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Technology and employment in the food and drink industries

Report for discussion at the, Technology and Employment in the Food and Drink Industries

Part 2    

Copyright ® 1999 International Labour Organization (ILO)

2. Recent technological changes
in the food and drink industries

Faced with increasing competition domestically and globally, and being placed under growing pressure from demanding consumers as well as retailers, the latter of which have become more concentrated and powerful in recent years, FD manufacturers have no choice but to become more competitive simply in order to survive. They are forced to resort to cost-cutting measures in all spheres of their operations, including materials handling, processing, production, packaging, marketing and distribution. Although the FD industries used to be relatively labour-intensive, they have become increasingly capital-intensive by adopting modern microelectronic technology. Today, large-scale companies, in particular, are constantly upgrading their plant and equipment in an effort to improve their productivity, while medium-scale enterprises are increasingly following suit.

In addition to the new technology that helps companies to achieve leaner production, biotechnology and related sciences have become important for FD companies to gain a better position in the market. In order to meet consumers' fickle demands, FD producers must make constant efforts to improve their products or to develop new ones.

This chapter examines some of the new technologies that have been introduced in the FD industries in recent years.

Microelectronics and computer technology

Icing a cake and sealing a car windscreen both involve squirting a viscous liquid in complicated patterns. While robots are commonly spotted in automobile factories doing such job, they are rarely seen in food-processing plants. One of the reasons is that food manufacturers who survive on narrow margins are reluctant to invest in expensive technology, and continue to use relatively labour-intensive techniques requiring a large, unskilled workforce that earns low wages.⁽¹⁾ Many tasks in food production and packaging involve repetitive work that can be easily performed by modern robots, but for many small and medium-sized enterprises the scale of operations does not permit them to adopt sophisticated and costly technology.

Although the level of technology adopted by FD producers varies from one country to another and from one enterprise to another within the same country, many FD producers did not adopt computer-based process control technology until well after other industries had introduced second- and third-generation systems. In their effort to develop more flexible control systems, automobile manufacturers in the 1970s introduced programmable logic controllers (PLCs) that complemented hard-wired control platforms. PLCs using ladder logic and sensors are the computers employed in process control applications in a high-speed, real-time industrial environment. In the 1980s, as PLCs became less expensive, the FD industries began introducing them into their processing and production operations.⁽²⁾

Today, the level of technology in the FD industries in the United States is evolving rapidly to a higher stage of automation. As technology moves to a higher level, more information related to the whole production process becomes available to the entire plant. For example, information on product characteristics, such as moisture, viscosity and temperature, and process parameters, such as raw materials usage, throughput and defects, are increasingly being made available throughout the plant in less time than before. This is because the previous control and quality systems used to rely on paper ledgers and manual data entry. More information is being made available due to the evolution of three industrial automation technologies. These consist of the computer used in the control system (e.g. PLC), the operator interface that displays information about the process (e.g. pilot lights, CRT-based graphics, flat panel graphics) and the data collection and control devices inside the control system (e.g. sensors, digital and analog input/output devices, motion and vision controllers).⁽³⁾

Nabisco's Richmond plant has developed these three technologies to perform increasingly integrated on-line control of the entire production process, and the level of automation is continuously upgraded. By 1993, for example, graphical operation interfaces called "EPOG" (electronic process operating guidelines) were installed throughout the plant. In 1995, a product quality tracking system was installed to integrate the entire production process, from the flour coming out of the railway carriages, going into silos and then down into mixers. Furthermore, the plant is planning to integrate manufacturing resource planning (MRP) by the end of the century to link manufacturing information to non-manufacturing divisions such as inventory, purchasing, supply, sales, finance and distribution.⁽⁴⁾

The technology employed in Canada's FD industries is also changing rapidly. Some of the changes introduced since 1990 are as follows. A chocolate confectionery plant with approximately 1,000 employees has adopted microelectronics and computer technology in production, packaging and handling areas. A distillery and bottling plant has upgraded its capacity in many areas with new labeller machines, revamped bottling lines, a new barrel line for the draining and filling of barrels, new automatic packers, new automatic unloaders and destackers and new palletizing machines, all of which are computer-based and state-of-the-art; many manual jobs have been eliminated in the process. A fish and seafood-processing plant has adopted automatic processing machines, faster belt lines, and loading and unloading machines, all of which have contributed to reducing the number of jobs and speeding up the work process.⁽⁵⁾

The level of application of microelectronics in work stations, quality control and office work by the food industry in Mexico might have been lower than that in Canada or the United States. But a study⁽⁶⁾ shows that it was higher than that in the country's metal industry for both dynamic⁽⁷⁾ and non-dynamic firms during 1989-92. For example, about 30 per cent of the dynamic firms and 7 per cent of the non-dynamic firms in the food industry covered in the study had installed microelectronics technology compared to 10 per cent of dynamic firms and 5 per cent of non-dynamic firms in the metal industry. During 1992-95, however, over 40 per cent of dynamic firms in the metal industry applied the technology as opposed to 38 per cent of dynamic firms in the food industry. The rate of application among non-dynamic firms was higher in the food industry (over 30 per cent) than in the metal industry (under 20 per cent).

