Cookies are a robust segment within the bakery industry. There are brands that have been around for decades and have become household names, but there are also many up-and-coming brands that offer unique flavors for niche markets and are set to become the next class of pros.

Busy lifestyles and affordability aren’t the only reasons why consumers add frozen baked goods to their shopping cart each week.

Harris Interactive recently released the results of its 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend study, which analyzed the responses of more than 38,500 consumers on key measures of brand health for more than 1,500 lifestyle, product and service brands. When questioned about the brands they are likely to reach for when craving a salty snack, respondents chose Lay’s Potato Chips—the top-ranked salty snack for the past eight years—followed by two other Frito-Lay North America brands, Doritos and Tostitos.

Pretzels have been around for more than a thousand years, originating in southern Europe around 610 A.D., according to historians. Today, crispy, hard pretzels are consumed by people in many of the countries represented at the 2012 Olympics.

When it comes to the Olympics, most people prefer some sports over others. The same holds true for consumers when it comes to snack foods.

Low in calories, high in fiber—popcorn may just be the perfect natural snack. Of course, that doesn’t stop manufacturers from trying to up the ante by enhancing all the whole grain has to offer. Now, popcorn can be found competing with chips, pretzels and even candy in the snacking Olympics.

Pork rinds are probably the most misunderstood item in the snack category. This is surprising, because people have been eating pork rinds—also called pork skins—as long as they have been eating pigs. One of the world’s first snack foods created thousands of years ago, and favored in the southern states, pork rinds are a simple combination of fried pork skins and salt.

Bakery products are evolving all the time in today’s market. To win the race, they mix healthful and tasty ingredients with a scoop of distinction.

Reliability, flexibility, consistent product quality, easy sanitation and high-volume output are just some of the things bakers and snack producers want from a new oven or fryer. 

Better-for-you ingredients and innovative flavors continue to keep potato chips at the top of consumers’ list of favorite snacks, while the classics still resonate.

When it comes to sweet goods like doughnuts, Danishes, sweet rolls, muffins and coffee cake, the market is in a state of flux. As Walter Postelwait, president of Pak Group LLC/Bellarise Baking Ingredients, Pasadena, CA, puts it: “The total segment appears to be growing slowly, but has hot pockets of activity.”

The chips segment has grown quite lively over the past year, with new product areas emerging and others, like apple chips, seeing considerable growth and maturation. Snack producers are also starting to grow beyond potatoes, offering sweet potato, beet and parsnip chips.

Snack and bakery companies looking to purchase new or improved ovens, proofers, fryers, and dryers have a long list of requests when it comes to features and benefits, according to manufacturers of those types of equipment.

100% natural Ziggy Bars are packed with essential nutrients and fiber and are a way to support digestive health.

Kellanova has rereleased a slew of seasonal products for autumn and Halloween.

The limited-time bars incorporate ginger, allspice, and other simple ingredients, with a total of 12 g of protein in each serving.

The company’s most recent introductions give health-minded snackers a range of grain-free options in bar form.

Thermal management is crucial to processing, storing and delivering several types of snacks and baked goods. The latest systems cover a wide range of functions, including chilling dough, cooling product after exiting the oven, and refrigerating or freezing finished product. Specialized cold storage facilities also are part of the mix.

In his 1954 compendium of writings, “Ideas and Opinions,” Albert Einstein said that “all knowledge of reality starts from experience and ends in it.” He put forth this scientific “fundamental truth” in connection to his predecessors Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei, tying it to the origins of modern science.

Cold-chain management—an essential aspect of many snack and bakery operations today—has entered a brave new world characterized by sophisticated temperature monitoring and tracking technology connected by the Internet of Things (IoT).

A warehouse management system (WMS) centers on software that supports day-to-day operations. WMS programs enable centralized management of a wide range of tasks, including tracking inventory levels and stock locations, order fulfillment, and shipping and receiving.

Inside the proceedings of PACK EXPO Las Vegas, including a survey of new packaging equipment, materials, technology and more.

