The Biscuit & Cracker Manufacturers’ Association will hold its B&CMA Annual Technical Conference May 1–4 at the Grand Hyatt Buckhead in Atlanta. The conference is highly regarded among cookie and cracker industry leaders and professionals for its educational program and member networking.

This year’s education sessions lineup includes:

• “Biscuit Ingredient Formulation” by Lynn Hanes, Mondelez International
• “Clean Label-Ingredient Process” by Deepti Dabas, Kalsec Inc.
• “How to Get the Most from Your Ovens” by Cameron Hibiske, Kellogg Co.; Larry Scher, Mondelez International; and Richard Starke, Reading Bakery Systems
• “Collaborative Robotics” by Ben Sagan, Mitsubishi Electric Automation
• “The Future of Capping” by Sander Teeuwen, Houdijk, Holland
• “Sensory Application” by Rose Potts, Blommer Chocolate
• “Sensory Application—Real World & Technical” by Curtis Beelman, Oak State Products
• “Gluten-Free Ingredients” by Dilek Uzunalioglu, Ingredion Inc.
• “Gluten-Free Process” by Elisabeth Allwein, Cheryl’s Cookies
• “Worldwide Trends on Fats and Oils” by Mark Starzro, Bunge Oils
• “Trans Fat Replacement” by Harold Kazier, IOI Loders Croklaan

New to this year’s conference is the Biscuit Hands-On Training Workshop, where attendees can either observe or participate by mixing doughs with differing ingredients to learn firsthand the effects on the final product and to improve their troubleshooting skills in the production environment. The work is related to formulas and projects from the Cookie & Cracker Manufacturing Course.