INDUSTRY NEWS
Barry Callebaut partners with NotCo AI
Barry Callebaut and NotCo AI have entered a strategic agreement to explore the use of artificial intelligence in chocolate recipe development, blending Barry Callebaut’s century of chocolate expertise with NotCo’s advanced AI platform. The partnership aims to accelerate innovation, enhance speed to market, and deliver more tailored solutions as customer expectations evolve. It is one of the first AI-powered integrations of its kind in the food industry. The companies plan to merge Barry Callebaut’s
extensive
ingredient data, manufacturing scale, and global distribution with NotCo AI’s modelling capabilities to create an end-to-end digital innovation hub. The goal is to test new ways of designing chocolate that are faster, more sustainable, and fully scalable for both industrial customers and foodservice partners. Barry Callebaut CEO Peter Feld said the collaboration reflects the company’s commitment
Roose Automation’s ‘Chocomatic’ comes to life with igus 7th axis
(L to R) Dries Roekaerts, President Customer Experience at Barry Callebaut; Matias Muchnick, Co-Founder and CEO at NotCo; Amr Arafa, Chief Digital Officer at Barry Callebaut; Peter Feld, CEO at Barry Callebaut
to boosting innovation and responding more quickly to market shifts, including volatile cocoa prices and changing nutritional demands. He noted that AI could help accelerate the development of health-forward formulations, functional ingredients, and Nutri- Score-friendly options while improving process efficiency. The initiative aims to explore AI-
driven formulation methods that could shorten development cycles, increase hit rates, and support scientists and chefs with digital tools that enhance speed and precision. Ultimately, the companies hope to set a new standard for how chocolate is created and optimized. NotCo AI CEO Matias Muchnick
said integrating Barry Callebaut’s chocolate knowledge with NotCo’s proprietary dataset— built over a decade—creates a powerful innovation engine for the next generation of CPG and ingredient companies.
Oterra signs partnership with Seprify
Oterra and Swiss materials innovator Seprify have entered a strategic commercial partnership to market a plant-based white colouring that can replace titanium dioxide (TiO) in food and beverage applications. By integrating Seprify’s patented cellulose-based technology, Oterra will offer a clean-label, renewable alternative that matches the opacity and brightness of TiO while reducing environmental impact. The companies have collaborated for more than two years,
testing the ingredient across over 15 categories including bakery icings, confectionery coatings, sauces, plant-based dairy, meat and powdered drinks. The patented extraction process creates cellulose particles that scatter light to produce a bright white effect. “Oterra has developed one of the largest portfolios of natural
colors… this new source of white gives us better options for a broader range of food and beverage applications,” said Luc Ganivet, Oterra’s Chief Innovation Officer. “Oterra’s scale and formulation expertise make them the ideal partner,” added Dr. Lukas Schertel, CEO and co-founder of Seprify.
NOVEMBER 2025 • KENNEDY’S CONFECTION • 7
Roose Automation has equipped its compact “ChocoMatic” chocolate- picking robot with a plug-and-play linear axis from igus, enabling the arm to travel horizontally across multiple dispensers inside the vending unit. When a customer selects chocolates on a touchscreen, the robot moves along the rail, picks each item and delivers the order without human intervention. A standard 6-axis robot couldn’t reach all trays in the confined space, and adding linear motion typically requires extensive programming. The ready-to-install igus 7th axis expanded the robot’s working range instantly while integrating directly with the controller through the company’s “plug-to-program” system. “In projects like ChocoMatic, it’s about simplicity,” says Adam Sanjurgo, Automation Product Manager at igus. “You install it, the controller recognises it, and it just works.” Mounted beneath the robot, the axis uses a toothed-belt drive to
achieve speeds up to 0.6 m/s with 0.3 mm positioning accuracy. Roose Automation integrated it into the robot’s software without extra coding or interface design, saving weeks of development time and significantly reducing programming costs. Each igus 7th axis supports robots up to 55 kg and runs on aluminium rails up to six metres long, featuring lubrication-free polymer bushings and e-chains for cable protection. “The ChocoMatic shows how our plug-to-program technology can help any company, not just in manufacturing,” Sanjurgo adds.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
