INNOVATION OUTLOOK OF FOOD TECHNOLOGY TRENDS IN 2022
Opening up of the HoReCa (Hotel, Restaurant, Café) industry after the peak Coronavirus period is benefitting stakeholders in the food technology and innovations industry. Food businesses are increasing efforts to strike the right balance of creativity and science to meet taste palettes of foodies whilst aligning their business to a circular economy. But do food businesses need constant improvement for technological innovations? Let’s find out!
Top 10 food technology trends that are revolutionizing the market landscape can be illustrated as follows:
- Food Safety & Transparency
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the importance of food safety and transparency. Blockchain holds promising potentials to enable food safety by tracking how food products travel from farm to the customer’s table.
2. Veganism
Researchers in the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, are developing plant-based cheese that stretches and melts through prolamin technology. Innovations are underway for extrudable fat technology that mimics animal fat in plant-based meats and allows for more authentic fat textures, such as marbling.
3. Alternative Proteins
Following suit for vegan food, alternative protein product manufacturers are drawing innovations in plant-based meat, lab-grown meat and edible insects amongst other items. Microbial based protein is grabbing the attention of consumers since it is derived from the dried cells of micro-organisms such as yeasts, microalgae and fungi.
4. Nutraceuticals
Though nutraceuticals are storming the health and fitness industry, there is a need for ready & near-market platform technologies for processing ingredients like proteins, fibers & probiotics into marketable value-added functional food & nutraceutical products.
5. 3D Food Printers
3D (3 Dimensional) food printing is a breakthrough innovation in the food technology industry and is expected to grab the attention of the Gen Z population that opt for Instagram-friendly pictures of food items.
6. Personalized Nutrition
Mobile apps are emerging as one of the best strategy to facilitate personalized nutrition for individuals in need of weight loss and weight gain. Customized diet plans help individuals of different age group and ethnicity to align with their fitness goals.
7. Food Wastage Reduction
The FoodCloud social enterprise app is gaining recognition for allowing food businesses to upload information about their stock whilst alerting charities to collect and distribute any surplus.
8. Restaurant Digitization
Paperless menus and collection of consumer data are key restaurant digitization trends. Food product merchandizing through eCommerce and hyper-local food delivery apps are propelling growth in the landscape of food technology & innovations in 2022.
9. Robotics
Food serving robots and robots for food manufacturing are bringing a sea change in the food technology industry. Right from agriculture stages to restaurants, grocery stores and home cooking, food robots are being programmed to help with food cultivation & production tasks.
10. Plastic-free & Smart Packaging
Since sustainability has become one of the most overused words in any industry, manufacturers are designing plastic-free and smart packaging solutions that are suitable for high temperature food items. They are innovating in realistic plastic alternatives like bioplastics that are both biodegradable and non-biodegradable.
Above takeaways indicate that the market of food technology & innovations is projected to advance at an astonishing CAGR in 2022 and the upcoming decade.