French brands shine at the 26th Bakery China

French brands played a big role in the Bakery China 2024, as this year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France.

Celebrating its 26th edition, this year's event, running from May 21 to 24 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, covers an impressive exhibition area of 320,000 square meters. Over 2,200 renowned brands from nearly 30 countries and regions gathered to showcase their array of delectable products and over 400,000 visitors from more than 130 countries and regions were estimated to attend.

La Rose Noire, a world-renowned fine pastry and bakery goods brand, continues to push the boundaries of creativity to meet the needs of consumers with its diverse line-up. This year, La Rose Noire dazzled audiences with a fantastic display of two new mixed offerings. La Rose Noire Non-Azo Macarons are handmade macarons in eight flavors including mango, coconut, and pistachio, as well as a crispy outer shell containing fillings of fruit paste or jelly to create three layers of taste and texture. The brand also unveiled its La Rose Noire Cube Selection with four flavors, and bakes all its products using French flour and yeast with traditional French baking standards.

Léon Chaillot is a producer of French charcuterie (dry-cured pork meats) that originated in the 1870s from Ardèche, a mountainous region of France where expert craftsmen have been perfecting the art of making the finest dried pork sausage for centuries. At the event, Léon Chaillot presented a Flavored Mini Barou in three flavors: black garlic, lemongrass chili, and cinnamon star anise, blending French artisanal techniques and Asian flavors with classic ingredients to offer consumers a conveniently portioned 90 grams of flavor at any time. Another product in the spotlight was the newly packaged Léon Chaillot Montagne sausage, characterized by its generous size, soft flavor, and supple texture. Its latest packaging is designed to resonate more closely with Chinese diners.

Online purchasing of baking ingredients has become a mainstream consumer habit in the Chinese market, and French brands are joining this trend.

As the Chinese subsidiary of the global dairy group Savencia, Sinodis announced the launch of its B2B digital platform, MySinodis. It provides clients with a one-stop shop of products and services, allowing them to place and track orders, and access creative recipes, technical information, market insights, chef demonstration videos and livestreams. The platform provides customers with full solutions, supporting them to grow their business.

Food safety and health is always a hot topic customers pay attention to. It has become common practice for food products' promotions to include the phrase "the ingredient list is very clean."

With more and more ingredient lists becoming "clean," the demand from both baking enthusiasts and food companies for raw materials, supply chain solutions, and application products is increasing.

The French brand Lesaffre brought their new products with "a clean ingredient list" to the China market.

They have replaced less healthy ingredients with Vitamin C in their bread improver product.

"Pre-packaged bread has its own specific target audience and consumption scenarios," said Jerome Vanachter, president of Lesaffre China. "The best way is not to resist, but to provide consumers with healthy, additive-free, pre-packaged food through recipe improvements."