News & Analysis on Chocolate, Candy and Cocoa
WCF PM 2024
At the end of 2023, Colombian sustainable brand Chocolate Cordillera announced that 106 female cocoa farmers from Urabá Antioquia had completed the first module of its ATENEA sustainability program, giving some the confidence to become fully independent...
As an early adopter of the “triple bottom line” framework, the premium confection company Endangered Species Chocolate has been “doing well by doing good” for 30 years by responsibly sourcing ingredients, supporting fair trade, prioritizing...
Regulations
As many know, the cocoa industry is sometimes opaque and complex. Still, confessed chocolate-lover Jon Trask, who is also CEO of Dimitra, says his company's recently developed Blockchain Deforestation Platform could provide a solution to help farmers...
Podcast
Fine Chocolate Industry Association (FCIA) has launched a new membership drive with special incentives as it seeks to attract more craft chocolate companies and grow its impact.
Podcast
A recent article in National Geographic described York as ‘England’s chocolate capital’. The city was home to two major confectionery companies, Terry’s founded in 1767 and Rowntree’s in 1862, the inventor of KitKat, which is still produced today at the...
Podcast
As VP of Corporate Communications at Barry Callebaut Group, Christiaan Prins was at the forefront of many of the recent sustainability challenges in the cocoa sector. He has now established a new strategic communications consultancy, theLOOP...
Despite high inflation, the majority of consumers are happy to pay more for products with a sustainable backstory. So there’s money to be made from environmental credentials, which makes falling into the greenwashing trap a bigger temptation than ever...
Soaring energy and ingredient prices, the cost of living crisis, labour shortages and the UK Government’s HFSS regulations - the craft bakery sector has been bombarded with one challenge after another. However, Karen Dear, recently appointed CEO of the...
ISM 2023
Premium sustainability chocolate brand MIA (Made in Africa) has carved out a unique reputation for itself since launching several years ago in Madagascar, crafting bean-to-bar products in cocoa-growing communities.
SOTIC 2023
In closing this year’s NCA State of the Industry Conference in Miami, John Downs, the association’s President and CEO, said one of the ‘Strategic Bets’ for the next 12 months is to address the largest Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues...
Podcast
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between ‘CACAO’ and ‘COCOA’? So do we! For consistency, ConfectioneryNews’s editorial guide uses the word 'COCOA', except when quoting other sources, but it can get a little confusing ...
Is sustainability under threat?
Cargill’s commitment to cocoa sustainability stretches back to 2000, when it began offering seminars to cocoa farmers. Kate Clancy has been with Cargill and working in sustainability since 2011, taking up her recent position of Group Sustainability...
Podcast
‘No one is doing what they should be doing: Both industry and governments will need to significantly change their business as usual. Let us be very clear; not a single stakeholder group is currently doing what they should be doing to ensure farmers...
Podcast
Magnum’s broader female empowerment programme has got off to a fantastic start following the graduation of the first 198 women. Megan Willis, Head of Sustainable Sourcing at Unilever, Magnum’s owner, gives ConfectioneryNews an update in an exclusive...
Regulation
The International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) 2021 annual report is the first in the organisation's new five-year strategy with the overarching aim to cover 100% of the cocoa supply chain in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana with systems that prevent and address child...
Podcast
Tessa Porter is the founder of Sprinkk, a candy development and manufacturing company based in Omaha, Nebraska. She is also a ‘candy scientist’ and has a Masters in food science focusing on sugar crystallization from the University of Wisconsin-Madison...
EU legislation on acrylamide is set to be renewed next year, meaning its crunch time for a number of manufacturers who are still producing biscuits and cookies with acrylamide levels above the 350 ppb benchmark level (BML).
As Americans continue to adjust to post-pandemic life and mounting economic uncertainty, consumer research from Mintel shows that many believe there is no going ‘back to normal’ and as such are changing the way they think about, budget and shop for, and...
Colour trends special 2022
Based on the concept of ‘colouring food with food’, GNT’s EXBERRY Organics are created from edible fruit, vegetables, and plants using traditional physical processing methods - and are bang on trend.
Sweets & Snacks Expo 2022
The brand celebrated its entry into the US market with a successful showing at the Sweets & Snacks Expo 2022 in Chicago. We talk to Eliza G Jahn, Head of Marketing at Katjes USA, to pick over some of the highlights of the event.
Sweets & Snacks Expo 2022 - Trends
Barry Callebaut’s The Future of Indulgence Report 2022 was previewed at the Group’s booth during the Sweets & Snacks Expo 2022 in Chicago before publication this month. Bas Smit, Global VP of Marketing at Barry Callebaut talks us through some of its main...
Podcast
The company has published its ‘Chocolate Foodprint’ for 2021-22, which leads the way for artisan brands in transparency and regeneration in the cocoa sector. We talk to Philipp Kauffmann, the company’s founder.
Podcast
MIA, short for Made in Africa, is branching out from its base in Madagascar to work with cocoa farmers in West Africa. Co-founder Brett Beach tells ConfectioneryNews the reasons behind the move – and also provides an update on the situation on the island...
Podcast special
The recent global weather events has highlighted the real threat of climate change. In a special podcast Michael Gidney, CEO of the Fairtrade Foundation, tells consumers about the impact of the climate crisis on its network of farmers and what they can...
