Within every industry to stay within the game you need to remain competitive. With over population and climate change having a significant impact on our food resources, the food and beverage industry are having to come up with new ways to ensure supply and demand are met. Not only is sustainability a needed and necessary process to adopt for manufacturers but it is also something sought out by consumers, when they know that a supplier has ensured a sustainable approach within their processes they are more likely to buy from them than a competitor who hasn’t prioritised sustainability.

“In the past year alone, sales of consumer goods from brands with a demonstrated commitment to sustainability have grown more than 4%”

Challenges being faced by food and beverage manufacturers:

We are witnessing a landscape which is changing at a rapid rate, with climate change increasing temperatures and extreme weather conditions becoming more of a regular occurrence. The unpredictability in weather is resulting in smaller crop yields, with the ozone layer becoming further eroded, crops will be subjected to great heat in traditionally milder weather and with the changing rates of precipitation effecting water supply this is creating a negative effect on the crops growth. This impact on farmers and food and beverage manufacturers means the inability to keep up with the supply demands.

“Climate change impacts food availability through its effect on the production of food and its storage, processing, distribution, and exchange.”

Therefore, creating a more sustainable way to produce food and beverage products in this new landscape will give some power back to the farmers and manufacturers ensuring demands can be met.

How the food and beverage industry can become sustainable:

There are lots of ways that the food and beverage industry can make long lasting sustainable improvements.

PACKAGING: Taking a conscious effort to think about the amount of plastic being used, after COP26 the aim to minimise waste by 15% is something we all need to help with.

PLANT-BASED ALTERNATIVES: Providing the opportunity for consumers to select a vegan option of products or using more vegan friendly alternatives within recipes for an increasing demand.

EFFICIENT WATER USE: Looking through the production process and analysing the volume usage to the waste. Re-evaluating this could reduce water waste.

REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS: Introducing low carbon transport and ways to gain renewable energy, this could be through gaining solar panels for energy.