TECHNOLOGY
AUTOMATING FARMING PROCESSES SUCH AS MONITORING CROPS IS BECOMING THE INDUSTRY NORM
“ Through sophisticated software we can now trace batches of product from the tanker it gets delivered in right through to which milk carton it gets sent out of the factory in ,” he says . “ So , if there is a problem with the milk carton , in theory , there might be four or five tankers going into the one tank . You could trace back one carton to which piece of equipment it was processed on , which one in five tankers it came in on . There are samples from each tanker so you can identify the exact origin of the contamination .”
Food safety concerns aren ’ t just limited to dairy . With improvements in this area it is increasingly possible for
producers to reach markets around the globe . Market research firm Market Data Forecast predicts that the global food safety testing market will reach $ 17.72bn by 2021 . This is growth of 7.6 % CAGR from the $ 12.29bn it was worth in 2016 . Driven by China and India , the Asia-Pacific market is expected to offer the greatest growth potential as improvements in testing technologies are made .
Food packaging giant Tetra Pak has introduced a management information system called CIP – cleaning in place . “ You don ’ t have to disassemble the whole factory ; you can clean it while it ’ s still in production ,” Sheppard says . “ You can
20 October 2017