Unifiller Global Food & Bakery Production Trends
The food production industry is currently facing a shortage of available labour due to the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and due to long term factors that include an ageing workforce, fewer people entering the trade, a lack of trained candidates, and government policies that impact staff accessibility. At the same time, the industry is experiencing immense global opportunities for growth and market share through new trends, new government support initiatives, changing and evolving taste and health preferences. mergers and acquisitions and much more.
Here are some global trends impacting the bakery and food market globally.
Trend 1: Social, ethical and government policies towards employee health and safety. Inefficient processes, burnout and unsafe conditions are challenging factors leading to employee turnover and injury. Both injured and departing employees leave a gap that needs to be effectively & quickly filled without impacting quality or productivity. Looking outside the context of the pandemic and at practical day-to-day business operations, automation also offers benefits that could help food and baking manufacturers meet their business goals to reduce labor costs and fortify staffing shortages, as well as minimize the risk of employee strain or injury
Trend 2: Reduced sugar trend. According to WHO, about 422 million people worldwide have diabetes, the majority living in low-and middle-income countries, and 1.5 million deaths are directly attributed to diabetes each year. Both the number of cases and the prevalence of diabetes have been steadily increasing over the past few decades.Reducing the amount of sugar in bakery products or offering sugar-free alternatives offers a unique step into an untapped market. Portioning automation ensures you meet labelling requirements as they pertain to sugar content, but also ensures production facilities are controlling ingredient costs through reduced product waste.
Trend 3: Longer Shelf Life and Frozen Bakery & Food Products. According to the 2021 Credit Suisse (CS) Global Wealth Report, the global middle-class, defined as adults whose assets amount to between $10,000 to $100,000, more than tripled to 1.7 billion in mid-2020 from just 507 million in 2000. The middle-class will continue to grow and do so considerably over the current decade. Some forecasts put the global middle-class at 5.3 billion people by 2030. As the middle class grows, so does demand for convenience food.
Combined with the worldwide pandemic, consumers are looking to quick and easy convenient food, food with longer shelf lives and the ability to quickly prepare meals, giving way to products that have a longer shelf life and can be frozen.
Trend 4: Creating a Food Safe Culture. Food safety protects consumers from dire health consequences such as food poisoning, allergic reactions, and foodborne illnesses. The World Health Organization records approximately 600 million cases of foodborne diseases and 420, 000 deaths globally every year. These deadly numbers are the reason for strict food safety standards and laws. Outside of health consequences, following Food Safe best practices also protects businesses from penalties such as lawsuits, fines, and facility closures. This is where portioning automation can help – taking what was previously done by hand, and at risk to floor or hand contamination, can be automated to reduce human interference.
Trend 5: Automation for everyone. Thanks to technological advancements, automation presents a unique solution that directly addresses challenges brought on by the pandemic. Such challenges may include physical distancing requirements among workers in a small workspace, contamination risks, a need to reduce labor costs due to budget cuts, and staff shortages. Automation re-imagines the traditional idea of labor in a food or bakery processing plant. Not only can automated machines easily fill in the gaps left by employees who were laid off due to budget cuts or quit out of health concerns, they can also be well-suited for the repetitive and menial tasks human workers were once expected to do.
For more information about portioning automation, check out www.unifiller.com
Unifiller is a subsidiary of the Linxis Group of Companies consisting of leading global companies focusing on mixing technologies (Schaffer, Diosna and VMI), portioning technology (Unifiller) and ingredient dosing systems (Shick-Esteve).
