New trade fair format places the focus on ingredients. Exhibitors will present solutions for more resilience and sustainability.
The world of sweets and snacks is innovative, colourful – and full of challenges. Because the preferences of the consumers and the latest developments on the raw materials markets are questioning established industry processes. Together with ProSweets Cologne and ISM, ISM Ingredients is presenting itself as the biggest global meeting point of the sweets and snacks sector from 1 to 4 February 2026. From individual recipes through to market success: The solutions presented at the Cologne fair grounds range from innovative and sustainable ingredients, the development of alternative raw materials, through to resource-saving processes.
Fruity or chocolatey? Soft or crunchy? Product developers are faced with a host of challenges, when it comes down to creating individual sweets and snacks. On top of that, the consumers are increasingly opting for natural alternatives as snacks. Sweet flavours are also becoming increasingly popular according to Innova Market Insights. Based on advanced extraction processes, a variety of natural, sustainable and E-number-free fruit flavours are available to help brand owners reformulate without compromising on taste. Recent advances in natural colours and flavours are enabling confectionery and snack producers to create brighter colours and more intense flavours using ingredients of natural origin. Colouring concentrates are at the heart of potential clean label positioning. They are obtained from a variety of plant-based raw materials such as vegetables or fruits with colouring properties.
Reformulation as a technological challenge The exhibitors of ProSweets Cologne are putting the current trends into practice by enabling the sweets manufacturers to pick up on their customers’ wishes and needs regarding product development with innovative technologies and tailor-made solutions. “Whereby it is not purely about the visual appeal, but about products that excel with their enjoyable taste, irresistible textures and healthy ingredients,” said Guido Hentschke, Director of ISM Ingredients and Pro Sweets Cologne. More and more sugar-free or sugar-reduced and fat or salt-free and salt-reduced sweets and snacks are reaching the shelves of the supermarkets. “Here the reformulation of the recipes always proves to be a challenge, because one has to strike a balance between enjoyment and health aspects,” stated Hentschke.
This is precisely where the portfolio of the ingredients specialists comes into play, who will be represented at ISM Ingredients at the beginning of February 2026. Whereas ProSweets Cologne will concentrate more strongly on the sections machines, systems, packaging solutions as well as food safety and quality, the new, eagerly awaited ISM Ingredients places the focus specifically on raw materials, functional ingredients and semi-finished products for the sweets and snacks industry. Freeze-dried fruit and vegetable products, plant-based proteins, fibre and ingredients for more taste, colour and texture. The wide assortment of exhibitors such as Brenntag, Döhler, Dreidoppel, Freeze-Dry Foods, GNT, Olam Food Ingredients, Sethness Roquette or SternEnzym enables a huge selection of different positionings at the point of sale. Here for example a growing number of products advertise that they contain less sugar.
Sweet, but with less sugar
But sugar doesn’t just sweeten products. It also brings out the aroma, ensures a pleasant texture and improves the mouthfeel. It is thus always a particular hurdle reducing or actually replacing sugar in sweets and snacks. To compensate for the sweetness, the product developers optionally implement classic sweeteners such as agave syrup or coconut blossom sugar or raw materials like stevia – a calorie-free alternative of natural origin. Steviol glycosides that are extracted from the leaves of the stevia rebaudiana plant form the basis of the corresponding sweetener systems. They are around three times sweeter than sugar.
In Cologne, the exhibitors will demonstrate how sugar reduction and sugar replacement can work as holistic solutions. The ingredients manufacturers are also treading new paths by positioning fibre such as inulin, which is extracted from chicories or agaves, as a multifunctional ingredient, which both reduces the sugar content in sweets and snacks and can also improve intestinal health. In addition to this, natural aromas are implemented that round off the taste profile and enable new recipes to become a multisensory experience. Sugar boosters are available especially for sugar-reduced reformulations. The natural aromas give the product a “sweet kick” without having a negative effect on the texture or mouthfeel.
Natural rich colours and enjoyment
The sweet aromas are according to Innova Market Insights increasingly popular. Based on advanced extraction methods, a host of natural, sustainable and e-number-free fruit aromas are available that support the brand manufacturers with their reformulation – without compromising the taste. The latest progress with natural colourants and aromas enables sweets and snacks producers to create brighter colours and more intensive aromas using exclusively ingredients of natural origin. Food colouring products are the focus of possible clean label positionings. They are extracted from a range of plant-based raw materials like vegetables or fruits with dyeing characteristics.
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