Technologies Impacting the Future of Food and Beverage Sector, is part of the Frost & Sullivan TechVision (Health & Wellness) Growth Partnership Service program and provides insights into the innovations, disruptions and convergence in the global food and beverage (F&B) industry. The program found that the F&B industry was witnessing an infusion of technologies like cloud platforms, 3D printing, gene editing, enzyme engineering and nano-technology, apart from innovations in packaging techniques and big data analytics.
Some of the benefits of these new technologies were outlined as follows:
- Big data analytics, along with technological convergence, will help boost food safety apart from improving food processing, production, testing and packaging.
- Packaging innovations include the use of hybrid or environmentally friendly packing materials, apart from smart packaging methods. Big data platforms would also help drive active packaging systems which use oxygen scavenging techniques to prevent food oxidation.
- 3D printing innovations will help print foods and inspire innovation at home as well as in professional kitchens.
- Big data platforms would be used for creating personalized nutrition plans.
- Cloud-based technologies, advanced genetic tools and big data platforms would be used together to overcome complicated international regulations and lower investments through innovations like:
- High-Throughput Gene Sequencing (HTGS) tools which are used for precise molecular food testing
- Cloud storage platforms to store, retrieve and analyze data
- Gene editing tools like TALENs and CRISPR/Cas9 which minimize the formation of ethyl carbamate, a carcinogen, during fermentation of ethanol by using yeast
“While genetically modified (GM) foods have the potential to meet the growing demand for increased food supply across the world, there is much debate on the regulation and labeling of GM foods,” says Vandana Iyer, TechVision Research Analyst, Frost & Sullivan. “As unwanted mutations are also possible in naturally bred crops, regulatory laws for genetic modifications should be developed on the basis of the altered gene. The DNA editing technique should be monitored on an individualized basis, rather than a standardized approach. Extracting, storing and interpreting next-generation sequencing (NGS) and proteomic data from food samples will allow the identification of GM foods, microbial pathogens, and contaminants, including toxins and pesticides. Similarly, cloud platforms can be developed for product validation, auditing, certification and compliance applications.”