A recent CBC article investigated the amount of food safety violations in Canadian senior citizen homes and retirement residences - the results were shocking, with...
Robotics: The Exciting Future of Food Safety
Science fiction has been predicting the inevitable entry of robots into the workplace for decades, bringing with them increased potential for efficiency and safety, as well as freeing people up for more important workplace duties that cannot be easily automated. These ideas were once considered unrealistic or far flung, but the emergence of robotics in the food industry is very real. Several attempts have been made to automate processes in the foodservice sector, ranging from the preparation of food to its delivery right to your doorstep. The potential held by the introduction of robotics into the food industry is nearly endless, especially when it comes to food safety benefits.
The future of the food industry will be driven by robotics
With the advent of self-driving cars and telemedicine robots, industries around the world are quickly making innovative leaps and bounds towards automation in the name of boosting productivity and consistency, and improving the bottom line. With that said, there’s little doubt that the future of the foodservice industry may largely be driven by robots and automation - whether it’s in the form of relatively simple robots like Flippy the burger-flipping robot and pizza delivery robots developed by Domino’s, or more complex ones like the automated kitchen created by Moley, it’s likely that your future restaurant visits will involve robots in some form.
Robots in the food safety industry can open up a whole world of potential for restaurants and foodservice professionals, as robots specifically designed for food preparation or delivery are not prone to errors in the same way that humans are. This ensures increased consistency within restaurant kitchens, less mistakes during the preparation of food, and faster, more efficient modes of delivery. The rise of robots in restaurants around the world can free up employees for other important tasks like providing customer service and taking care of management duties.
The benefits of robotics in food safety
With all the talk about how robots in the food industry can increase productivity, efficiency, and consistency, one of the major talking points being left out of the conversation is food safety. Major technology breakthroughs in the restaurant industry can have a major impact on health and safety - having robots prepare and deliver your food means that it’s far less likely to contain foodborne illnesses. Bacteria from human hands like Staphylococcus can make its way onto food during the preparation process, increasing the potential for serious illness - with the sanitized nature of workplace robotics, this will no longer be a common problem.
Having an increased presence of robots in restaurant kitchens will also help to eliminate the potential for employees working while sick, transferring viruses and bacteria to food, and subsequently passing it on to customers. Humans and robots working in tandem in kitchens and foodservice establishments around the world will make enforcing food safety standards and regulations much easier - robots are programmed to fulfill specific needs without making mistakes or deviating from their programming, making them extremely valuable to food safety professionals.
Automated robots will know when foods reach their ideal temperatures, when they have to switch between utensils to avoid cross-contamination, and will always be outfitted in a clean and sanitary uniform. Workplace robots can also be designed to work in and maintain temperature-controlled environments, which will greatly lower the risk of bacterial growth in meat and other temperature-sensitive foods.
The inevitable emergence of robots in the food industry holds an infinite amount of potential for restaurants and food service establishments to increase workplace productivity and efficiency, and also to ensure that customers are getting the safest possible end-product. Robots hold the potential to greatly decrease the risk of foodborne illness development, and will better enforce strict food safety rules and regulations that will eventually make eating out a much safer and more satisfying experience for all.
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