August 08, 2025

How Digitalization Impacts Sustainability

This article explains the importance of moving beyond digitization to digitalization and emphasizes that sustainability goals must be built into operational goals.

Ziynet Boz

Food Technology Magazine

Terminology

Understand the distinction between digitization and digitalization.
Digital Technologies

Identify how digital technologies—such as IoT, ERP systems, and digital twins—enhance sustainability through improved data collection, analysis, and decision-making.
Value-Led Sustainability

Recognize that leading with operational and economic value creates the foundation for long-term sustainability gains.

Food systems face increasing pressure to reduce waste, decarbonize, and operate more transparently while remaining profitable in supplying safe foods amid economic uncertainties and supply chain disruptions. Digital technologies promise to fill critical gaps in the food industry. Whether the costs are justifiable, they are here to stay. As new demands intersect with legacy infrastructure, the industry is being pushed to rethink how information flows and decisions are made. This shift begins with understanding the difference between simply digitizing data and fully digitalizing operations.

Digitizing involves converting analog formats, such as inventory, which has long been the standard in …

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Authors

Ziynet Boz Assistant Professor

Ziynet Boz, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida (ziynetboz@ufl.edu).