Robots, Cobots and You

This week, we picked up on lots of talk about what does and doesn’t constitute a healthy diet, along with a raft of announcements about innovations in food processing.

• Articles, research papers and a new product introduction all lean heavily into dietary health.
• Robots, cobots and other technology are coming to store shelves and restaurant kitchens near you.

Healthy Extremes

Health and nutrition have been a recurring theme among influential organizations and media. Read about the extremes at both ends of the health spectrum: from the Five Guys burger to watercress, the pride of the cabbage family.

• PlushCare, a “doctor’s office on your phone or computer,” scored and ranked fast-food entrees, like cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets, against the Department of Health’s nutrient profiling method. The Culver’s Butterburger was determined to be the healthiest burger with Five Guys’ offering named the least. They’re splitting hairs here: these ain’t salads.
• In a paper titled “Fiscal Policies to Promote Healthy Diets,” the World Health Organization advocated a plan to tax unhealthy foods (e.g., sugary drinks) and subsidize healthy foods. 
• The Washington Post’s Anahad O’Connor listed six tips to lose weight and keep it off: “Consuming more protein and fiber and embracing variety are among the behavioral and lifestyle changes linked to successfully losing weight.”
• Ivy League health researchers were busy, with Harvard ranking the heart-healthiness of ultra-processed foods (sugary drinks and processed meats bottomed out the list) and Cornell plugging “healthful milk protein puffs.”
• Have you heard of the Ayurvedic diet? It’s whole-foods-based plan based on the principles of the Indian medical system, and Health described it in detail. 
• Supermarket Perimeter described an emerging trend of esports nutrition. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center outlined guidelines for esports “athletes” that range from common-sense nutrition — push the lean proteins, avoid simple carbs like candy, stay hydrated — to how caffeine affects mental alertness and reaction times.
• PepsiCo launched Gatorade Hydration Booster, a powder “designed to be the perfect all-day hydration hero.” Unseating the prior hero, Gatorade?
• A Newcastle University study stressed the importance of healthy diets during pregnancy in simple terms: “Pregnant women who have limited access to affordable, nutritious, and healthy foods have a higher chance of developing both physical and mental health problems.”
• Food & Wine shared a CDC report declaring watercress the No. 1 healthiest vegetable. We’ve hit a first: three mentions of watercress in one newsletter.

Our Takeaway: When it comes to health, pointing your diet toward the cruciferous vegetables is always prudent. Especially watercress, apparently (that’s four!).

Innovate, Automate, Salivate

Food brands are constantly looking for ways to keep up with demand without compromising on quality. Between automation and advances in production processes, it seems there’s plenty of innovation to go around:

• Nation’s Restaurant News covered the rollout of Autocado machines in Chipotle restaurants, which will peel and core avocados as prep for guacamole. Additionally, the chain is testing automated bowl and salad construction for online orders. The chain touts how the “cobotic devices” (collaborative robotic devices) will remove tedious tasks and increase throughput.
• FMI, The Food Industry Association, analyzed adoption rates of electronic shelf labels at grocery stores. The groups noted a half-dozen ways the labels can boost efficiency, including the ability to discount short-dated products.
• Canadian Biotech firm Innodal obtained safety approval for a Listeria-neutralizing food processing aid, Food Ingredients First reported. Seems like it could be very useful to a certain liverwurst brand.
• The Western Growers Association profiled TRIC Robotics, whose products use UV light to control pests in strawberry fields. Founder and CEO Adam Stager explained, “Instead of killing the pests directly with light, we prevent them from reproducing, which turns out to be extremely effective.”
• Researchers from Cornell University found a potential way to protect bees from overingesting neonicotinoid pesticides (neonics), which are used to control insect populations around crops. Professor Minglin Ma called it “an example where interdisciplinary approaches — such as biomaterials in this case — may be taken to tackle agricultural and sustainability challenges.”

Our Takeaway: If necessity is the mother of invention, food and ag companies are clearly still recovering from pandemic-spurred labor shortages. What’s most striking is the specificity of tasks that are being automated — humans are still very much a part of the supply chain.