Process Analytical Technologies (PAT) in the Food Industry: An Agile Tool for Traceability and Sustainability

The field of Process Analytical Technology (PAT) encompasses the utilization of real-time and in-process analytical tools, the analysis and interpretation of the data, and the utilization of this data to control the process (e.g. product consistency). The PAT framework was originally derived from the pharmaceutical industry, where both product consistency and quality are of high importance, in addition to the developments in process automation. These concepts have been applied to the food manufacturing industry, enabling the integration of analytical methods and techniques closer to the production process for continuous monitoring of food safety and quality. The most common PAT tools or technologies include the implementation of mid- (MIR) and near-infrared (NIR), and Raman spectroscopy. In addition, developments in biosensors and the utilization of computer vision systems are also contributing to the implementation of PAT in the food industry. To extract and analyze the information from these tools, chemometrics and machine learning tools are required. This review provides a background of PAT, the advantages and limitations of its use, as well as a few examples of its applications in the food manufacturing industry.