Being a food manufacturer, large scale or small, is a hectic task that involves a lot of responsibilities. Therefore, it is essential that food manufacturers are aware of the common challenges in the industry in order to face them effectively.
Organic foods and foods free from artificial ingredients
One of the most prominent challenges in the present day is the preference for organic foods and foods that are devoid of artificial ingredients and modifications. All involved in the industry are aware that it is easier to preserve foods using chemicals than doing it the natural way and it will also increase the shelf life. Further, harvesting organic foods in large scale is difficult and may not fit in the budget of many manufacturers.However, providing the customers with what they want will increase the sales of your products and the lower shelf lives and higher initial costs may be compensated with the revenue you earn. Using a proper quality assurance software will allow you to keep track of the expiry dates of the products and can even be programmed to alert you regarding the next shelf life assessment.
Fortified foods and beverages
The present consumer wants more for what he/she pays. For example, they will no longer purchase plain processed cereal but, instead, will look for cereal that has added nutrients and vitamins. Food processing is bound to destroy some percentage of the nutrients and, therefore, the customers may also prefer to consume the real food rather than fortified processed foods. Even though, the scarcity of natural nutritious foods in the market may persuade the buyers to look for processed foods with added nutrients, food manufacturers should come up with more innovative value addition ideas to attract the consumers.
Food safety and packaging concerns
Although healthy foods seem to be the priority in the minds of the consumers these days, the safety of the products for consumption should still be on the top of the list of concerns for the manufacturers. Using a complaint management software that has specially been designed keeping the concerns of the food industry in mind will be able to take a bit of stress off your head as it will identify the incidents that need to be reported instantly to the relevant authorities complying with the regulatory requirements without waiting for the customer care executive to realize that the incident should have been reported several days ago.
Not only the food but the packaging should also be safe. You should keep an eye open for the reactions the packaging may have with the contents, if any, and the moment you gain knowledge of such a possibility, the packaging material should be changed.
Food manufacturers should also consider going green, not only because the consumers are now more environmental friendly but because you have a responsibility to protect the source of your income.