Food and Beverages

Food and beverages industry holds largest share in social as well as economic growth as it is universal to human being. Food industries covers entire sectors from product manufacturing to supply chainsuch as food ingredient, processed food, animal food, food testing, and processing equipment, customer health & hospitality services and logistics. Beverage industries covers two bulk sectors, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Alcoholic beverages includes beer, wine, spirit whereas non-alcoholic beverages includes juice, water, coffee, tea and soft drinks. Rapid urbanization along with improved health awareness is rising demands for food and beverage products by end users. Owing to improved lifestyle, demand for processed and ready to eat food is continuously increasing across the world. Key drivers such asnatural alternatives to artificial flavors and colors, healthier alternatives to regular food, government campaigns for food and foodborne diseases are attracting manufacturers, investors, retailers, raw material providers towards global market for food and beverage industry. Globalization made world small and easy to connect characterized by significant trade activities in global market for food and beverages sector. This has led to rampant increase in import and export of food and beverage products across the region.

Owing to lifestyle shifts coupled with increasing functional food products demand over regular food productsis expected to fuel growth for food and beverage global industry during forecast period. North America is expected to dominate global food and beverages industry,due to increasing demand of natural and organic processed food instead of flavored food and beverages during forecast period.In U.S.,demand for organic food is expected to grow over 14% by 2018 as compared to the previous year. North America region contributes more than 65% in food testing and food testing equipment market. Asia Pacific region is expected to witness major growth due to increase in disposable income, increased population and growing health awareness. According to Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF)—a trust established by the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India—food industry in India is expected to reach US$ 63.5 billion by the end of 2018. Europe food and beverages industry is expected to grow significantly due to increasing demand for food additives and flavoring agents in the European region.

In case of global beverage market, North America dominated the global beverage market, followed by Asia Pacific and Europe in 2016. The trend is expected to be continue during for the followingdecade, due to increasing demand for alcoholic beverages over non-alcoholic beverages in North America region. Increasing young population, adoption of western culture along with acceptance of alcoholic beverages as a consumable drinks is expected to fuel growth of alcoholic beverages in Asia Pacific region, followed by Europe.

Key challenges in front of global food and beverage market

To withstand globally, food and beverages industries need to evaluate challenges before production and distribution of their products to end users. For instance,

• Government regulations

Stringent government regulations and time consuming approval processes before launching commercially, pressurizes the manufacturer to obtain approvals prior to distribution. Leading food associations such as Food and Drug Administration, U.S. (FDA), European Food and Safety Association (EFSA) and Food Safety and Standards Authorities of India (FSSAI) set criteria for certain food products and beverages on the basis of product contents. For example,

• In April 2016, Food and Drug Administration of the U.S. has directed gaur gum as a natural substance which is obtained from maceration of the seed of the gaur plant are safe and can be used in specified limit.
• European Food and Safety Authorities (EFSA) approved dietary food supplements based on Lactoferrin as a consumable dietary food supplement for infant formula, sports nutrition.
• In June 2016, The Government of India’s (GOI) Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) introduced new regulations for 11,000 food additives used in various food categories. The new list of food additives bans the usage of potassium bromate and cyclamates in any food category.

• Balancing the scales

Industries need to keep balance between demand and supply regarding their products based on market dynamics

• Automization of existing technology

Continuous research along with adaptation of latest technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), programmable logic controllers (PLC), internet of things (IoT) is a major challenge for food and beverage industries to compete in global market.

• Food inflation

Rising energy pricesare leading to high production prices for end products which further leads towards food inflation problem,therefore service at affordable prices is a major challenge for food and beverage industries. 

Food and Beverages key Global conferences

Global conferences motivates researchers and manufacturers to present their research workas well as to improve their knowledge base. Global conferences for food and beverages to be held in this yearare listed below. Problems associated with food and beverage industries like proper food utilization, food loss, food safety, food and beverage operational constraints will be covered up to overcome challenges of food and beverage industries across the world.

• 18^th International global summit on food and beverages - 2017, Chicago.
• 2^nd International conference on food security and sustainability - 2017, San Diego, U.S.
• 3^rd global conference on food security - 2017, Cape Town, South Africa
• International conference on food quality, safety and security – 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Institute for food technologist – Annual meeting 2017, Las Vegas, U.S.
• 19^thInternational Conference on Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity – 2017, Tampa, Florida, U.S.
• 21^st International conference on food and nutrition - 2018, Chicago, U.S.

Key players in food and beverage global market

Some of the key players in the global market for food are Cargill, Incorporated (U.S.), Ingredion Incorporated (U.S.), Archer Daniels Midland Company (U.S.), Kerry Group PLC (Ireland), Associated British Foods PLC (U.K.), Unilever Group, Danon, Fonterra, General Mills, E. I. Du Pont De Nemours and Company (U.S.), Arla Foods (Denmark), BASF SE (Germany), Koninklijke DSM N.V. (Netherlands), DMH Ingredients (U.S.), and Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (Japan).The recent mega mergers of major food companies such as Kraft with Heinz and AB InBev with SABMiller further creates a highly competitive environment with major growth prospects for players.

Some of the key players in the global market for beverages are Nestle, Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Inc., Diageo plc, and Heineken.