Health, Convenience and Taste Cited as Major Drivers of Increased Candy Sales photo by David Hathcox National Confectioners Association President Lawrence T. Graham Given the nation’s concern about nutrition, health and obesity, the candy industry can expect increased sales of products that can truthfully make positive health-related claims, EXPO attendees were told Thursday morning by Lawrence T. Graham, president of the National Confectioners Association. "We’ll see a lot of growth in the healthiest products," Graham said during the opening session. "The big three will be health, convenience and taste." Graham said the recently announced federal dietary guidelines, which focus on calories and exercise, are "balanced," and cautioned against reactionary efforts to restrict sales of candy and gum in the schools. "Confections are only 2 percent of the diet for both children and adults," he said. "So cutting them out of schools and kicking them out of vending machines doesn’t really make any sense in terms of the total diet." "We think all food companies, including confectionary companies, are interested in having a more healthy profile," Graham said, by including more functional foods, organics, diet-related products like low carb and sugar free, as well as more "ethical" foods that provide additional resources to workers who help grow and harvest the ingredients. Overall, Graham said, the picture for candy is positive. "In pretty tough times, with prices up, with a focus on obesity, the candy industry is showing about a 2 percent growth, led by chocolate and gum." Now, he said, NCA is focusing heavily on promoting seasonal candy purchases, including Easter, Halloween, Christmas and Valentine’s Day. For more information on attending the 2007 AWMA REAL DEAL EXPO, contact customer service at either 800-564-4220 or 703-449-6418 or awmaregistration@jspargo.com