It groups the challenges around six themes: raw materials and ingredients; manufacturing and supply; innovation and product quality; food, drink and the consumer; food and drink safety; and knowledge management.
Addressing the need for raw materials and ingredients will lead to a more secure and sustainable supply chains able to provide the appropriate quality at a proportionate cost, said the report, titled: Scientific and technical needs of the food and drink industry.
The report highlighted the need for more efficient quality management, traceability systems, auditing and specifications. These are required “… to support the cost-effective delivery of appropriate, hygienic and authentic raw materials, ingredients, packaging and other inputs - especially given the increasingly international supply chain”, said the report.
Manufacturing
Tackling manufacturing and supply needs will be necessary to ensure a competitive and sustainable industry. This will be achieved through improving efficiency, which will depend on introducing innovation, cost optimisation and assurance of the effectiveness of manufacturing, packing, retail, foodservice and supply chain operations.
Innovation
Attention to innovation and product quality will lead to greater business success. The research highlighted the optimisation of product formulation through new uses of existing ingredients, novel ingredients and novel formulations of ingredients - including reformulation strategies.
The introduction of novel processes, packaging materials and packing systems would enhance both product quality and longevity.
Food, drink and the consumer
Addressing the needs of food, drink and the consumer will “… provide industry with a better understanding of consumers and their interaction with products”.
The process will be helped by: “better sensory and consumer research methods for measuring, analysing and interpreting consumer perception of products and its role in shaping behaviour”.
Clearer understanding was needed of the factors that influence food and drink choice and their relative importance. This included: product factors (food, drink and packaging), product trends (product claims, reformulation, and clean-label), personal, social and cultural factors such as: consumer perception of quality, safety and risk.
Safety
Focusing on food and drink safety will lead to better assurance of the safety of raw materials, ingredients and final products in an increasingly globalised supply chain. Key importance was attached to “ … enhanced understanding of the hazards and risks – covering pathogens, harmful chemicals, allergens and physical contaminants”.
Also highlighted was the need for a “better understanding of the nature, implications, risks and prioritisation of adverse reactions to dietary components by humans - including toxicity, intolerance, allergies and pathogenicity".
Knowledge
Finally, addressing knowledge management will lead to greater competence and continued improvement within the agri-food and drink chain, through more effective knowledge transfer, decisions based on evidence, and better understanding of the chain among its many stakeholders, said the report.
The report also noted the need to promote “ … food science and technology as a career to attract new, high-calibre recruits - including awareness of the role played in food and drink production by the wide range of scientific, technical and engineering disciplines, and better awareness of the wide range of career opportunities/work types within the food and drink industry”.
Leighton Jones, Campden’s head of Corporate Communications, said: “The food and drink industry is Europe’s largest manufacturing sector and a major export industry for the EU, serving our most basic of human needs.
“It is vital that [the EU food and drink industry’s] ever changing needs are met by the effective application of science and technology - particularly in the face of increasingly rapid globalisation and the continued drive towards greater sustainability - to ensure the sector continues to grow and thrive. And provides a safe, secure, sustainable supply of quality food and drink products that meets consumer demand.”