FOOD BUSINESS GULF & ME July-Sept 2019 | Page 6

NEWS 4 require an efficient cold chain network in order to be delivered from where they are manufactured to the retailers where they are sold in a careful and timely manner.” He said: “We specialise in perishable air cargo products, so anything from 14 to 45 days. For our existing probiotic product Yakult, the Japanese probiotic fermented milk, we fly pallets over on a weekly basis to each of the GCC markets in which we distribute including UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain where we have our own facilities in each of these logistics hubs.” Consumers drive reinvention of “real food” as sports food Entrepreneurial brand Veloforte's sports twist on a traditional Italian treat packed with fruit and nuts - which has won the start-up a cult following - highlights the growing opportunity in repositioning “real foods” as a sports food product. “While sports nutrition products are going mainstream, the much stronger trend is in the opposite direction - 'real' foods are becoming more attractive for people to use in sports,” said food industry analyst Julian Mellentin, director of consultancy New Nutrition Business and author of a new report, “Real food” - the strategy that's transforming sports nutrition. “Both professional and amateur athletes are increasingly dropping gels and sports bars laden with 'artificial' ingredients from their diets, and making instead 'real food' choices, like peanut butter and flapjacks to maple syrup, Nutella and traditional Italian panforte,” Mellentin added. The trend is powered by sports dietitians. The Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitians Association, which represents America's leading sports dietitians, has adopted the “food first” principle that "whole foods are the best fuel". MULTIVAC takes over the FRITSCH Group and further expands its range of solutions for the bakery industry. FRITSCH is a leading manufacturer of bakery equipment with its headquarters in the town of Markt Einersheim in Lower Franconia. The product range consists of high-performance equipment and groundbreaking technology for FOOD BUSINESS GULF & MIDDLE EAST dough forming and processing. FRITSCH offers the right solution for every size of company - from tabletop units to industrial-scale equipment. Premium bakery products are produced with FRITSCH machines throughout the world. With the takeover of the FRITSCH Group, MULTIVAC is complementing its range of solutions, so that in future it will also be able to offer complete production lines from one source to the bakery industry as well. “The takeover of FRITSCH is another important step for MULTIVAC in expanding our range of integrated solutions for processing and packaging food products. Thanks to the processing solutions from FRITSCH, we will continue to extend our presence in the bakery industry, where we have already been able in recent years to implement some very challenging projects for automated packaging solutions,” explained Christian Traumann, Director and Group CFO of MULTIVAC. AAK launches COBAO TM Pure, a breakthrough chocolate bloom retarder based on pure cocoa butter COBAO TM Pure is a new cocoa butter from AAK that delivers significantly improved bloom- retarding effects in all kinds of applications including milk and dark chocolate tablets, coated and filled products, and dark chocolate with nuts. It delays migration and heat-related bloom, extending the shelf life with between 50 and 400 percent depending on recipe, processing techniques and storage conditions. It is anticipated that the new ingredient will be particularly beneficial in the premium chocolate segment. Sales of premium chocolate are growing three times faster than standard chocolate, presenting an excellent market opportunity. Consumers pay more for high-end chocolate and expect the product to reach them in perfect condition which means avoiding blooming and maintaining an attractive appearance for longer is essential. Milk fat is commonly-used as a bloom retarder but presents a number of challenges that COBAO TM Pure helps to solve. Unlike milk fat, for example, COBAO TM Pure will not change the sensory qualities of the end product or cause excessive softening. This means it is especially suitable for dark chocolate JULY-SEPTEMBER 2019