CHONGQING, CHINA — Bakels Bangsheng Food Ingredients, a company of the Bakels Group, in cooperation with Bühler, DSM-Firmenich, and Brabender, organized the 5th Bakels Bangsheng Milling & Baking Customer Seminar in Chongqing, China. Nearly 200 major customers and partners from China’s flour milling and baking industries attended the two-day event, which featured 12 speakers.

The seminar included discussion of the latest topics on market challenges and opportunities in the flour milling and baking industries, and an exchange of the latest technical knowledge, product innovation, and solutions for the industry to promote new businesses in China.

“The speakers at the seminar provided a lot of valuable information, knowledge, and solutions to customers in the milling and baking industry in China,” said Armin Ulrich, chairman of Bakels Group. “By providing a forum for this exchange of views and transfer of knowledge, we aim to support millers and bakers meeting those challenges in their future work.”

Dr. Anton Holenstein, head of group strategy of Bühler, gave a presentation on trends, challenges, and opportunities in the grain and food industry 2025 and beyond. He noted that food insecurity is growing, mainly in Africa, but also in some Asian countries. He also touched on food waste and food losses as a serious concern and the potential of upcycling and valorization of byproducts. He strongly emphasized the importance of sustainability on production and consumption of more plant-based foods and local grains, and less animal-based products to reduce the CO₂ footprint while increasing efficiency.

Chiming Chi, an analyst from China National Grain and Oil Information Center, talked about the world wheat market and current wheat market situation in China. He noted that the wheat market supply fluctuated, but it was guaranteed overall. The Chinese government strongly supports its domestic wheat producers to gradually achieve the goal of self-sufficiency.

Marcel Scherrer, head of the wheat and rye business unit of Bühler Group, talked about new developments in the milling industry. He said the European flour millers are faced with many challenges, including the cost of raw materials, energy price fluctuations, emission reduction pressures, and lack of qualified workers. Characteristics of today’s European flour milling industry are overcapacity and changed structure in size — a few big flour mills dominate the market.

“The key challenges and market trends impacting the milling industry are strategic consolidation (up or down),” said Walter von Reding, director of Bakels Group’s flour ingredient business, during his presentation. “Health and convenience are key market drivers for more conscious consumers. Sustainability is on the top agenda globally and for the government in China.”

Greg Woodhead, technological officer of Bakels Group, reported global trends in the baking market and in China, including the pursuit of health and well-being, a sustainable future, uncertainty and volatility, and an era of transformation. He said current consumers are pursuing healthy living and well-being with the perceived consumption. He observed a rapid growth of the baking industry in the Asia-Pacific region. He said Western dietary habits and health trends influence the new baking product development in the region including China. Taste is a key factor for all baked products.

Dongni Sun, head of APAC health benefits & solutions, DSM-Firmenich, talked about the impact of new consumer trends on China’s baking industry. She noted six new trends, including freshness improvement of high-quality baked foods; cost control without sacrificing quality; high nutrition value with high fiber, protein, and vitamins; light burden with reduced sugar and fat, and clean labels; increased mainstream consumers of young women in big cities; and snacking consumption of baked foods.

Scherrer presented an overview of the opportunities and challenges facing the industries.

“On the food supply chain, what flour millers can traditionally do is on raw material storing conditions, flour extraction, traceability, quality assurance, and value-added byproduct,” Scherrer said. “But today, the traditional flour millers have gradually changed into efficient producers with large-scale production at low cost, specializing in the production of premix/bakery flour/functional mixes, ingredients suppliers, bakery/finished product manufacturers, or on pasta and noodles.”

Reding added that specialty milling with buckwheat, oats, quinoa pulses, and whole wheat offers new market opportunities.

To meet the challenges in the flour milling industry, Philipp Fritschi, director of grain and food technology of Bühler China, gave a presentation of the next generation of flour milling technology to drive base application performance. He spoke about the importance of core competency with strengthening the multi-dimension differential at various levels. He showed the significant effects of different particle size ranges of flour on the application of frozen dough and steamed bread, and the effects of “very fine” flours on application performance in baked goods.