The area of application of microelectronics technology in the Mexican food industry has expanded gradually. In 1989-92, the technology was largely employed in automated production sequences as well as in the transformation of primary inputs. During 1993-95, the technology was further applied in the areas of environmental control and materials handling, where it replaced manual jobs and information systems.⁽⁸⁾ A more recent study⁽⁹⁾ on the Mexican FD industries covering five plants in different subsectors indicated that the level of technology had become increasingly sophisticated, particularly in larger enterprises. For example, a firm with 1,200 employees that produces canned beans has already mechanized most of its processes. In 1993 the same company built a new $10 million plant in another location, using automated operations and sequencing, including a few robotic arms, all of which are electronically monitored from a control room. The company management believes that the computer-controlled system will help to avoid leaks and wastage and will thereby cut production costs. A brewery with 650 workers also covered in the Mexican study invested some $0.6 million in the early 1990s in equipment with programmable automation systems that brought about innovations in work organization in the bottling section. As part of its productivity improvement strategy, a plant producing soluble foods introduced a highly integrated, computerized control system with a greater production capacity in terms of speed and volume. One single machine in this plant prepares and either bottles or cans the product in sequence; an operator is there only to control the input into the system and to ensure its smooth operation up to the packaging phase. A sugar producer increased its investment between 1992-96 by purchasing, among other things, an electronic weighing machine, mill rollers and their pulleys, a cane shredding machine and PLC monitors in the milling, centrifuge, vats and evaporation areas.⁽¹⁰⁾ All these computer-controlled machines and systems new to the Mexican FD industries are having a considerable impact on employment and work organization.

Some FD producers in the United Kingdom first adopted microelectronics technology in the mid-1970s. The technology had become widely employed by the early 1980s, and by 1987 about 85 per cent of the FD manufacturers covered in a study undertaken by the National Economic Development Council (NEDC) had process applications of microelectronics in place. As some companies were found to operate on a five-year or shorter replacement cycle, they were in possession of technology that had already passed through a number of generations at the time of the study.⁽¹¹⁾ Today, computerization, instrumentation and automation are commonplace in the FD industries in the United Kingdom from materials reception, storage, processing, packaging, warehousing and distribution. In the processing stage, for example, the process control systems that monitor activities and provide information to operators and controllers are crucial to efficiency and quality. They may economize on and enhance the use of raw material and ingredients. To ensure the quality of final products, they also monitor the quality of raw materials and ingredients with automated monitoring systems, doing tasks which had previously been conducted during manual laboratory testing.⁽¹²⁾ Computer-based control systems are used for many other areas and tasks. Computer-aided design (CAD), for example, allows equipment producers to adapt standard machinery to meet individual food processors' requirements and to develop integrated systems. Computer-aided manufacture (CAM), on the other hand, gives equipment the flexibility to handle different ingredients and meet individual producers' specifications. Integrated CAM systems had long been applied to relatively simple processes, such as sugar refining, grain milling, fruit and vegetable canning. The system is increasingly being used today for the production of more complex products such as confectionery, ice cream with chocolate coating and snack foods. In the case of ready meals with simple layers of manageable ingredients, final products can easily be assembled, packaged, frozen and stored before shipment using an entirely automated CAM system. More traditional meals, such as roast meat dinners with vegetables and other garnitures, still require the manual placing of items on a plate. It should be noted, however, that when the pick-and-place and depositing technology now being developed is perfected, ready meals with different combinations of garniture will have a more attractive, home-cooked appearance.⁽¹³⁾ Computer control systems are also applied to inbuilt cleaning-in-place (CIP) systems that save time in manual cleaning and avoid potential errors in the dismantling and reassembling of sophisticated machinery. However, automation has limited application for cleaning in some areas of the FD industries due to the variability of raw materials used and hygiene requirements, as in the case of the cleaning and sterilization of equipment for brewery fermentation. Packaging in most FD plants in the United Kingdom has long been automated as it involves simpler processes. Many plants are therefore in the process of enhancing and upgrading their existing capacity or replacing it with more sophisticated and faster mechanisms. Today, automated warehouses with palette systems, high shelf stacks and stock control systems are increasingly being installed.⁽¹⁴⁾ Other examples of the application of new technology at individual FD plants in the United Kingdom since 1990 as follows. A leading brewery underwent a major refit in 1992-93, during which it installed, among other things, a new fermentation plant and a new kegging line, entirely automated by computer-controlled systems; another large brewery has automated many processes that were previously performed entirely or partly by hand; a subsidiary of a large multinational company that produces burgers, chicken products, frozen vegetables and potato products now has improved check weighing and metal detection systems, and the vegetable packing department has largely been automated; a computerized ordering system called effective consumer response (ECR) installed at another food producer is said to have virtually eliminated the need for a sales team.⁽¹⁵⁾

