One major concern dominated the conversation at a recent series of F&B industry events across Europe: the food and beverage sector spends too much important time chasing data and is starved of insights.
Delegates at an exclusive roundtable event, hosted by TraceGains and selected industry partners, spoke candidly about the problems caused by information trapped in spreadsheets, supplier emails and disconnected systems.
“European businesses are rightfully concerned this fragmentation is slowing their innovation, complicating compliance, and leaving brands dangerously exposed to regulatory and reputational risk,” said Michelle Henry, European Sales Director at TraceGains. “Too often, we were hearing of teams spending more time chasing documents than driving strategy, with as many as 80 per cent still using spreadsheets, emails and even paper documents to manage their NPD*.
“The biggest concern for the delegates we spoke with is that once they chase down the data they need, it becomes a mountain of disjointed, unstandardised data that is difficult to turn into actionable insight,” said Michelle. “With just two per cent of brands having fully digitized and automated their NPD workflows* the industry doesn’t have a creativity or sustainability problem, but a connected data problem.”
As part of a busy European events schedule that included London, Düsseldorf, Brussels and Madrid, TraceGains met F&B teams from across Europe to discuss the issues that were most affecting them today. “It soon became apparent that with digitalisation being a proven boost in terms of product development, sustainability and transparency, it is vital to connect these islands of data to form a cohesive solution,” said Michelle. “We’re out of time to wait. It’s time to lead with data — or risk falling behind.”
Michelle explained how TraceGains’ collaborative ecosystem is redefining how the industry manages and shares supplier data. Connecting more than 600,000 ingredients and over 10,000,000 documents across over 100,000 supply chain locations, it allows suppliers to upload documentation, update it centrally, and share it seamlessly with all customers. Every new entry grows a living centralised library, reducing duplication, errors and wasted time.
This unified data flows into TraceGains’ modular enterprise solution, empowering compliance, new product development, food safety, ESG and supply chain teams to work from one source – protecting against unapproved changes, accelerating product development, and enabling rapid replacement sourcing in times of disruption.
“In terms of unlocking sustainable product development through data-driven innovation, most ESG and sustainability teams are still spending more time chasing data than driving strategy,” said Michelle. “But when ESG, procurement, compliance and NPD teams all work off the same source of truth, they can easily find suppliers who actually meet compliance and sustainability targets. Instead of retrofitting, they can design products sustainably from day one, and all while accessing the data and documentation they need to keep auditors, regulators, and customers satisfied.”
Michelle said this approach was already enabling leading brands to turn fragmented efforts into measurable impact and build resilience into their supply chains for whatever challenges lay ahead. “Unfortunately, despite the urgency to modernise, we found that many teams still rely on emails, phone calls and paper records,” she added. “More than half of businesses still don’t use a Product Lifecycle Management system at all* and without change, these outdated methods continue to slow down innovation and add hidden costs and risks.
“Data often stays trapped in departmental silos, overlooked by leadership, or poorly communicated across teams. Without a cultural and strategic shift, even the best data systems struggle to drive faster, smarter decisions,” said Michelle. “AI and automation promise to transform the industry, but most organisations are still wrestling with fragmented, messy data that undercuts these efforts. And until that foundation is fixed, even the most advanced tech can’t deliver its full value.”
Many businesses are adding tools and platforms to their workflow without a unified approach, which often introduces new complexity, costs, and vulnerabilities, as well as actually slowing progress.
“Teams are under intense pressure to accelerate time to market, ensure compliance, and deliver on ambitious sustainability promises,” said Michelle. “It’s not for a lack of ideas, but is caused by a swamp of disconnected data. With PPWR demanding all packaging be recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2030 — and EUDR enforcing deforestation-free, fully traceable supply chains — missing data is no longer a shrug-and-move-on problem.
“Digitalisation through networked ecosystems like TraceGains is helping brands ditch the patchwork of spreadsheets and knee-jerk compliance scrambles,” she said. “Instead, they’re moving to an integrated, modular ecosystem that connects the entire lifecycle. With everything from COA checks and formulation data through to packaging and regulatory standards in one living digital thread, those islands of data can be connected into one coherent system.”
For more information on TraceGains or additional insights into future trends in the food and beverage industry, contact the TraceGains team today.
