Global consumers feel they're living through ongoing uncertainty, influencing daily choices and long-term plans. FMCG Gurus' latest research identifies ten trends defining 2026, with the first five outlined here.

Barilla Group has opened its $25 million Barilla Innovation & Technology Experience (BITE) in Parma, Italy, spanning 150,000 square feet. The facility employs 200 professionals developing bakery, pasta and sauce products using AI-driven sensors, 3D printing and sensory research. BITE operates 84 partnerships with international universities and maintains 28 startup collaborations focused on sustainable agriculture and food technology.

Baking Europe Ingredients Market Report 2025, a data-driven annual intelligence brief tailored for senior leaders in Europe’s industrial bakery sector. This edition delivers fresh insights on ingredient pricing, risk trends, sustainability mandates and regional market dynamics. Empowering CEOs, procurement heads and strategy teams to make smarter, future-proof decisions.

e IDDBA brings together thousands of buyers, suppliers and innovators across the dairy, deli and bakery industries. At its flagship event, members not only showcase new products but also gain insight into the future of the market

Discover how ancient Roman ingredients are revolutionising modern bakery. Acorn and carob flours offer sustainable, nutrient-rich alternatives to traditional cereals, perfect for both conventional and gluten-free breads with exceptional health benefits and unique flavors.

Cerealto forms strategic partnership with Colorado-based Fresca Foods, expanding co-manufacturing capacity across Europe and the Americas. The transaction combines Cerealto's ten European production centres with Fresca's 350,000 sq ft US manufacturing facilities specializing in bars, granola and baked goods.

Where heritage meets innovation: explore how AI-powered hygiene, plant-based egg alternatives and smart wastewater solutions are transforming modern bakeries. From enzyme toolkits for high-protein baking to natural malt enhancements, discover technologies that reinforce tradition while meeting today's demands for sustainability, safety and nutrition. Technology that serves tradition and tradition that inspires technology.

Italian packaging and food processing machinery exports to the UAE reached €161 million in the first seven months of 2025, with food processing equipment up 87.5% year-on-year. Italy now holds over one-third market share in both sectors as 252 Italian companies prepare for Gulfood Manufacturing in Dubai.

AB Mauri and Nutris have formed a technical partnership to develop fava bean protein and starch ingredients for industrial bakery applications in the UK and Ireland. The collaboration utilises Nutris's 45,000-tonne Croatian processing facility to fractionate fava beans into functional ingredients for commercial-scale bakery production, with development trials scheduled across multiple product categories in 2025.

European sugar beet yields improved in 2025 as integrated pest management reduced reed glass-winged cicada populations threatening German sugar production. Südzucker reports higher beet yields and sugar content versus 2024, though emergency insecticide approvals remain necessary for 2026. Industrial bakers face reduced supply risk as coordinated control strategies show measurable progress against SBR and Stolbur bacterial diseases.

EU-Mercosur trade deal's sugar quotas raise supply chain concerns for industrial bakeries as safeguard mechanism fails to prevent factory closures.

BASF Aroma Ingredients launches Isobionics® Natural alpha-Farnesene 95, a fermentation-based lime flavour with 95% purity for industrial baking. The natural, pesticide-free ingredient is kosher and halal certified for use in beverages, confectionery and citrus applications.