In other European countries many processes have also been entirely or largely automated using computer-controlled systems, resulting in higher speed production and larger batches. It has been reported, however, that the new technology in the brewery industry in Germany, for instance, has led to the problem of excess capacity, particularly at a time of declining consumption. The growing application of computerized information systems has accelerated the execution of orders, but this new situation also requires increased flexibility in hours of work.⁽¹⁶⁾

With the aim of increasing their international competitiveness vis-à-vis the European Union (EU) and other food-exporting countries, the FD industries in Turkey have increasingly adopted modern computer-controlled technology in production and packaging. Extensive use of computer technology is intended not only for efficient production of more varied products but also for improvements in hygiene and quality control.⁽¹⁷⁾

The adoption of new technology by the FD industries in Hungary has been closely associated with the inflow of foreign capital during and after its transition to a market economy. Investment from abroad has tended to concentrate on the enterprises which already had a relatively high level of technology, and thus had the potential to produce goods of export quality. It has also been directed to the subsectors which already enjoyed a strong position in the domestic market. An increased level of automation has been introduced for cost reduction purposes as well as to bring quality control into line with international standards (e.g. ISO 9000). In short, the technological level of the enterprises that have been privatized by foreign capital is generally higher than that of the others, and in fact, the technological level in some companies that have remained under Hungarian ownership is reported to have stagnated or even deteriorated.⁽¹⁸⁾

Computer-based technology has also been developed and adopted widely in larger FD companies in Asia and the Pacific. For example, a large fruit and vegetable cannery in Australia which had faced substantial competition since the end of the 1980s and had had to look for ways to reduce its production costs, invested A$50 million in modernizing the plant with a new cold storage and packing facility.⁽¹⁹⁾

The pace of technological change has been significant for some subsectors in New Zealand, such as the brewing industry,⁽²⁰⁾ and less so in others. Large-scale dairy-processing firms have also become highly capital-intensive with, among other things, automated quality control systems, robotics in packing and ECR systems to establish direct links with customers. To take an example, New Zealand Dairy's plant in Waitoa with its giant 12 tonne-an-hour drier, is one of the largest and most technically advanced dairy processing plants in the world. It is capable of processing 3 million litres of milk a day into more than 280 tonnes of milk powder. The evaporators through which the milk passes are also all mechanized. This plant also possesses an automated packing system which can pack 140 kg of cheese per minute.⁽²¹⁾

Against the backdrop of intensified price wars resulting from the growing availability of cheaper foreign products on the Japanese market, many large FD enterprises in Japan have been forced to invest heavily in upgrading their technological level in order to reduce production costs and add more value to their products. As for cost-cutting measures, many companies have invested heavily in computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) systems to achieve flexible production and in information technology to integrate and rationalize entire processes, including marketing and distribution. A major cornstarch plant, for example, has been able to reduce its labour costs by 3 per cent and production costs by 3 to 5 per cent, both by means of better quality control and the reduction of buffer stock, aided by CIM and integrated information systems. Kagome, a large food and drink producer, has managed to cut the number of line workers by 50 per cent and increase the line speed of fruit juice canning to 1,500 cans per minute, the highest speed in Japan.⁽²²⁾ Other features of new technology include the computer-assisted micro-brewery system for smaller firms aiming at a niche market, entirely automated warehousing and shipment divisions and FD distribution trucks equipped with computer-assisted temperature control devices as well as car navigation systems to better deal with smaller volume orders.

The technological level of large enterprises is rising in India. A large fruit and vegetable processing plant has mechanized most of its operations, including procurement, storage, grading and delivery. It has recently set up a state-of-the-art plant in Bombay with an annual capacity of 15,000 tonnes. The plant is equipped with a fruit-ripening control system and mechanical devices for peeling, destoning and extraction as well as for refining puree in a controlled CO2 atmosphere, and also for aseptic packaging. A soft drink producer has just upgraded its processing capacity of 3,500 packs to 7,000 packs per hour. Another soft drink producer increased its bottling capacity from 100 to 600 bottles per minute. The level of automation in this plant has increased in the areas of production, the CIP system, water treatment, office management and marketing. While technological development is inevitable in an increasingly competitive and globalized environment, labour displacement caused by labour-saving technology has become a serious concern in countries such as India where there is a large number of unemployed and underemployed people,⁽²³⁾ as well as a large number of new labour market entrants each year.

