October 2026

Food Engineering

ON THE COVER:
►FOOD ENGINEERING's 2026 State of Food Manufacturing

FEATURES:
► Is AI the Missing Link in the Commercialization of Cultivated Meat?
► Don't Scrap Your Equipment. Connect it Instead.
► Inspection Systems: Don't Settle for a Single Point of View

Bread going through conveyor belt in manufacturing plant.

The State of Food Manufacturing in 2026

Food manufacturers continue to invest in their operations with consideration toward food safety, traceability, automation and sustainability.

Alyse Thompson-Richards

October 13, 2026

Food and beverage manufacturers encounter significant challenges beyond simply delivering products, including tightening regulations, rising costs, and labor shortages. Despite these obstacles, they continue to prioritize investments in food safety, traceability, automation, and sustainability to enhance operational efficiency.

Automation

Don’t Scrap Your Equipment. Connect it Instead

You have several data islands of automation, but by giving each data context — and with help from AI — you can keep the aging equipment and gain knowledge of your process.

Wayne Labs

October 5, 2026

Plants often have aging equipment that works fine, and it may have sensors, but in many cases that data never connects with data from other siloed processes. Why not connect all the data together with intelligent networks and use AI to get a better understanding of the whole process?

October From the Editor

How Are Food Manufacturers Investing in Inspection and Detection Technologies?

Preventing foreign material contamination is a critical food safety concern, but how food manufacturers approach it varies, according to new research.

Alyse Thompson-Richards

October 5, 2026

New research from FlexXray explores how food manufacturers detect and prevent contamination from foreign materials, as well as their future investments in inspection technologies.

AI chip on a dark circuit board with glowing blue lines and orange bokeh.

Cell-Cultured/3D Printed

Is AI the Missing Link in the Commercialization of Cultivated Meat?

Omri Schanin

September 2, 2026

The cultivated meat sector faces many challenges, especially in scaling production. AI — and in particular hybrid model digital twins — can help overcome critical hurdles to industry viability.

The Food Manufacturing Documentation Paradox: Audit-Ready Plants, Undocumented Know-How

Diego Echenique

August 31, 2026

Documentation is written to demonstrate compliance, but the knowledge that keeps lines running lives somewhere else entirely: in the heads and hands of a shrinking group of veteran operators.

A table of food considered 'junk food' such as pizza, cheeseburger, fries, donuts, meat sticks, and chips.

October Regulatory Watch

HHS, FDA Submit Proposed Definition of ‘Ultra-Processed Foods’ for Final Review

Submitted as a white paper to the Office of Management and Budget, the definition was drafted with “feedback from thousands of stakeholders, including industry, consumer organizations, researchers and members of the public,” the HHS says.

October 8, 2026

The U.S. HHS and FDA have submitted a proposed definition of "ultra-processed foods" to the OMB for review. Developed with feedback from various stakeholders, the definition aims to create federal uniformity, but it has not yet been published in the Federal Register.

The webinar will examine how these trends are impacting every stage of the manufacturing process, from research and development through production, distribution and fulfillment.