Reflections on ProSweets 2019

Adelheid Völkl, Principal Analyst in the Global Regulatory team reflects on the ProSweets 2019 conference, held at the end of January in Cologne, Germany.

The ProSweets 2019 and ISM fair, which took place in Cologne, Germany, demonstrated the colourful variety that can be found in the sweets and snacks industry. More than 20,000 attendees from over 100 countries had the opportunity to explore a range of products from around the globe, update themselves on current technological advances and listen to inspiring talks.

Some of the themes, trends and ideas being explored included: Blueprinting in product reformulation – presented by Leatherhead’s Adelheid Völkl; the use of insect-based ingredients in snacks like protein bars; applications of augmented reality to promote products; and customisation for both machinery and products. This customisation is seeing ‘smarter’, more flexible equipment which is capable of bringing increasingly unique product shapes and packaging to the market. It will be an interesting space to watch. ‘Naturalness’ also continues to be a hot topic, as the wealth of innovative ingredient options seen as the fair, demonstrated.

I’m excited about the developments we’re seeing in this sector of our industry and look forward to working with many of our clients as they too explore these new and challenging innovations and bring them to market.