The adoption of automated systems in the FD industries in Africa is generally relatively limited. Nevertheless, computer technology is gradually becoming more widespread in this region as well. It has been reported that in Ghana, for example, a certain degree of computer technology has been introduced in the areas of production, packaging and handling in some plants since 1990.⁽²⁴⁾ In various countries including Togo, information technology is being used in office and personnel management.⁽²⁵⁾

Fish and poultry processing

The consumption of poultry meat and fish/seafood has risen considerably in many countries in recent years, as already noted. Fish and poultry processing in most countries has tended to be labour-intensive, in the same way as meat-processing. In response to growing demand, however, these industries have increasingly mechanized some of their processing stages in order to raise productivity. A modern fish-processing machine equipped with a microprocessor, for example, can be programmed to fillet various fish with appropriate cuts, and changes can be made at the touch of a button. Such a machine is capable of producing 240 fillets per minute. The machine not only fillets but also detects the presence of parasites or other imperfections in the flesh, and discards spoiled fish. Fillets are then graded, weighed and sorted by the computer-controlled system linked to the filleting machine, which is capable of processing up to 65,000 pounds of fish per day, at rates as much as ten times faster than hand-grading lines. However, even the most sophisticated equipment may be inappropriate for handling certain species, depending on their skin texture, size, shape and how well they can stand up to the machinery. The skins of certain fish are abrasive enough to damage the blades of processing machinery. There is also no suitable machinery to handle species like squid.⁽²⁶⁾

As for the poultry industry, prior to 1970, slaughtering, defeathering, eviscerating and chilling were principally manual operations but they have now become increasingly mechanized, though deboning is still mainly done manually. A skilled worker working with a sharp knife used to be able to kill about 66 birds per minute. This method was replaced by a mechanized machine developed in the 1960s which handled five birds per second. A defeathering machine can now process 160 birds per minute, and only one worker is needed to oversee the functioning of the machine and to keep the area clean. There is also a halving machine that can process 70 birds per minute.⁽²⁷⁾ The speed of these machines is constantly being upgraded in order to improve productivity.

FD manufacturers are always interested in more cost-effective machinery to strengthen their competitiveness, while the producers of processing machinery continue to develop new and better products. One example is a fully automated eviscerator of chicken organs that both eviscerates the chickens and harvests the organs. The machine guarantees an output of up to 8,000 intestine packets an hour and requires only two employees to check the edible organs. Another example of such machinery is a melon peeler that can peel and cut into bite-size pieces up to 30 melons a minute. It can also handle other fruits, such as papayas and pineapples, and either works directly with bagging or tray packaging equipment or sends the products to other packaging systems.⁽²⁸⁾ There are many more new machines and devices that are being introduced each month with the aim of speeding up work processes and reducing the need for manual labour.

Increased computerization of production systems can make possible greater remote control of production and more centralized managerial control if computers are located in isolated control booths and if decision-making is effectively removed from the shop-floor. This can result in the deskilling of workers as well as the reduction of direct labour input. For example, certain systems can be configured to be self-correcting, which deprives the worker of the need to judge and control the process, and either reduces him or her to a monitor or eliminates his or her job entirely. On the other hand, computer-controlled production can also lead to more efficient and quality-driven activity by front-line workers if they have access to greater information concerning production and quality control processes and are capable of proper decision-making. Which path is selected is the result of the conscious decisions made by those acquiring and deploying new technology.⁽²⁹⁾ This issue will be discussed further in Chapter 5.

Food technology

Food technology, including biotechnology, food chemistry and other processing techniques that are used in the FD industries, has evolved considerably, particularly in the development of the host of flavourings, sweeteners, preservatives and colourings that are known generally as additives. Additives are used by FD manufacturers basically to make their products taste better, look more attractive and last longer. They are developed primarily through extraction from natural sources, chemical synthesis or fermentation.⁽³⁰⁾

The extraction of additives can be an expensive method as natural sources usually contain only small amounts of whatever is to be extracted. By way of example, a margarine marketed by a Finnish firm has been medically proven to have the effect not only of blocking but also of lowering the cholesterol level in the bloodstream. This margarine contains sterols extracted from pine trees in Finland, whose efficacy in reducing cholesterol has been recognized for half a century. However, this margarine costs five times more than other margarines, as it takes 15 tonnes of trees to manufacture just 1 kg of sterols.⁽³¹⁾

The synthetic method of manufacturing additives offers more competitive advantage than extraction from natural sources in the potential scale of production, but it nevertheless has certain shortcomings (e.g. the cost of oil and gas, the diminished potency as preservatives of some products). On the other hand, fermentation is an inexpensive and reliable way of producing additives. Moreover, it can open up a wide range of possibilities in the development of novel foods when combined with biotechnology.⁽³²⁾

Thus far, biotechnology has largely been applied in other sectors, such as pharmaceuticals, but has also long been used in the FD industries. Lactic acid fermentation involving dairy as well as non-dairy products is one form of biotechnology and is one of the oldest and most widespread food-processing technologies, having been practised for thousands of years in many societies throughout the world. It is a low-cost food preservation technique in comparison to refrigeration, freezing and canning, and not only improves food safety but also enhances flavour, increases dietary variety and raises nutritional value.⁽³³⁾

