Tech-driven transformation is on the rise

Formulators, ingredient suppliers and food companies understand the transformation age is here. As such, the industry has been investing in digital platforms and data visualization tools to propel product development and innovation.

Increased desire among consumers for clean label ingredients, decarbonization efforts, less food waste and healthier lifestyles is part of what’s spurring these technology trends going into 2025, which you can read more about in the Future of Food Tech digital magazine.

Hybrid products for flexitarians

For the food industry, combining traditional animal fats with plant-based ingredients produces hybrid food products catering to healthy consumer demands. The growing “flexitarian” category is one to watch. These consumers balance meat and alternative protein in diets and have shown a desire to reduce animal-based meat consumption.

Alice Pilkington, senior global food and drink analyst at Mintel, noted, “Consumers showing interest in reducing their meat or dairy intake have been mostly neglected by the marketing of meat and dairy alternatives.”

One example of the hybrid product trend is U.S.-based Choppy and its blends of textured plant protein with animal byproducts such as collagen, beef, tallow and bone broth, providing consumers with the sensory experience of meat by using animal byproducts.

Related:Shattering the mold: Food trends changing the game – digital magazine

2D printing technology moves oat milk forward

A great-tasting beverage is the bottom line for brands. Surveys show, however, that consumers also want innovation, sustainability and health benefits from their drinks. To answer this challenge, milkadamia offers 2D-printed sheets of oat milk solids.

Company CEO Jim Richards maintained, “2D printing technology is a new, efficient method for manufacturing milkadamia’s Flat-Pack Organic Oat Milk. 2D printing of food sounds like science fiction, but it is a surprisingly simple, energy-efficient method to produce the sheets, and capacity increases are easy add-ons.” The consumer takes the oat milk paste, adds water and creates an at-home beverage for an on-the-go experience.

The flat-pack beverage features 94% less packaging, an 85% reduction in weight and lower prices for consumers compared to a shelf-stable format.

Designer fats and precision fermentation

Precision fermentation — which uses microorganisms to produce specific functional ingredients — faces low consumer awareness among Americans. “Only 25% of U.S. consumers are at least somewhat familiar with the topic,” The Good Food Institute’s (GFI) upcoming report on fermentation concluded. Regardless, GFI’s Principal Scientist of Fermentation Adam Leman pointed out, “In the past few years, several startups have positioned themselves by partnerships with incumbent food and fermentation companies to leverage their food science know-how and scale-up experience.”

Related:AI, 3D printing primed to power meatless modernization

One company ready to scale precision fermentation production is Melt&Marble AB, based in Sweden. The precision fermentation platform company and its technology create different “designer fats” tailored to various market applications. “We’ve identified a demand for fats with enhanced taste and functionality from companies in the alternative meat space, which our first product specifically addresses,” Anastasia Krivoruchko, the company’s CEO and co-founder, said.

Decarbonizing the supply chain

Methane has 80 times the warming potential versus carbon dioxide over 20 years. Brands have been taking action on CO₂ and methane emissions at a company level but now are tackling supply chain decarbonization.

“Methane is an absolute battle for us,” Sara Lockwood, global regen ag director at Danone, explained. The organization’s three main divisions include dairy, specialized nutrition and water. “Most of our company’s footprint comes from dairy ingredients and sourcing fresh milk, so we have more than 50% of emissions today coming from dairy,” she said. “Out of dairy emissions, methane represents about 55%.”

In a Sept. 2024 press release, Ajinomoto Co. and Danone announced a new partnership to reduce manure emissions by adding an essential amino acid — which also acts as a nutrient — to farmers’ feed. Based on in vitro studies, Ajinomoto calculated that incorporating the company’s AjiPro-L lysine formulation can amplify the effect of the methane reduction additive by approximately 30%. Several additional potential benefits ranging cost, nutrition and environment are noted in the release.

Modernizing traceability for suppliers and brands

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) final rule on food traceability — with a compliance date of Jan. 20, 2026 — will enforce lot-level traceability for specific food materials in the U.S., and strengthen European ESG (environmental, social and governance) regulations across Europe.

With this rule coming, brands and suppliers are moving away from manual data recording and instead identifying system software opportunities. The goal is to promote transparency in ingredient sources between suppliers and brands. Paul Bradley, senior director of product marketing at TraceGains, suggested, “With increasing regulatory pressures and shifting consumer demands, outdated methods are putting companies at risk.”

Challenges to meeting the traceability mandate include data conversion, implementing standardizing data collection methods and building out software like enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms.