The preparations for ProSweets Cologne 2024 are running at full speed. The international supplier fair for sweets and snacks is being staged at the Cologne fair grounds from 28 to 31 January 2024 next year, together with ISM – the leading global trade fair for sweets and snacks. As the trade fair's industry sponsor, the DLG (German Agricultural Society) is, in close collaboration with Koelnmesse, presenting an interactive specialised programme on the Expert Stage, which focuses on current and forward-looking themes. The Guided Tours will provide inspiration in the form of ideas taken from practice for use in practice. The emphasis is on "sustainable packaging concepts and processes". Like the Expert Stage, the Guided Tours are also concentrating on networking and a business exchange.

The major themes of the food industry are also intensively preoccupying the sweets and snacks industry: The trend towards natural, more healthy and sustainably produced or packaged food is gaining in significance. The acceptance of industrially processed products is declining. This is accompanied by increased costs for raw materials and energy as well as feared regulations, for example such as the currently discussed ban on food advertisements targeting children, which frequently promote products that contain too much sugar, fat or salt. The manufacturers are also intensively working on the reformulation of recipes without noticeable sensory or technological deficits - challenges, which at the same time also offer the opportunity to differentiate oneself. 

With its experienced speakers on the Expert Stage, the DLG will pick up on many current industry themes in the form of short lectures, outline possible courses of action or solutions and invite the audience to engage in a discussion with the speakers. In the course of the "Sustainable Packaging" Special Show, the new, three-part survey "DLG Insights: Sustainable Packaging 2024" will be presented, which offers new findings regarding consumers, labelling and strategies. The emphasis is being placed on interaction and networking on the Expert Stage.

The emphasis of the Guided Tours is on "sustainable packaging concepts and processes". With the New Green Deal of the European Union, the requirements for recyclability are also joining the wish for less and lighter packaging. All non-recyclable substances should be banned from packaging by 2030 at the latest. How can high recyclability be achieved while at the same time reducing the material and energy costs? Which regrowing raw materials can alternatively be implemented as safe packaging material? The answers are provided by free guided tours, lasting one hour, inside the exhibition stands of the companies that are giving new impulses to the theme of sustainable packaging.

The scheduled times for these visits are as follows: Sunday 28 January, 3pm - 4pm; Monday 29 January, 3.00pm - 4.00pm; Tuesday 30 January, 10.00am - 11.00am and 3.00pm - 4.00pm; Wednesday 31 January, 10:00 - 11:00.