By Dr. Bernhard Reichenbach

Four major events will be the main features of our first issue of 2019. We look back on the increasingly popular Health ingredients Hi Europe & Natural ingredients Ni trade fair, which provided a comprehensive overview of functional food innovations, the Choco Tec Congress in Cologne, which illuminated many aspects of the chocolate production of the future, as well as the 28th Dresden Packaging Conference, which addressed the effects of the new German Packaging Act.

The main focus, however, will be on the ProSweets Cologne trade fair, which will take place this month in conjunction with the International Sweets and Biscuits Fair ISM in Cologne. At the international supplier fair for the sweets and snacks industry, more than 300 exhibitors will present their new and improved developments.

The fact that for you, our readers, we will continue “to stay on the ball” in terms of information and communication technology is illustrated by two brand-new innovations: our now independent homepage www.sweets-processing.com where you will find everything that is relevant for the sweets and snacks industry, as well as our free app, which thanks to its intuitive menu navigation allows a pleasant reading of all reports of the print issues and the news messages on your smartphone or tablet. The app can be downloaded from the Google Play store or the Apple Store (iTunes).

Finally, I would like to thank you for your interest and your suggestions and wish you – also on behalf of my colleagues – a good, successful and above all healthy year 2019!