Food & Beverage
An industry where risk is measured in public health and consumer trust. Here automation serves three masters: food safety, hygienic equipment design, and the safety of high-throughput machinery. All under heavy pressure on cost, speed and traceability.
The main families
Dairy, brewing, beverages, canning
Thermal processes (pasteurization, UHT, sterilization), fermentation, mixing. Often ISA-88 batch with cleaning-in-place (CIP).
Bakery, snacks, ready meals
High-speed discrete lines, dosing, baking, forming. Foreign-body detection (metal, X-ray), allergen management.
Filling, labelling, palletizing
Wrappers, fillers (Krones, Tetra Pak), end-of-line robots. Date/lot marking, serialization, fast format changeovers (SMED).
Key challenges
- Food safety — HACCP — hazard analysis and critical control points, under ISO 22000 / FSSC 22000. Microbiological control, allergens, foreign bodies (metal, X-ray detection).
- Hygienic design — cleanable surfaces, 316L stainless, no retention, cleaning-in-place (CIP). EHEDG guidance, food-contact materials (EC 1935/2004).
- Machinery safety — conveyors, robots, packers everywhere: guards, e-stops, safety functions to ISO 13849 (PL) or IEC 62061 (SIL).
- Traceability — one step up, one step down (EC 178/2002). Lot management, use-by dates, fast recalls on non-conformity.
- Throughput & flexibility — short runs, fast format changeovers (SMED), OEE tracking. Line performance directly drives margin.
Key technologies
Standards & references
The food-safety framework relies mostly on its own references: ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000 (food safety management), the Codex Alimentarius (HACCP), EHEDG guidelines (hygienic design), regulation (EC) 178/2002 (traceability). The automation standards below structure the lines.
Major players
Food companies
Nestlé, Danone, Unilever, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Mondelez, AB InBev, Lactalis, Mars.
Process & equipment
GEA, Tetra Pak, Alfa Laval, Bühler, JBT, SPX Flow, Marel.
Packaging
Krones, KHS, Sidel, Sealed Air, Markem-Imaje, Domino.
Automation
Siemens, Rockwell, Schneider, B&R, Beckhoff.
Landmark cases & recalls
In food, the lessons come from outbreaks and traceability scandals — each one tightened regulation or practice.
| Case | Year | Theme | Lesson |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jack in the Box | 1993 | Pathogen | E. coli O157:H7 in undercooked burgers; 4 children died, hundreds ill. Accelerated HACCP adoption in US meat. |
| Peanut Corp. of America | 2008-09 | Salmonella | Salmonella in peanut products; 9 deaths, massive recall, executives convicted. Contributed to the US FSMA law (2011). |
| Horse meat scandal | 2013 | Traceability / fraud | Horse meat found in "beef" products across Europe. A traceability and authenticity crisis, not safety — but a collapse of trust. |