Today biotechnology is a highly technical and complex science that seeks to identify, isolate and alter certain genetic characteristics of organisms through cell fusion and culture to produce a genetically modified (GM) end-product that can contribute to improved food quality as well as the cost reduction in food production.⁽³⁴⁾ This technology is increasingly being applied in the agricultural industry which supplies ingredients to the FD industries. To take an example, it is used in the development of GM high-yielding seeds as well as GM food crops, such as corn that resists root worms and soybeans that can withstand powerful pesticides.⁽³⁵⁾ It has also developed a GM tomato that no longer produces a rotting enzyme. This means that it can stay on the plant longer and hold up better to shipping. Another example is a GM potato now being developed that contains more carbohydrates and less water. Frying this type of potato will therefore require less oil, reducing fat content.⁽³⁶⁾ Bovine somatotrophin (BST) used on cows for greater milk production is another example of the application of biotechnology in agriculture having a direct impact on FD industries.

An increase has been seen in the direct application of biotechnology in the FD industries in the development of substitutes for certain ingredients used in food preparation, such as fructose produced from corn or potatoes with the use of enzymes to replace cane or beet sugar, which has resulted in a reduction in the demand for and the price of cane sugar. The use of vegetable fat-based cocoa butter in place of real cocoa butter can cut down the cost of chocolate manufacturing by half.⁽³⁷⁾ Another example is the development of the GM enzyme chymosin made by replicating the animal gene, in place of rennet, the cheese ingredient used to clot milk and give cheese its flavour, to produce vegetarian cheese.⁽³⁸⁾

The application of biotechnology in the development of novel foods, often known as "nutraceuticals" or "functional foods", has become widespread, and this is considered to be a promising area for expansion for the FD industries where high value can be added to new products. Typical functional foods have been such products as those with low-fat and low-cholesterol content for the specific dietary needs of some consumers. New functional products being marketed today include foods that are claimed by producers to have particular health and medical benefits, such as reducing blood sugar levels, reducing the risk of heart disease or improving the immune system. For example, Nestlé's LC1 yoghurt is fortified with a special ingredient to remove from the body harmful bacteria such as salmonella. A United States breakfast cereal maker is reported to be developing functional foods and is seeking approval to advertise some of its cereal products as a prevention for colon cancer.⁽³⁹⁾ The other examples of functional foods include those that contain peptides which normalize blood pressure, beta-carotene which fights cancer and lecithin which is known to slow the aging process.⁽⁴⁰⁾

The currently available additives and those to be developed in the future will offer the FD industries many opportunities to develop new products of higher value. In contrast to technological developments in microelectronics that have generally had negative repercussions on employment security, the new food technology appears to be having a favourable impact on employment. Increased sales of new and higher value-added products should create more employment opportunities and there should be greater demand in the area of research and development. However, the use, for example, of biofunction for mass conversion, such as in the production of oligosaccharides,⁽⁴¹⁾ can also prove to be a labour-saving technique.

The other food technology that should be mentioned here is irradiation. It involves the exposure of food to X-rays, electron beams or gamma rays to destroy food-borne pathogenic organisms, food pests or spoilage organisms in order to make food last longer and delay the deterioration process. This technique may negatively affect the flavour, colour and texture of some products,⁽⁴²⁾ but it is considered to be perfectly safe, provided that it is administered properly.⁽⁴³⁾ Other new technologies include flash pasteurization and ultraviolet light sterilization. Flash pasteurization involves the quick heating and cooling of a juice, for example, to kill bacteria without affecting taste.⁽⁴⁴⁾

Advances in biotechnology and food chemistry and the increased use of GM organisms and synthetically produced substances as additives, nutrients and substitutes in FD products are leading to a growing incidence of suspicion and apprehension among consumers. Although the manufacturers and national agencies in charge of authorizing the clearance of new products try to assure consumers that they are perfectly safe, the controversy is not likely to be easily resolved. Some people are of the view that the possible negative effects of genetic modification on food chains and the environment may take a considerable time to appear.

One of the concerns expressed by farmers, in particular, regarding the more efficient weed control of GM crops is the possible danger that the seeds accidentally spilt the previous year may themselves become uncontrollable weeds in the following crop grown on the same land.⁽⁴⁵⁾ Another concern expressed by environmentalists, is the possible consequences of the powerful methods of modern gene manipulation, which are unlike old-fashioned methods of genetic manipulation such as the selective breeding that has been practised for centuries. They maintain that no one can fully predict how organisms crafted in a laboratory will interact with existing plants and animals.⁽⁴⁶⁾

There is also serious concern over the consumption of any products from cows injected with bovine somatotrophin (BST). It has been reported that this hormone causes more cases of bloat, diarrhoea and mastitis in cows. This has led farmers to treat their cattle with more antibiotics, resulting in the residues of antibiotics turning up in the milk.⁽⁴⁷⁾ Many people fear that this may increase human resistance to antibiotics.⁽⁴⁸⁾ More realistic concern over the use of BST centres on a surge in milk production in Europe and North America, which may cause farm income to fall to the detriment of the dairy industry, as markets are already struggling with surplus milk.⁽⁴⁹⁾