Is it just me or does it seem like the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPlate came out just last week? 

Frustration with Washington continues to mount, with the serious challenges facing our country.

The long and tortuous path to enacting and implementing President Obama’s signature achievement, the Affordable Care Act, has taken yet another twist.

During and since the two-week government shutdown, there has been a lot of analysis from across the political spectrum. The analysis includes a lot of finger pointing and blame assessment. At the end of the day, it was the abdication of leadership by all parties and no coherent strategy for how to end the stalemate that lengthen the shutdown.

A growing and consistent theme in the policy debates in which the American Bakers Association (ABA) is engaged is the importance of science to fortify our position.

Multiple prevailing trends at the consumer and regulatory levels will factor into the business concerns of the bakery industry over the coming year. These include product-development dynamics like non-GMO, nutritional labeling, transparency and food safety—all of which have the potential to positively influence overall shopper perceptions related to bread and the other baked goods that play a part of dietary patterns.

One of the strangest, most-convoluted policy fights in the history of modern food just cleared a major hurdle in July with President Obama’s expected signature of the GMO Labeling agreement between Senators Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).

With the election of Donald Trump, and a slightly narrower Republican majority in Congress, Washington and the national punditocracy is both stunned and clamoring to find meaning in the election results.

The 2017 American Bakers Association (ABA) Convention featured our most thought-provoking and provocative program yet, centered around the enormous disruptions impacting the baking industry.

This past year on the Stronger Together tour, after the merger of the American Bakers Association (ABA) and the Biscuit & Cracker Manufacturers’ Association, we stopped at Kansas State University (KSU) to meet with the Bakery Science & Management students and participate in the Grain Science and Industry Advisory Council meeting.

During the tumultuous first year of the Trump Administration, the untold story has been the significant efforts to mitigate the numerous regulatory overreaches by the Obama Administration.

Even though the year started in a partial government shutdown, the government relations team from the American Bakers Association (ABA) continued to push forward on several key regulatory initiatives.

As of the last regulatory update from the American Bakers Association (ABA), we were coming out of a governmental shutdown. Now, the clock is ticking as we stare down the August recess in Congress and feel continued residual delays from that shutdown.

Since grains are the cornerstone of a healthful, plant-based diet, and the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans are the bedrock for nutrition policy in the U.S., the baking industry is well-positioned to make powerful, positive changes for the health of America's families.

 
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The ‘Roaring Twenties’ were a time when all participants had their act together.

People commonly misconstrue the work of a writer/historian.

Plumbing and mechanical contracting companies have been the birthright of generations.

These are the Dead Men that PM columnist Dan Holohan holds in high esteem.

Plumbers have given way to scientists as modern inventors.

One of the legacies of the old Trade Extension Bureau that remains alive today was its effort to standardize industry vocabulary.

American plumbers have accomplished more in two centuries than the Romans did in 10.

Every year on March 11, the international plumbing community comes together to celebrate World Plumbing Day. The day aims to spread awareness of the importance of plumbing and plumbers in protecting public health and improving access to clean water and sanitation facilities. 

Contractors are a mobile breed — constantly on the move, from job to job. With so much shuffling around, there is more opportunity for human error — tools ending up on the wrong jobsite on the wrong day. When you have inventory tied up across different jobs, in the back of a work truck or van, or in a warehouse on a high shelf that’s rarely dusted, it’s easy for mistakes to be made.

Now that many jurisdictions across the country are mandating fire sprinkler systems in new-home construction, de-signers need to be aware of the requirements and challenges these systems can face in relation to water meters.

Pressure relief valves protect fire sprinkler system components by relieving excess system pressure from supply surges or temperature changes. Since the 2010 edition, NFPA 13: “Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems” has required pressure relief valves to be installed on all wet pipe fire sprinkler systems. But picking the correct relief valve for a specific system does need a little preplanning.

If you rely on search engine marketing for calls, you are putting your company at risk because you are relying on the unreliable. Here are eight steps to wean your company off big tech dependency.