Top  Tech changes in food in 2021

Tech changes in food. Food technology has progressed quite a bit recently. In this article we’ve summarized the latest trends in food technology, so you can keep up with all the advancements. We aim to help you with processes such as labeling, lot traceability, and understanding general food trends.

Traceability

With great advancements in tracking technology and companies expanding their supply chain across the globe, food traceability has become increasingly important to let manufacturers detect changes and react quickly to things like health threats. Furthermore, traceability also allows for more transparency. With the benefits of food safety being evident and authorities like FDA placing more and more emphasis on it, It is high time that food businesses consider investing in technology for food safety.

Labeling

You might be surprised to find out that one of the biggest reasons that food companies fail food audits by authorities like FDA is because of unlisted allergens on food labels. So it stands to reason why we are seeing more and more regulations regarding labeling e.g. FDA’s new nutrition label standard that requires companies to have shelf-life labeling, make clear distinctions between “healthy” or “natural”, and restrict meat terms usage for meat products. A federal law, National Bioengineered (BE) Food Disclosure Standard, announced this January and to be implemented in 2022, regulates GMO food labeling further clarifying things for the customer. It is noteworthy here that since most of these regulations are due to demand by the public, not using proper labeling might spell disaster for your company’s profits too.

Moreover, it is not just the food itself that seems to be important when it comes to labeling. People are becoming increasingly conscientious especially with regards to the environment, and so food practices in regard to sustainability and climate change are highly scrutinized. It may then be a good idea for your business to label your packaging if you are using environmentally friendly options. Companies have been shown to substantially increase profits with language that describes their other sustainable practices in food production as well.

Voice Technology

Several modern business software allows for the incorporation of voice-activated commands in the areas such as inventory control, line-loading, transfers. This makes for more efficient operations and doesn’t need a lot of employee training

 Exploring New Markets and handling success

A food customer in today’s day and age makes informed decisions based on dietary, environmental, chemical, and ideological considerations. SO to better understand your market you may want to look into data mining technologies like Power BI and AI tools. That way you will understand the needs of your current customer and be able to better your product accordingly or learn of new demographics that your product can be sold to as it is. Technology like Big Data and social media can not only help you flourish your business but also help you handle the overnight success that comes with them e.g. technological solutions like Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) can give businesses the ability to automate trivial tasks so you can worry about more important things.

Plant-Based and cannabis foods

People are increasingly turning to plant-based diets for ethical, dietary, and ecological reasons. This trend is not expected to slow down, as the rise of meat substitutes like Impossible and Beyond Meat make a splash in the market alongside dairy alternatives like almond, oat, and soy milk. Cannabis is no longer illegal in a lot of places especially in the developed world, so there may be a whole new world of opportunity for your business to capitalize and expand on which is why you may want to closely monitor any regulatory changes on cannabinoids in your region of business.

Labor Costs and Tracking

It is more important than ever to reduce or at least have an accurate picture of labor costs especially now that domestic and international governments impose a lot of tariffs on material costs and trading partners. The technology could help you track training hours, data inputs, overtime hours hourly inputs, and direct vs indirect input, etc.