Six Food Techology Trends That Can Help Make a Better World
As technology advances, the food technology business is capitalizing on new capabilities to revolutionize how it operates.
Global population and food production have expanded dramatically over the previous 90 years, while total agricultural acreage has remained unchanged, putting pressure on the food system to produce more food with fewer resources. Food demand is anticipated to increase by 60% by 2050, putting additional strain on food supply.
However, there are 6 developing food technology trends that could assist the world in getting to where it needs to be to overhaul the system.
An overview of the background of today’s food-challenging market
Until at least 2024, it is anticipated that economic instability will force consumers to tighten their budgets, forcing the already struggling restaurant industry to make additional cuts in expenditure. Often, technology is the answer to finding new methods to streamline any business type. Moreover, quality and experience will be essential, as consumers will be less forgiving of poor service.
In a Deloitte survey, more than half of Gen Z and millennials say they live paycheck to paycheck. As the cost-of-living crisis persists, consumers are having to be more careful with their budgets, and that may mean cutting back on takeout.
Growth in the restaurant industry is anticipated to be led primarily by off-premise consumption. Therefore, utilizing technology is not only about improving operations and service delivery but also about reimagining restaurants. An estimated 50% of restaurant owners are tapping into new revenue streams, such as grocery, retail, and meal kits.
In this new connected and contactless era, technology and innovation have aided and even saved restaurants as they adapt their business models to not only survive but flourish. The F&B industry can no longer afford to disregard the trends that are enabling businesses to reinvent themselves and remain competitive.
To help you remain ahead of these growing trends, we have compiled a list of the top food technology trends you may wish to invest in over the next year.
Top food tech trends to keep an eye on in 2024
1. Smart packaging
Smart packaging technology can monitor, record, and transfer data about the contents of a package. Technologies include time-temperature indicators, which provide information on a product’s temperature history: freshness sensors, which monitor factors affecting food quality such as oxygen and carbon dioxide levels; and active packaging, which contains active substances such as antimicrobial agents to help preserve it.
These technologies can help to increase the shelf life of food goods, minimize waste, and improve food safety and consumer experience. Sorbos edible straws are one example of smart packaging technology that is already on the market.
2. AI for everything
One of the most short definitions of AI comes from computer giant IBM: Artificial intelligence uses computers and technology to simulate the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of the human mind.
Although it has been present since the 1950s, artificial intelligence (AI) is now constantly generating news as a growing variety of AI-powered consumer items become available, ranging from Alexa and ChatBot to self-driving cars and lawn-mowing robots. According to McKinsey & Co.’s 2022 State of AI survey, usage of AI models in commercial applications has more than doubled since 2017 — and investment has kept pace.
According to Mordor Intelligence, the use of AI in the food and beverage business will expand from $7 billion in 2023 to $35 billion by 2028. That equates to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 40% over the following five years. It’s a large figure, but the amount of potential AI applications throughout the food supply chain from farm to fork is also rather large, making the technology one to keep an eye on in 2024 and beyond.
Food manufacturing and distribution uses of AI that are growing the fastest are product creation, food safety, traceability and transparency, and supply chain management and logistics. As the world’s food industry works to set more environmentally friendly standards and methods for production and delivery, AI apps that help make these processes more eco-friendly are also likely to grow in popularity over the next few years.
As a branch of AI, machine learning is becoming more popular in the food business. It lets computers “learn” and get better on their own without special instructions. Food processing plants use a lot of different types of applications, such as predictive maintenance modeling for cleaning and maintaining production equipment, checking the quality of fresh produce and raw meat as it comes in, estimating how long something will last, and using camera vision to get rid of foreign objects.
3. Smart Kitchen Tech
Kitchens are becoming technology hubs. Smart appliances adapt to dietary requirements, AI-powered recipes make the best use of available resources, and automated cooking procedures revolutionize convenience, health, and sustainability in the kitchen. Concepts such as Electrolux Group GRO foresee sustainable kitchens, influencing the future of food and beverage items.
4. Blockchain technology in food and beverages
Blockchain technology is also being utilized in the food and beverage software development industries to monitor the origin of ingredients, ensuring that consumers have access to safe and healthy goods.
Blockchain technology may give a safe audit trail of information about each component by monitoring the entire supply chain, from farm to shop shelves.
This is advantageous for customers who have dietary restrictions or allergies and need to ensure that their food is safe and unadulterated.
5. Augmented Reality (AR) in the food industry
AR has gained popularity in the food and beverage industry as a means of providing more engaging experiences to customers.
For instance, AR can be used to deliver interactive product demos or virtual tours of manufacturing plants.
This technology also allows businesses to create immersive experiences for customers, allowing them to interact with items in a fun and engaging way.
6. Industrial Internet of Things
There will be equal developments in hardware where there are advances in software. For digital transformation programs, this implies linked and wireless sensors, motors, controllers, actuators, and other IoT devices that measure, monitor, track, and collect data points.
According to a Research and Markets analysis, the IoT and traceability market in the food and beverage industry will develop at a stable CAGR of roughly 4.9% from 2021 to 2027. Consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies indicated in a recent survey by PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing, that they have actively expanded both machine and software automation in the last five years and, as a result, expect to incorporate IoT sensors and devices at some level in the near term.
Advances in IoT technology have enabled F&B industries to use data to optimize AI and ML platforms and achieve targeted efficiencies in production and productivity in recent years. Market forecasters anticipate that further IoT technologies will accelerate over the next five years as software development capabilities improve, including the following:
- Advanced sensor technologies that not only give real-time temperature, air, and environmental monitoring findings in seconds but also predictive modeling capabilities to improve food safety and quality assessments.
- Wireless connectors and other smart remote devices that allow ever-increasing amounts of data from multiple departments or locations to be processed and continuously recalculated within minutes for improved decision-making on the plant floor or in the warehouse to better manage production lines, inventory, inflows, and outflows for optimal cost savings.
- Even smarter real-time battery-free microcontrollers embedded in or on active food packaging not only monitor the status of the food within for food safety and quality aspects but can also convey a range of unique tracking and digital marketing codes to consumers.
- IoT sensors and wireless sensor networks that can considerably reduce the number of resources used in supply chain management operations or optimize the resources used to achieve considerable efficiency across a variety of criteria and the entire chain.
Final thoughts
In the coming year, F&B companies will continue to embrace advanced digital transformation technologies and harness data in ways that benefit both the business and the consumers. Companies must also address the real challenges of digital transformation, such as interoperability between existing and new systems or interfaces and supply chain partners systems, data privacy, retraining staff, and data organization gaps that prevent effective data analysis and application.
Digital transformation promises to improve data management and use to enhance processes and outcomes, which will drive F&B industry digitization for the foreseeable future.
