Food Tech - Issue #20

A circular economy is an industrial system that is restorative or regenerative by intention and design. It replaces the end-of-life concept with restoration, shifts towards the use of renewable energy, eliminates the use of toxic chemicals, which impair reuse and return to the biosphere, and aims for the elimination of waste through the superior design of materials, products, systems and business models. The new dimensions of product development and reuse concept in circular economy would also significantly increase the operational facility and network complexity. In this line, Internet of Things is a new emerging technology along with artificial intelligence is proposed to overcome the challenges in circular economy concept…

In Germany, around twelve million tons of food end up in the trash every year. Over 30 percent of that is already destroyed in the production process. In the Resource-efficient Intelligent Foodchain (“REIF”) project, the Fraunhofer Insti-tute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV is working with partners to combat this food waste. In this undertaking, artificial intelligence can be a valuable asset. Cheese, bread, meat, and other food products can be efficiently produced using data-based algorithms. Machine learning methods can optimize sales and production planning as well as process and plant control systems.