Four trends among bakers and food processors: KPM Analytics report

In speaking with their customers in the baking industry, KPM Analytics has identified four main trends affecting the market, said Melanie Scott, director of marketing communications at KPM, which provides quality analysis services:

1. Automation has been amplified by a depleted work force: For large baking operations who have multiple production lines or locations, maintaining product consistency has become especially challenging following the “Great Resignation.” Now more than ever, companies are open to rethinking manual production processes to address vacancies in their workflow.
2. Whole wheat and high-fibre options are a necessity in product lines: However, these flour types have very different properties from white/ refined wheat flours, including water absorption, elasticity, baking strength, and other important parameters. This fact presents production challenges, leading the baker into a time-consuming and potentially costly trial-and-error process to fine tune their recipes.
3. Data is in high demand to understand batch-to-batch quality variations: Baking trials represent the ultimate method to determine if a flour delivery will adapt to produce a baked product that’s within ideal specifications. However, baking trials only provide the end result of the baking process – not how or why those results came to be. This leaves bakers with little information to efficiently and cost-effectively make necessary adjustments to their recipes.
4. With high inflation, mediating ingredients costs is a top priority: Since flour and ingredients are often sold on the availability of specific quality parameters (protein, moisture, fat/oil, and ash content, to name a few), more bakeries are seeking better methods to verify ingredient quality and avoid overpaying their suppliers. Also, as flour and ingredients are used into a recipe, their parameters change. By implementing ways to measure these important constituents during production or before packaging, companies can significantly reduce waste from out-of-spec products.

KPM experts will be at Booth, #635 to discuss these topics and ways bakeries can maintain or improve product quality, develop and test new formulations quickly, and reduce costs and waste. Equipment will be on display as well.