Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/986636
& A look at the events, issues, and innovations shaping specialty food, plus industry news, trends, and more. trends happenings Compassionate Cheese Cream o' Galloway, an organic Scottish dairy farm, is inspiring a movement to make ethical cheese. Instead of separating the mother cow and calf at birth, a system that allows traditional dairies to milk the cows two to three times a day, these calves stay with their mothers for five months and provide only one milking a day. The results: Happy animals, content customers, and award- winning cheeses, as well as a line of ice cream. Since implementing the method in 2016, the farmers have observed that the cows are calmer and exhibit less bullying behavior, while the calves are joyful and playful. They also discovered they could make up for the loss of milk after the animals separated because the cows remain flush with milk for months. Another key to future success is producing most of its own feed, fuel, and fertilizer on the farm, and converting waste into resources. Robot, Report to Aisle 1 Small retailers are testing out robots to detect missing labels, check price changes, monitor inventory levels, and more. Last summer, St. Louis- based Schnuck Markets partnered with Simbe Robotics to test a robot named Tally, which, for six weeks, scanned store aisles three times a day to help keep shelves fully stocked, items placed properly, and priced correctly. This year, at Bell's Food Store in Georgia, the Shelf Analyzer robot by Trax and Fetch is scanning shelves and taking digital images that are uploaded to the Trax platform, where they are "stitched" together to form a complete picture of the aisle and measured against the pre-loaded planogram for that category. The robot also does full-store audits after big shipments arrive. But robots aren't just scanning shelves: Reis & Irvy's Froyo Robot dispenses yogurt and toppings in under 60 seconds, and accepts crypto currencies like Bitcoin. PHOTOS: SIMBE ROBOTICS 16 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com