Section
Every story from the desk: supply, processing, retail and the people who make the food industry run.
Cold Chain · Alert
Most temperature excursions are not dramatic truck failures. They are short, repeated warm spells at handover points: docks, cross-docks, back rooms and store floors.
Cold Chain
CO2, ammonia and propane are moving from niche to normal as high-GWP HFCs are phased down. Each suits different sites, and each brings its own safety and skills questions.
Food Tech
From single-use USB loggers to cellular trackers and warehouse sensor networks, the options for monitoring temperature have multiplied. Here is how to choose.
Cold Chain
Both move heat out of food fast, but they serve different purposes. Choosing the right one, and sizing it properly, decides safety, texture and throughput.
Beverages · Alert
RTD coffee, tea, protein drinks and cocktails all compete for the same chilled cooler doors. Refrigerated space is the scarcest and most expensive real estate in a store.
Cold Chain
Individually quick frozen (IQF) processing keeps pieces separate and quality high. Newer freezer designs, sensors and packaging are pushing the technology further.
Food Tech
Refrigeration runs around the clock in a commercial kitchen. Small maintenance habits and targeted upgrades can cut energy use without risking food safety.
Packaging
Fresh produce keeps breathing after harvest. Modified atmosphere packs, ethylene absorbers, antimicrobial films and freshness indicators all aim to slow that clock, but only inside a working cold chain.
Food Tech
Ready-to-eat foods are very popular, and the equipment that makes them is changing. Gentler processing puts more weight on chilling, hygiene and temperature control.
Cold Chain · Alert
Online grocery has moved the end of the cold chain from the store to the doorstep. Totes, insulated liners, multi-temperature vans and delivery windows are the new control points.
Beverages
Single-serve coffee kept growing after the forecasts of the early 2020s. The harder questions now are about packaging recovery, freshness and the energy cost of a cup.
Food Tech
Oat, soy, almond and pea drinks, yoghurts and cheeses each bring different processing problems: emulsions, heat treatment, fermentation and chilled shelf life.
News
Sprinkles, nonpareils, sugar pearls and decorations ride the gifting calendar. Their quality problems are mostly about humidity, heat and colour stability.
Food Tech
Hemp grown for CBD leaves behind large volumes of plant material. Researchers have studied whether it can safely feed livestock, and the answer depends on residues, regulation and storage.
News
Sugar beet seed is a high-tech, tightly controlled input. Disease, pesticide rules and post-harvest beet storage now shape demand more than acreage alone.
Beverages
When a cannabis company signed with the largest US beverage alcohol distributor, it signalled how hemp and CBD products might reach mainstream shelves. Here is what such deals involve, and why logistics matter.
Packaging
Peelable lids, tear notches, clamshells and resealable trays make food easier to open. The design choices also decide how well a pack survives the cold chain and how it is recycled.
News
The dietary supplements industry is booming on health awareness. The less visible story is how heat, humidity and handling affect potency, and which products need cold storage.
News
Vanilla is in ice cream, drinks, bakery and confectionery. Its supply is concentrated, labour-intensive and weather-exposed, and its value depends on careful curing and storage.
Cold Chain
Frozen dough and par-baked products depend on additives that protect yeast, gluten and crumb through freezing. Their performance is only as good as the cold chain they travel in.
Food Tech
Global demand for nutrition-rich snacks keeps fruit snacks growing. Making fruit portable means controlling water, sugar and texture, and some formats need the cold chain.
Food Tech
Soy lecithin is one of the most common emulsifiers in food. Its grades, non-GM sourcing, allergen labelling and storage behaviour all affect how manufacturers use it.
News
Construction firms such as RK built suicide prevention policies after losing a colleague. Food processing and cold-store operations share many of the same risk factors, and many of the same fixes.