Food for Thought!

UK Food Manufacturing Trends As a manufacturer of flexible couplings for power transmission, KTR has as a long history of supporting the food industry. With applications experience ranging across the spectrum - from pea harvesters to soup chillers – we know the importance of the food sector to the UK. But if you asked the average person to name the largest manufacturing sector in the UK, what would they say? Automotive? Aerospace perhaps? While those industries do manufacture large and exciting projects, it’s actually the food and drink industry which tops the UK manufacturing list! This indispensable industry accounts for 19% of total UK manufacturing, contributes over £31 billion to the economy, and employs over 4 million workers. Those are some pretty impressive numbers, which prompted us to wonder about the latest trends in food manufacturing. After a bit of research and some serious intrigue, we’ve found three key global food manufacturing trends to keep an eye out for this year. Supply Chain Transparency Much like the manufacturing sector as a whole, the food technology industry has been compelled to increase transparency, safety, and security. In response to this, many companies have implemented digital ledger technologies such as Blockchain to decrease risks associated with food fraud and improve consumer trust. To combat situations such as the recent E.coli outbreak in North America, that was traced back to Romaine lettuce, Walmart has partnered with IBM to develop a digital ledger for their leafy-green food supply chain. Its aim was to be able to track the journey of its produce from farm to shelf in order to prepare for similar outbreaks in the future. If successful, the system will allow Walmart to more accurately trace future contaminations in order to improve food safety, save money, and reduce waste through better identification of problematic crops or food handling. Smart Sensors for Food Safety The Internet of Things (IoT) and remote sensors also have the ability to greatly improve food safety. Temperature sensors are quickly becoming instrumental components of the food supply chain as temperature has the greatest potential to negatively impact food safety. Many companies have already implemented smart sensors into their shipping process. When smart sensors are combined with digital ledger technologies, companies have the ability to easily track a product’s journey, ensure the product remains at an appropriate temperature, and prevent the development of harmful pathogens. Reducing Packaging and Food Waste Recently, many industries have come under fire for excessive or wasteful packaging (so much so, that we wrote an entire article about it). Fortunately, this call for environmentally-friendly packaging arose around the same time as data-driven supply chains guided by artificial intelligence (AI). AI has the ability to examine large amounts of data to uncover patterns and problematic conduct with the aim of improving efficiency and sustainability. Amazon has already implemented AI to group shipments, identify items small enough to be sent in cardboard envelopes, and recognize items that can be safely sent in their original packaging. Unfortunately, the food and drink sector face the dual challenge of reducing both wasteful packaging and basic food waste. In the UK alone, we throw away the equivalent of £20 billion in food waste annually. That’s a major problem, which is why food producers, retailers, and manufacturers alike have voluntarily joined The Food Waste Reduction Roadmap. The roadmap represents a commitment to various goals and milestones aimed at reducing food waste in the UK. The first major milestone aims to have 50% of the UK’s largest food businesses involved in reporting and acting on food waste by September 2019. It’s not often that we wonder how our favourite sports drink or packaged food arrives at the corner store. Generally, all we care about is that it’s there when we need it. However, it is interesting to take a look behind the scenes to uncover the various technological advances that are helping it arrive more efficiently and safely than ever before.

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