In India, the fast-paced lifestyle of the growing middle-class has resulted in a drastic change in the eating habits of the urban population. ‘Ready-to-eat’ food products have become almost the staple diet of a majority of India’s urban population due to their ready availability, taste, appeal, and convenience. In this context, the growth of the Indian bakery industry and its allied sectors in the past few years is nothing short of revolutionary. According to a report by the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Flour Milling Baking & Confectionery Technology Department, the per capita consumption of biscuits in India is over 2 kg per annum, and is catching up fast with the per capita consumption in the developed countries. The demand for biscuits in India has already exceeded four million tonne.

The Market Structure
Currently, the bakery industry is the largest and cheapest among the processed ready-to-eat food industries in the country. Bread and biscuits alone account for around 82 per cent of bakery products. The industry comprises both the organised and unorganised sectors. The organised sector consists of both big players and SMEs, manufacturing around 20 per cent of bakery products, while the unorganised sector consists of small units which largely manufacture unbranded bakery products (around 80 per cent of the total volume of bakery goods) and sell them unpackaged.

In 2009, the total annual production of bakery products in India—bread, biscuits, pastries, cakes, buns, and rusks—exceeded 4 million tonne. The report by CFTRI further reveals that the cake and pastry market in India produces over 0.4 million tonne of products, and is expected to grow at an annual rate of 16 per cent in terms of volume. In contrast, the bread market is estimated to grow at an annual rate of around 7 per cent in terms of volume, while the biscuits market has achieved the annual growth rate of 8–10 per cent in terms of volume. According to the report, more niche product categories such as cream biscuits are expected to grow at an annual rate of 20 per cent.

The Current Scenario
Bakery products have gained immense popularity in India and other parts of the developed world. This is especially true in the case of snacks like biscuits which are easily available, cheap, and high in calories and nutrients such as protein, iron, calcium and other vitamins. Moreover, the packaging material used to wrap biscuits gives them a longer shelf life, which has made them popular over perishable food items.

Along with the growing popularity of bakery products in India, the demand for hygiene and wholesome nutrition has also increased due to growing health awareness. According to Dr KK Desai, MD, Aditya Health Food, “In recent times, while popularity of ready-to-eat bakery goods has greatly increased in urban India, the awareness of aspects such as hygiene and nutritional content has also gone up.”

Thus, domestic bakers need to adopt more advanced technologies, equipment and baking processes to enhance the quality, nutritional value and hygiene of their products along with achieving fuel efficiency and reducing waste during production. Despite the growing customer demands for quality and hygiene, the industry in India lags in terms of technological expertise and knowledge to fulfil the requirements. This is because a huge percentage of the industry consists of small unorganised players with poor knowledge of baking processes, and minimal fulfilment of the sanitary and hygiene requirements of the industry. “Small players account for the majority of the unorganised bakery industry in India. These players lack the technological capabilities and process knowhow that is essential to manufacture good-quality and safe bakery goods,” says G Singh, MD, Bonn Food Industries.

Also, special emphasis needs to be made upon the quality and consistency of ingredients used to prepare bakery products. In this concern, it is essential to understand the basic processes associated with bakery industry along with understanding the need and ways of maintaining hygiene and proper sanitary conditions at a bakery.

Technological Innovation
In recent times, several technological innovations have been introduced especially to fulfil the needs of the bakery industry. A few of these baking equipment and processes are discussed below.



Robotic Pastry Packaging
Robotics has now been redesigned especially to perform the intricate operations required by the bakery industry. Nowadays, robots are being used to perform operations such as picking and placement of pastries on trays, as well as quality analysis. Due to the soft texture of pastries and the significance of dimensional uniformity, the operation needs extreme care in terms of the accuracy and pressure exerted during lifting and placing pastries. According to PL Kaul, MD, Mariental India, a food processing company, “Due to the specific needs of the bakery industry in terms of precision and process control, cutting-edge technologies like robotics are being tried and implemented in bakeries, though the application in the industry has yet to be realised on a large scale.”

