Meat 4.0: Principles and Applications of Industry 4.0 Technologies in the Meat Industry

Abstract

Meat 4.0 refers to the application the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) technologies in the meat sector. Industry 4.0 components, such as robotics, Internet of Things, Big Data, augmented reality, cybersecurity, and blockchain, have recently transformed many industrial and manufacturing sectors, including agri-food sectors, such as the meat industry. The need for digitalised and automated solutions throughout the whole food supply chain has increased remarkably during the COVID-19 pandemic. This review will introduce the concept of Meat 4.0, highlight its main enablers, and provide an updated overview of recent developments and applications of Industry 4.0 innovations and advanced techniques in digital transformation and process automation of the meat industry. A particular focus will be put on the role of Meat 4.0 enablers in meat processing, preservation and analyses of quality, safety and authenticity. Our literature review shows that Industry 4.0 has significant potential to improve the way meat is processed, preserved, and analysed, reduce food waste and loss, develop safe meat products of high quality, and prevent meat fraud. Despite the current challenges, growing literature shows that the meat sector can be highly automated using smart technologies, such as robots and smart sensors based on spectroscopy and imaging technology.

Six Sigma application in an Irish meat processing plant to improve process yields

“…Red meat manufacturing is an area where digitalisation and automation have not been thoroughly explored. However, processes such as cutting, deboning and shredding meats such as beef, lamb, pork and poultry, which were completely dependent on the manual skills of the workforce, can now be carried out using robots and automation (Echegaray et al, 2022). While there are limited studies on Six Sigma and Industry 4.0, the literature discusses the benefits of combining Industry 4.0 technologies with Six Sigma problem-solving (Dogan and Gurcan, 2018;Sodhi, 2020).…”

The fourth industrial revolution in the food industry—part II: Emerging food trends

“…Plant proteins lack or have suboptimal content of certain essential amino acids, such as methionine, lysine, tryptophan, and threonine, which are considered limiting amino acids (Kumar et al, 2022;Lea et al, 2016). Despite the perceived "lower" quality of plant protein, Riley, (2021) argued that proper planning of meals to incorporate a variety of plants as well as adapting a flexitarian diet could deal with the limitations of any single plant protein.…”

“…This low digestibility could be explained by differences in the secondary structure (Nguyen et al, 2015) and the presence of several compounds in plants that affect protein digestibility (Akande et al, 2010). Animal proteins have higher proportions of α-helixes and lower amounts of β-sheet secondary protein structures, which facilitates access of proteases to cleavage sites and results in better digestion (Kumar et al, 2022;Nguyen et al, 2015).…”

“…The main Industry 4.0 technologies in the agriculture and food industry are artificial intelligence (AI) the Internet of Things (IoT), smart sensors, robotics, and 3D printing Klerkx et al, 2022). Since 2015, more attention has been paid to Industry 4.0 technologies, and the adaptation of these frontier technologies has accelerated global digitalization and digital transformation (Echegaray et al, 2022;Jagatheesaperumal et al, 2021). Consistent with Industry 4.0, several food megatrends have evolved during the last few years, some of them being reinforced by the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…For example, affordability of plant-based foods needs to be facilitated by increasing the production of plant foods and balance the growth in these products with increased productivity. Although it is generally assumed that plant-based products are cheaper than animal-based products (Kumar et al, 2022), this may not always be true as some vegetarian products could remain more expensive than animal products. Cost competitiveness and economical barriers to converting grasslands into plant food farms need to be managed, otherwise the increased demand for plants will only increase their prices and this will disadvantage low-income consumers.…”