March
Health has long been discussed as a key trend in the bread market, but new research has pinpointed Omega 3 and whole grains as areas with the most potential for the future.
Fears that decades of baking expertise could be lost to the next gene-ration of bakers, because of a lack of training provision, have prompted the creation of a new online bakery school.
Heavy discounting of everyday bakery products in North American and Western European supermarkets has motivated bakery manufacturers to develop premium products that command better margins - a trend that will help the global bakery market grow to a value of $407bn (£204bn) by 2010.
Scientists are currently developing varieties of wheat resistant to a virulent fungus, which has spread from Africa to Iran. The UG99, which began in Uganda in 1999, is a strain of black rust, which can affect 80-90% of wheat crops in these countries.
Wheat pricing has almost tripled since the turn of the century, according to the World Bank.
has bought US firm The Coffee Equipment company and its Clover Brewing System.
A fatal accident enquiry into the death of a bakery forklift driver started last week. Glasgow's Sheriff's Court will investigate the causes behind the death of agency driver Graham Meldrum in 2005. He was killed by a truck's tail-lift as he unloaded bread at the Allied Bakeries factory in Balmore industrial estate, Lambhill.
There is lots going on at the moment. The Baking Industry Exhibition opens its doors at 10am on Sunday 6 April at the Birmingham NEC and runs up to and including Wednesday 8th.
The owner of a Michelin-starred restaurant has won a battle to open what he calls an "old-fashioned and traditional bakery", deep in the heart of the Leicestershire countryside.