Cargill gains Edison Award for NextCoa confectionery ingredients

The Cargill group is celebrating gaining a major Edison Award for consumer food innovation with its recently released NextCoa ingredient development targeting the confectionery sector, reports Neill Barston,

With competition within the sector remaining notably high, genuine innovations within ingredients and alternative product design remain a major priority for many in the sector.

As the business, which is set to play its part being among keynotes at our next World Confectionery Conference in London on 10 September, explained, NextCoa has used plant-based ingredients to deliver the chocolate-like experience, attained through a partnership with Voyage Foods.  It has been developed to offer an alternative option for indulgent ranges, while improving affordability, and supply chain resilience amid considerable ongoing sector challenges.

The latter point has been especially important, given the fact that the conventional cocoa sector facing continued crisis in core producing nations in West Africa, namely Ghana and Ivory Coast, as our title has reported.

Notably, Cargill achieved gold honours within the global honours named after inventor Thomas Edison, behind the creation of the lightbulb, with its winners being chosen on concepts, value and an experienced panel of impartial industry experts.

As the company noted, award winners have been selected on the basis of recognising solutions that improve efficiency, reduce waste and expand consumer options across the food system. Significantly, as the company observed, its latest accolade marks the fourth consecutive year the company’s innovations have been named among the winners.

“By combining deep food expertise with innovation and new technologies, we are reimagining how food is made at scale,” said Florian Schattenmann, chief technology officer at Cargill. “This recognition reflects the talent of our teams and the meaningful progress we’re delivering with our partners and customers.”