Unfortunately, the commodity market for your bulk food ingredients often just is what it is, and it's completely out of your control.

Most people would agree that at the end of the day, there's only so much a purchasing manager do can do to lower your ingredient costs-- which includes bulk oils.  You just have to go with the flow, they say, even though it could be slashing your profit margin, or possibly even sinking your business.  

Well, we don't agree.  We think you'll just have to get creative when it comes to how you're buying.

It's true, there's nothing that you can do about the prices mandated by the commodity market.  But you can make lots of little other changes that can makem that all factor into your total price. These add up to big savings. 

Here are the best 4 ways we know of to begin lowering your bulk oil ingredient costs.  Even better?  You don't have to wait for the commodity market to be high-- you can start saving money right now.

Sometimes, you will hear of commodity purchases being made on the "spot market". This term has to do with the commodity market itself, and will relate to the pricing that you receive.

If you haven't dealt much with bulk oil commodities, this term can seem foreign. We will explain, so that you can make smart purchases and understand exactly the pricing that you're getting.

Ever wonder why spot prices are often more expensive than contracted rates?  There's a good reason, and we'll discuss that too.

Happy Sunday!

Today is Columbus Day, which makes tomorrow (hopefully, fingers crossed) your day off.  If you do get the day with your family, enjoy it!  

The week before a holiday always seems to be so busy! If you had a full week too, now is a great time to catch up with the latest from the bulk oil world.  We've compiled all the latest trends.

As with all holidays, enjoy the day with good food!  We think it's time for something cozy and sweet.  We've got a great dessert recipe below, perfect for if you have company in town or just a simple finish to tomorrow evening.  

Enjoy yourself, and have a wonderful holiday today!

A comodity is a raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold.

Commodity items often display little-changing market demand, which does not fluctuate with variations in price. In other words, it's an raw material or ag product that people need, not just want.

Gasoline is an everyday commodity item that everyone has experience with.  The price fluctuates daily, completely outside of your control.  W,hether the price goes up or down, you'll continue to need gas for your car, and since most people don't have a great way to "stock up" you'll end up buying it when your tank runs low-- no matter the cost that day.  

In the food industry, many raw ingredients that manufacturers use are defined as commodity items. Wheat, sugar, soy and canola are all good examples. No matter the price, you still need these raw ingredients for your manufacturing process; there are no substitutes, and you can't create the product without it.

Another defining factor of commodity items is that the price fluctuates often. Depending on the product, prices can change by the minute, hour, day or week.

Have you ever seen those large racks of Sathers candy at the check out?  Many of those bags are labeled "fat free"-- as if being fat free makes them healthier.

This fat free tagline was a big hit in the 90s, when the US went through its "avoid-fat-at-all-costs" stage.  It probably even helped increase their sales.

Here's the thing though-- this candy always was fat free.  It always will be fat free.  It is, by the nature of the beast... fat free.

So what does this have to do with non-GMO?  Well the non-GMO industry is experiencing a similar labeling situation right now, particularly within the bulk oil industry.

With more and more consumers avoiding GMOs every day, they're on the look out for anything labeled as "GMO Free!" or "Non-GMO!" (rah, rah!!).  As a buyer of bulk ingredients for their food products, you probably are too.

As you're choosing your bulk oil ingredients, it's important to know which have always been non-GMO naturally, and what oils are moving away from the industry standard, back towards being non-GMO (like a special feature).

Sometimes, it's hard to know exactly what kind of oil going to work best.  If you're in the R&D stages of a new product, you'll be faced with decisions about choosing the right bulk ingredients.  Sometimes, as you begin to narrow down your search, you may be presented with more and more challenging questions.

For example, let's pretend you've been debating between Canola Oil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Sunflower Oil for some time.  You finally make the decision to go with Sunflower Oil.  Unfortunately, you're immediatly presented with a new question: what kind of Sunflower Oil would you like?

Certain oils, especially seed oils, come in a few varieties.  For sunflower oil, there's high oleic, mid oleic and linoleic.  And as you're making your ingredient decisions, it's helpful to know the differences before you begin testing-- not after.

Happy Sunday!

Today is World Teacher's Day.  Want to do something nice?  Put together a little package for your favorite teacher.  Ditch the apple-- give them a nice bottle of olive oil, and a bit of fresh bread in a basket.  Now that's the ticket!

If you missed out this week, here's a review of the latest trends from the bulk oil world.  Enjoy!

Having company this week or looking for an after school snack?  We've got a great recipe at the end of this blog that will do the trick!

What nationality of people do you think eat (and drink, yes, did you know people do that?) the most olive oil?

A few years ago, I personally would have guessed the Italians.  Makes sense, right?  A lot of olive oil comes from there, it's the epitome of the Mediterranean lifestyle.

