Ferré & Consulting Blog (English Version)

UK cellulose acetate film supplier Clarifoil has produced a new ultra-gloss white film for luxury confectionery packaging to meet the demand for differentiation in this category.

The satiné lamination film was launched in Q1 2010 and took 2 years to develop. Clarifoil said the new film is made from a renewable polymer and is biodegradable. The film is accredited to EN 13432 and ASTM D6400 standards which means it biodegrades at least 90 per cent within six months and has low heavy metal content.

Clarifoil marketing manager Marion Bauer told that the standout qualities of this new material was its “bio-degradability and compostability, its brilliance and its scratch- and scuff-resistance”

Properties and benefits

The film, which possesses similar physical properties to Clarifoil’s standard P20 grade cellulose di-acetate films, is produced using cellulose from non-GM wood from managed forests.

The firm said extremely pure whitening additives with a small amount of brightening agent gave the film a bright white finish.

“The film gives good adhesion with standard water and solvent based laminating adhesives, and also accepts foil blocking well,” said Clarifoil

The company also advised using primers and/or over-varnishes for over-printing, especially with UV curing systems.

Metallic trends

Bauer said that demand for an environmentally friendly high gloss metallised film were informing future developments in cellulose acetate film manufacturing.

Confectionery industry trend watchers claim that white is the new black in premium chocolate packaging, with the organisers of the 2010 Cologne-based Pro-Sweets trade show at the end of January noting that the colour white symbolises freshness and lightness and, as it is a reserved colour, “it also reflects a certain qualitative value”.

European Union Producer Responsibility Obligations, set to take effect in 2012, stipulate that EU companies with a turnover of over £2m and that use over 50 tonnes of packaging annually, must ensure some or all packaging is recyclable, compostable or reusable.

packaging cellulose acetate, Clarifoil, film, packaging

Raisio PLC, a food and functional food ingredients provider, has partnered with Romanian bakery company Doprogea Grup to launch a cholesterol-lowering bread under the Benecol brand. According to Raisio, the bread will be the first cholesterol-lowering food product launched in Romania.

“The launch in Romania will increase the awareness and visibility of the Benecol brand in Eastern Europe,” Raisio said. “Raisio’s strength is in the ability to adjust, together with its partners, to local inhabitants’ purchasing behavior and in launching Benecol products suitably applied to the markets in question. The Benecol bread on the Romanian market is a good example. Raisio will continue the preparation work with its local partners to launch new products on new markets.”

Benecol, whose active ingredients are plant stanol esters, is a global trademark owned by Raisio. Plant stanol esters are one of the few ingredients to have received approval from the European Union to be used as a health claim.

In a 4 May trading update, the company said net sales of Benecol in the January-March period reached €13 million, up 12% from the first quarter of last year. Raisio attributed the sales gains to volume growth in current markets and launches in new markets. Specifically, the company cited solid sales growth of Benecol products in Spain, Greece and Belgium, while strong growth in Poland and Great Britain evened out.

Thailand and Indonesia are fairly new markets, Raisio said, and as such sales of Benecol products in those countries have developed well considering the time needed for the launching and creating the awareness of products and brand.

Bakery Benecol, bread, Cholesterol, Romania

This year marked the 13th year for the Bakery China tradeshow, held annually in Shanghai. This year’s show, held 12 to 15 May, hosted 65,180 visitors and 914 exhibitors. It was the largest trade fair for bakers and confectioners in Asia. Held at the Shanghai New International Exhibition Center, the 70,000-sq-m exhibition floor featured packaging solutions, chilling and refrigeration technology and ovens and machinery for bread production.

The next edition of Bakery China will be held once again at the the Shanghai New International Exhibition Center , 11 to 14 May, 2011. There are plans to expand the exhibition hall to include a seventh hall in 2011.

Events

The food industry needs to communicate effectively with consumers in order to lower people’s salt intake, it has been claimed.

According to the European Salt Producers’ Association (ESA), responsible salt consumption is part of a healthy diet, meaning that companies promising to reduce salt use by set amounts is not helpful.

“We are opposing the focus on nutrient reductions as these are misleading the consumers and will be providing a much bigger health problem,” the body’s managing director Wouter Lox told Food Navigator.

