GNT colouring foods confirmed as latest addition to World Confectionery Conference ranks
pic: Alison Donaldson at this year's ISM. Photo: Neill Barston
The ranks of this year’s World Confectionery Conference have been further bolstered with confirmation of Alison Donaldson, senior technical sales manager at GNT, joining our 2023 edition of the event as a speaker, writes Neill Barston.
As the company noted, as a specialist in the sweets and snacks sector, she has gained strong industry background prior to joining the business and has brought with her an expertise in the flavour industry. She has a special interest in sustainability, which has remained a core topic for the business, and will once again be a core theme for our event, which takes place at 5 October at the Harrogate Convention Centre in Yorkshire, UK.
Alison will be joining a dynamic line-up of speakers reflecting the complete value chain of the industry for our event, including Ferrero, Cargill, Nestle, as well as confectionery sector insights from FMCG Gurus, supply chain topics under the spotlight from Fairtrade and Luker Chocolate. There will also be core discussions on equipment for the sector, with contributions from Royal Duyvis Wiener, Baker Perkins and Cama Packaging.
Speaking to Confectionery Production recently at this year’s ISM, Alison revealed that there had been a positive response at the event, as the business continues to build momentum in 2023. She said: “Previously, we’ve looked at trends for the colour of the year, which has been driven by the pantone colour reference, and everyone else has followed suit.
“But what we’ve seen over the past couple of years, there’s been a real switch in terms of what people’s perception of colour really means in their food and drink. So we partnered with a market research group into identifying key market drivers, including generational trends, from children to Gen Z, through to social media trends, which a lot of younger people being very media savvy. So lots of information came out of this was the idea of healthy hedonism, which was about having fun with colour, as well as having a sustainable aspect to this.”
The business took the opportunity to showcase its core Exberry series of colouring foods at ISM, with the product series having continued to find a strong place in the global food market since its creation more than four decades ago, including a strong application within the confectionery sector.
“Every day we are innovating within the business, we have all of our R&D and sales teams are very focused on what we can do to help our customers bring the next big thing as it regards colour – this is something that we live and breathe,” noting that within its confectionery interests, there had been a particular increase in demand for development of healthier option sweets and snacks.
Welcoming her to the event, editor Neill Barston said: “It’s great to see GNT return as a speaker once again for our World Confectionery Conference, as plans move forward for our UK event here this autumn. The colouring foods segment is one that has really come to the forefront in recent years, as consumers continue to show heightened interest in natural solutions. So I am sure there will be plenty of interest in Alison’s presentation this October here in the UK.”
- To register for the 2023 edition of our World Confectionery Conference, visit our dedicated website at www.confectioneryconference.com