Furthermore, there are some drawbacks with regard to functional foods that are marketed with certain health claims that are difficult to prove. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permits foods to make general health claims such as "heart healthy". An increasing number of companies are now financing costly research and clinical trials to support their claims. However, they must also be cautious about making claims that would unrealistically raise consumers' hopes and lead to legal problems.⁽⁵⁰⁾

Some consumer groups insist that GM products are unsafe and should thus be banned or at least clearly labelled. In response to such pressure, the manufacturers and regulatory agencies of various governments argue that such products are perfectly safe and that there are no significant differences between them and natural products. In Switzerland, for example, an appeal for a ban has been rejected by the Government, but it has been agreed that such products must be appropriately labelled.⁽⁵¹⁾ However, the FDA claims that the "label might misleadingly imply that one sort is safer than the other".⁽⁵²⁾ Under growing pressure from consumers, however, for the first time in the United States, the State of Vermont has passed a law requiring a GM product to be labelled as such.⁽⁵³⁾

Regulations concerning the labelling of GM products vary from one country to another. In the United States, only those GM foods and ingredients that are significantly different from natural products and those that may have health implications (e.g. prove to be allergenic) are required to be labelled. The proposals being considered in the EU include a labelling requirement for GM foods and ingredients that may give rise to ethical concern and also for products containing a genetically modified living organism, in addition to the two types of products required to be labelled in the United States. In Australia and New Zealand, labelling is required for foods that contain a GM ingredient at a level greater than 5 per cent of the food, in addition to the four groups included in the EU proposal.⁽⁵⁴⁾ The position of the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Japan is that there is no need to require the labelling of food products that have been recognized and authorized as safe. However, in response to the wish of many of their members, an increasing number of cooperative groups are seriously considering labelling the GM products that they handle in their stores.⁽⁵⁵⁾

Despite the suspicion and uneasiness with which many people view GM agricultural products or FD products produced with GM ingredients, it is widely thought that modern food technology, including biotechnology, can help to achieve food self-sufficiency for the world as a whole, with its still rapidly expanding population. In India alone, for example, half of the Rs.30 billion worth of tomatoes grown annually are said to be destroyed by viral diseases.⁽⁵⁶⁾ Thus, disease-resistant crops that also stay fresh longer after the harvest can lead to a larger food supply. Disease-resistant and high-yielding crops are also said to be environmentally friendly as they require fewer pesticides.⁽⁵⁷⁾

GM additives and other processing technologies, such as pasteurization, have also greatly contributed to the improvement of food quality and safety as well as to food security. GM additives are also opening up new horizons for growth and expansion for the FD industries. The advantages and the potential associated with new food technologies therefore appear to far outweigh any possible disadvantages.

The application of biotechnology in the FD industries is expanding fast, and this is reflected in an increasing number of GM products in foods being cleared by the relevant government agencies. Since March 1990, for example, the United Kingdom has cleared 20 different GM products that include, among other things, baker's yeast, brewer's yeast, three different chymosins, tomato paste, maize and soya bean.⁽⁵⁸⁾ The biotechnology-related market for the FD industries in Japan grew sixfold between 1989 and 1995, from 18.4 billion yen to 111.2 billion yen.⁽⁵⁹⁾ World sales of biotechnology-derived products (excluding fermented foods and drinks) were approximately Ecu 7.5 billion in 1985,⁽⁶⁰⁾ and the world market for all biotechnology-derived products is expected to reach around £70 billion by the end of the century.⁽⁶¹⁾

Other technologies relevant to
the food and drink industries

In addition to the microelectronic and food technologies examined above, certain other developments that have employment implications merit a brief mention. One is the development of freezing technology. The production of frozen foods has risen rapidly, as consumers seek more convenient products that resemble fresh and home-cooked foods. Freezing technology has advanced considerably in response to this trend. Today's industrial deep-freezes are much more energy-efficient than before, can handle large volumes quickly (e.g. as much as 4,000 pounds per hour for the newest system being marketed) at a low cost (e.g. less than $0.50 per pound of food) and are designed for environmentally friendly refrigerants.⁽⁶²⁾

Modern freezing technology can preserve meat, fish and seafood as well as all kinds of fruits and vegetables at the peak of freshness. This allows the FD manufacturers to process seasonal produce at low cost. It also permits them to process raw materials where they are harvested, where the labour cost may be much more advantageous, and still be able to transport the finished goods to market in large cities without losing the freshness of the products. Needless to say, this technology has been responsible for the increased availability of the facilities that can transport and store frozen goods without damaging their quality.

