Food and beverage industry - art or science?

Every day we hear politicians around the world say that their decisions are "guided by science". The public is thus becoming increasingly aware of how science influences all aspects of life. In the following article, we focus on how science is driving the food and beverage industry, and in particular how Vaisala technologies are helping to optimize sustainable food production.

It is easy to understand that art plays an important role in the food and beverage industry. Creativity and imagination are essential in terms of packaging and advertising, as well as in product development. However, at Vaisala we believe that science takes the dominant role: Developing measurement technologies, helping with product formulation, optimizing processes, protecting safety, ensuring quality, creating product consistency and strengthening sustainability. Looking to the future, how will science help industry meet its latest challenges?

According to the FAO (1), almost one in three people in the world (2.37 billion) did not have access to adequate food in 2020. Countries in Africa and Asia were the hardest hit - and at a time when the biggest nutrition-related challenges in some countries were obesity and food waste. Food security, nutrition and accessibility are growing challenges.

Water scarcity can be defined as not having enough fresh water to meet normal needs. It can be caused by climate change (drought), water pollution, excessive or inefficient water use, or inadequate or failing water infrastructure. According to the United Nations (2), if no adaptation measures are taken, the number of people without enough water for at least one month a year will rise from the current 3.6 billion to over 5 billion by 2050. Here, too, there is growing pressure for greater efficiency and less waste.

Climate change threatens crops that can be wiped out by droughts, floods, hurricanes, etc. According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (3), climate-related disasters have almost doubled compared to the past twenty years. Greater adaptive capacity is therefore needed in our agricultural systems.

The limited shelf life of many products poses an additional risk to the food and beverage industry, making it more vulnerable to supply chain problems. Therefore, there is a strong need for measures to improve adaptability and protect business continuity. Combined with cost and sustainability considerations, supply chains need to be short, fast, secure and traceable. In addition to sustainable products, consumers are also looking for better packaging that relies less on plastics.

Consumer demand for safe, healthy and nutritious food continues to grow. Manufacturers are therefore under increasing pressure to provide better labelling information - especially for ingredients with health considerations such as sugar, salt and calorie content. Consumers also increasingly want products with a low carbon footprint, which is driving the development of meat alternatives, for example. Carbon footprint information is requested by retailers. Often, this now includes Scope 3 emissions, i.e. those that occur outside of their own operations.

With rising global energy and food prices, food and beverage manufacturers are under both environmental and financial pressure to improve energy efficiency, reduce waste and increase the use of renewable energy - wind, solar and biogas.

Science offers solutions to all the challenges described above, and Vaisala is actively involved in many of them. For example, Vaisala is the world's leading manufacturer of meteorological instruments. These enable scientists to track climate change and extreme weather events. In addition, Vaisala's industrial measurement devices provide better management of food and beverage processes. This:

Vaisala technologies are used extensively in the food and beverage industry - and many examples are listed below - but compared to Vaisala's global reputation in the meteorology business, the company is less well known in this field. It is possibly one of the best kept secrets in the food and beverage industry - with the most powerful equipment.

The Vaisala brand is driven by the company's mission to provide measurement technology through innovation, actively contributing to the betterment of the world. This is based on four key values:

In the food and beverage industry, Vaisala products are used at every stage of the value chain - from agriculture to processing, storage, distribution, retail and waste management.

With accuracy and long-term reliability as prerequisites in all Vaisala development programmes, the company's products have gained an enviable reputation worldwide. Moreover, they are already used on more than one planet. Vaisala humidity and pressure sensors are currently in use on every continent on Earth, as well as on Mars in NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance rovers.

Humidity

Vaisala's main technologies include measurement techniques that are commonly considered industry standards. For example, humidity is one of the most common measurements in almost every industry. In 1973, Vaisala developed the world's first thin-film polymer-based capacitive humidity sensor, the HUMICAP®. This significantly improved the accuracy and reliability of the measurements, with great advantages such as long-term stability and insensitivity to condensation, dirt and most chemicals. Therefore, Vaisala moisture probes are routinely used in food processes such as drying, cooking, baking etc. The applications for moisture measurements are almost endless; partly because excessive moisture in food can lead to spoilage.

Typical applications for Vaisala humidity, temperature and dew point measurements:
In agriculture and primary production:
Greenhouses

In transport and storage to ensure occupational safety and freshness of goods:

Storage of fruit and vegetables
Storage warehouses
Condensation monitoring

In food processing:

Moisture measurement for optimised drying in fluidised bed dryers, spray drying, baking ovens

In the food trade to ensure high product quality:

Protection of fruit and vegetables from moisture loss, decay and ageing

Carbon dioxide (CO2)

Carbon dioxide is used by plants to grow through photosynthesis. Therefore, it is common practice among gardeners to increase the CO2 content in the greenhouse to boost production. CO2 is also used in carbonated drinks and in production facilities for limited shelf-life food. All of these processes require tight control, making them ideal applications for Vaisala sensor technology.The Vaisala CARBOCAP® carbon dioxide sensor features an innovative fine-milled, electrically tunable Fabry-Pérot interferometer (FPI) filter. This provides a reference measurement that compensates for potential changes in light source intensity as well as impurities or dirt accumulation in the light path. Consequently, the CARBOCAP® sensor is very stable over time. This means operators do not have to worry about calibration deviation or sensor failure.

Common applications for Vaisala CO2 measurements:

Refractometry

Refractometry is a well-known method for measuring sugar content in products such as beverages and fruit products. However, Vaisala K-PATENTS® inline hygienic refractometers are routinely used in countless food and beverage applications for process monitoring and control. For example, Brix and dry matter measurements are commonly used in food and beverage manufacturing processes.

Unlike many other liquid concentration methods, the Vaisala refractometer is not affected by particles, bubbles, crystals or colours. These meters are therefore suitable for use in a wide variety of solutions for liquid identification and for monitoring the concentration of components. Importantly, the Vaisala refractometer is EHEDG and 3-A certified - these sanitary standards protect hygiene in food production and processing.

Application examples for Vaisala inline refractometers can be found in the table opposite, but their versatility is evident in their inclusion in all stages of the beer brewing process:

Common applications for Vaisala CO2 measurements:

Biogas

Globally, there is a huge focus on renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions as countries and organizations strive to achieve zero emissions. Biogas creates the opportunity to utilize waste products from agriculture and food production and displace fossil fuels as an energy source. In addition, biogas processes produce fermentation residues. These form a nutrient-rich fertilizer that can complete the circular economy in food production. Biogas can also generate electricity for use in households and on farms.

Vaisala has developed technology that enables optimization of the biogas process. Vaisala multigasondes are uniquely capable of monitoring biogas inline and in real time. This allows operators to improve biogas quality, reduce costs and improve process efficiency. This last example shows how Vaisala is involved in all stages of the food cycle, from food production to anaerobic digestion of food waste.

Science can be defined as the pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding according to a systematic methodology based on evidence. At Vaisala, food is all about science; measurement data from our instruments influence decisions and enable efficiency optimization. Science at Vaisala is guided by curiosity. With 14% of net sales invested in research and development, the company has a long-standing commitment to innovation. The food and beverage industry has benefited enormously from the technologies Vaisala has already designed. But for the company's scientists, developing completely new technologies is even more exciting.

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