In the current technological era,
consumers expect innovative solutions and products almost in every industry Food
industry is one such industry that has of late, started utilizing technology
to shake up the archaic practices. Here are the Top 5 breakthrough Innovations
that have taken the food industry to a whole new level.
Driving force behind these innovations:
Necessity is the mother of
invention. So, what drove the food industry towards technological adaptations?
· Research
is changing the conversation. Scientists are using technology to discover
new consequences of food that was previously not understood. The latest
research on the ill effects of sugar on our body has made the consumers
increasingly look for alternative products. This has been a driving force
behind the new innovations of discovering other natural sweeteners and
resistant starch.
· Brands have tried to mislead the consumers with
erroneous labels and attractive content in the past. But now, Social media and
smartphones have enabled consumers to do research about the harmful effects of
every ingredient, the source of products and the process of production. This
has lead to the customers questioning the brands regarding their technology- driven accountability.
· Sustainability
is another factor that has lead to these breakthrough innovations in the food
industry. To sustain in the food industry, Internet
of Things (IoT) technology has been widely used from farmers till robotics
in the packaging industry, to conserve water and reduce wastage. IoT not only has the potential to revitalize the food industry but can also solve serious
problems related to food shortage.
Breakthrough Innovations in the food industry:
1. Natural
sweeteners: Stevia leaf and monk fruit: When American consumers discovered
that added sugars were leading to obesity, their no 1. health problem, they
distrusted the use of products with saccharin. This lead to the innovation
ofnon-nutritivenatural sweeteners which added zero-calories.
Stevia leaf extract, with rebaudioside-A
was considered as a safe ingredient for food and beverages by the FDA. Though
not overnight, it was gradually accepted to be used by the leading beverage
companies like Coca-Cola, Tropicana etc.,with slight adjustments in
formulations.
Similarly, Monk fruit extract has been widely used
as a table-top sweetener, as a concentrate for its natural Fruit sweetness and
has been supplied by Bio Vittoria Ltd., a company in New Zealand. It is also
well known as a zero-calorie non-nutritive natural sweetener.
2. Resistant starch: Resistant starch is a
natural component found in bananas, parsnips, plantains, potatoes, yams and
most legumes like beans, peas and lentils (but not soy), it alsois in grains,
especially barley, rice and high-amylose corn. It is a unique form of
carbohydrate that, in formulation, behaves like starch, but acts like fiber
inside the digestive system. It is resistant to digestion (hence the name), and
helps in managing diabetes and its precursor, insulin resistance. Like a fiber,
it absorbs less calories as it increases bulk and transit time through the
gastrointestinal tract, it also helps lower cholesterol, reduces cancer of the
digestive system and protects against cardiovascular disease.
3. High Pressure Pasteurization (HPP): HPP
systems are used for cold- pasteurizing meat, ready-to eat meals, juices and
other food products that would suffer under high-temperature pasteurization. An
HPP system packs packaged food products into torpedo-like cylinders that are
moved into water-filled chambers. As the water pressure is raised to 87000 psi,
microorganisms such aslisteria and salmonella are killed by collapsing their
cell walls. The food product is largely unaffected, if its packaging is
tough.It is gentle and adds no ingredients (such as antimicrobials), thereby
meeting current consumer demands for minimal processing and fewer ingredients.
4. Wealth from Waste: Froozer is a company
that has created products from fruits or vegetables that the food production
company cannot use since they are too ripe, or for cosmetic reasons. This
prevents wastage as well as lower costs
of the products for the customers.
5. Robots
in the Food Plant: All food and beverage plants have started using at least
one robot especially for packaging. It is used for stacking boxes orfilling
them with products. There is a growing assurance that with the help of these
robots, human intervention can be removed from the process anytime, thus
ensuring the safety of food as well as the workers. It also helps in increased productivity as it saves time
and manpower.
To know more about such
breakthrough innovations, get in touch with experts at SolutionBuggy. It is a unique
platform connecting 50000+ manufacturing industries with over 3000+ experts from
various industries. Get expert advice and be the best in your industry!!
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