Page 49 - FoodFocusThailand No.233 August 2025

STAND OUT TECHNOLOGY

The food industry is booming, resulting in a continuous increase in the volume of products that must be
manufactured and packaged. However, recruiting suitable or sufficiently qualified personnel has become
increasingly challenging, particularly in the meat processing sector. At the same time, hygiene and quality
requirements are becoming more and more stringent. Therefore, automation solutions represent one of the key
responses to these challenges. Nevertheless, the adoption of robotics in the meat industry remains relatively
limited, highlighting a significant opportunity for future development and implementation of technologies that
truly address the industry’s needs.

Compared to other sectors, the food industry shows a relatively demands placed on the product are also increasing, such as
low adoption rate of automation, with only around three percent of sell-by dates, traceability, and product labeling. These factors
all industrial robots sold annually being used in this field. Due to collectively add complexity to packaging processes.
the nature of the raw materials, which are typically natural, fragile,
and spoilage. As such, each stage of the packaging process The Next Frontier of Meat Packaging Process
must be individually tailored to the product’s shape and specific Automation offers an effective solution to these challenges.
characteristics, making process standardization highly challenging. Even when dealing with delicate products in the meat and
sausage sector, automation can be applied throughout the
Labor Crisis and Food Compliance: The Shift Toward packaging process—from product infeed and loading, to pack
Automation inspection, secondary packaging, and palletising at the end
However, a lack of personnel is not the only factor driving companies of the line. However, automation is only effective when the
to pursue higher levels of automation. Rising labor costs, resulting level of implementation is tailored to the company’s specific
from intense competition and the introduction of minimum wage needs and remains economically viable. Most importantly, it
regulations, have had a significant impact. Labor costs increased must be capable of fully replacing manual labor in the process.
by 160 percent between 2000 and 2015 alone, while during the Notably, the area with the highest number of employees is
same period, selling prices to food retailers could only be adjusted not always the most suitable point for integrating automation
upward to a limited extent. components.
Another aggravating factor is the ever stricter hygiene
requirements prescribed by EFSA (European Food Safety
Authority), the U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the
IFS Food Standard, which is a recognized by the Global Food Service Info C007
Safety Initiative for auditing food manufacturers. Last but not least, More Information

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