AbstractThe food industry is the fourth largest industrial sector in Germany. The eagerness for innovation is classified as low. The food industry faces significantly larger challenges compared to the chemical industry since the demands of raw materials on processing are higher and more complex. In this contribution, the characteristics of food manufacturing are presented. The potential of optical process analyzers based on NIR, fluorescence, and Raman spectroscopy as well as on digital image analysis is demonstrated. These process analyzers can provide important information on raw materials, intermediate and end products, and improve the automation grade of production processes.