Food to Go New Food

This episode of Food to Go is brought to you
by Merck Life Science. Explore the possibilities and learn more about Merck’s contribution to this exciting field at ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.sigmaaldrich.com/CulturedMeat⁠⁠⁠

In the second instalment of Food To Go's mini
podcast series on ethical sourcing, the New Food team speaks to Waleed Nasir, Sustainability Business Development Lead at Cargill Cocoa and Chocolate about how much impact has been made in the 10 years since the launch of the Cargill Cocoa Promise. Waleed also shares why he believes sustainability is “becoming a must have rather than a nice to have” in the food sector and why transparency is so important.

A little later on, Grace speaks to Grant Lang, Founder of Mozzo Coffee, to find out why the company has partnered with Rebuild Women's Hope to support women coffee growers in the Democratic Republic of Congo and how the partnership is making a lasting impact on the lives of women and children.

Listen to the full episode now!

This episode of Food to Go is brought to you by Merck Life Science. Explore the possibilities and learn more about Merck’s contribution to this exciting field at ⁠www.sigmaaldrich.com/CulturedMeat

In the first part of New Food's podcast series on ethical sourcing, Josh and Grace speak to David McDiarmid, Corporate Relations Director of Princes to find out how the international food and beverage manufacturer has committed to making its vast supply chain more visible.

In this episode, McDiarmid also delves into the work Princes has done to ensure that its ingredients are ethically sourced and sheds light on the importance of clear communication with suppliers to enhance transparency, sustainability and to break down cultural barriers. 


Are consumers are happy to pay more for something if they are reassured that everyone in the supply chain is being treated fairly and being paid a fair wage?


David McDiarmid (DM): That's the question of our ages... there are surveys that I see throughout a typical working year that seem to somewhat contradict each other. We are, as a business and as an industry, massively mindful of the cost of living crisis we have been going through and are still facing in this country. That is clearly a concern for us. What we do know is that, certainly from customers but also from consumers, they increasingly want to know more about the ingredients in a product. They want to know more about what's going into their food and drink and to know whether it's sustainable or not. The interesting point for me is what would a consumer's expectation be? I would argue that a consumer's expectation is that we are all doing the right thing already.

It's kind of baked into that. However, the reality is, as we stand at the moment, many areas of sustainability do cost more. There's no smoke and mirrors to that. It's a simple statement of fact. However, in terms of the premium that sustainable items can attract, now that's a broad church there. You could have fair trade accreditation, you could have Marine Stewardship Council seafood or tuna etc.  So while they do attract that level of premium at the moment, our view is we've got to enhance what we do to help flatten that premium.

Are consumers are happy to pay more for something if they are reassured that everyone in the supply chain is being treated fairly and being paid a fair wage?

This episode of Food to Go is brought to you by Merck Life Science. Explore the possibilities and learn more about Merck's contribution to this exciting field at ⁠www.sigmaaldrich.com/CulturedMeat⁠

Josh and Grace travel to London to speak to Nick Allen, CEO of the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) and discuss the myriad problems his members are facing within the meat sector. 

From strained import and export processes, labour shortages and controversial trade deals, Nick takes you through the issues which really matter to the food and beverage sector and explains why in its current form, Brexit is not working for the BMPA's members. 

Nick Allen: No. I would say all our membership have seen since Brexit is increased cost, and sooner or later that cost has to be picked up by someone. Either the farmer gets paid less, or that cost has to come out or the consumer has to pay more for it or it eats into their margins. And probably the evidence at the moment is that actually the processes are taking a hit at the moment of the increased costs because of that shortage of supply of livestock, they're having to pay some of the highest prices they've ever paid for livestock.

So at the moment the processor is actually picking up the tab for a lot of the increased cost.

NA: It's a very unpopular thing to say, but sadly, over the years actually the consumers got used to cheap food and they've paid too little for the cost of it. And it's been supported over the years by government policy, by the common agricultural policy that actually helped farmers stay in business...

But I feel the reality is if people in this country can't afford food, that's a societal problem. It's not something the supply chain should have to pay the bill for. Government should actually address those issues. We should strive to have an economy where everyone can afford food, not actually the food supply chain have to produce it cheaply to support what's going on in society.

Nick, would you say that for your members, Brexit isn't something that is working for them?Do you think consumers are going to have to get used to paying more for their meat in the future?

This episode of Food to Go is brought to you by Merck Life Science. Explore the possibilities and learn more about Merck's contribution to this exciting field at www.sigmaaldrich.com/CulturedMeat

In part two of this series, Josh and Grace learn the nuts and bolts of AI usage in the food and beverage indsutry, as they speak to Bas van der Velden of Wageningen University in the Netherlands. 

Bas explains why big data could soon become a key weapon in the food safety arsenal, and also reveals why using AI to flag danger isn't as novel as you might think... 


How do we use big data to keep food safe? In a nutshell, why does this matter to the food and beverage industry?


Bas van der Velden: Why does this matter? I think that by not analysing all this data, you get to anecdotal evidences and we would like to work an evidence-based approach. And to do that, you really need to analyse the patterns in the data and data's becoming more complex and more abundant.

Back in the day, it used to be just one measurement per sample. Now we have in some cases entire metagenomic profiles which we need to analyse. So the data becomes more and more complex and therefore the methodology that we need to adopt to better processes data and to get clear patterns and also warnings. 


And where does the AI come in then?


Bas van der Velden: We have multiple approaches that we use. For example, let's say a sample comes in and it gets smashed up and we look at it on a microscope. A human then looks at whether there's something in there that shouldn't be in there, but we can of course also use computer vision techniques for that. Those are similar to what the big tech companies have been using a while, but we in research have been using those techniques also for decades now.

This episode of Food to Go is brought to you by Merck Life Science. To learn more about how Merck can help you maintain high standards of safety and quality, visit https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/GB/en/foodtestinghero


In an exciting new episode of Food To Go, Josh and Grace sit down with Jorge Hernandez, Quality Assurance VP at The Wendy's Company to discuss whether AI will ever replace humans when it comes to food safety control.

Here, Hernandez explains that The Wendy's Company has been utilising AI for three years as a way to combine data and predict potential food safety issues before they arise. 

In a world where AI is constantly evolving, the hosts pick Hernandez's brains to find out how AI can be used as an effective tool, especially in restaurant chains as large as Wendy's. 

This episode of Food to Go is brought to you by Merck Life Science. To learn more about how Merck can help you maintain high standards of safety and quality, visit https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/GB/en/foodtestinghero.


Josh and Grace return with more analysis of COP28 with Sam Fulton, Group Director Corporate Affairs & Sustainability at Nomad Foods, to find out whether the food and beverage industry really feel that this year's climate conference delivered for them. 

Sam talks about COPs gone by and the missed opportunities to make meaningful change to the food and beverage system, however she also discusses the positive outcomes of COP 28, such as the Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture Resilience and Systems and Climate Action, signed by over 150 countries.

Find out the reason why Fulton is more optimistic about COP than she was at Food Integrity Global 2023, and where she thinks the COP conferences need to improve if they are to have a real impact on the food and beverage sector.