By 2050 the world population may exceed 9 billion people. We must therefore ask ourselves how it will be possible to feed such a large population, and at the same time guarantee food quantity, quality and availability. This is a momentous challenge that, according to Gian Luca Rana, the food industry will only be able to rise to if it puts two fundamental pillars at the heart of its future: accessibility and sustainability.

This was one of the topics, linked to technological innovation, that were tackled at the first Festival del Futuro, an event held in Verona in November 2019 that was strongly endorsed by Pastificio Rana’s CEO.

“The contribution of technology and research is key in guaranteeing access to food for all the people on Earth”, Gian Luca Rana explained. “Nutrition should be considered an ecosystem of innovation and quality that can improve all the lives of everyone.”

There are numerous, complex and widely varying challenges posed by the growth trends we are witnessing: from the procurement of raw materials to the industrialization of production processes, while at the same time ensuring food safety.

In the future, the need for proper and sustainable food supply will even affect – and probably revolutionize – the majority of the food industry; an industry that, in order to continue thriving, will have to find the courage to reinvent itself, even modifying well-established trends that have characterized it for many decades.

“Compared to the past, there is greater awareness that a high level of wellbeing can also be achieved through balanced nutrition”, Gian Luca Rana continued. “Today, there is a new generation of consumers who are much better informed and find their own answers to their needs without outside assistance”.

The food sector must present themselves to the consumer from a service perspective, responding to changes in lifestyle, offering solutions that go beyond the product itself and providing the right information to allow consumers to make informed choices.

In order to grasp the challenge linked to tomorrow’s food provision, Gian Luca Rana has also focused on ready-made meals that, in the future, will have to combine with ever-increasing energy numerous different factors: taste, accessibility, practicality and the right nutritional benefits.

The real challenge will be to ensure that raw materials can be processed while retaining their original nutritional properties and their organoleptic characteristics, while ensuring food safety.

The entire sector will have to courageously launch an outright technical and cultural revolution in order to seize a concrete possibility that is now emerging: rethinking the entire food production and processing chain from the point of view of sustainability.