Food 4 Future – Foodtech Expo, the innovation event for professionals from the entire value chain of the food sector, will take place from May 17 to 19 in Bilbao.
“Thanks to the joint work of all the actors in the agri-food chain in recent decades, we have a sector with high standards of food safety and quality. The sector has made great strides not only in food safety, but also in variables such as health, the guarantee of authenticity and quality of food and the sustainability of production”, says Roger Well, CEO of AZTI and director of the Food 4 Future World Summit. “However, it is not enough to do things well: there is still work to be done and, above all, transparency must be promoted to overcome the climate of distrust that exists among consumers”, apostille.
For its part, Sergio Fabregat, director of Food 4 Future highlights that “safety, both in production processes and in food consumption, is one of the issues that is receiving the most attention from producers, administrations and consumers themselves”. Fabregat adds that "investment in solutions based on technologies such as Big Data, IoT or Artificial Intelligence are multiplying because they help the agri-food industry to improve safety or improve product quality control, while Blockchain technology has become in an essential tool for the traceability of the entire production process».
The more than 7.000 professionals who will host Food 4 Future will be able to learn about the solutions in terms of traceability and security of leading companies such as Buhler Group, that develops technology for the processing and production of healthy and safe foods; Eagle Genomics, a platform that is promoting research on microbes through Big Data; blend hub, a company that supports food brands in areas such as formulation, search and purchase of raw materials and optimization of the supply chain;Chemometric Brain, which has a solution to analyze the composition of final products, formulate new products, customize them or detect errors that put food safety at risk; esecom, a company focused on reducing and neutralizing the impact of manufacturing processes on the environment; FoodsafeERM, whose partner Roy Kirby has been in charge of food safety departments of large companies and also of the European Food Safety Agency; Foss, which drives data-driven Smart food production processes, wasting less and getting more out of it; either Surdry, which creates equipment for the sterilization of food and beverages after hermetic packaging
Together with them, technology industry leaders such as Ibermatic, Dassault Systemes, IFR Group, Maval or Mapex, They will present their technological proposals to promote innovation and automation of industry processes. Currently, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA), Spain has more than 2.000 companies that develop technological innovation, spending more than 950 million euros.
Digitization to improve traceability
Technologies 4.0 and sustainability are two concepts closely linked to the correct management of food and its value chain. Thus, the Food 4 Future World Summit 2022, the largest European congress on technological innovation in food and beverages to be held within the framework of F4F2022, will address how to implement a food safety culture in the industry to promote a more environmentally friendly sector.
In recent years, food industry regulations regarding food quality control have tightened, forcing food producers to improve their safety and quality processes. Peter Olsen, NOFIMA scientist and expert in food traceability, will explain how the implementation of a new inspection system in the production line through the use of NIR or other technologies is capable of meeting and even exceeding the requirements that are currently demanded.
Also, experts like Ricardo Fernández, director of quality and sustainable development of Carrefour Spain, and Julio Audicana, from the San Telmo Business School, will share the latest technological advances and how digitization applied to supply chains makes it possible to guarantee the quality and safety of food, as well as the control and traceability of the entire production process, from collected until it reaches the table of consumers.
Concepts such as cybersecurity in the food sector will also be addressed to detect possible threats in the supply chain, and methods will be disclosed to efficiently manage available resources with the aim of achieving sustainable production, generating less waste and being more productive. respectful with the planet.
