Ingredients R&D

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It can be rather tough for sweet goods products these days. The huge movement to better-for-you items hasn’t exactly been good news and a smooth fairway for this category. But bakers and manufacturers of sweet goods, snack cakes and other delectable treats are watching the demands just as closely as producers in other bakery market segments, and heeding the calls.

All-natural, zero-calorie sweeteners are being hailed as ‘Holy Grails of the food industry’ and ingredients that could fight obesity, says a report by market research group Euromonitor.

As consumers’ interest in healthy eating continues to grow, so does their search for flavorful, prepared foods—including baked goods and snacks—with fewer calories and less salt, processed sugar and artificial ingredients. Products made with nutritious ingredients that have been around forever, such as fruit, nuts and chocolate, are more likely to find their way into the shopping carts of these concerned consumers.

Germany’s Mühlenchemie GmbH says it has developed a new enzyme preparation that can extend the shelf-life of industrially produced bread by up to 15 days.

The board’s annual America’s Best Raisin Bread Contest recognizes and rewards professional and student bakers' creativity.

PhotoFrost launches Cut-N-Frost Sheets, edible icing sheets made from specially blended frosting that can be used to create borders, patterns and other cake decorations.

A new partnership between Viachem and AkzoNobel includes sales and marketing for AkzoNobel’s Akucell line of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) food additives. The efforts target bakeries as well as other food and processed food manufacturers that use specialty ingredients and food additives in their products.

When eating a favorite snack or bakery product, few people stop and consider all of the ingredients that give these products the taste and mouthfeel they enjoy. Consumers don’t care if the layer cake on their plate is moist because it’s made with a special flour formulation or that a gum blend makes the frosting smooth.

Baked goods and snack foods made with whole grains and ancient grains, such as amaranth, oats, quinoa and spelt, used to be sold primarily in specialty natural and organic food stores, healthfood stores and in mom-and-pop stores catering to local ethnic groups. Now, products containing such grains are starting to appear more readily in bakery departments and bread aisles throughout the United States.