“Healthy Eating Made Easier with Food Technology”

The food industry is one of the most rapidly growing sectors. With the advancements in food technology, it has become easier for us to access healthy and nutritious food. Food technology has brought a wide range of advantages, such as improved safety and quality of food, increased convenience, and reduced costs. New advancements in food technology have made it possible to produce healthier and more sustainable foods. This includes new methods of production that are more efficient and reduce waste, as well as new technologies that can help detect contaminants in our food supply. These advancements have made it easier for us to access fresh, healthy foods with fewer risks associated with them.
Food technology is quickly becoming a major part of the future. With advancements in technology, food production, preparation, and delivery are becoming more efficient and convenient than ever before. Not only does this mean that we will be able to enjoy fresh and delicious meals with less effort, but it also means that we can take advantage of the numerous advantages of food tech. These include increased safety and nutrition, reduced waste, improved sustainability practices, and greater access to healthy foods. By embracing food technology now, we can ensure a better future for ourselves and our planet.
These days many innovations are taking place through and in the food system. There is quite a debate about our food and how it is produced. Although this process is a slow one, more and more consumers are willing to make a conscious choice for healthier and more sustainable food. A healthier food pattern has positive effects on public health and health care costs. A sustainable food pattern has positive effects on the environment and the (city) landscape.
Over the last decades, the food production chain has changed significantly. Agriculture and food production have been further intensified, industrialized and globalized by, among other things, increased trade, innovations and increased prosperity. The power relationships in the food chains have changed. Consumer preferences have changed worldwide for more processed products, more meat and dairy, more sugar and beverages containing sugar. This has consequences for the climate and for the environment. The food system, from production to consumption, contributes greatly (20-30%) to global greenhouse gas emissions and therefore to climate change (UNEP, 2016). In addition, there are food-related public health problems and problems with the quality of the environment.
In order to ensure the availability of adequate, sustainable and healthy food in a healthy environment, adjustments are necessary in the food system. Food transition means that we have to start producing and consuming in a completely different way. This change will not happen overnight. At the same time this development is already in full swing and will continue the coming years. There are now hundreds of small and medium-sized initiatives in the Netherlands that contribute to innovation and more specifically to innovation in food. These initiatives are in line with all kinds of social trends such as comfort, sustainability, perception, animal welfare, digitization, health, individualization, fair trade, exclusivity and back to nature. These innovations in the food world are taking place in many shapes and sizes. In this document an attempt is made to categorize these innovations into the following eight themes: protein transition, urban agriculture, local food, healthy products, customized food, online stores and web platforms, food theme events and food waste.