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Apoorva Gururaj, Founder & CEO, Foodio.Fit.
The Food Industry has been heavily influenced by the technological revolution. The use of technology is one of the biggest assets for companies in the food industry today. The world’s food processing industry is expected to reach 535 billion USD by 2025. People’s habits and perspectives have changed since the post-pandemic era. Nowadays, people are more conscious of what they eat and are trying to adapt to a healthier lifestyle. Leading names in the food industry are innovating and adapting their manufacturing processes to meet customer preferences.
From selecting raw materials to their delivery, technology aids companies in the food manufacturing process. Amidst the transformation, digitalization aims to deliver healthy and quality food to customers. Every aspect of the food production process, from the source to its packaging, from the manufacturing process to its transportation, is being upgraded to optimize performance. Various technologies contribute to improving the nutritional value of food.
In the food industry, freeze-drying is widely employed for the stabilization of high-quality food. Dried food produced this way retains its quality. When food is preserved in this manner, its taste, smell, and content of various nutrients do not change. A huge convenience factor is that the food will have a longer shelf life. It involves freezing the food first and placing it under a vacuum. Heat acts as a catalyst to cause the frozen solvent to vaporize. Condenser plates are used to transform them back into a solid form. This process is carried out in a machine called a freeze dryer, which consists of a large chamber for freezing and a vacuum pump for removing moisture. Other technologies are insufficient for certain food preservation tasks, which can only be accomplished by freeze-drying.
In vacuum frying, the frying temperature is lower than the atmospheric frying due to the low pressure applied. The process of oil adsorption is different in vacuum frying compared to atmospheric frying. The low frying pressure during frying helps in reducing the oil content of the final product. It preserves natural color, has a low moisture content, preserves 90% of trans carotene and helps in the prevention of 90% acrylamide-carcinogenic compound formation. Vacuum fried chips contain about 50-80 percent less fat than the regular/atmospheric fried chips and retain up to 95 percent of the nutrients. Companies are using vacuum frying or freeze-drying processes for retaining the maximum nutrition, original flavor, and original shape of the product.
3) 3D Food printing for edible goods
3D food printers enable personalized diet and alternative protein-based meals, as well as precise and reproducible nutrition. Even though material extrusion is the most common food printing method, startups are using laser and inkjet food printing, as well as bio-printing methods, to develop food products. These approaches focus on increasing the quality and precision of 3D-printed food products. Since food brands need food products with the exact specifications and quality reproducibility, more research is ongoing in 3D food printing for large-scale food production. Such solutions reduce the complexity and costs of food production. Also, 3D printing allows food brands to offer personalized food products at scale without additional tooling and operational costs.
The food & beverage industry incorporates robotics into the entire value chain to advance efficiency, consistency, and scale during food production. Food brands also deploy hospitality robots at hotels and restaurants to improve customer convenience and safety. Robotic chefs and food processing robots further fuel food robotics as a prominent food technology trend. Also, autonomous drones and vehicles are emerging to be efficient substitutes for manual delivery services while saving overall costs. Drones and other food handling robots at warehouses and grocery stores enable fast and cost-effective food tagging and monitoring. In effect, the robotics bloom in the food industry is expediting food production revenue with enhanced speed and precise food quality control.
5) Sugar Reduction Technology Making Chocolate more Sweeter
The Indian Chocolate market valued around US$ 1.5 billion in 2019 with the children segment accounting for a large share. With the rising concern of high sugar levels consumption among children due to the high consumption of chocolates, Indian food regulators released a regulation on high sugar, fat, and salt products where the packaged food containing high fat, sugar, and salt need to display red color coding on the front of the packet. In response to this situation, the chocolate market leader, Cadbury launched a 30 percent less sugar dairy milk variant in India this year. Cadbury used a technology to render sugar crystals ‘hollow’ and thereby reducing the overall sugar content. The hollow sugar crystals formed by the structured sugar technology dissolve quickly in the mouth and stimulate the taste buds faster. It retains the actual sweetness and taste of the chocolate with a reduced quantity of sugar.
People have become more concerned about getting nutritional food rather than oily and fat foods. With the growing interest among consumers for clean label and natural products, technologies such as cold press, HPP, vacuum frying, IQF, 3D printing, and sugar reduction technology among others seem promising for the Indian food market. These technologies are gaining immense popularity and are being adopted, to provide enriched nutrition products. However, there is also a need for exploring other food categories to make healthier products with the application of such technologies. The food industry has always been dominant in the hospitality sector. Consumers are seeking healthier food alternatives. The rising obesity rates across the globe, coupled with consumer interest in healthier food alternatives with the help of distinct methods and technology.
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Views expressed above are the author's own.
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