Over the last decade, restaurant and retail food safety have taken a huge leap forward, largely due to the adoption of food safety systems incorporating wireless technology, advanced sensors, and data analytics. Top quick-serve restaurant brands with their large networks of stores have led the charge in adopting these systems. As a result, they’ve streamlined operations, increased food safety, and achieved uniform standards across all locations. 

The food safety industry continues to innovate and adopt new technologies. Forward-looking brands are developing new ways to incorporate these technologies into their operations and ultimately rise above the competition. There is no shortage of new technology these days to be deployed in or alongside a food safety system. We reached out to the industry and asked the stakeholders what food safety in terms of new technology means to them and how they see it happening in the new-age kitchens. 

Food Technology That Aids Sustainability

For Chef Gauri Varma, Founder of Confect and G's Patisserie, food technology today is the art of making Food that is sustainable for the environment that we live in; which means creating food that would easily adapt to the climate conditions that we have in India; which is largely a tropical country. 

“A lot of information around food safety food handling, understanding of the current norms for the laws in terms of the percentage allowance of certain ingredients within each food group. An upgrade in technology in food should not only be limited to tech and delivery companies but it should also be extended to a deeper understanding of what goes into making food sustainable,” she said.

She strongly feels the need to reduce the number of preservative chemicals that go into food, taking away from the real nutritional value of that food group is where the future for food technology lies and where most companies should focus on going greener and healthier. “Last but not least working on sustainable packaging which is both green as well as helps food retail its authentic taste and nutritional content would go a long way,” she added.

Upgraded Sensors

Food Safety mistakes are every restaurant's worst nightmare, at the same time, monitoring food safety is critical to the well-being of your customers, team, and business. Post-pandemic we have seen a huge improvement in the way we work and are more aware in general and focussed on all safety protocols (not just decontamination of surfaces). However, due to the nature of work in this industry especially handling different microorganisms knowingly or unknowingly is still the root cause of contamination. 

“Recently a few amazing technologies have been developed to increase food safety in restaurants such as a variety of electronics sensors - which assist chefs with everything from detection of spoilages, vapor analysis, acid/alkaline level detection, temperature control, detection of toxins and pathogens and many more such uses. With the rise of e-learning techniques such as microlearning, you can give employees bite-sized reminders of what they should be doing to keep people safe,” Manoj Kumar Pandey, Partner Chef at The Piano Man added. 

According to him, automated food labeling, especially when incorporated with a full restaurant management solution, takes a huge burden on the kitchen staff. Food safety technologies using a variety of light frequencies for food safety are becoming more predominant in commercial use. New UV disinfection processes are coming not only to restaurants but for use within the supply chain. They can be a cost-effective way of decontaminating food surfaces or clear liquids.

Contaminant Detection Becomes Easier

Food-related illnesses have been a bane for a long time. People died of dysentery as well, in the olden days. With the passage of time and the development in the field of food science and understanding of food safety, the first formal set of rules was established somewhere around the 1960s by NASA and Pillsbury for Astronauts traveling to space. The method that was developed was known as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP).

“This over time has evolved into various other systems like the British Codex, ISO, etc. with the underlying principle being HACCP. The basic system traces the journey of the food from its source of origin to the time it is consumed. With the advent of technology, this process and systems can now be documented more accurately. We can dig deeper into the systems with a more detailed report on the journey of an ingredient from source to consumption by the end user. This has also enabled us to track every step in the supply chain, have a more controlled approach towards spoilage, improving the yields, empowering the small farmers to work with bigger businesses,” Chef Murtaza Saifee, executive chef at Hotel Royal Orchid Bangalore shared.

It will also assist the end user in understanding and getting all the information of every ingredient to avoid any allergens by mistake, get ingredients with better yields, better quality, and the best-suited quality of an individual ingredient suited for a particular style of cooking, and get cleaner products and information on the presence of any chemicals or genetic modifications.  

Light Technologies Address Food Safety Issues

In terms of what is next for the food safety technology in India, Bharath Balakrishna, founder of Bhava Foods feels that the country can introduce a light-based, food sanitization technique to successfully eliminate multiple harmful pathogens that could help change the way we keep our food safe. He added that the pulsed light technique acts a promise an effective alternative to the chemical, heat, and water-based antimicrobial technologies commonly used in the food industry and could be applied more generally in sanitized environments. 

“I also believe that the recent amendment made by the FSSAI that has come into effect on September 1, 2022, regarding sampling of food imported for captive use or production of value-added products for 100 percent exports will be beneficial. Ensuring improvements in technology and increased regulation apart from advanced technology in the food space in my opinion is what’s next when it comes to food safety technology,” Balakrishna said.

If eventually, a kill step could be introduced for bagged salads, the number of recalls could drop drastically, also impacting the amount of foodborne illness and food waste.

Automation That Makes Monitoring Manageable 

Especially for cloud kitchens, time management, monitoring, and fulfillment are as crucial as maintaining food safety norms. Some food safety software used in monitoring includes Bluetooth integrations with various smartphone apps, which means these tools are accessible to practically anyone who has a smartphone, reducing complications and the need for a particular person to conduct all checks.

Automatic, real-time reporting can also catch mistakes that could cost a food business money or result in liabilities. Digital reports can track trends, and verify that proper procedures have been followed. This makes it harder to intentionally alter data or make any accidental errors.

According to Mahesh Madiyala, chief operating officer of Kouzina, cloud kitchens, have started to leverage technology to track every order in real-time. Taste, quality, and safety are all tracked through a combination of analytics solutions and video-based audit systems. Furthermore, strong traceability is established within the supply chain. He shared that these practices help in providing better quality and tasty food to consumers consistently. Extensive use of technology to improve operations consistently is one of the innovations driven by the new age cloud kitchen companies and will extend to traditional restaurants over time.

As COVID protocols evolve in response to the ever-changing pandemic, likely, technologies meant to help with these public health measures, contact-tracing apps, contactless delivery options, employee temperature checks, team communication apps, etc. will play an important role in the new year and beyond. Summing up, for any new technology innovation, necessity is the mother of invention.