Sitting at the centre of with out a doubt one of the most sector’s fundamental meals countries, Switzerland, and as head of an organisation that brings together some of basically the most progressive F&B upstarts from across the globe, locations Senn-Jakobsen in a seat of enviable facts.
She’s headed the four-and-a-half of 12 months-outmoded organisation for unprejudiced about all of its existence, having first spent two many years curating a CV that points one of the most critical sector’s very perfect FMCG names with Mondelēz World.
You wish to save lives? Which that you just might also test with Clinical doctors Without Borders otherwise that you just would be in a position to be half of the meals intention. Unleash your superhero powers
Christina Senn-Jakobsen is the CEO of Swiss Meals & Nutrition Valley
And with 155-plus partners – from ag-tech to inexperienced packaging – signed as a lot as Swiss Meals & Nutrition Valley and sharing tips together in a expose to extra and future-proof world meals and drink, Senn-Jakobsen’s 2025 F&B need list makes a logical read.
So what does the meals and drink innovation champion deserve to leer happen in the sector this 12 months?
UPF – the myths, info and its characteristic
Industry, scientists, the media and shoppers must “finish the use of the phrase ultra-processed meals (UPF)” as a decide-all, on memoir of we’re talking relating to the inferior ingredient, she argues.
“We deserve to chat about meals classifications, on memoir of it’s about system and no longer processing.”
She has the same opinion that there’s a deliver to bring salt, beefy and sugar beneath preserve an eye fixed on within this dwelling. “It’s provocative and we deserve to get a mode to take care of an eye fixed on HFFS by protection or different routes.”
Then again, the sector needs feeding and deal of of the weight-reduction blueprint, meals security and other advantages of the meals and drink industry comes by merchandise that are currently being demonised as UPF.
If the processing doesn’t happen, “we’ll magnificent salvage deal of other issues down the road”.
The industry has been cautious coming into the discussion on UPF, nevertheless “they with out a doubt deserve to chat about it and we deserve to celebration to position it on the desk”, she says.
AI and precision farming
Why is the sector retaining serve in the case of throwing itself into applied sciences equivalent to AI and precision farming? Senn-Jakobsen asks herself. “It’s a no brainer what precision farming can finish. If we leer at it, what it’ll finish is severely lower sinister chemicals in meals production, the use of fertilisers and the affect on biodiversity,” she says.
Whereas the functionality advantages for the ambiance are uncomplicated, the industrial advantages are powerful too, “with elevated yield for farmers and lower water use”.
Although it’s an costly know-how, in particular for what some of us could possibly even use into consideration a conservative industry – which the meals and drink industry could possibly even even be.
Nonetheless it absolutely will advance to a degree, Senn-Jakobsen concedes, when the industry has no option nevertheless to speculate huge sums into what are in actuality aloof new and emerging applied sciences.
“Impartial now, it’s all to possess,” she says. “Nonetheless if we leer at climate swap and the plan in which it’s impacted the likes of cocoa costs, it hurts firms and so they’re shopping for seemingly picks.”
Nonetheless there are firms, equivalent to Ecorobotix, developing applied sciences to lower the use of pesticides and other chemicals on crops by targeted spray systems.
Different proteins
The conversation has to pass on to cultured foods in 2025, she believes. “Plant-basically based entirely has to bring on taste, and if it doesn’t then it doesn’t work.”
Switzerland has a impress known as Planted, which Senn-Jakobsen says delivers on the orderly-mark front as smartly as taste. “They’re constructing a brand new plant in Germany to manufacture for six countries in Europe and so they’re additionally specializing in proprietary fermentation know-how.”
Cultured meals, then again, is the formulation ahead on memoir of it delivers on so many fronts, from weight-reduction blueprint to the ambiance.
That is typically “separated by the believers and non-believers even though”, she says. “This is in a position to be a faith and that you just would be in a position to both quit away from it on memoir of you imagine it’s Frankenfood or perambulate in the direction of it on memoir of it eliminates the use of antibiotics in meals.”
Sustainable packaging
As a self-confessed, old sceptic of the sustainability credentials and necessity of packaging, “I possess since changed my thoughts after a say-of-play assembly with our partners”, Senn-Jakobsen says.
“It’s our buddy,” she continues. “And what is the characteristic of it? It’s to take care of meals get and lengthen the shelf existence. Scientists notify there are two vital things we are in a position to entire to augment climate, which is to lower meat consumption and lower extinguish. And packaging performs a extremely critical characteristic in the latter in particular.”
She went from pondering it’s “ridiculous to wrap a cucumber” to “seeing the total cycle of it”, on memoir of with out packaging meals is broken, it degrades and is in the finish wasted.
There’s additionally critical work being utilized to get seemingly picks like cellulose to entire the use of virgin wood, to compose the packaging itself more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
The future will be spray packaging applied sciences, equivalent to that from firms like Agrosustain which is willing to lengthen the shelf lifetime of strawberries the use of a spray know-how that utilises strawberry roots.
Careers – getting more of the honest of us into meals and drink
When it comes to industry skill, “Switzerland is a piece of contaminated” because it’s host to many of the meals industry’s world headquarters, while the supporting intention around it – universities and govt funding – encourages of us to enter it.
Then again, there’s an uptick in curiosity from university students in biochemistry, AI and other sectors, Senn-Jakobsen believes. Nonetheless that’s no longer a predominant problem.
For the meals sector on the whole, it needs to use into consideration what is utilizing the younger and skill in the direction of any industrial across all sectors, she explains.
“Contemporary skills are very enthusiastic by cause and so they deserve to power affect and wish to work for an organization that walks the debate.”
She sums up the meals industry’s mission assertion to this generation simply: “You wish to save lives? Which that you just might also test with Clinical doctors Without Borders otherwise that you just would be in a position to be half of the meals intention. Unleash your superhero powers.”
Faraway from employment and particular sectors, the meals sector as a whole must develop into better at empowering and making it easy for shoppers to head to the grocery store and buy merchandise that are nutritious and staunch for the planet.
Nonetheless this could possibly even perfect be performed by talking the person’s language: it needs to be, to illustrate, less dear, taste staunch and be loved by ‘the children’, believes Senn-Jakobsen.
