Whether you have always focused your attention and studies on working somewhere in the hospitality industry, or you are passionate about encouraging healthy (yet delicious) eating patterns in general, the more you know, the better.

With this in mind, here are some of the latest news and innovations in the food and beverage industry.

A Focus on Waste Reduction

As the food and beverage industry is so closely linked to the destruction and indeed, the preservation, of the natural environment and organic resources, the industry plays a pivotal role in working towards an eco-friendly future.

The beauty of the food production industry striving to reduce the amount of food waste produced is that it offers two huge advantages: not only does this reduce the negative impact on the environment, but it also saves individual companies substantial amounts of money.

Superior Maintenance and Cleaning Equipment

Another hugely beneficial change to the manufacturing processes utilized by companies of all different sizes across the food and beverage industry is in the context of maintenance and cleaning equipment.

If you are not up to date with the latest innovations you may ask: what is a common clean-in-place cycle? This is where revolutionary systems utilize the latest technologies, software packages, and programs to ensure there is no deficit in terms of functionality whilst large items of equipment are cleaned and sanitized.

Freeze Drying (Lyophilization)

Perhaps one of the most recognized and truly transformational relatively new innovations in the field is that of freeze drying, which is essentially the best way to increase both the freshness and shelf-life of a wide array of products.

What is more, freeze drying food also ensures that the products entirely retain their original and organic flavor, as well as other nutritional values and content.

Vertical Farming

Although the actual process of vertical farming is not, in itself, particularly new, the need for such space-saving solutions has increased tenfold in recent years, making vertical farming a renewed popular trend within the food and beverage industry.

Basically, vertical farms are usually divided into two separate categories:

  1. Hydroponic vertical farms: where plants are grown and cultivated in a basin full of water containing a rich percentage of nutrients
  2. Aeroponic vertical farms: where the roots of each plant are entirely exposed and are sprayed with a water-based mist containing a rich percentage of nutrients

Forward Osmosis

The final most innovative trend in the food and beverage industry is one which—unless you work in the manufacturing and production sector yourself—you may not be familiar with.

Forward osmosis is when specialized membrane technology is utilized to create a brand-new, cost-saving, and entirely sanitary process to concentrate a wide variety of liquids. The process of forward osmosis involves absolutely no heat and much less energy than other processes, and results in foodstuffs retaining much more of their natural nutrient value.

Not only does the implementation of forward osmosis in a manufacturing company for foods and drink preserve the entire sensory profile of the product, but it also means the natural color is retained.

Image credit: Cristiano Pinto via Unsplash