Tech4Food Brings Together Experts to Discuss the Future of Food 

On September 23rd, the first session of Tech4Food took place, bringing together innovative minds from across the food and technology domain to discuss ideas and technological advances that can transform how we grow, produce, and consume food.  Tech4Food is an initiative aimed at building a community of food scientists and IT/Computer Specialists who understand each other better. Food is a high-risk business and technology can play an important in managing the risks. Technologies like Blockchain, AI, IoT, and Sensors can help streamline data, provide insights, and help in better root cause analysis of issues.

The first meet-up focused on the fresh food industry, and solving food safety issues with Tech 4.0. The session began with the keynote address from Ramesh Agarwal, CEO of Food Safety Works. Mr. Ramesh spoke about how the nature of food business operations changes with the kind of product and how implementing customized technology-based solutions can elevate the standards of food safety leading to great customer satisfaction.

Following Mr. Ramesh’s keynote, Mr. Srinivas KR, Senior VP & Head-Quality Assurance, Metro Cash & Carry India expressed his views on the challenges faced by the fresh food industry. He also emphasized the importance of IT solutions to deal with the hurdles in auditing, quality control & management, traceability, food safety, and food wastage reduction. 

Backing up the facts by Mr. Srinivas, Ms. Rubal Chib, Co-founder & CEO of QZense Labs talked about the process of such implementation of technologies which begins with the identification of the challenge and the stage where technology can play a crucial role. Ms. Rubal also threw light on the procedure of building sensors that can assist in achieving the goals of food safety, food security, and minimizing food wastage throughout the supply chain. Additionally, she also shared the projects executed by QZense Labs in the area of sensor development for the fresh food supply chain.

Discussion over a cup of coffee

After receiving input from professionals in different fields, the meetup moved on to the discussion among the participants, where numerous innovative ideas were touched on. Some of these were focused on building specific fruit-based sensors for indication of ripening at an earlier stage to facilitate a safer and more profitable trade, whereas few ideas revolved around building a time-saving, high accuracy, and user-friendly technology for the detection of usage of banned pesticides in fresh food commodities. 

The meet-up concluded with a walk-through in a Metro Cash & Carry, where participants got an opportunity to witness the latest technologies implemented by Metro for safer food and greater customer experience. 

Tech4Food’s first meet-up was a great success, and the participants were enthusiastic about the potential of Tech4Food to make a real difference in the world. The event was also a valuable opportunity for networking and collaboration.

 Tech4Food is a new initiative, but it has the potential to play a major role in shaping the future of food. The first meet-up was a success and we look forward to seeing what Tech4Food accomplishes in the future. 

Click below to view the Meet Up