What’s new in the food industry? What’s getting more popular? What’s falling off? Food manufacturers, food processors and everyone within the industry is taking a look at the Global Food Industry Survey 2013-2014: Market Trends, Buyer Spend and Procurement Strategies in the Global Food Industry

The report names the top three expected trends in 2013: health and wellness, convenience, and local products.

Health and Wellness
These categories are not surprising. Consumers are always looking for healthier foods and snacks, although they’re usually not willing to sacrifice taste for it. As food manufacturers continue to move toward higher quality ingredients, that formerly impossible dichotomy is becoming realistic.

Snacks and other foods can now be manufactured with the taste consumers love while eliminating harmful ingredients and using other ingredients of the utmost quality.

Convenience
As mentioned, despite the desire for healthier foods, consumers aren’t usually willing to sacrifice taste. That leads us to convenience. People want easy-to-get, easy-to-consume food with health benefits.

Food manufacturers are seeing these trends and working toward giving consumers more of what they want: convenient, healthy food.

Local Products
The third trend, local products, has been brewing for a while also. Consumers want to know their food is being grown, produced and manufactured within their area. There’s an element of trust that goes with local foods.

Optimism Abound
The report details the majority of companies are “more optimistic” about revenue growth in 2013. Identifying and adapting to market trends has always been important in the food industry, so to see so many companies projecting revenue growth is encouraging.

How can we help you keep up with trends and gain the trust of your customers?

There is a small bakery on the southwest side of Grand Rapids, Michigan with eight employees. They are open six days a week and have been proud to say they bake all of their pastries fresh. They are proud of the hard work they put in each doughnut and scone and they’re proud to say they use the best ingredients, the freshest grains and highest quality oils. That is why we are proud to serve them.

Bread Making Ingredients

A lot of things have changed for Bremer Authentic Ingredients since we were a small sugar supply company 65 years ago. Now we sell a lot more than sugar and we serve companies all around the Great Lakes. One thing has not changed. Our commitment to serving our customers, big or small. We pride ourselves on offering them competitive prices on high-quality ingredients.

Over our time serving these small bakeries we found that they take more pride in what they bake, they know the recipes and most of all they know that they need the best ingredients. From a small mom and pop bakery, to a big commercial food producer – you can use the same ingredients. From one bag of sugar to a tanker of sweetener, we have you covered.

We are passionate about the ingredients we sell, just as you are about the great tasting products you produce. Thank you for letting us be a part of your successful business and let us know how we can better serve you.

Over the past few months we, at Bremer, have had a lot of bakeries and food manufacturers asking us for more gluten free products and flours most specifically. As the demand for gluten free foods continues to increase, we looked toward one of our valuable suppliers for a gluten free flour, Bay State Milling. We are proud to announce that we are carrying Bay State Milling’s Baking Essentials Gluten Free All Purpose Flour.

Baking Essentials Wholesale Gluten Free All Purpose Flour is unique in that it is not only an exceptional product but it also has the Celiac Sprue Associations (a gluten free certifier for gluten free cooking) recognition as an excellent product. This flour is produced in an environmentally controlled production area using equipment and storage methods that ensure that this product is completely gluten free and has the highest level of quality control.

This is truly an all-in-one gluten free flour so you don’t have to purchase additional items that you might not use otherwise, such as rice flour and modified tapioca starches to maintain good elasticity.  There are a wide variety of uses from breads, rolls, cookies, brownies or even pizza crusts. With this flour you will now have the ability to transform any of your standard recipes into gluten free recipes without having a noticeable difference in flavor. This gluten free and Kosher certified flour maintains quality while also addressing a need for a growing segment of your customers.

We at Bremer are proud to announce the new product offering and look forward to answering any questions you have about this product or about why it is important to offer gluten free foods.

Bremer Authentic Ingredients (bremeringredients.com), a wholesale food ingredients distributor based in Zeeland, Michigan, announced that they have been awarded Safe Quality Food (SQF) 2000 – Level 3 Certification by NSF International on behalf of the Safe Quality Food Institute (SQFI).

The SQF Program is a globally trusted, recognized, and accepted food safety and quality certification program and management system designed to meet the needs of buyers and suppliers worldwide.

SQF 2000 – Level 3 is the most stringent and highest level certification awarded by SQFI, encompassing HACCP Analysis, Food Defense, Business Continuity Planning, as well as Food Quality and Safety.

“SQF certification demonstrates our commitment to be a leader in wholesale food ingredients distribution, providing the safe, quality food ingredients our customers expect,” said Tim Malefyt, General Manager.  “Everyone here at Bremer worked hard to get this in place and I’m proud their efforts.”
“Consumer demand for increased food safety and quality requires that we prove that control systems have been effectively implemented.  SQF Certification provides that proof,” said Todd Gifford, Sales Manager.

ABOUT BREMER AUTHENTIC INGREDIENTS
For over 65 years, Bremer (bremeringredients.com) has provided commercial customers with whole food ingredients.  From their warehouse in Zeeland, Michigan, Bremer proudly delivers sugar, flour, salt, and other authentic ingredients to bakeries, meat processors, food manufacturers, and more.

ABOUT NSF INTERNATIONAL
NSF International (nsf.org) has been testing and certifying products for safety, health and the environment since 1944. As an independent public health and safety organization, NSF’s mission is to protect human health and the environment through standards development, auditing, testing and certification for the food, water, build/construction, retail, consumer products, chemical and health science industries.