“Consuming nutrient reduced foods does not equal installing a well-balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.”

He added that the food industry should be promoting eating salt in moderation alongside a balanced diet and active lifestyle.

Earlier this year, research undertaken at Stanford University in the US highlighted that lowering people’s salt intake by just ten per cent could prevent thousands of heart attacks from occurring annually.

Health healthy diet, salt consumption

Confectionary giant Hershey is inviting people to visit its Create Your Own Candy Bar experience.

Located at the firm’s Chocolate World factory, the experience allows people to select their own ingredients and design packaging for their sweet treat.

Ingredients on offer include graham crackers crumbs, crisped rice, blueberry fruit gels, chocolate cookie bits, vanilla chips and rainbow jimmies.

They will also be able to activate the machinery that makes the chocolate bar, dressed in official factory aprons and hairnets.

“Hershey’s Chocolate World’s new Create Your Own Candy Bar attraction will allow each guest to play the role of a chocolate innovator,” says Amy Hahn, general manager, The Hershey Experience.

“Giving people a chance to create their own chocolate bar and see how authentic factory equipment operates is not common in the chocolate industry. It marks another reason to visit Hershey’s Chocolate World.”

Hershey’s most popular confectionary products include Hershey’s Kisses, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Jolly Ranchers and Twizzlers.

Chocolate chocolate bar, chocolate industry, Hershey

The Belgian food group Vandemoortele announced an agreement for the takeover of the margarine and fats division from the Dutch company Van Dijk Food Solutions. Vandemoortele would pay about 70 million euros to conclude the deal. ‘Because Bencis Capital, the private equity group controlling Van Dijk since 2008, opts to focus on the sauces division only, the margarine and fats division was set for sale. An excellent opportunity for us to consolidate our position in The Netherlands, as 80 percent of Van Dijk’s margarine and fats unit’s turnover, totalling 138 million euros, is realised in The Netherlands’, Dirk Durez of Vandemoortele Group explains. With a cumulated of almost 600 million euros, Vandemoortele’s fats division now will become as important as the group’s deepfreeze bakery products division again. The bakery division in 2008 took a giant leap forward with the acquisition of the French Panavi company, but that particular deal had severe financial consequences, which eventually resulted in the ‘forced’ sale of the soy division Alpro and the participation in the group’s capital by the GIMV XL fund. The present agreement however would mean that Vandemoortele’s finances are in good shape again.

Companies

Interesting study developed by our honorable collaborator and researcher Doctor J. Quilez, the study is about  the  solid-phase micro extraction method for headspace analysis.

A solid-phase micro extraction method was developed to analyze volatile compounds in bread crumb. Three different fibers usually used to determine volatile compounds in foodstuffs were tested, and Carboxen/Polydimethylsiloxane showed the best extraction efficiency. This method can determine about 65 compounds, although only the main compounds responsible for the crumb aroma profile were evaluated quantitatively with a relative standard deviation <20% and limits of detection were 1-18 mg/kg. All the compounds showed a good linearity in concentration ranges of interest with acceptable correlation coefficients (r > 0.99) and recoveries close to 100%. The optimized solid-phase micro extraction (SPME) method was applied to determine aromatic compounds in some precooked frozen breads marketed in Spain (baguettes and ciabattas).

Read the full article here (PDF)

Bakery bread crumb, Solid-Phase MicroExtraction Method, SPME, volatile compounds

Interesting study developed by our honorable collaborator and researcher Doctor J. Quilez, the study is about  the relationships between sensory flavor evaluation and volatile and nonvolatile compounds in commercial wheat bread type baguette.

A sensorial evaluation was carried out on the flavour of wheat bread using a test of consumer acceptance for this type of product. The 5 samples evaluated corresponded to prebaked baguettes from the main brands marketed in Spain. At the same time, headspace analysis using a solid-phase micro extraction (SPME) method was used to assess the volatile components of the bread crumb as well as other components, such as salt, lactic acid, and total titratable acidity (TTA), which could affect the flavour. The results of the sensorial analysis indicate that there are no significant differences between the samples. Nevertheless, the content of volatile and non-volatile compounds shows certain variations that correlate with the flavour scores. In general, the alcohol, ketone, and salt contents are considered positive, whereas the aldehydeandacid contents, including lactic acid, are considered negative. The main conclusions obtained were that for this type of bread, consumers tend to prefer products with a greater degree of fermentation by yeasts, without secondary fermentation by lactic acid bacteria. However, considering the geographic differences regarding these preferences, it will be necessary to perform further tests to establish the acceptance of different types of bread.