He presented Bühler high precision milling (HPM) to manage mill performance with sustained success. Customized flour can be realized based on the raw material wheat with pre-treatment and a novel color sorter classifying the wheat to meet the different quality needs, Fritschi said.

The introduction of the pre-tempering wheat concept may help to achieve the expected change of each grain in the process for the best milling performance, he noted. Separating flour streams enable assembly of flours according to the final target.

The milling process and the performance of each machine have a major influence on flour quality. Intelligent milling will be the next generation of flour milling technology in China, he said.

To meet the challenges in the baking industry, many speakers noted the importance of innovation. Sun said taste, freshness, quality, nutrition, and health are key drivers for innovations in baked foods. Improving technology and high-quality ingredients will remain the first choice for innovation in the bakery segment.

Yihua Zhang, baking technical service manager in Great China of DSM-Firmenich, reported novel lipases for control of free fatty acids (FFA) to create value in bakery applications. She explained that wheat flour contains 1% to 3% lipids, and two-thirds of the lipids are non-starch bound lipids that are most valuable to stabilize air chambers in the dough.

Lipase (phospholipase) can act on lipids in wheat flour without substrate concentration restriction. Panamore, a new lipase developed by DSM-Firmenich, provides excellent dough stability and bread volume. These enzyme products have been developed for all applications and processes, especially for flour where FFA content is higher or may be higher than expected, enabling odor avoidance.

Roy Gao, managing director of Bakels Bangsheng Food Ingredients, a company of the Swiss Bakels Group, introduced the new production facility with a new competence center in Sanshui near Guangzhou, China.

“With the advanced new production lines and our expertise, we develop innovative solutions in collaboration with industrial customers, tailored to their needs,” Gao said. “We aim for consistent product quality for our customers, and product innovation by strengthening the flour technical competence.”

Greg Woodhead, technological officer of Bakels Group, demonstrated some frozen dough solutions related with technology. He said the formula process, the quality of the final product, and the convenience of delivery must be compromised to achieve a balance for optimal results, and therefore the main influencing factors: raw materials, processing, storage, transportation and distribution should work together.

Helen Zhao, application and sales engineer of Melchers China, representing Germany-based Brabender, gave a presentation on the Brabender 3-phase-system — innovations for flour quality evaluation. She demonstrated that Farinographs, Extensographs, and Amylographs are immensely helpful in ensuring flour quality for baking performance by measuring rheological and thermal-physical properties.

“For baked goods, finding healthier options has been a priority, and health is a key driver of food innovation,” Sun said. “Nutrition and health value has become as important as (taste) for baked goods, and high fiber, and high protein, vitamins, etc., are potential strengthening direction for baking, and light burdens, such as less sugar, fat, and cleaning labels, are other selling points for consumers. But more important is how to address these difficulties. For example, whether the high protein product can also have a soft taste, how cost performance and clean labels can coexist, and new raw materials are subtraction but whether the product can still be delicious.”

In connection to the health trend, Reding gave a presentation on value-added ingredients in the specialty milling business.

“Specialty milling with value-added ingredients offers new market opportunities,” he said. “We support our customers with our expertise with development of new product concept. Oats have health benefits to lower cholesterol levels in the blood and to help in weight control. Quinoa benefits high protein content, high fiber, and essential minerals, and helps a healthy and balanced diet. Whole wheat flour has health benefits for reducing risks of chronic diseases like heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and colon cancer.”

Increased concerns about health, food safety, and clean labeling have been a big trend in China. Customers are seeking more “natural” options and, consumers wish to avoid chemicals and additives in the baked product recipe,” James Yan, managing director of Bakels China, said during his presentation.

He demonstrated some clean labeling solutions. Low fat, low salt, and “0 sucrose” products are gaining market share.

Protein and dietary fiber are the nutrients that consumers prefer. Functional ingredients are on the rise to meet health requirements of consumers. Consumer choices drive the rapid development in the field of clean label.

At the end of the customer seminar, Huatao Yin, professor from the National Center for Food Quality and Safety Inspection and Testing, introduced the revision of the Chinese standard on the labeling of prepackaged food products to the audiences.

A more applicable new standard is expected to be released and implemented soon to ensure food health and safety in China.

Dr. Fengcheng Wang is World Grain’s China consultant. You can contact him by email at [email protected].