The National Restaurant Association Show features eco-friendly products and solutions, from compostable packaging to energy efficiency solutions, but the latest technology is starting to play a bigger role in foodservice sustainability. .
This year’s National Restaurant Association Show will feature several up-and-coming products and companies showcasing AI, blockchain, and IoT-driven sustainable solutions for the restaurant industry. Here are four of his highlights.
eco-friendly fryer
Taein E&D, a food service technology and equipment company based in South Korea, was exhibiting at the Restaurant Show for the first time this year, showing off some of its new sustainable equipment in the Startup Alley section of the show.
One of the devices the company sells, the Ultrasonic Fryer, uses ultrasonic waves (inaudible sounds/vibrations) to fry food. This option uses both less power (5 kilowatts) and less oil than a traditional fryer. The technology can reduce frying time by up to 35% and also reduce oil vapor, said Han Jini, a company representative at the exhibition.
Including a robotic arm that can automatically fry food in an ultrasonic fryer, the entire system costs $50,000, and Tein E&D is considering selling the product to U.S. operators for the first time this year. .
Tracking your carbon footprint
Foodservice manufacturing company Supreme Source & Supply will introduce Nature’s Source, a packaging company and sustainability advocate, for the first time at the National Restaurant Association Show. The company is going one step further than the dozens of eco-friendly packaging and tableware solutions at the show by offering new carbon footprint tracking technology.
The technology allows carrier customers to monitor the carbon footprint of their packaging in real time and change to packaging that is less harmful to the environment (such as with Nature’s Source products). Through vertical integration in its supply chain, the company uses data to trace packaging manufacturing down to the raw material and then based on how packaging products are manufactured and how they are ultimately transported. We are collecting data.
“We take all the data, formulate it into an algorithm, and get the carbon footprint from there,” said Camilo Ferro, president of Nature’s Source.
All data is then independently verified and certified by an external, global certification company.
“This will enable all of our customers to see how their packaging is becoming more carbon efficient, and if you want to reduce carbon, you can reduce your packaging carbon footprint by 60%. % you want to reduce, you can input that number into their platform and they can recommend what they need to do. [to reach their sustainability goals]” Ferro said.
Food waste prevention using AI
MetaFoodX is an AI-powered sustainability technology company that enables operators to track food consumption and waste in real-time. The company’s flagship product is his AI scanner, which allows operators to scan menu items, check food safety compliance, and predict ingredient needs based on machine learning from historical data, guest counts, and weather for predictive efficiency. can be increased.
“Our aim is to provide tools to manage and ultimately eliminate food waste and improve operational efficiency,” said Fengmin Gong, CEO of MetaFoodX. “We are the first to offer a device that automatically tracks food consumption. It’s IoT and AI and automation.”
When a worker places an item on the scanner, the scanner recognizes the food, knows its weight, and can track when food enters the service line and when it is pulled from the service line if food is left behind. .
Currently, MetaFoodX primarily works with non-profit facilities such as universities and hospitals, but Gong said they are open to working with restaurateurs in the future.
The Internet of Things combines food safety and sustainability
Digi’s SmartSense is another technology provider offering solutions to reduce food waste and energy consumption through the Internet of Things (IoT), which turns ordinary inanimate objects into smart objects by connecting them through networks. The company’s products can monitor the temperature of food (such as to determine if meat is spoiled) and even monitor the ripeness of produce based on the presence of gases within fruits and vegetables. I can.
The technology aims to reduce food waste by letting employees know exactly how long a meal has been sitting out, whether it’s still safe to serve, or whether it should be thrown away.
“Pizza makers know that when the pizza comes out, they can take the probe, put it in the pizza, and if it’s green, it’s safe to serve,” said Guy Yehiav, president of SmartSense by Digi. He said: “After 2 hours, it says ‘Buffalo Chicken Pizza Batch 1 is 2 hours old and needs to be discarded.'”
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