The other area of development concerns the technology being used to develop packaging materials to replace glass bottles, particularly for drink products. In the past drinks were sold almost entirely in glass bottles that were heavy and breakable, often causing back injuries and cuts to those who handled them. Glass is still being used for a number of different products, and environmentally conscious people insist that more recyclable bottles be used for ecological reasons. Others groups, such as micro-breweries that produce premium beers, believe that their products should be sold in glass bottles. The rising number of micro-breweries in the United States (the number of breweries climbed from 92 in 1983 to 879 in 1995)⁽⁶³⁾ may explain the rise in glass's share of United States beer packaging from 35.8 per cent in 1994 to 38.6 per cent in 1996, while the share of cans declined to 61.4 per cent.⁽⁶⁴⁾

However, various packaging materials that are more advantageous than glass have been developed, and in general the share of glass has declined considerably. For example, of a total world expenditure of $280 billion for packaging materials in 1991, plastics accounted for 30 per cent as opposed to 14 per cent for glass. Paper and metal accounted for 28 and 27 per cent respectively.⁽⁶⁵⁾

Although PET (polyethylene terphthalate) bottles are quickly being adopted in the soft drinks sector, metal cans have become popular in the beer industry. The latter are also much lighter, easier and safer to handle than glass bottles. Cans also offer a 30 per cent cost advantage over glass bottles at the filling stage.⁽⁶⁶⁾ Today's technique of converting aluminum or tin-plate sheet into cans has advanced so far that it is capable of producing cans with a side-wall that is just four thousandths of an inch thick. Moreover, such cans are strong enough to support a load of more than 200 lb during filling and seaming (putting the top on). Recent tin-plate cans have 30 per cent thinner walls yet are even stronger than aluminum ones. New technology has reduced the weight of an aluminum can from 18 g to less than 11 g.⁽⁶⁷⁾

As a backdrop to technological development in can manufacturing, many small breweries and their workers are facing an increasing challenge from canned beer. Small breweries have been producing beer in glass bottles for local niche markets, the distribution network of which is limited. On the other hand, as canned beer is easier and much cheaper to transport over long distances, it can easily penetrate a geographically wider market, threatening small local breweries. Small breweries in Germany, for example, are being seriously affected not only by imported canned beer but also by internal competitors producing canned beer and trying to expand their market share.⁽⁶⁸⁾ Small local producers of beer in returnable bottles are trying to stop the further expansion of canned beer, insisting that non-returnable packaging materials are polluting the environment.

1.  Roderick Oram: "Secret ingredient", in Financial Times (London), 2 May 1996, p. 12.

2.  Todd Cherkasky: Changing technology: A case-study of Nabisco Inc. and Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers' International Union, Work organization and plant operation (Washington, DC, Work and Technology Institute, revised July 1997), unpublished report, p. 6.

3.  ibid., pp. 6-7.

4.  ibid., pp. 6-8.

5.  Information provided by the National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers' Union of Canada (CAW-Canada).

6.  Leonard Mertens: Productivity improvement strategies: The case of the Mexican food and metal industries, Enterprise and Management Development Working Paper EMD/15/E (Geneva, ILO, 1996).

7.  The firms that were considered as "dynamic" in the study had a workforce of 250 or more and increasing sales, particularly in the domestic market. The firms which did not have these attributes were considered "non-dynamic".

8.  ibid., pp. 17 and 27-29.

9.  Anselmo García, Andrés Hernandez and Leonard Mertens: Technology and employment in the Mexican food and drink industry, Sectoral Activities Programme (ILO, Mar. 1997), unpublished paper.

10.  ibid., pp. 10-15.

11.  J.A. Burns with Marian Garcia: The impact of technical change on employment in the UK food and drink industries, project for the ILO (University of Reading, July 1997), p. 20.

12.  ibid., pp. 20-21.

13.  ibid., p. 21.

14.  ibid., pp. 20-21.

15.  Information provided by the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&G), United Kingdom.

16.  Information provided by Gewerkschaft Nahrung, Genuss, Gaststätten (NGG), Germany.

17.  Information provided by the Confederation of Turkish Employers' Associations.

18.  Judit Kiss: Technology and employment in the Hungarian food and drink industry (Budapest, Institute for World Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Mar. 1997), unpublished paper, pp. 10-12.

19.  Bureau of Industry Economics: Agri-food case-study: Micro reform -- Impacts on firms, Report 96/11 (Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service, May 1996), p. 53.

20.  Information provided by the New Zealand Employers' Federation.

21.  Information provided by the New Zealand Dairy Workers' Union.

22.  Naoki Kuriyama: Case-studies on technology and employment in the food and the drink industries in Japan (May 1997), unpublished paper, pp. 10-11.

23.  Veena Nabar: Technology and employment in Indian food and drinks industry: Some case-studies (New Delhi, July 1997), unpublished paper, pp. 8-23.