A case which exemplifies the application of robots to perform intricate bakery operations is that of Forno Bonomi, a world-renowned bakery. The bakery chose ABB’s IRB 340 series Flexpicker robots to pick up éclairs from the conveyor belt after baking and place them on plastic trays in triple layers. The robotics system performed the task with high level of accuracy and extreme care in terms of the pressure applied, which helped minimise wastages due to crumbling and breaking of pieces. The bakery also implemented ABB’s specialised vision system to perform first-level dimensional control to ensure proper inspection. The robotic systems and the vision system optimised the use of space, improved the degree of process hygiene, enhanced the level of flexibility, and ensured foolproof inspection of goods.

Automated Cake Icing
In recent times, consumers’ demands from the bakery market have not only grown in terms of volume but have also diversified greatly in terms of parameters such as package size, design, presentation of the product and customisability. Moreover, the serving time has also shrunk, while the quality expectations have grown multi-fold. For example, nowadays, bakeries are offering a wide variety of cakes with an increasing use of ingredients such as chocolate and fruit garnishes. Along with the variety of toppings, fillings and layers are also in great demand for icing and cake decoration  which seems to be growing more diverse and challenging every day. Consumers have become quite specific in terms of the variety of fillings, layers, types of toppings, etc. Considering this trend, the role of automation in the bakery industry has gained considerable weightage in the last few years.

To deal with these requirements, automated cake icing is a cutting-edge technology for the bakery industry. The echnology employs a digitally-controled piston depositor that ices cakes with very high levels of accuracy and consistency. The technology allows bakers to adjust the level and type of icing according to preloaded parameters that can be remotely fed to the piston with a workstation connected through a network or a machine control panel. A relevant example in the category is that of the Multi-depositor Satellite, a volumetric piston depositor by Bacon, which can be used to automatically control a range of cake icing parameters—the thickness, the amount of icing, the ingredients, etc. For this, the operator needs to adjust variables such as depositor height, amount of icing, and the speed of piston, rotation table and suction.



IT-based Flexible Manufacturing
In the last few years, the nature of the food market, in general, has become more dynamic. The bakery industry in India is facing several challenges due to dynamic market conditions, the entry of global players, changes in business models, and ever-changing customer demands. “The shift in traditional eating habits and growing health awareness, along with the need for cost optimisation, process flexibility, and stringent quality and food safety regulations have brought in a new set of challenges for the industry,” says Dr Desai.

The need of the hour is to monitor and manage performance on real-time basis, to gain the flexibility to cope with market conditions and serve customers better. In recent times, special-purpose software packages—manufacturing execution systems (MES)—have been developed for the bakery industry. A recent example in the category is SIMATIC IT by Siemens, which enables customers to standardise processes at the corporate level, thus helping customers achieve operational flexibility. The software package has a modular, object-oriented, open and scalable architecture, which offers a high level of customisability to suit individual needs. Moreover, the package, being an integral part of Siemens’ Totally Integrated Automation (TIA), satisfies a wide range of automation needs. It can also provide integration of control level and the production execution level with other automation components in bakeries.

Infrared Burner
An infrared burner is an energy-efficient, hygienic technology, which can be used for drying and baking applications in the industry. The device uses 30 per cent less fuel as compared to conventional ovens and releases minimal emissions. This is because the infrared rays from the burner do not face interference air and thus, around 70 per cent of the gas can be used for baking. The device helps in maintaining hygiene it operates without causing dust in the unventilated room. Typical applications of the device include processing of sea moss, dry meat, and dried agricultural products. At present, when import duties on machines have been relieved to a great extent, it is the right time for the Indian bakery industry to upgrade itself and acquire global competence.

