The food and beverage industry is currently growing at 8.7% and is projected to be worth $8.9 trillion by 2026, according to Research and Markets’ 2022 report on the global food and beverage market. This growth presents opportunities and challenges for manufacturers, many of which must modernize production lines within the next three years to remain competitive and compliant.

On one hand, we can view this trend with a massive sigh of relief, considering the challenges the industry faced in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. On the other hand, it poses a variety of challenges for food and beverage manufacturers that aren’t ready to take advantage of these opportunities.

Such manufacturers will have competing priorities, ranging from product diversification to product quality and ingredient traceability, as well as output efficiency and conformance to an evolving environmental, social, and governance (ESG) regulatory landscape. It’s a lot to manage for companies of any size.

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