People are cooking more during the Covid-19 pandemic and they become more concerned on diet quality, stay nourished and avoid deficiency with a healthy diet in a bit to cope with the coronavirus.
Akkharawit Kanjana-Opas, Vice President of National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), in charge of Food Innopolis said there will be a big change in food tech due to the Covid-19 crisis which expected to prolong to another 9-18 months. People therefore continue to work from home or learn from home.
Consumers behavior will change from ordering online “ready-to-eat” food delivery to “ready-to-cook”, also more people tend to eat a well-balanced diet as they wish to be healthier with stronger immune systems and lower risk of chronic illnesses and infectious diseases.
During the Covid-19 crisis, new generations spend longer time sheltering in places working from home and more people cook at home, they prefer to order fresh food online such as vegetable, fruit and meat for cooking popular shabu shabu or sukiyaki. It’s opportunity for food tech startups or small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to making healthy food and fresh food a priority to serve their customers.
Akkharawit said countries worldwide affected by the Covid-19 crisis will pay more attention on food supply chain and locally-produced crops, lessening dependence of import products as they have a lockdown experience during the Covid-19.
Research and development on synthetic biology will become more popular because it helps with sustainable food products in agriculture and environmental-friendly. Synthetic biology food production is a novel solution that improve agriculture productivity, food quality and production, attaining a sustainable and cost-effective practice, solving problems of limited and contaminated land and water resource without placing further burden on the environment.
