Exclusive: Palsgaard gears-up for the World Confectionery Conference

Danish-based ingredients group, Palsgaard, is set to play a significant role at this year’s World Confectionery Conference, as it continues to devise solutions across many market segments including chocolate and snacks categories.

Editor Neill Barston quizzes the company’s event speaker, Seyma Ozonuk, applications specialist, based at the firm’s Turkish operations, who offers insights into its core areas of development ahead of her presentation.

Registration for this year’s event at the Brussels NHow Hotel, Belgium, on 12 September, remains open, with keynotes from Cargill, Ferrero, Caobisco, Tony’s Chocolonely, as well as major sector research from Mintel and FMCG Gurus. Use the following direct link to book your place at our must-attend event that celebrates 90 years of publishing for Confectionery Production.

Q: Palsgaard has a strong track-record in the ingredients sector, including developing solutions for the confectionery sector. What has it been like working for a company that has pushed to create a number of key solutions?
A: Working in a company that has both a strong background and a strong technique makes you strong as well. Because you feel strong and confident while working on your solutions for your company and talking about your solutions with your business partner. This power gives you the feeling of what more can I do with these solutions? In fact, they all become things that feed each other.

Q: What do you believe the biggest challenge is in creating new applications for industry, and how much work goes into delivering them?
Actually, it is necessary to know the market very well, we work directly with the manufacturer, but our customers are both the manufacturers and their consumers, that is, people who buy the product from the market and eat it at home. Therefore, following the trend and demand is the most important thing. Here again, when you innovate something new, technique comes into play, because each of your innovations must be compatible with the existing process, accessible, applicable and the results must be observable. Otherwise, we will be walking with a utopian innovation. I can easily say that Palsgaard is very strong in this regard.

Q: Our World Confectionery Conference is happening this month in Brussels, how are you feeling about joining this year’s event?
A: Frankly, I am very excited both on behalf of myself and Palsgaard. It makes me very happy to be able to voice the solutions we have been implementing for years more loudly at a very valuable conference. I am sure it will be very productive for us and everyone who participates.

Q: What regions around the world have seen most growth this year, and has there been a ‘top ingredient’ demanded by your customers?
A: The cocoa crisis that has been going on since last year has actually strengthened the search for a solution in this direction. We have been continuing our work on reducing cocoa butter by keeping the quality for years, but this year we have focused even more on it at the request of our business partners. I will be talking about this at the conference.

Q: One of the biggest tests within the industry has been in how to deliver solutions with reduced sugar profiles that taste as good, if not better than their original product offerings? Is this something that is likely to change in the near future?
This is actually the case with sugar, fat and eggs. For example, in creams, vegetable oil is used instead of animal fat and the same texture and taste profile is tried to be preserved. Or in cakes, eggs are reduced and both structure and taste are tried to be preserved. I believe that such projects will grow even more in the future.

Q: What is the best thing about working in your region of Turkey? Have you helped develop new solutions just for your area?
A: Actually, there are many reasons behind being in Turkey and being able to do this job. One of them is our perfect geographical location, because we can follow both Europe and the Middle East region. We have many global and local large manufacturers, each of which makes very high-quality products that appeal to every region. This provides us with diversity, alternatives and ease of work. Developing a new product is frankly easy because our manufacturers have really high foresight and perception, they follow world trends very closely and I can say that we are in a perfect place to develop something new together.

Q: The world of food ingredients has changed significantly in recent decades, what has been the most radical thing you have seen alter in your own experiences?

A: One of the most significant changes I’ve seen in the food ingredients sector is the heightened focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria. At Palsgaard, this shift has driven us to go beyond just delivering functional and cost-effective solutions. We’ve made it a priority to develop ingredients that support sustainability, health, and ethical practices. This commitment to ESG has influenced our innovations, from creating plant-based alternatives and reducing sugar and fat content without compromising taste, to ensuring our products are clean-label and environmentally friendly. It’s been both challenging and fulfilling to be at the forefront of this transformation, contributing to a more sustainable and responsible future for the industry.

Q: Palsgaard’s emulsifiers have been used in a number of product segments, including for confectionery – do you think they can be enhanced even further, and can we expect the next generation of products soon?
A: In fact, we are in a development process every day and we only have a company that we develop new products for and that works on chemical details, Nexus. Therefore, when we say innovative products, Palsgaard comes to mind directly and will continue for many years to come, this is our main goal. Together with our strong business partners, we both pursue the trends of the future and try to do our best for a more sustainable future.