Breaking News on Confectionery & Biscuit Processing

The Topic: Bread, baked goods and breakfast cereals are increasingly stepping into the functional food arena, with consumers increasing leaning towards more nutritious products even in the staple food categories. Indeed, bakery and cereals account for almost 23 per cent of the global functional foods market with sales worth $5.5bn between 2006 and 2010, notes market analyst Leatherhead. Ingredients incorporated into bread and breakfast cereals in the past few years include omega-3, plant sterols, oat bran, vitamins, antioxidants and superfruits. We ask what are the opportunities for future innovation in staple food fortification.

The Topic: Lowering sodium content in bread brings with it significant technological challenges for the industry as sodium plays a major role in dough formation, fermentation rate, flavour and eating properties of bread. Several strategies have been tried and tested by industry such as a gradual salt reduction over longer time periods or replacement of sodium by blends of other ions. However, maintaining the sensory profile of bread while using these methods has not proved easy. Bread makers, under pressure to meet government salt reduction targets, are contributing to on-going research to establish new approaches to cut sodium content in bread that can deliver on flavour and texture.We ask how effective new sodium reduction techniques such as taste-taste interactions or multisensory interactions are and look at emerging approaches to amplify taste perception. We also look at consumer reaction to sodium reduced bread. 

The Topic: Attracted by its natural, low calorie profile, food manufacturers across the industry are turning to stevia but it is the market for snacks and non-alcoholic drinks that is leading the way. Mintel data shows that snacks made up 38.5% of new stevia-sweetened products between 2005 and 2009. But the sweetener is not without its drawbacks – namely a bitter aftertaste and a high price tag.We ask if the market is ready to embrace stevia in baked goods such as cookies and bread.

From Tuesday, 27th to Friday, 30th March 2012 the international food technology sector will once again meet at Anuga FoodTec in Cologne. Anuga FoodTec offers the international food business an information and purchasing platform that covers the entire spectrum of technology and investment requirements for production in all segments of the food industry. With almost 1,300 exhibitors from 35 countries, Anuga FoodTec will be setting a new record turnout. Anuga FoodTec is jointly organized by Koelnmesse GmbH and the German Agricultural Society (DLG).