Food Exec Brief: Strategic Partnerships, Vision Systems, and Clean Label Transformation

Welcome to this week’s Food Exec Brief, a roundup of the most important news shaping food and beverage manufacturing, from supply chain innovation and operational technology to consumer health initiatives and strategic industry alliances.

Key takeaways:

• 🤝 Pre-competitive collaboration: Mars, PepsiCo, and ADM’s Poland regenerative agriculture program demonstrates how industry giants can unite on shared crop rotations, covering 5,454 hectares to drive sustainable practices while maintaining competitive advantage through differentiated sourcing strategies that benefit both farmers and supply chain resilience.
• 🔍 Vision technology breakthrough: Automated vision systems are achieving 97.88% efficiency rates in detecting post-process contamination in canned goods, addressing critical labor shortages while ensuring FSMA compliance as manufacturers face an industry where 83% of consumers read labels and 82% demand transparency about processing.
• 🧪 Clean label acceleration: Tyson Foods’ voluntary removal of HFCS, sucralose, BHA/BHT, and titanium dioxide from all branded products by year-end signals a strategic pivot as packaged food companies face declining shareholder returns and must reinvent their core offerings to capture health-conscious consumer spending.
• ⚙️ Digital integration urgency: The disconnect between executive strategy and shop floor execution has become a competitive risk, with manufacturers requiring real-time ERP systems, advanced scheduling, and connected workforce tools to handle volatile demand signals and regulatory requirements like FSMA 204’s traceability mandates.

🤝 Pre-competitive collaboration drives regenerative agriculture scale

Industry leaders demonstrate how shared crop rotations can advance sustainability goals while maintaining competitive differentiation through strategic sourcing partnerships.

Major brands unite on landscape-level approach

• Mars, PepsiCo, and ADM launched a regenerative agriculture program supporting 24 farmers across 5,454 hectares in Poland.
• Mars supports regenerative wheat across 3,359 hectares for pet care brands such as WHISKAS® and PEDIGREE®, and PepsiCo advances sustainable rapeseed cultivation across 2,160 hectares for some of its iconic brands such as Lay’s and Doritos.
• ADM provides financial and technical resources as implementation partner, moving beyond single-crop efforts to holistic, farm-wide approaches.

Pre-competitive model scales sustainable practices

• PepsiCo and Mars will work with some of the same farmers to integrate regenerative practices into rotational agriculture — a farming approach that systematically alternates different crops, such as cereals, legumes and cover crop blends, on the same land each season to help naturally replenish nutrients, break pest and disease cycles, and improve soil structure.
• Farmers receive financial incentives based on practices implemented, including conservation tillage and cover cropping.
• ADM engaged more than 5 million acres in 2024, surpassing its 2024 goal of 3.5 million acres, and achieving its 2025 goal a year early.

Why it matters

This partnership model proves competitors can collaborate on foundational sustainability challenges while maintaining differentiation through brand-specific sourcing strategies. The shared data and learnings create scalable frameworks for industry-wide transformation.

🔍 Automated vision systems revolutionize contamination detection

Food manufacturers deploy AI-powered inspection technologies to address labor shortages and ensure post-process safety compliance in increasingly complex packaging environments.

Vision technology achieves breakthrough accuracy rates

• Automated vision systems prevent post-process contamination by looking for foreign objects — such as metals and biological materials — broken seals and incorrect labeling. The advanced cameras and machine learning algorithms capture images and insights about the product size, shape, and characteristics, ensuring the precision of all information and packaging. In one study, the system’s detection capabilities achieved 97.88% and 88.75% efficiency and accuracy, respectively.
• Systems integrate RFID-enabled tracking and digitally integrated human-machine interfaces for comprehensive compliance documentation.

Labor shortage pressures accelerate adoption

• 61% of food manufacturers cite labor shortages and turnover as pressing challenges affecting sanitation processes.
• 83% of American consumers read food labels, while 82% want more in-depth processing information, driving demand for transparent inspection capabilities.
• The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and critical Food and Drug Administration guidelines are key drivers for adopting automated vision systems in canned goods manufacturing.

ROI justifies rapid deployment

Why it matters

Vision systems address two critical challenges simultaneously: workforce reliability and regulatory compliance. As packaging formats diversify, automated inspection becomes essential for maintaining quality standards while reducing human error risks.

🧪 Clean label transformation accelerates across major brands

Tyson Foods’ voluntary ingredient removal signals broader industry shift as packaged food companies race to reinvent core products amid declining shareholder returns and health-conscious consumer demands.

Major ingredient overhaul drives portfolio transformation

• Tyson Foods says it will stop using high fructose corn syrup, sucralose, BHA/BHT and titanium dioxide in its branded products in the U.S. by the end of 2025. Those brands include Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Wright, State Fair, Aidells, ibp and others.
• Earlier this year, Tyson removed petroleum-based synthetic dyes from its domestic branded products. The company noted that the ingredients being removed are approved and safe to use by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
• The move aligns with “Make America Healthy Again” Commission recommendations targeting ultra-processed ingredients.

Industry performance pressures demand innovation

• A decade ago, packaged food companies delivered a 15% total shareholder return; today, it’s just 2.9%, the lowest for a major sector.
• 65% of consumers in the US and Europe believe that ultra-processed foods are unhealthy. In lieu of ultra-processed foods and unhealthy options with high sugar, fat, and salt content, consumers are buying more natural foods.
• 70% of food companies’ R&D spending focuses on brand extensions rather than breakthrough innovation.

Why it matters

Clean label initiatives represent strategic necessity, not just consumer preference. Companies that reinvent core categories while maintaining taste and convenience can reverse declining performance and capture health-conscious spending growth.

⚙️ Digital integration closes strategic execution gaps

Manufacturing leaders must bridge top-floor strategy with shop-floor execution as real-time operational alignment becomes critical for handling volatility and regulatory compliance.

Real-time alignment drives competitive advantage

• Today, volatility and change are the only constants. Demand signals change in hours. Ingredients are late due to geopolitical tensions or extreme weather. A single shipment delay can break retail commitments. Compliance mandates like FSMA 204 don’t just request traceability, they require real-time precision.
• Connected ecosystems integrate ERP, supply chain planning, advanced scheduling, workforce tools, supplier collaboration, quality management, and trade compliance.

System disconnection creates operational risks

• A plant running yesterday’s schedule because demand forecasts didn’t update fast enough. Inventory sitting idle while other lines run short because the planning system isn’t dynamically linked to real-time production. Quality issues repeating across multiple shifts because frontline workers don’t have access to digital instructions or immediate feedback loops.

Connected operations unlock agility and profitability

• When your systems are aligned: Forecasts are executed immediately on the floor. Late shipments trigger re-plans automatically, not chaos. Quality issues are caught early and resolved at the source. Workers are engaged, productive and proactive. Suppliers are partners, not pain points.

Why it matters

The “top floor to shop floor” disconnect has evolved from inefficiency to competitive risk. Manufacturers that achieve real-time strategic alignment gain the agility needed to handle constant volatility while meeting escalating compliance demands.

The Food Exec Brief provides weekly insights for food and beverage manufacturing leaders and publishes every Friday. Want to get essential food industry news delivered to your inbox? Sign up for our weekly and daily newsletters.