In 2015, we launched the "Best New Snack & Bakery Products" contest to honor outstanding new snack and bakery products. After voting for the 2017 contest concluded in mid-December, TERRA Plantain chips and PowerBar Plant Protein bars emerged as clear victors.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software helps producers improve efficiency and day-to-day operations. New software can help snack and bakery companies increase their financial success, and there are a variety of ERP technologies from which to choose.
According to Maru/Matchbox, Toronto, sustainable products that were once considered premium are being pushed into the mainstream as consumers become more invested in the environmental and humanitarian implications of their food choices.
Today's snack and bakery companies need belts and conveyors that provide reliability to keep production steady, versatility to handle different types of products, sanitary design that allows easy access for efficient cleaning and maintenance, and the ability to detach and reattach them with as few tools as possible to account for issues like allergy concerns.
Greater product variety and increasing consumer attention to quality are among key factors driving snack producers and bakeries to update their inspection and detection equipment with models that, among other features, detect ever-smaller foreign objects and reduce false rejects.
More people are growing increasingly aware of the amount of sugar in their diets. The 2017 "Food & Health Survey" from the International Food Information Council found that 76 percent of respondents were trying to limit or avoid sugar.
Fresh bread, bagels and English muffins comprise the largest segment in bakery, valued at over $10 billion per IRI, Chicago. But sales overall remain relatively flat. Nevertheless, several strategic options exist for bakers to infuse new life into bread sales.
Chefs and food scientists alike are still focusing on developing the next new groundbreaking snack, but now with a back-to-basics approach focusing on whole and natural food ingredients to meet consumer demands.
In 1986, a major branded cookie and cracker company attempted to capture the expertise of the master bakers who would soon be retiring. The hope was to capture and catalogue the vast baking knowledge they had accumulated over the years with some method of artificial intelligence.
The desire for safe, healthy food isn't necessarily new, but it has been picking up steam ... big time. While the FDA may not have a definition for what exactly counts as a "clean label," consumers are asking to buy them. As bakers, we need to simplify our formulas with natural solutions.