A food-tech roundup examines Yili, climate and cultivated meat

Yili digitises dairy production

Yili is expanding the use of digital systems at its Yili Modern Smart Health Valley in Hohhot, the city it has promoted as the “World Dairy Capital”. The company has described the initiative as part of a broader effort to modernise dairy production and share technologies used across its operations.

According to a Yili spokesman, each cow at the site has a digital identity and a proprietary record. The records contain real-time information on growth, health and milk output. Yili uses that data to prepare individualised feed in a facility it calls a “Central Kitchen”, with the stated aim of matching meals to each animal’s needs.

Climate planning remains limited

A report from Lumina Intelligence says that 54% of food and beverage executives consider climate resilience important or very important. Only 6% of the companies surveyed, however, have incorporated it fully into their corporate strategy.

The report links the issue to crop losses caused by natural disasters, interruptions to supply chains and increases in raw-material prices. It says food and beverage companies are discussing climate investment, while relatively few have embedded resilience measures in their formal business plans.

China backs cultivated meat

China is supporting cultivated meat and other novel ingredients as part of a national food-security strategy. The sector faces high production costs, limited investment and consumer habits that may restrict adoption, according to the report’s account of the market.

Mirte Gosker, chief executive of the Good Food Institute APAC, said the decision by Asia’s largest economy to place cultivated meat and other novel ingredients at the centre of its food strategy was highly significant. The Good Food Institute APAC is an alternative-protein think tank.

Companies test new food technologies

Consumers can use artificial-intelligence tools to describe requirements such as protein targets or dietary restrictions and receive suggested snacks. Bob Nolan, Conagra’s senior vice-president of growth science, said snacks were becoming more personal because consumers might seek protein, sustained energy or comfort. Conagra’s published findings do not state how many people used such tools, how frequently they did so, or whether a recommendation resulted in a purchase.

Mars’s latest Mars-Unreasonable cohort is concentrating on technologies for food formulation, production, testing and packaging rather than on the next consumer-facing brand or trend. The ventures therefore focus on processes and systems used to make food, rather than only on finished products.