The BIET Meeting Closes with Record Attendance and Solidifies its Status as a Key Event for the Baking Sector and Related Industries

BIET returned to an in-person format, with the participation of 187 registered attendees and 26 internationally renowned speakers.

Technology and innovative product manufacturers, users, researchers, and distributors discussed the challenges and opportunities the sector faces over the course of 14 presentations and 10 workshops featuring sustainability as the common theme.

The BIET Meeting, a leading event for the baking sector and related industries, has recently closed its latest edition with great attendance and success. More than 180 professionals participated in the events held on 7 and 8 June at the IQS campus. Technology and innovative product manufacturers, users, researchers, and distributors discussed the challenges and opportunities the sector faces.

The event, which definitively returned to its in-person format this year following the pandemic, has established itself as a key event in the sector both due to the quality of its speakers and its clear international character. During the two days of the events, professionals with international prestige shared time and knowledge together in the Multimedia Room at IQS. In total, there were 26 speakers, many of whom came from universities, such as Manuel Gómez Pallarés (University of Valladolid), Mario Martínez (Aarhus University – Denmark), Stefano Renzetti (Wageningen University & Research), while other speakers represented companies and sponsors of the event. All of the speakers contributed with their presentations to offer a current vision of technological trends and current and future challenges that the baking sector faces in Europe.

This year’s edition featured a total of 14 technical presentations, with topics ranging from the use of enzymes to improve formulations and textures to innovation in ingredients with nutritional and flavour impacts or new baking concepts that combine ingredient and flavour technology. Sustainability was the undisputed theme for this year’s edition of the BIET, and it stood out as the main objective in the majority of the presentations. In some cases, the theme of sustainability was directly evident, such as during conferences focused on topics such as ingredient technology to make bread more sustainable and affordable or the need to rethink baking and find clean-label cake formulations. Yet the theme was clear in other presentations as well, with constant references to objectives such as energy and water savings or minimizing waste and surpluses at all business levels (agriculture, industry, distribution, and hospitality).

Another leading topic in this year’s edition was gluten-free products: four specific presentations summarized the current situation in this area, analysed the evolutions achieved thanks to innovation and technology, highlighted the opportunities and challenges, presented certain technologies that address product improvement, and showcased novelties such as gluten-free wheat.

In short, the BIET Meeting has proved once again that it is a can’t-miss event for the bread, flour, frozen dough, industrial and artisanal processors, R&D centres, analysis laboratories, regulatory bodies, and other sectoral entities in the industry. The event is designed to share knowledge, research, projects, and news not only through the presentations, but also in a more interactive way with a total of 10 workshops.

Moreover, BIET’23 also featured an exhibition space where participating companies had their own stands to showcase their work, products, and news and to take advantage of breaks for networking.

A short background

The BIET (European Meeting on Baking Ingredients, Enzymes and Technology) conference is organized every two years by the AIQS Alumni Food Professional Group with the purpose of offering the sector the opportunity to support the state of the art in the baking and related industries in Europe. Founded in 1921, AIQS Alumni is the oldest alumni association in Spain. With its values focused on commitment, perseverance, responsibility, and cooperation, this community offers cross-disciplinary events to enhance the careers of its members alongside IQS. In addition to representing a meeting point with former classmates, AIQS builds bonds with the university that enable alumni to continue developing both professionally and personally and to expand its influential network.

The first edition of BIET took place in 2007, although its origins date back to the 1980s. Since its inception in this new present era, BIET has overcome economic crises and the passage of time, becoming a benchmark event for the baking sector and related industries not only in Spain, but increasingly around the world with the presence and participation of professionals and researchers from other countries.

BIET relies on a large group of sponsor and partner companies. Its premium sponsors include IFF, Puratos, Zeelandia, Lallemand, AIT Ingredients, and Kerry. Other sponsors include Eurogerm, BASF, Ricardo Molina, Hifood, Novozymes, Tecnosa, and Ireks. Finally, partners include Agriflex, Limagrain, Pan de calidad, Palsgaard, IQS, and Alifarma.