# Meat 4.0: Principles and Applications of Industry 4.0 Technologies in the Meat Industry
## 1 Introduction  
The world population is increasing rapidly and it is expected to hit approximately 10 billion people by the year 2050. Ensuring enough, safe, and sustainable food for all of these people remains one of the key future challenges facing humanity, especially in the current scenario of resource depletion, pandemics, and climate change [1, 2, 3]. Meat production and consumption have increased over the past five decades and it is expected that the meat production will continue increasing in order to meet the growing demand for animal proteins [4, 5]. However, due to their high perishability, various preservation and processing methods have been traditionally applied to meat and meat products to maintainhigh quality and extend their shelf life [6; 7]. On the other hand, a wide range of analytical methods has been investigated over the years to characterize meat and meat products in terms of quality, safety, and authenticity. Yet, many of the conventional preservation, processing, and analytical methods are unable to cope with the well-known challenges (e.g., short shelf life and large heterogeneity) faced by the meat industry, making it difficult to preserve, process, and analyse these products [8; 9; 10; 11; 12]. In recent years, new innovations and the development of a new wave of advanced technologies have revolutionized food systems and the food industry [13; 14; 15]. These advancements have been accelerated by the advent of many emerging technologies under the context of the fourth industrial revolution (called Industry 4.0 or IR 4.0), which has digitally transformed many food manufacturing sectors, including the meat industry. Indeed, as other industries, the meat industry has experienced a significant transformation during the ongoing industrial revolution [5; 16]. Before Industry 4.0, three industrial revolutions took place, allowing significant improvements and technological advances to be implemented in various agricultural and industrial sectors. The first industrial revolution (IR 1.0) occurred in the late eighteenth century, and was characterized by the transition from manual to mechanized work and production, which were powered by steam. The second one (IR 2.0) dates back to the late nineteenth century, and was marked by the first use of electrical power to create mass production. The third industrial revolution (IR 3.0) began in the early 1970s with the arrival of electronics and information technology, leading to automated production [17; 18; 19]. Industry 4.0 has become an interdisciplinary topic, involving a set of knowledge and technologies related to physical, digital, and biological domains [20; 21; 22]. Although no general agreement exists in the literature on the Industry 4.0 enablers, the most reported technologies in the food industry are Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data (BD), robotics, smart sensors, the Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality, cybersecurity, and blockchain [14; 23; 24]. The interest in Industry 4.0 has gained momentum recently, especially after 2015, which has been reflected by the increased number of publications (and the corresponding citations) dealing with this topic, as can be noticed from Figure 1.  
This increased interest in Industry 4.0 can be explained by its ability to digitalize the food industry by using smart interconnected technologies and web-based platforms [14]. Figure 1: Number of publications and citations per year (search query was performed on 18 May 2022) on application of Industry 4.0 in the food industry over the last decade. The following keyword search query was used in Scopus: TITLE-ABS-KEY (Fourth industrial revolution) OR (Industry 4.0) AND (Food industry). Several publications have indicated that Industry 4.0 and its technologies have the potential to promote more automation and digitalization, leading to the concept of a smart factory, with improved efficiency, higher food quality, reduced food loss, and reduced production cost and time [5; 25].