24.  Information provided by the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union (ICU), Ghana.

25.  Information provided by Sydicat des Travailleurs des Entreprises de Boissons, Togo.

26.  Mark Dumas: "Productivity trends: Prepared fish and seafoods industry", in Monthly Labor Review, Washington, DC, Oct. 1992, Vol. 115, No. 10, pp. 5-6.

27.  Shizue Tomoda: Safety and heath of meat, poultry and fish processing workers, Sectoral Activities Programme Working Paper No. 104 (Geneva, ILO, 1997), p. 31.

28.  Quick Frozen Foods International, (Fort Lee, NJ, US), Oct. 1996, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 18 and 28.

29.  Information provided by the Bakery, Confectionery and Tobacco Workers' International Union, AFL-CIO, US, Summer 1997, pp. 1-2.

30.  Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Monitor (Vienna, UNIDO), Vol. 1, No. 3, 1994, p. 57.

31.  Erik Ipsen: "Finnish firm redefines health food", in International Herald Tribune (Zurich), 9 Jan. 1997, p. 11; Youssef Ibrahim: "A new margarine that lowers cholesterol", in International Herald Tribune (Zurich), 24 July 1996, p. 2.

32.  Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Monitor, Vol. 1, No. 3, 1994, p. 57.

33.  UNIDO: LABNET: International Network for Lactic Acid Fermentation Technology, Information Note No. 2, Jan. 1994.

34.  Burns with Garcia, op. cit., p. 22.

35.  Edmund Andrews: "Hormone-treated meat is ruled fit for Europe", in International Herald Tribune (Zurich), 9 May 1997.

36.  Victoria Griffith: "Biotechnology produces 'flavour saver'", in Financial Times (London), 19 May 1994.

37.  Business World (Bombay), 7 July 1997.

38.  Tony Jackson: "How rennet led to biotechnology", in Financial Times (London) 7 June 1994, p. 13; Burns with Garcia, op. cit., p. 22.

39.  Victoria Griffith: "Healthy taste for souped-up foods", in Financial Times (London) 17 June 1997, p. 12.

40.  Kuriyama, op. cit., p. 14.

41.  ibid.

42.  Club de Bruxelles: Safety, hygiene, control and quality of agri-food products in Europe (Brussels, 1994), p. 84.

43.  "Growing pains", in The Economist (London), 20 Apr. 1996, p. 80.

44.  World Food Regulation Review (London, BNA International, Inc.), Vol. 6, No. 9, Feb. 1997, p. 12.

45.  David Richardson: "Biotech offers best hope for a hungry world", in Financial Times (London), 18 June 1996.

46.  "Growing pains", op. cit., p. 80.

47.  "Chemicals in food: Uncowed", in The Economist (London), 26 Mar. 1994, p. 66.

48.  Neil Buckley: "Brussels defends maize ruling", in Financial Times (London), 10 Apr. 1997.

49.  Laurie Morse and Alison Maitland: "Transatlantic row over a sacred cow", in Financial Times (London), 2 Mar. 1994.

50.  Griffith: "Healthy taste for souped-up foods", op. cit., p. 12.

51.  World Food Regulation Review (London, BNA International, Inc.), Vol. 6, No. 12, May 1997, pp. 10-11.

52.  "Chemicals in food: Uncowed", op. cit., p. 66.

53.  "Food labelling: White, wet and ...?", in The Economist (London), 16 Sep. 1995, p. 69.

54.  World Food Regulation Review (London, BNA International, Inc.), Vol. 6, No. 11, Apr. 1997, p. 3.

55.  Asahi Shinbun (Tokyo), 22 May 1997, p. 16.

56.  Stefan Wagstyl: "Mr. Attavar's petunias blaze biotechnology trail", in Financial Times (London), 31 Mar. 1994.

57.  Richardson: "Biotech offers best hope for a hungry world", in Financial Times (London), 18 June 1996.

58.  Information provided by the Department for Education and Employment, United Kingdom.

59.  Kuriyama, op. cit., p. 15.

60.  Commission of the European Communities: Bulletin of the European Communities, Supplement 3/91 (Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1991), p. 41.

61.  Patricia Roberts: "BMB initiative helps companies capitalize on biotechnology advances", in Food Science and Technology Today (London, Institute of Food Science and Technology), Vol. 11, No. 1, 1997, p. 25.

62.  See some of the new freezing devices now on the market advertised in Quick Frozen Foods International, op. cit.

63.  Beer Institute: Brewers Almanac, 1996 (Washington, DC), p. 23.

64.  Kenneth Gooding: "Plastic puts pressure on cans", in Financial Times (London), 11 June 1997, p. 24.

65.  Ron Goddard: Packaging 2000: A strategic forecast for the European packaging industry (Pira International, Surrey, UK, 1994), p. 3.

66.  Gooding, op. cit.

67.  John Nutting: "The shape of tins to come", in Financial Times (London), 10 Dec. 1996, p. 10.

68.  IUF: Beverages Bulletin: Breweries (Geneva, 1996), No. 1, p. 5.

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