Podcast
Belinda Borck, Impact Editor at Tony's Chocolonely, talks to CN on the company’s latest impact report and why it is not driven by profit but by creating a fair price for the cocoa farmer and a transparent supply chain.
Podcast
Nurtac Afridi talks to CN about the steps she has taken to transform GODIVA’s business during her first year as CEO.
free-from
Scientists at Puratos claim to have made a breakthrough with a patent-pending ‘milk-alike plant-based chocolate,’ which has received praise from industry experts and consumers.
Plant-based special edition
Dream Pops a fast-growing plant-based ice cream and frozen novelty brands in North America, is setting its sites on moving into the confectionery aisle in 2022, competing with giants such as Hershey, Mars, and Ferrero.
Spotlight on cocoa Asia - podcast
Alvin Lee was appointed chairman of the Cocoa Association of Asia (CAA) at the beginning of 2021 for a two-year term. He is also Cargill’s Cocoa & Chocolate’s Commercial Director for Asia-Pacific, and in our podcast interview, he gives listeners a...
The UK Government has introduced new rules for high fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) products that – when implemented in October next year – will affect the advertising of HFSS brands, volume promotions and the display of HFSS products instore.
Podcast
Barry Callebaut’s latest innovation, ‘Elix’, is made from 100% pure cacaofruit and is described by the Group as the ‘first nutraceutical fruit drink’ with proven health benefits.
PODCAST
Earlier this year, The International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) launched a new study to analyse data from various stakeholders’ Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation Systems (CLMRS), with the aim of guiding improvements in their effectiveness at...
Single origin special edition podcast
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, there is a growing demand for consumers to know where the ingredients in the products they purchase come from, says Philippe Bernay, Commercial Marketing Lead EMEA, Cargill Cocoa.
More than 450 exhibitors and 8,000 attendees traveled to the Sweets & Snacks Expo in Indianapolis last week for one of the first in-person food and beverage tradeshows since the coronavirus outbreak in early 2020 to showcase two years of product...
Ruby chocolate
In our latest podcast interview, we talked to Freek van der Knaap, Van Houten’s Vice-President Vending & Beverages EMEA, about the launch of ruby as a chocolate drink powder, which is aimed at professionals working in the catering and confectionery industry.
podcast
Nate Saal is founder of CocoTerra, an all-in-one tabletop chocolate making machine that can produce real chocolate in the home, from conching to cooling in two hours, with the help of digital recipes and a guidance app. With the company now taking...
Podcast
Ethan Budiansky, the World Cocoa Foundation’s Director of Environment, shares some of the findings from the CFI’s latest reports and explains why ‘getting more trees in the ground’ is important.
Podcast
In its latest Cocoa & Forests Initiative (CFI) Annual Report, Mondelēz International said it has distributed 712,771 trees across Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire in the from October 2019 to September 2020, with a total of 975,848 trees planted as part of its CFI...
Podcast
Paul Chibe, President and CEO of Ferrero North America, is the new Chairman of the National Confectioners Association Board of Trustees for a two-year term. In an exclusive ConfectioneryNews podcast, Chibe talks about his 30 years of experience within...
Chocoa21
Ahead of his presentation at Chocoa21, Leopold Palmer from Twenty Degrees gives us the background story of Olam Cocoa’s new speciality cacao business.
Podcast
UPL, a global leader in sustainable agriculture products and solutions, announced it has joined the European Cocoa Association (ECA) as an associate member. We talk to Florent Clair, UPL’s Sustainability Co-Ordinator, about the company's long history in...
Podcast
With Veganuary in full swing and more popular than ever, Paul Morris, Luker Chocolate’s UK sales manager, chats to ConfectioneryNews about the 123-year-old family run company and its single origin Cacao Fino de Aroma.
Q&A
A wide-ranging career in the food service industry has more than adequately prepared Tracey Hughes for her current role as managing director of UK ingredients distributor Henley Bridge. In our latest podcast, she talks about the business challenges...
Podcast
Olam International’s vice president and global head of environment has called for more support from the financial sector to help change the sustainability landscape in the cocoa supply chain.
Q&A podcast
Interview: Carol Oldbury, managing director, Hames Chocolates.
Podcast
“The chocolate industry is broken on two levels,” claims Tim McCollum, founder and CEO of Beyond Good chocolate, in CN’s latest podcast with influential players in the cocoa sector.
Cargill has reported it has made significant progress in achieving sustainable impact on land use, climate, water, farmer prosperity and human rights in the run up to the UN’s 2030 target.
The food industry is under massive pressure to reformulate products with less sugar. And in light of the voluntary target in the UK for manufacturers to meet a 20% cut in sugar by 2020 unlikely to be met, campaigners are increasingly demanding that...
Q&A
COCO - The Art of Chocolate is an artisan chocolatier based in Edinburgh, Scotland, that places its emphasis not only on ethically sourced cocoa and fine couverture, but also the meticulous designs on its wrappers.
Sustainability
Jeff King, Hershey’s senior director of global sustainability and social impact, is the person responsible for the company’s Cocoa For Good sustainability program, which has committed to 100% direct-sourced cocoa in West Africa by 2025. He talks to...