By Nathan Lee, TLE Correspondent
The future of food production was on display at this year’s Gulfood Manufacturing where the first “Factory in a Box” was unveiled on the opening day.
Presented by United Food Technology (UFT), a specialist food technology and engineering company with offices in Germany and the UAE, the company believes that this is how the food factory of the future will look and function.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations estimates food production will need to increase 70 per cebt by 2050 in order to feed the world population. This will place huge demand on food manufacturing factories to massively increase capacity.
UFT believes that such a ‘food factory of the future’ will look and function in a very different way with innovations in space utilization, processing yields, hygiene controls and waste management all contributing to a faster, more efficient, cleaner and more eco-friendly factory.
Continuous processing equipment innovations will deliver processing efficiencies that a few years ago would have been impossible to achieve. New, innovative racking systems will ensure the factory of the future requires far less warehouse space. And, although it sounds difficult to believe, factories in the future will be able to achieve 0 per cent waste emissions, minimizing their carbon footprint and arresting the flow of waste to landfill.
Gerhard Vogt, Managing Director of UFT, says that by adopting innovative technology also allows for a much shorter factory development time. “By applying the latest food factory technology, UFT can now deliver and commission a new food factory within 6 – 8 months, instead of the standard 18 – 24 months.”
Factory in a Box will therefore not only look and operate differently, it will also be developed much faster, have a substantially reduced eco footprint and will process products in an ultra-hygienic environment.
Gulfood Manufacturing is open between 10am-6pm from 27 – 28 October and 10am-5pm on 29 October 2015 at DWTC. Visitor attendance is free of charge. For more information, please visit www.gulfoodmanufacturing.com
