Analyzing Innovation: Enterprise and Society in the Food Industry

This essay examines key innovations in the food industry, focusing on their impact on enterprise and society. It discusses the motives for mechanization, including labor saving and cost competition, highlighting advancements like handheld food scanners and technology-driven accountability. The essay also explores the employment effects of mechanization, such as technological unemployment due to AI and chatbots, while acknowledging the importance of balancing technological advancements with traditional practices. The essay concludes that while technological advancements offer numerous benefits, it is crucial to carefully manage their implementation to mitigate potential risks and maintain a balance between technology and human involvement. Desklib offers a variety of study tools and solved assignments for students.

Running head: INNOVATION ENTERPRISE
Innovation Enterprise and Society
Name of the Student:
Name of the University;
Author’s Note:

2INNOVATION AND ENTERPRISE
Introduction
The modern-day scenario is the age of mechanization. This is the time when machines
are taking up the roles of human force in almost each and every aspect of life. This is because
man wants to make their life easier and they have realized that machines help them a great deal.
A large number of inventions and discoveries are being made, so that man can ease his life and
can work in a more better and specific manner (Lakkis 2016). The industry that has been chosen
here is the food industry. This is because the food industry deals with a large number of food
items that have a different kind of composition. It is this composition that can often harm the
health of those consumers who are consuming it. It is for this reason that the technological
advancements are needed. These technological advancements are needed for the overall well
being of the consumers and the society as a whole (Bohari et al. 2017).
The motive for mechanisation (labour saving) and cost competition between firms
The food industry has rapidly undergone many changes in the coming years. As the
population is increasing day by day so are the needs and demands of people. It is for this reason
that people are increasing the demands for their food as well. They are demanding new improved
qualities of food. They look for a kind of improvement both in the quality and the quantity of
food. It is for this reason that the technological advancements have to be made to meet the
requirements of the people. One of the very good inventions is the handheld food scanners (Asif
et al. 2015). This is a device that can be used by the consumer’s very easily to get a very clear
view about the nutritional values of the food that they are consuming. However it was not
possible for these people to get an idea about what they are putting in their body. They often had
doubts about the components with which their foods have been prepared. However, now it is not

3INNOVATION AND ENTERPRISE
so. Technology-driven accountability is also one of the major aspects that have come up due to
the technological advancements. It is because of the technological advancements that man has
been able to find out what is healthy and that what is unhealthy for their body. Now the
consumers want to buy products only after being totally sure about the ingredients that are out in
their products. One good example can be the sugar free products. Earlier the consumers had no
idea about the fact that sugar is so harmful for the body. However now they know that too much
consumption of sugar is bad. So they prefer the sugar free food products (Subramaniam and
Wareing 2016). It is also because of the technological advancements that they have been able to
develop the sugar free capsules that are used in the food products for ensuring that the nutritional
values are properly available to the consumers. Froozer is a company that is using the modern-
day technological ad advancements so that they can produce food by utilizing those products that
would otherwise have been wasted by the other people. It is a known fact that often those people
are wasted by many people. This is a company that will be utilizing all those products that would
have been wasted otherwise. There is also much advancement in the kinds of food that people
can usually make at homes. They can make this by using the modern technologically and
scientifically advanced devices like the microwaves. Earlier there were companies that had the
chance of lying to their customers regarding the quality of food. However now it is not possible
and they do not have the chance of cheating with their customers as there are technological
devices that can tell the customers regarding the quality of the food. There are food trackers that
can track the food safety (Balasubramaniam et al. 2015).
Technology is also helping the food researchers to carry out many types of research and
then find out what is essential and what non-essential is for the consumers (Bartonicek et al.
2016). The other kinds of inventions are the AI and the chatbots. These are used by those

4INNOVATION AND ENTERPRISE
restaurants that are forward-thinking and those that use these technologies (Brockgreitens and
Abbas 2016). They have made a huge difference for the restaurants and for the consumers as
well. They have to get advanced technologically so that they can give a tough competition to
their competitors. The online ordering system is one of the most important and significant
technological advancement that is taking place. This helps the customers to send orders very
easily and also get them within the no time (Sun 2016).
All the different units of the food industry will remain in the competition and will make sure that
they are being able to sell their products to the consumers at a rapid rate. All the food research
institutes will work together for the purpose of making good use of the technologically advanced
products and promoting the overall welfare of the people (Cheong et al. 2016).
The employment effects of mechanization
It is due to large-scale advancements in the technological aspects that there is also a
reduction in the employment in the food industry as well. There is the technological
unemployment that is taking place at a massive scale. One of the best examples of this is the
application of the chatbots that are taking place. It is through these chatbots or the online chat
sessions that the customers can view all the dentils of the restaurants. Not only this, they can also
take an overview of the menu that is made in that restaurant and then they also place the orders.
This greatly hampers the business of the traditional restaurants. As a result of this, the restaurant
management is taking this decision that they will reduce the number of the human staffs. These
human staffs will be replaced by the specimen of the technological advancements like the robots.
Using the robots in place for the waiters is also one of the most important technological
advancements that have taken place (Berk 2018). Due to the large scale technological

