The influence of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies on social, economic and environmental sustainability of the food sector

Abstract

In the context of great changes in the food industry, the aim of this research is to investigate if and how the implementation of 4.0 enabling technologies can enhance the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the food sector. A systematic literature review, using a combination of 12 keywords, was carried out on Scopus database with defined inclusion and exclusion criteria in order to answer four selected research questions. Overall, 50 relevant papers were retrieved and analysed by Mendeley and Excel with descriptive statistics. VOSviewer was used for co-occurrence and co-authorship analysis. Results illustrate that the interest in the topic has grown, in particular in Italy, and resume the benefits achievable by the implementation of 4.0 technologies in food industries. Social impacts are new job positions, ergonomic design of workplaces, changes in educational institutions, improved nutrition and better animal welfare. Positive aspects are related even to economic growth, improving food chain performances and decreasing companies’ costs. Finally, it allows energy, water, CO₂ emissions and food savings. Overall, the work provides a helpful overview to food manufacturers and producers, recommending the introduction of I4.0 technologies to positively influence the sustainable development of the sector and remain competitive in the market.

KEYWORDS:

• Industry 4.0
• sustainable development
• food industry
• digitalisation
• life cycle
• climate change

Acknowledgment

This research has been carried out and thanks to a Ph.D. course co-financed with resources from the European Social Fund, Operational Program 2014/2020 Emilia-Romagna Region (Rif. P.A. 2019-11305/RER).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, S. R.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by European Social Fund [grant number 2019-11305/RER].

Notes on contributors

R. Stefanini

R. Stefanini achieved a master degree in Engineering for the Food Industry at the University of Parma (Italy). She has been a scholarship holder at CIPACK research packaging centre, and a Ph.D. student in Industrial Engineering. Now she is a Research Fellow at the same University. Her main fields of research concern food packaging and processing, with particular attention to environmental sustainability and Life Cycle Assessment.

G. Vignali

G. Vignali is an Associate Professor at the University of Parma. He graduated in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Parma in 2004. In 2009, he received his PhD in Industrial Engineering related to the analysis and optimisation of food processes. His research activities concern food processing/packaging and safety/security of industrial plants. Results of his studies related to those topics have been published in more than 150 scientific papers, some of which appear in national and international journals and conferences.