KEY INTERVIEW: Cargill President Highlights Trends in Chocolate

12 Dec 2016 --- Cargill’s cocoa and chocolate business offers the food industry a wide range of both standard and customized cocoa and chocolate ingredients for use in bakery, confectionery, dairy and other applications all over the world. The company’s product range includes high quality chocolate, coatings, fillings, and more recently the Gerkens cocoa powders range which has a new addition, reported by FoodIngredientsFirst last month. 

This latest addition is an intense dark red cocoa powder – with unique color attributes that make it the only powder of its kind on the market. Produced as a result of an R&D breakthrough by Gerkens technical specialists at the Gresik cocoa processing facility in Indonesia, this new cocoa powder is the latest development driving innovation across food ingredients for Cargill. 

FoodIngredientsFirst caught up with Harold Poelma, President of Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate who explained, “Our newest addition to the Gerkens range has an intense dark red color which has quite a unique, soft, chocolatey flavor, and makes an ideal ingredient for ice cream.”

Another innovative ingredient example is Cargill’s Caramel Equilibre, a unique combination of white chocolate with real caramel, “Salted caramel coatings have been gaining in popularity for the past two years or so,” he says, “In Asia particularly, there is a surge in demand for chocolate and green tea (matcha) flavorings, nuts have been popular for some time and continue to be a popular flavor combination.”

Cargill are busy expanding their portfolio of chocolate and cocoa ingredients and Poelma notes that there has never been a better time to do so, “Cocoa and chocolate is very much a global business, and it’s a very exciting time for us at Cargill as people are getting more and more interested in cocoa as a flavor.”

“Over the past ten years Cargill have invested quite substantially in chocolate in Europe, and last year particularly with the acquisition of the chocolate business of ADM. Since then Cargill has become an even stronger player in chocolate and we have been able to bring a broader service and portfolio to our customers which really fits into the global structure between Europe and North America.”

Meeting consumer desires presents challenges for food manufacturers and they need the ingredients and innovation capabilities to make the products that reflect today’s trends. Cargill also recently released its comprehensive report highlighting key sector trends to help manufacturers develop their next winning innovations. 

Based on insight gained from interactions with customers across numerous application categories, and on information gathered from projects with customers through Cargill’s application centers, the report highlights trends across four key themes: Indulgent; Premium; Healthy; and Sustainable and clean. 

“We are seeing huge trends under these themes,” says Poelma. “The new cocoa powder we came out with really fits into this segment of premium and indulgent. When a product really looks good in terms of color and appearance, it becomes more appealing to the consumer and that is how we differentiate ourselves.

“Consumers are looking for more in terms of indulgence,” he continues, “Our customers are looking for opportunities in the premium end of the market and there is a strong interest, in chocolate in general.

“Sugar reduction is also an area where we see a lot of growth, in confectionery and other applications,” explains Poelma, “Consumers want their products to taste good, but they also want them to be healthy. There are several opportunities for reduction in sugar using natural sweeteners such as stevia in chocolate, as well as ingredient compounds, so that is quite interesting for us.”

According to Poelma, the demand for clean label is also applicable in chocolate. “Clean label continues to be a very strong trend this year and going into next year,” he says, however, “It’s less obvious to have clean label chocolate but there are certainly opportunities for Cargill here. Coatings and fillings also allow for different colors, which are obviously a very attractive feature, so we have a range of natural colors and flavors, including lemon, which offer clean label solutions to our customers.” Organic chocolate is also continuing to prove popular. 

Poelma also notes the continuing trend around sustainability and traceability, he says: “People really want to know where their food is coming from and for us at Cargill it is important to let our customers know that we cover the supply chain from start to finish and that  we work closely with Cocoa farmers so they can become self-supporting.” 

To secure a good quality and sustainable supply of cocoa beans, Cargill has its own cocoa bean sourcing operations for buying, handling and exporting of cocoa beans in Brazil, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Indonesia. Presence in all the leading producing countries allows Cargill to oversee the supply chain from beans at origin to cocoa and chocolate products on its customers’ doorsteps. In addition, extensive market research and analysis proves to be a source of valuable information to customers.

Cocoa sustainability is at the heart of Cargill’s global growth strategy for cocoa and chocolate. Developing a direct sourcing capability in Ghana, the world’s second largest cocoa producing country, means that Cargill can meet the growing demand for sustainable, certified cocoa.

“We are heavily involved and concerned about the welfare of cocoa farmers,” says Poelma. “We like to see farmers do well, including those we work with in West Africa, where 70 percent of the world’s cocoa comes from.

“There are many opportunities for people to enjoy and consume chocolate – and we certainly hope that chocolate will be popular for quite some time.” He concludes: “There is a positive future ahead for the chocolate industry as it continues to innovate around ingredients, but these successes would not be possible if it wasn’t for the farmers who grow the beans, who are a very important part of Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate.”

By Elizabeth Kenward