5INNOVATION AND ENTERPRISE
advancements, the apps are being developed and they can be used very easily on the Android and
the smartphone apps. This gives the consumers the chances of sitting at their home and using
these apps just with the go of a single click. They can also get home delivery of the products very
easily through these apps and the food delivery system. There is the advent of the technology
called the Say2eat, which can be installed very easily into the already existing and the ongoing
processing system of the every restaurant. This helps in making the entire process of food
delivery and ordering very easy. Technology all together helps in increasing the business
efficiency and also helps in improving the customer loyalty. It is because of this that the
technology is playing a major role. The waiters who are working in the restaurants are normal
human beings and often fail to follow the orders that are placed by the customers. They also
make many errors in the ways they serve the food. However these same mistakes will not be
committed by the non human robots. They will be very fast and efficient. Moreover they will
also be very fast and error free. The technological advancements have been very useful for the
packaging of the food materials as well (Pascall and Han 2018). The packaging systems have
been developed in a very efficient so that the products can be kept stored at a very good
condition and can be transported from the place of production to the place of delivery. The items
like the potatoes, the vegetables and ice-cream are among those food items that are transferred
from one place to the other. It is also due to the large-scale technological advancement that the
consumers are increasing their demands for food.
However, it is because of these reasons that the food companies are trying to reduce the
human employers and replacing them. This creates the fear of loss of jobs among the workers. It
is for this reason that they must always try to strike a balance between the technological,
scientific products and the normal traditional products (Ojha et al. 2017).

6INNOVATION AND ENTERPRISE
So, it can be concluded that in the coming years the technological advancements will be taking
over the majority of the manpower that is existing in the world. This also creates this fear that the
amount of unemployment will increase and this will really affect the livelihood of many people.
However, this fact cannot be ignored that human beings are better at showing affection and care.
So, it is a fact that there are both advantages and disadvantages of using the technological
advancements in the food industry. Hence it is a collective duty for the all the people to make
sure that they are using this very carefully. It will increase the utility on one hand while
increasing the chance of several risks on the other. So, efforts are to be made to strike a proper
balance between the two.

7INNOVATION AND ENTERPRISE
References
Asif, M., Sabeel, M. and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, K.Z., 2015, November. Waiter robot–solution to
restaurant automation. In Proceedings of the 1st student multi disciplinary research conference
(MDSRC). University of Wah, Pakistan.
Balasubramaniam, V.M., Martínez-Monteagudo, S.I. and Gupta, R., 2015. Principles and
application of high pressure-based technologies in the food industry. Annual Review of Food
Science and Technology, 6, pp.435-462.
Bartonicek, N., Maag, J.L. and Dinger, M.E., 2016. Long noncoding RNAs in cancer:
mechanisms of action and technological advancements. Molecular cancer, 15(1), p.43.
Berk, Z., 2018. Food process engineering and technology. Academic press.
Bohari, A.M., Hin, C.W. and Fuad, N., 2017. The competitiveness of halal food industry in
Malaysia: A SWOT-ICT analysis. Geografia-Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 9(1).
Brockgreitens, J. and Abbas, A., 2016. Responsive food packaging: recent progress and
technological prospects. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 15(1), pp.3-
15.
Cheong, A., Lau, M.W.S., Foo, E., Hedley, J. and Bo, J.W., 2016. Development of a Robotic
Waiter System. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 49(21), pp.681-686.
Lakkis, J.M., 2016. Encapsulation and controlled release technologies in food systems. John
Wiley & Sons.
Ojha, K.S., Mason, T.J., O’Donnell, C.P., Kerry, J.P. and Tiwari, B.K., 2017. Ultrasound
technology for food fermentation applications. Ultrasonics sonochemistry, 34, pp.410-417.
Pascall, M.A. and Han, J.H. eds., 2018. Packaging for nonthermal processing of food. John
Wiley & Sons.

8INNOVATION AND ENTERPRISE
Subramaniam, P. and Wareing, P. eds., 2016. The stability and shelf life of food. Woodhead
Publishing.
Sun, D.W. ed., 2016. Computer vision technology for food quality evaluation. Academic Press.