Food manufacturers are coming up with a growing array of new technologies that have the potential to improve conventional food processing processes. Some of the key technological trends in the food processing market are the use of non-thermal technologies, isochoric freezing for preservation of frozen food, and solar food processing. The major drivers for this market are increasing demand for ready-to-eat food products, changing lifestyles, and an increase in trends toward nuclear families and working women.
The food processing market is divided into several segments, such as beverages, dairy, meat and poultry, convenience food and snacks, fruits and vegetables, seafood, and others. Key players of the food processing market, from the product development side, include Cargill Foods, Nestle, PepsiCo, Archer Daniels Midland, and Unilever. These have been working on different strategies to drive sales using highly influential marketing approaches; however, as we examine the challenges and opportunities ahead in this market, companies can benefit from a strategy of developing non-thermal food processing technologies, as these eliminate the use of high temperatures, as well as considering the key target market trends we have identified. Lucintel predicts that the global food processing market will be valued at $6.4 trillion by 2025, with an expected CAGR of approximately 4.1% between 2020 and 2025.
Lucintel identifies four trends set to influence the global food processing market. Most of the industry players and experts agree that these four trends will accelerate developments in the food processing industry in the near future. In terms of the widespread knowledge about the food processing market already on the horizon, there is still a lack of unified perspective on the direction the industry is moving to proactively address developments. To help bring more clarity to this gap, our study aims to provide insights concerning the direction that changes are taking and how these changes will impact the food processing market.
1. Non-Thermal Technologies for Food Processing
One of the main concerns for food producers is how to extend shelf life without compromising the taste or quality of the food. The advantage of non-thermal technologies is that they eliminate the use of high temperatures during processing while achieving microbial inactivation and reducing detrimental changes in physical or sensory properties such as taste, smell, color, or consistency of foods. The use of non-thermal technologies such as high-pressure processing (HPP), pulsed electric fields (PEFs), cold plasma, and ultrasound present a number of benefits for food preservation.
High-Pressure Processing (HPP)
High-pressure processing (HPP) is a non-thermal food preservation technique that inactivates harmful pathogens and microorganisms by using pressure of approximately 400–600 MPa. Highpressure processing preserves the freshness and taste of the product at a higher level, has low processing losses, and has a high product yield. This technology is used to preserve beverages, juices, vegetables, fruits, meat products, fish and seafood, and ready-to-eat foods. It preserves animal products to help increase the shelf life of goat cheese and yogurt, and decreases cheese ripening time.
Pulsed Electric Fields (PEFs)
Pulsed electric fields involves a non-thermal food preservation technology that uses short pulses of electricity for microbial inactivation and causes minimal harmful effects on food quality attributes. PEF treatments affect microbial inactivation in milk, milk products, juices, egg products, and other liquid foods.
Cold Plasma Treatment