Bakery Sanitation and Hygiene
Due to the perishable nature of ingredients used in bakeries and the complex variety of bakery operations, where human contact with edibles is frequent, maintaining sanitation and hygiene is of great importance. Thus, bakers need to emphasise efficient housekeeping and maintain global standards of hygiene to ensure cleanliness. In recent times, the government has imposed strict regulations outlining the hygiene and sanitation parameters for the industry, along with standardising the storage practices for bakery ingredients. “Looking at the growing competition in the industry, the increasing consumer awareness of health and strict governing regulations, bakers are highly recommended to invest in acquiring food safety equipment and following hygienic processes,” says Mr Singh. For this, Good Manufacturing Principles (GMPS), Good Hygiene Practices (GHP), and certifications like Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) can also be acquired to achieve the targeted level of hygiene and food safety in bakeries. A few of the areas that have been identified as a key concern for food safety and hygiene in the bakery industry are discussed below.

Pest Control
The warehousing and manufacturing facilities for storing and producing raw materials and baked goods are highly conducive to the growth of pests and insects. Thus, it is important to keep a tab on the overall cleanliness of such facilities. This can be achieved by enrolling for pest control programmes regularly and using air curtains, PVC curtains and insecticutors. Also, the raw materials, ingredients and other end products should be stored in cold and dry storage areas with continuous monitoring. Bakery products and ingredients should be kept on plastic pallets and a distance should be maintained between the stored goods and the walls to prevent spoilage due to humidity.

Personnel Hygiene
The bakery industry involves frequent direct contact between workers and bakery ingredients, which might result in contamination of the products. Thus, maintaining personnel hygiene at baking facilities is very important. This will eliminate the risks of the spread of diseases or contamination of ingredients and bakery products. For this, it should be mandatory for employees to wear protective clothing whenever inside the processing facility. Visitors to the factory should also be made to follow the same practice. Workers should be prohibited from wearing jewellery or accessories inside the facility and while working. They should be encouraged to use disinfectants to wash their hands, as well as to ensure thorough cleaning of work surfaces.

Regular Medical Check-Ups
Regular check-ups are an important practice to eliminate the risk of spreading contagious diseases. Employees posted in a bakery processing facility should regularly undergo check-ups and medical records should be maintained.

Factory Sanitation
Along with the medical fitness of employees, it is equally important to maintain cleanliness within the processing facility. Nowadays, automated floor sweeping machines can be used to clean the floor area thoroughly. Other innovative cleaning equipment for bakeries includes manual push-and-pull and drivermounted floor washers. Chemical disinfectants can also be used to flush out pests and kill microbes. A dedicated drainage system can also be constructed to flush out wastewater into a collection pit. Solid waste should be collected in separate garbage bins with lids to prevent the spread of disease-causing agents.

Intrusion Detection
Intrusion in the context of bakery operations may refer to metals or glass in bakery ingredients, particulates in water or any other type of contamination due to foreign particles. Metallic intrusion can be checked with the help of magnets in the case of iron or sieves and metal detectors for other types of metallic intruders. To ensure the purity of water used in bakery operations, it is necessary to install high-quality reverse osmosis filters and clean the storage tanks regularly. To eliminate the dangers of glass intrusion in bakery products, it is highly recommended that bakers use safebreak glasses for windows, tube lights, clocks and other such fixtures.

Equipment Material and Building Design
It is mandatory for bakers to use only certified bakery equipment and machinery made from food-grade stainless steel 316, which is perfect for the needs of the food industry and does not corrode. The facility building, in turn, should have crack-proof walls and a tiled floor, and the windows and other openings should be resistant to the entry of pests, rodents and other foreign agents.

India on the Growth Path
It is highly recommended that Indian bakers upgrade the technology they use and enhance their knowledge to keep up with the competition. Issues such as hygiene and safety of bakery goods are of utmost importance due to growing consumer awareness. To stay in the game, it is imperative for Indian bakers to ensure maximum hygiene at their processing facilities by observing GHP and GMPS, upgrading their technology and maintaining world-class hygiene standards. These are the first steps towards acquiring global competence.