By Dr. Bernhard Reichenbach, Chefredakteur

FachPack, Pack Expo Las Vegas, Vitafoods Europe, Fi Europe – four trade fairs relevant to confectionery and snack manufacturers this year are casting their shadows. Due to the still unresolved Covid-19 pandemic, all will be held in a hybrid format as a face-to-face show and a parallel online event. To ensure a safe visit to the fair, the organizers have come up with extensive protective measures and detailed hygiene concepts. Let’s hope that these will be effective.

FachPack 2021 is dedicated to the highly topical theme of “environmentally friendly packaging”. This is reflected not only on the exhibitors’ booths, but also at the special shows and in an extensive lecture programme. Also represented at FachPack is the company we present in our sp portrait in this issue: The Packaging Group, a leading global developer and manufacturer of high-quality packaging systems, especially for food packaging. The portfolio company unites the renowned traditional companies Fawema, HDG and Wolf under one roof.

Also has a good name has the Italian company Selmi which as a technology and world market leader for artisanal chocolate processing successfully occupies the niche between small businesses and industry. The company Selmi Partner exclusively looks after the markets in Germany and Austria.

The ingredients sector is not neglected in this issue either: in deep-frying, for example pastries or snacks, new types of fat phases offer a domestic alternative to palm oil.