Before we go any further, place your wagers now!

Drumroll please...

People are caring more and more about what they're putting in their bodies.  They're looking at ingredient labels, rejoicing over non-GMO foods, and asking for more information all them time, about where their food is coming from.  

Consumers want to be connected to what they're eating.

This was shown in the hilariously ironic Portlandia clip, where a couple eating at a restaurant go to far lengths to understand where their chicken is from and how it was raised.

So now, more than ever, how your bulk ingredients are made matters.  It matters to the people that you care about-- your target market, the people that are going to buy your product.  This includes the bulk oil ingredients that you use. 

And it's not just about what they're from made from-- it's also about how they're produced.  Was there chemicals involved?  Was the oil refined?  Was it a naturally produced oil, fresh squeezed with a poetic romantic tale?  

Either way, your customers want to know, and down the line, your ingredient can choices affect your sales.

High quality, non-GMO and organic oils are in high demand right now. 

If you use natural or specialty oils as a bulk ingredient in your manufacturing, you already are well aware.  You may even be feeling the market pressure.  Perhaps, even, you've wondered what other non-gmo or organic bulk oils you could be using as an alternative.  

Today we're going to focus on price-- always the giant elephant in the room.  Here's how the pricing of some of the most common healthy, non-GMO or organic oils compares: Extra Virgin vs. Safflower & Sunflower Oil (see graph with actual prices below).

Happy Sunday!

Today is (drumroll please...) Ask A Stupid Question Day, a recognized holiday in many US schools.  Not kidding.  

So what's your stupid question about bulk oils?  We really want to know, and we won't laugh. Promise.  We'll even answer it for you afterwards!  Ask us at blog@centrafoods.com.

Before we get too carried away, here's a review of the bulk oil trends from the last week, just in case you missed one.

If you're looking for dinner ideas this week, how about this one-- a pasta dish that simple yet delicious (see the link at the end of the article).

As a follow up from yesterday's blog, Why It's Ideal To List Multiple Potential Bulk Oil Ingredients, today we'll be discussing how to go about the process of qualifying multiple ingredient for your label.

In review, some brands often list multiple ingredients with an "and/or" stipulation. For example, our chips may be made with Canola Oil, Sunflower Oil, and/or Safflower Oil.  The consumer doesn't get to know exactly what they're eating in that particular bag, but they know it will have been made with at least one of those 3 ingredients.  

This decision to list more than one commodity bulk oil ingredient is a strategic business choice.  It helps protect the company in times of commodity market crisis, where one ingredient may be high priced, or even worse, completely unavailable.

Want to do this for your product?  We'll walk you through the steps.

Have you ever looked on the back of some products to find ingredient labels that list multiple potential ingredients?

Canola Oil, Sunflower Oil and/or Safflower Oil?  Soybean Oil and/or Corn Oil?  This is especially common when the ingredients are used for cooking or preparation-- you'll find this in chips and popcorn a lot because of that.

What this ingredient label means is that the bulk oil ingredients that may be used in the product could be Canola Oil... but it also might be Sunflower Oil or Safflower Oil.  Or maybe both, or all three.  Whatever the company happens to decide for to use that production run is a-okay, because they've already listed the possible choices on their ingredient list.

This trend is especially common with oil ingredients, since they are often commodities and, in some products, are easily interchangable.  

Ever wonder why companies list more than one possibile ingredient?  There's a good (and very self-preserving) reason behind it.  

The era of Non-GMO is upon us.

No matter how you feel about the non-GMO movement, it's a fact that it's in full swing in the food industry, and it's still picking up speed.  

This movement, still in its adolescence, will come in stages.  It's childhood was the blossoming of demand for non-GMO foods and the establishment of small companies and niche brands that catered to this new trend.  Next comes the transition of large mainstream companies to non-GMO, as they hop on the bandwagon.  In fact, we're just moving into phase two of this movement now.  

This evolution of large companies "hopping on board" has an affect on the entire supply and demand chain for non-GMO ingredients.  If you also buy non-GMO, it will affect how your business gets ingredients, if they're available and what the prices are.  

You'll want to know this, and you'll want to begin preparing now.

Happy Sunday!  You've made it through another week :)

In two days, it will will officially be the first day of fall.  Personally, that's my favorite season of the year.  Enjoy the cooling weather, crisp air and beautiful colors.  And also, football season has arrived!

In the bulk oil world, here's the lastest trends from this week-- just in case you missed out.

If you're looking for a great recipe this week, this one is on my top 10 list-- warm in your belly and so delicious.  Make it in a crockpot tonight, turn it on the morning, and you're good to go for tomorrow night!  Look for the link at the bottom for all the details.