive powersare from healthy, tasty, and historic diverseness. The bigdata will be come from ethnic diversity, historical cul-ture, and geographical features. So each ethnic foods willbe an important fact and will studied nation-widely.Diverse food materials and diverse cooking are veryimportant criteria for personalized foods.Korea is well positioned to become a leader in the

market for personalized diets that help people livelonger, healthier lives [13, 14]. Because Korea has a longagricultural history, the country is home to a variety ofnatural ethnic foods and many methods for preparing

and eating such foods. This means that Korean ethnicfoods, in particular traditional Korean foods, are suitedto meeting the demand for diversity in personalized diets[15, 16]. Korea has the potential to become a globalleader in personalized foods, but to achieve this, foodscientists, medical professionals, and enthropologistsneed to work together to convince the Korean Govern-ment to lead the industry in the right direction.

Author’s contributionDYK is an author for this article. All authors read and approved the finalmanuscript.

Competing interestsThe author declares that they have no competing interests.

References1. What is AI? (https://aws.amazon.com/ko/machine-learning) Amazon Web

Services.2. Schwab K. The 4th Industrial Revolution (Translated by Song GJ). Seoul:

Saerounhyongjae; 2016.3. Rifkin J. The Third Industrial Revolution. Seoul: Mineumsa; 2012.4. Kim HW, Cho YJ, Gil H. Effect of Hormesis in Food. Food Eng Prog. 2014;18:

265–75.5. Davos Forum 2016. Mastering the 4th IR, Jang PS, Science and Technology

Policy no. 211. Seoul: Science and technology policy institute; 2016.6. Kwon DY. Humanities of Korean Diet. Seoul: Health letter; 2019.7. Kwon DY. Food Industry for Sustainable Growth. Seoul: Oisikgyeongje; 2017.8. Kwon DY. Lifestyle and health in the post-industrial era. Annals Nutrit Food

Sci. 2018;2:2021–8.9. Cho YI. Artificial intelligence: technology trend and development, weekly

technology trend, The Promotion Center of ICT. Seoul; 2016. 2. 17. p. 13–26.10. Kwon DY, Lee YE, Kim MS, Kim SH. (lead authors) and 8 othersTells about a

Korean diet. Seoul: Korea Food Research Institute; 2017.11. This H. Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor. NY, New

York: Columbia University Press; 2006.12. The Newspaper: Hankyorye Sinmun, Which jobs will survive in the AI era?,

March 24, 2016, Seoul, Korea.13. Kwon DY, Chung KR. In: Park KY, Kwon DY, Lee KW, Park S, editors. Korean

diets and their tastes, in Korean functional foods: composition, processingand health benefits. NY, New York: CRC Press; 2018. p. 23–42.

14. Kwon DY. The answer is in Korean diet, in longevity foods for centenarian.Seoul: Sikanyun; 2019. p. 221–88.

15. Kwon DY. Why ethnic foods? J Ethn Foods. 2015;2:9.16. Kwon DY. Seoul declaration of Korean diet. J Ethn Foods. 2016;3:1–4.

Publisher’s NoteSpringer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims inpublished maps and institutional affiliations.

Kwon Journal of Ethnic Foods (2020) 7:10 Page 16 of 16