Read the full article here (PDF)

Bakery

Diabetic women who enjoy a diet rich in bran may live longer and be less likely to die of heart disease than those who do not, according to the results of a new study published in the journal Circulation.

Although previous studies have linked high consumption of whole grains to a lower risk of developing type-2 diabetes and heart disease, the new study indicates whole grains may help protect the heart even for those who already exhibit type-2 diabetes, which raises the risk of heart disease.

Dr Lu Qi, one of the study’s researchers, told : “Increased intake of whole grain products, especially bran, may lower the risk of mortality especially cardiovascular mortality in diabetic patients.”

Explaining the significance of the research Qi added: “This is the first study investigating the effects of whole grain intake on mortality in patients of type 2 diabetes.”

Less likely to die

The researchers at Harvard Medical School, Boston found that among 7,800 US women followed for 26 years, those with the highest bran intake were 28 percent less likely to die during the review period than those who consumed the least bran.

Also, they were 35 percent less likely to die of cardiovascular disease.

Although there was no conclusive proof that a bran-rich diet reduced risks, the link between higher bran intake and lower death rates remained even after accounting for other diet factors, such as fat intake and calories and lifestyle factors. Those included weight, exercise levels, smoking history and drinking habits.

Qi and the research team concluded that bran intake itself may help reduce diabetics’ risk of premature death.

“We would recommend diabetic patients to consume more whole grains, less refined carbohydrates (such as white rice and pasta made with white flour),” Qi said.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) nutrition website MyPyramid.gov identifies whole grains as containing the entire grain kernel including the bran, germ, and endosperm. Examples include: Whole-wheat flour, bulgur (cracked wheat), oatmeal, whole cornmeal and brown rice.

Dietary fiber

In contrast, refined grains have been milled; a process that removes the bran and germ. “This is done to give grains a finer texture and improve their shelf life, but it also removes dietary fiber, iron, and many B vitamins,” according to the website. Examples of refined grain products include: White flour, degermed cornmeal, white bread and white rice.

Meanwhile, the research was based on a Nurses’ Health Study which every two years surveyed the health of women with type 2 diabetes. Nurses also provided information about their general health, medical history and lifestyle.

Nurses with the highest bran intake consumed on average 9g of bran per day, 10 times more than the lowest-intake group.

Source: Circulation

Health carbohydrates, diabetes, fibers, research

Barry Callebaut  inaugurated a new chocolate factory located in Extrema, Minas Gerais, near São Paulo, Brazil – the company’s first chocolate factory in South America.

Juergen Steinemann, CEO of Barry Callebaut, says, “Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world with a population of more than 190 million, and the country has returned much faster to its earlier growth dynamic than most other economies after the recent economic turmoil. Against this background and based on growth forecasts for the Latin American chocolate market of more than three percent in volume terms [Source: Euro monitor International] annually over the next three years, we see a tremendous market potential – not only in Brazil but in the entire region. 75% of the Brazilian GDP is generated within a radius of 500 kilometers from Extrema.”

The new chocolate factory in Extrema has an annual production capacity of around 20,000 tones, which can be doubled based on the same infrastructure. The total investment amounted to approximately £10 million (€11 million). At the start of chocolate production, Barry Callebaut offers 70 new jobs – going up significantly with new lines to be implemented in the future depending on market development.

Capacity utilisation at the plant is expected to rise rapidly. 80% of the factory’s production will be delivered to the main target customer segment, namely the rapidly growing food service market which includes restaurants, fast food restaurants, bakeries, pastries, in-store bakeries, caterers, hotels, chocolatiers, hospital and school canteens. For the distribution of food service products manufactured in Extrema, Barry Callebaut signed an exclusive distribution agreement with leading agribusiness company Bunge in 2009.

Companies Barry Callebaut, factory, South America