More than 30 new exhibitors have signed up for the Baking Industry Exhibition (BIE), joining many big-name regular exhibitors.

Exhibition manager Daren Rose-Neale, of organiser William Reed Business Media, said the company was delighted with the pre-registration figures for the show and the fact that BIE is now part of the whole Food & Drink World 2008 week at the NEC from 6 to 9 April. The four other high-profile events running concurrently with BIE are Food & Drink Expo, Foodex Meatex and the Convenience Retailing Show.

Among the many events and competitions during the week, including a demonstration theatre and artisan masterclasses, will be the Premier Products Competition, which will take place at Foodex Meatex for the first time in its 40-year history. The National Association of Master Bakers is co-organising the pastry section of this competition in affiliation with the National Federation of Meat and Food Traders and is expecting to see some fierce rivalry between butchers and bakers.

Other special features at the show include Baking Live! a fully-functioning bakery, that will produce goods throughout the day for sampling. The showcase is sponsored by Benier (UK) Ltd, Mono Equipment, Scobie & McIntosh, Rondo Doge, Brook Food Processing Equipment, British Bakels, Unifine Food & Ingredients, Rank Hovis and Dawn Foods.

Well-known baker Dan Lepard will bring his expertise to the live demonstration Masterclasses, alongside inspirational names from the world of baking, including Richard Bertinet, Wayne Caddy, Dickinson & Morris’ Stephen Hallam and Unifine’s Arthur Tuytel.

Look out, too, for our exciting Bake-Off Shop, the Special Ingredients Area and The Theatre @ BIE, featuring the California Raisins-sponsored Future Baker of the Year.

Supplement special

A special BIE supplement will be published with the 4 April issue of British Baker, which will be distributed at the show. Why not let us know what you are planning for the event, by emailing andrew.williams@william-reed.co.uk or ellie.woollven@william-reed.co.uk. The deadline for receiving information is March 14.

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=== Equipment exhibitors ===

Morning goods, craft breads, confectionery and pizza can all be baked in the Revoband Travelling Oven from Double D Food Engineering (stand K30B), says the company. The continuous oven features an air flow system, allowing the user control over top and bottom heat.

The company has developed a high-temperature version of the oven for pizza and flat bread production. Programming the technology for a particular batch of product can accommodate different toppings and dough thicknesses and the travelling belt can be custom-built to any required width, says the firm.

BIE now boasts in excess of 120 exhibitors, including many packaging and equipment companies. UK firm PFM (stand H88B) will exhibit two of its bakery flow-wrappers. The company’s Pearl flow-wrapper produces pillow-style packs for biscuits, cakes and snack bars. It features a colour touchscreen for control of bag length, wrapping speed, temperature and print position and can pack at speeds of up to 120 bags a minute, says the company.

Also on display is the firm’s Swift flowrapper, the company’s smallest packaging machine, which is used to produce packs that are sealed with heat-sensitive packaging film. It runs at speeds of 100 packs per minute.

Wire Belt Company (stand G88B) will be showing its Compact Grid conveyor belting, designed to handle delicate products down to 10mm in diameter. The conveyor can be used for cooling, coating and baking.

Its lighter weight and lower mass, along with an open mesh framework, makes Compact Grid more energy efficient than other conventional conveyor belts, says the firm. Compact Grid is made from stainless steel and has USDA approval for direct contact with food, and an increased open area making it easier to clean and maintain in situ, adds the firm.

Wire Belt will also launch a new heavy-duty Flat-Flex belting, applicable for tray baking applications, as well as examples of its range of metal conveyor belts and systems.

An enhanced size range on the new TS570 Flexwrap from FDA Packaging Machinery (stand J61B) means the machine can be adjusted to wrap from a single biscuit to a loaf of bread. The company says the machine is the most flexible of its kind on the market and can be changed from size to size in minutes without tools or parts.

Several new items will be on display from EPP (stand G31B) at this year’s BIE. The Futura is the 2008 version of the two-pocket König Mini-Rex automatic dough dividing and rounding machine. It can produce up to 4,000 pieces an hour. The Mini-Rex machines are popular with UK bakeries, says the company, which claims to have sold and installed over 700 of them.

Also new is the Tartomatic tart and pie-making machine, suitable for bakeries where space is at a premium. Manufactured by Comas, the new model is quick and easy to clean and, with some additional tooling, can be adapted to produce quiches, cheesecakes and Scotch pies in addition to a wide range of other pies and tarts, according to the company.

Other products on display will include Aquamix, the latest spiral mixer from VMI, a versatile vertical bagging unit from Gasparin and the MIWE backcombi oven system, which combines convection with radiant heat.