Miller Magazine Issue: 115 July 2019

62 COVER STORY MILLER / JULY 2019 vestments made in the bread improvers market: Conven- ience and rising acceptance of bread in daily meals is the major factor that currently drives the demand for bread improvers in the bakery industry. • Emerging applications of bread improvers Bread improvers are traditionally used to reduce the time required for flour dough to rise and to en- hance its workability. However, with heavy invest- ment in R&D, new applications are emerging rap- idly. For instance, when certain enzymes, are added to the dough, it reduces the protein solubility. Thus, they enhance both taste and nutritional profile of the product. Some of the other emerging applications include protein-based fat replacements, flavor en- hancements, textural improvements, and prolonging shelf life. Bread improvers finds application such as pastries, bread, buns, rolls, muffins, cakes etc. to maintain softness and prolonged shelf life. Many cake, and pastry producers have started marketing single-serve pastry products, keeping in mind the overall trend of increased convenience and shorter preparation time. Flour used for cake making is usually treated with bread or cake improvers to have characteristic taste and texture. The rising demand for patisserie products in developing regions such as Asia-Pacific is likely to drive the demand for bread improvers in the region. INDUSTRY CHALLENGES FACED BY MANUFACTURERS • Rising health cautiousness among consumers Over the last few years, increasing consumer aware- ness about healthy food products has been fuelling the market for nutritive food products. Consumers are in- creasingly focusing on healthy aging, one key element is by preventing and postponing the onset of diet-relat- ed diseases. The rise in the aging population, life expec- tancy, and increase in the instances of chronic diseases are driving changes in eating patterns. People are more concerned about their food intake, which is working in favour of the functional food & beverage industry today, consumers consider food products as a source of essential nutrients for the human body. Hence, they seek nutritious food to prevent nutrition-related diseas- es and improve their physical & mental well-being. Furthermore, rising health cautiousness and obesity among young people is also affecting the bread improv- ers market growth. Preference of low carb diet has been key trend among consumers; white breads, cakes and pastries are high in carbohydrates. These products con- tain refined carbohydrates, which are low in essential nutrients and is considered bad for metabolic health. • Lack of cold chain logistics service in develop- ing industries Bread products are perishable food products with shelf life of few days. Hence, it requires ample sup- port of cold chain logistics to transport breads and various bakery products. Cold chain logistics provides a distinct advantage to the local units that produce on a small-scale, evidently accounting for a predomi- nant share of the total industry, especially in the rural markets. Lack of investment due to monetary crisis in the developing economies has been another issue to slowdown cold chain logistics business. WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR THE INDUSTRY? Globalization of the food service industry has been the main reason to witness the production and distribution of bakery products globally. According to MarketsandMarkets the bread improvers market has huge potential to grow in future driven by rising consumption of breads in various ap- plications and is expected to reach a market value of USD 4.08 billon by 2022. The demand for bread improvers is would portray higher growth in the developing markets in contrast to developed markets. LESAFFRE Lesaffre opens a new Baking Center in Austria, for its industrial customers, in Vienna, Austria Blagden Specialty Chemicals Ltd The company launched a new product “Glutender Plus” to extend its product portfolio. It is a gluten- free bread improver, which helps to improve texture and softness in gluten-free bread. BAKELS WORLDWIDE Bakels launched a new bread improver “quantum”. This helped the company to expand its product portfolio. LESAFFRE Lesaffre set up a new baking center in South Africa, which helped the company to strengthen its baking business. PURATOS GROUP Puratos acquired Diamant Nahrungsmittel GmbH (Austria), a bakery ingredient manufacturer. This helped Puratos to expand its business in the Austrian market. E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY The Indonesian National Drug and Food Control Agency, Badan Pengawas Obat dan Makanan (BPOM) approved five enzymes offered by DuPont for bakery solutions. This approval led the company to offer a range of enzymes to the Indonesian bakery and flour milling industry. PAK HOLDING Pak Group launched a new vegan and vegetarian brioche improver, which helped the company to increase its product portfolio. CORBION N. V. Corbion set up a new facility in Dolton, Illinois to produce propylene glycol monoesters (PGME).