A new patent application that covers the efficient and sustainable production of sweeteners including Rebaudioside M (Reb M) using fermentation technology has been published by Evolva and Cargill.
Fire has damaged Barry Callebaut’s chocolate processing at Banbury in Oxfordshire, but the company has reassured customers that it could maintain normal levels of service by drawing on other facilities.
The biggest players in the industry are already exploring ways to reduce bitterness and to up cocoa content in chocolate with MycoTechnology’s mushroom myceliation process, says the company’s founder.
Barry Callebaut says that high flavanol milk chocolate would be too expensive, but is hopeful that its blood flow health claim for dark chocolate will galvanize the functional chocolate market.
Epicatechin is the gold standard cocoa flavanol says a medical doctor, but Barry Callebaut claims all flavanols have a positive effect on cardiovascular health.
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) will buy WILD Flavors for €2.3bn citing fast-growing demand for natural food and beverage flavors and ingredients as the rationale.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is unlikely to regulate caffeine levels in confectionery products, according to caffeine chocolate firm Awake Chocolate.
Pecan Deluxe Candy (Europe) has invested in a €300,000 Yamato multihead check weigher, which can operate up to 100 bags per minute, to meet increasing demand for inclusions in products such as ice cream, desserts, cookies and donuts.
Oils and fats company AAK will have pumped around £30M into its production facilities by the end of the decade as part of a continuing investment programme to improve its production capabilities.
Mondelēz International has published a palm oil action plan promising to “prioritize” suppliers that meet its sustainability principles – something Greenpeace says is fundamentally flawed due to its definition of what a forest is.
Scores of US dairy players have threatened to withdraw their support for the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement if Japan and Canada refuse to open up their markets to American dairy products.
DSM Nutritional Products has entered in to an exclusive worldwide partnership with Dutch firm Isobionics for the distribution of its valencene and nootkatone ingredients.
Chocolate and cocoa firm Barry Callebaut has identified the flavored milk market as one of the best opportunities for use of its cocoa flavanol EU health claim.
Cargill says that chocolate manufacturers can now make the switch from soy lecithin to the “more sustainable” sunflower lecithin after Japan became the last country to approve the emulsifier.
Functional confectionery has made only small gains since approval of Barry Callebaut’s cocoa flavanol health claim but opportunities exist for premiumized chocolate products, says a Euromonitor analyst.
Near record-high cocoa butter prices have driven up the cost of chocolate production by as much as 20%; a price hike that will likely be seen on shelf, according to commodity analysts Mintec.
Shea and palm oil derivatives may lead the way as the most common sources of cocoa butter alternatives for use in chocolate, but researchers are discovering novel forms ranging from mango seed to camel hump fat.
Special Edition: The possibilities of chocolate with reduced cocoa butter
Chocolate purists may turn to alternative vegetable fats amid escalating cocoa butter prices, but taste and regulatory stumbling blocks remain, according to an analyst.
Special Edition: The possibilities of chocolate with reduced cocoa butter
Previously reluctant chocolate manufacturers are more attracted to partly replacing cocoa butter with emulsifiers to obtain cost-savings and improve molding processes, according to supplier Palsgaard.
German flavours and aromas specialist Symrise has won the battle for French flavour and ingredients producer Diana, after agreeing a deal that values the firm at €1.3bn.
AarhusKarlshamn (AAK) will acquire Belgium bakery fats specialist CSM Benelux to drive strength in its bakery supplies business, its European president says.
Food manufacturers have pampered to health-conscious Europeans with a raft of new fruit-based product launches in 2013, with overall fruit ingredient launches up 22% over the preceding year, according to Innova Market Insights.
Barry Callebaut has returned to net profit growth in its half year results as it further integrates the cocoa ingredients business acquired from Petra Foods.
Copersucar and Cargill have announced an agreement to combine their global sugar trading activities into a new joint venture that will produce, commercialise and trade raw and white sugar.
An all-natural fermentation process using mushrooms to remove bitter and acidic qualities from food ingredients created by food technology firm MycoTechnology Inc. claims it will revolutionize the coffee and chocolate markets.
Barry Callebaut says chocolate makers can produce products in novel colors far easier with its new flower-shaped food colorant pellets compared to using high doses of powder and liquid dyes.
Ecom and Armajaro maintain they did not fail to pay farmers for certified cocoa beans as Ecom’s trading license is suspended and a media hotchpotch of leaked documents and official positions ensues.
While the debate about deforestation due to palm oil rumbles on, new research has suggested that the release of methane from palm oil processing wastewater may also be a significant concern.
Palm oil supplier IOI Loders Croklaan surpassed its goal to increase volumes of certified sustainable palm oil to 30% of total European sales last year – and has certified all its plantations to Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) standards.
