2020 January

The Best New Snack & Bakery Products of 2019

Pretzels from a famous Boston chef and a special offering from one of the most-beloved companies in baking climb to the top of voting for the year.

Douglas J. Peckenpaugh

January 7, 2020

In 2015, we launched the "Best New Snack & Bakery Products" of the year contest to honor outstanding new snack and bakery products entering the industry, with the online SF&WB audience voting for their favorites.

Understanding quality and safety considerations for cannabis-infused baked goods

Understanding ingredients dynamics is essential before entering the market for cannabis-infused foods

Douglas J. Peckenpaugh

January 16, 2020

The 2018 Farm Bill cleared the pathway for legal cultivation of industrial hemp in the U.S. Botanically, non-psychoactive industrial hemp and psychoactive cannabis are identical, classified as Cannabis sativa.

Allergen control and training for snack and bakery production

Companies rise to the challenge of allergen control

Liz Parker Kuhn

January 20, 2020

In every level of snack and bakery production, allergen control is of utmost importance. Training operations staff on best practices is vital, and systems to keep personnel continually on track are also essential.

Insights to fuel R&D strategies for bread products

Bakers have a wide range of opportunities to breathe new life into bread categories.

Douglas J. Peckenpaugh

January 10, 2020

Despite pockets of growth at individual companies, the categories spanning fresh bread, including bread, buns and rolls, bagels and English muffins, continue to remain relatively flat.

Hygiene, flexibility among top priorities for belt, conveyor customers

Customers want easy-to-use belts and conveyors that also maximize energy efficiency and durability.

Ed Finkel

January 15, 2020

Snack and bakery industry customers want belts and conveyors that are fast and easy to clean, maximize energy efficiency, offer strength and durability, require as few tools as possible, and provide flexibility to either switch out products and/or run multiple products at once.

Inspection/detection continues to advance in the snack and baking industry

X-ray, metal detection, checkweighing and vision systems improve quality control

Neal Lorenzi

January 13, 2020

X-ray, metal detection, checkweighing and vision systems continue to advance, offering bakery and snack producers many ways to improve their quality control programs. Today's sophisticated inspection equipment can detect smaller foreign objects, reduce false rejects, and handle a wider range of products to assure maximum food safety along with higher productivity.

Increased demand for reduced sugar drives sweetening solutions

Keeping an eye on added sugars is the new normal

Joyce Friedberg

January 8, 2020

Sugar is now squarely top of mind for consumers. According to the 2019 International Food Information Council (IFIC) "Food & Health" survey, limiting sugar intake is one of the top ways in which consumer diets have changed over the past several years, and 80 percent of consumers are trying to limit and/or avoid added sugars.

ERP software improves features, product development for 2020

Companies look for efficiency and clarity in ERP software for the snack and baking industry

Liz Parker Kuhn

January 9, 2020

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is extremely useful for snack and bakery companies, including its ability to track ingredients and other tasks, thereby making companies more efficient.

Understanding the importance of flour quality for cookies

Brian Strouts

January 13, 2020

Flour is the backbone ingredient of almost all cookie types. Understanding the role of flour in a cookie formulation is important to control finished product attributes such as surface appearance, diameter, color, structure, and eating quality.

A sweet century

Douglas J. Peckenpaugh

January 8, 2020

Hostess Brands celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2019. The first Hostess CupCakes hit the market in 1919, marking the sweet beginning of one of the most-beloved American bakery brands.

2020 food trends: Let grain foods be thy medicine

Michael Holleman

January 10, 2020

Hippocrates is famously credited with saying, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." Often referred to as "The Father of Medicine," Hippocrates perhaps made this declaration somewhere around 400 BC, best historians can tell.

Ingredient solutions for clean-label baking

Kathy Sargent

January 9, 2020

As the "clean label" trend has evolved into a movement that's clearly here to stay, the food industry has been challenged to respond to it in ways that resonate with consumers.