The future for chocolate

11 June 2012 – I have to say that Chocovision 2012 was one of the most informative and thought provoking conferences that I have attended.

The event was held in the beautiful town of Davos, Switzerland, and whilst travelling to the event, negotiating the winding mountain roads (quite an interesting introduction to driving on the right hand side of the road!), I felt somewhat sceptical about what the event could achieve in terms of tackling the growing issues affecting the cocoa supply chain.

However, two days later, at the end of the event, I left with renewed faith that the big players in the industry are committed to working together to devise sustainability programmes, that will really make a difference.

The conference looked ahead, as far as 2030, to predict what consumers will be asking for from their chocolate, and the speculations revealed were extremely interesting. The industry will move towards new flavours as we enter new markets, smaller portions to combat obesity and bespoke bars to offer the consumer greater individuality. Particularly noteworthy, was the belief that chocolate bars will have a entirely new recipe. Bars will contain less cocoa, due to the rising cost of this commodity, and as consumers become more health conscious the popularity of dark chocolate will increase, as will the use of addtional ingredients that offer some kind of health benefit.

For more information about the Chocovision conference you’ll have to wait until the July/August issue of the magazine!!!!
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