An Overview of Current Challenges in New Food Product Development

Lucia Azanedo,Shahin Rahimifard,Guillermo Garcia-Garcia,Jamie Stone

doi:10.3390/su12083364

Lucia Azanedo, Shahin Rahimifard + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su12083364

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Apr 21, 2020
Citations: 13	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Loughborough University

Abstract

New product development (NPD) is essential for business success and growth. High- to medium-technology manufacturing sectors have introduced standard models. The adaptation of these systematic NPD procedures supported by appropriate decision support tools has provided significant benefits in production cost, product quality and supply chain availability. However, the challenges involved in NPD of food are rapidly increasing due to consumer demand for organic and healthy diets, in particular, more nutritious low-calorie food, and preference for customised and personalised food products. This has resulted in a proliferation of new varieties, types and shapes of food products that are constantly introduced. Most of these new products are developed based on company-specific ad hoc NPD procedures, within small to medium enterprises that form the biggest proportion of food producers in most developed countries. This highlights a need for further research into novel NPD methods and tools in the food sector. This communication provides an overview of the NPD processes, analyses their strengths and shortcomings and outlines critical missing capabilities for food manufacturers in specific.

Highlights

Whilst the food industry is usually associated with low research intensity and poor technology adaptation, several emerging trends may change this, including increasing consumer demand for fresh vegetables and fruits, organic products, greater traceability information and a desire to reduce meat consumption and improve animal welfare [1]
New product development (NPD) is the process of designing a new product, producing it and bringing it to market. Those produced by small- and medium-sized enterprises, are developed based on company-specific NPD procedures or models adapted from other sectors [2,3,4]
One must consider the unique challenges of the food-manufacturing sector. This short communication aims to provide an overview of the NPD process, discuss its importance in the food sector, show examples of NPD processes in food manufacturing, highlight their shortcomings and describe key aspects that should be considered in NPD of food products

Summary

Introduction

Whilst the food industry is usually associated with low research intensity and poor technology adaptation, several emerging trends may change this, including increasing consumer demand for fresh vegetables and fruits, organic products, greater traceability information and a desire to reduce meat consumption and improve animal welfare [1]. Innovation is driven by fierce competition between large retailers that, in turn, is passed onto their manufacturers, resulting in, for example, more effective food packaging to increase product shelf life and minimise waste, use of alternative protein sources and product reformulation based on seasonal and locally available ingredients. New product development (NPD) is the process of designing a new product, producing it and bringing it to market.

Results

Conclusion