The consumer demand for ethical and sustainable food production is one of the fastest-growing trends over the last couple of years. As a result, many food manufacturers and retailers have to now look at processes that make this demand from their consumers a reality.
Agricultural tech developers have played a crucial role during this transition. They have worked with food corporations to develop and distribute food safety management systems that track operations and perform quality checks periodically.
Major stakeholders in Food Safety Management Systems
The Agri-tech industry has seen unprecedented growth in countries like US, France, India, Spain, Brazil, and China, where agriculture is a primary contributor to the nation’s GDP. That said, food safety standards are extremely volatile in various parts of the world.
The most widely used regulations are set by the USDA and FSIS, which are responsible for food safety under the ISO 22000 international standards. Separate food codes are set by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), FDA, and Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). Similarly, the FSSAI in India and the Federal Office of Consumer Protection in Germany oversee food safety guidelines.
Major investment in this sector primarily revolves around data analytics, IoT, artificial intelligence, machine learning, etc. Food safety management systems are actively used to standardise the agricultural sector and promote global food safety.
Agri-tech integration for food safety
Companies that have to rely on ingredients from around the world are currently the biggest investors in food safety management systems. The use of Agri-tech solutions enables them to meet the consumer demand for traceable and sustainable ingredients and processed food items.
In addition, several companies have moved on from ERP/MIS systems to cloud-based systems. These come with advanced features like farmer profiling, instant tracking, digitisation, analytics, and much more in an easy to access format.
