In the agenda of the community that operates in the world of agri-food, the month of May is full of events, which show the clear desire to return to outdoor events, meet companies in the sector and together undertake new paths for the food system not only in our country but on a global level.
Soon, Fieramilano will host Tuttofood, the B2B fair that brings together the protagonists of the national and international food sector, with exhibitors and buyers from various countries. This is an opportunity to see the renewed encounter of the industry with food, where the world of food production comes together to think on a large scale, to conceive new ideas that satisfy the needs of thousands of people related to taste and food.
A showcase capable of showcasing how companies orient themselves in applying innovative processes to each food in the supply chain. The final results often concern not only the pleasure of sitting at the table, eating healthily, but also the impact that the production of that particular food will have on the planet. In this sense, the field of food technology is the only one capable of developing new solutions, because thanks to the technological processes of food combined with new technologies and microbiological and chemical processes related to the infinite world of food, it is possible to control every parameter of the same infinity of products, and finally allow a dynamic and genuine entry into the markets of new food products.
It will therefore be interesting to note how the characteristics of a tomato as well as a steak are controlled in order to guarantee the desired business objectives, such as color, texture, etc.
However, as production scale increases, challenges increase because process standardization is necessary but not always adaptable to the needs of the end consumer, who is increasingly driven by the market to seek personalized products, specifically formulated for their specific needs.
How to approach a system as complex as food, taking into account its different variables?
Often, to innovate, it is not necessary to revolutionize the world and bring greater well-being to the world population through the discovery of techniques (such as the discovery by the French chemist Louis Pasteur around 1860). To innovate even in the food sector, the rule of integrating existing solutions to improve the quality of food in both nutritional and functional terms applies.
In this sense, when doing food design, as Stummerer & Hablesreiter (2010) explain, it means “understanding all those processes and decisions related to the effective design of food in a reproducible (and, I would add, ecological) perspective”. The perspective of those who innovate applied to food is increasingly approaching that of the end consumer. And new products are formulated through R&D models based on new approaches such as co-creation, where the perception of the end consumer impacts the analysis of gustatory-olfactory, visual, tactile and auditory parameters that serve the product design choices.
As Counihan (2002) explains, McDonald’s fries have made history for their unique but reproducible worldwide cocktail of aromas, color, shape, and consistency. Therefore, expectations remain high regarding what companies offer to the market in the category of innovations. And to make the scenario even more complex and fascinating, we must remember the European Union legislation on food safety and technical challenges, that is, the definition of Novel food (EU Regulation 2283/2015).
What do we refer to when we talk about “novelties” in the world of production for human consumption? Which markets do we need to consider when launching a new product on the market? What final forms, recipes, composition, etc. are intended to be marketed, provided that this results in a structural modification? In this sense, we can talk about it again after Tutto Food.
by Silvia D’Alesio