For the food and beverage industry, the topic of sustainability – whether in terms of environmental, social or governance concerns – is gaining increasing relevance, driven by external expectations from consumers and producers alike. But there is another important element in the mix for producers – the economic case for sustainability.
Here, Leigh Ann Johnston, JBT’s Senior Director, Environmental, Social and Governance, explains why investing in sustainability makes sense from an economic and profitability point of view, and how those investments can deliver widespread benefits across a business, from realizing energy and water savings, to reducing food waste, increasing shelf-life and ensuring food safety.
Whether you represent a publicly-traded or private company and regardless of whether you process fruits, dairy, sauces or soups, sustainability is more than an expectation these days – it’s table stakes. Stakeholders such as investors, employees, retailers, restauranteurs, and customers want to know what you’re doing to be a sustainable business.
This responsibility extends beyond the four walls of your organization and includes your upstream and downstream value chain as well as the communities where you have operations.
Sustainability involves how you support your employees with programs focused on talent development, career growth and expansion, worker safety, and diversity, equity and inclusion. Sustainability also encompasses your environmental impacts.
For example, climate change is a significant focus area for the food industry, with efforts primarily centered on mitigating its effects. Water usage, is another important consideration for food and beverage processors, with protection and conservation of this valuable resource being of utmost concern.
The immediate economic benefits
Let’s examine the economic case for making your company more sustainable and why it makes medium and long-term business sense.
Sustainability in the food and beverage industries isn’t just about reputation, it’s also about transparency. Consumers want to know where their products come from, how they are manufactured, how environmental impacts are managed, and what the working conditions are like within facilities or farms.
“Increasingly, providing transparency and accountability is expected from brands and labels across the industry.”
While environmental and social aspects of sustainability are crucial, we must not forget about the economic and the profitability factors. Businesses aim to make a profit, which drives opportunities for continuous improvement and future sustainability initiatives.
Without profitability, funding these initiatives and programs becomes challenging. Therefore, when discussing sustainability, we need to consider smart, sustainable investments, and long-term strategies rather than short-term solutions.
JBT has technologies that offer a balance between food safety and sustainability. With JBT equipment, not only can you reduce the risk of microbial contamination, maintain high hygiene standards, and extend shelf-life, you can also reduce your energy usage, minimize food waste, and conserve water.
Revolutionizing frozen vegetables: Urtasun blanchers reduce energy use and steam consumption while increasing output.
Why sustainability drives long-term profitability
JBT solutions not only improve your company’s sustainability record, they also drive long-term profitability throughout your business.
JBT offers systems for optimizing water and energy usage, helping you conserve valuable resources, reduce emissions and reduce bills in the process.
“sustainability efforts can drive positive changes in your operations and increase your profitability”
Consider the frozen vegetable industry. An increasingly popular option for consumers, frozen vegetables offer a healthy option, convenience, and storability. Blanchers form a vital part of the freezing process, and JBT Urtasun blanchers increase output, while cutting energy use and steam consumption. One customer reported a 5% reduction in steam consumption in 2023 and an annual saving of 400m3 in cleaning water.
Looking at sterilization – a process vital to processors of juice and dairy – JBT offers innovative solutions such as the Energy Recovery System (ERS), which reduces steam and cooling water consumption by transferring energy between different stages of the thermal process.
The Heat Recovery System (HRS) works in a similar way by using already generated energy to heat water for thermal processing, reducing steam consumption as a result.
This is just touching the surface of the sustainable solutions JBT provides. Innovative tray-sealing technologies from JBT Proseal allow customers to switch from plastic-heavy clamshells or clip-on lids. This can lead to the saving of 10 tonnes (tons) of plastic for every 1 million trays sealed, reducing waste and fostering long-term sustainability in the process.
Ultimately, sustainability efforts can drive positive changes in your operations and increase your profitability. Considering JBT solutions not only will increase the overall sustainability of your operations, but also support resource efficiency and the bottom line, investing in sustainability positions a company for long-term, sustainable success and it also makes sound business sense.