Hi & Fi Asia-China 2024 preview: Functional ingredients from the sea offer “oceans of possibilities”

12 Jun 2024 --- Ingredients from the sea are poised for growth to meet the global demand for sustainably sourced, nutritionally dense and functional ingredients. As an emerging food and nutritional category, marine ingredients will be a key highlight at Hi & Fi Asia-China (June 19-21, 2024). The trade show will be co-located with Healthplex & Nutraceutical China, the Starch Expo and ProPack China.

Ahead of the event, Nutrition Insight speaks with Nicole Jansen, team manager of insights and innovation at Innova Market Insights, who will be presenting on “Oceans of opportunities: the farms of the future” at 1 PM on June 20 in the HUB Conference Area.

“Around the world, consumers rank ‘health of the planet’ and ‘health of the population’ as their top global concern, and three in five global consumers say they are making lifestyle changes due to a global issue of concern,” says Jansen. 

“So, there is a lot of opportunity to innovate in these areas, especially in the Chinese market where the average consumer over-indexes for interest in sustainable and healthy products compared to the global average,” she reports.

Seaweed and spirulina hold the biggest share of marine ingredients in the food and beverage industry.Environmental concerns weigh in
Marine ingredients are positioned for success with eco-conscious consumers, being readily renewable plant sources that can help with carbon capture, helping to offset emissions along the value chain. 

Across food categories, Chinese consumers consistently named “environmental claims” as the factor that most influences their purchasing decision compared with the global average, according to 2024 data from Innova. 

The food categories where eco-claims were most important were in ready meals and sweet spreads for consumers in China. But there are opportunities across F&B segments to incorporate sea ingredients for better sustainability credentials, such as in snacking.

For example, Denmark-based SeaMan seaweed chips supports reducing plastic in the ocean. 

Health is a crucial factor
Jansen says health is an important food and beverage purchase factor for China-based consumers, who over-index most global averages when it comes to health claims.

Probiotics are particularly well established in China, she notes. Supporting the microbiome space, Korea-based AceBiome will feature its weight management probiotic solution at the trade fair. 

Ingredients from the sea also offer boundless possibilities as functional foods. When asked, “What are the top marine ingredients of interest in food and beverages,” 33% of global consumers named fish oil, followed by marine collagen (31%) and algae oil (26%). 

Several fish and algae oil suppliers will present their products rich in omega-3s, such as KD Nutra, Golden Omega, Aker Biomarine and Polaris. In addition, the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s (GOED) will present on the topic of omega-3 supplementation opportunities in the Asian market in the HUB Conference Area on June 20. 

Omega-3s are tipped for growth with several suppliers showcasing at the multi-trade show event. In the marine collagen arena, PB Leiner will showcase its range of gelatin and collagen peptide solutions. The company will highlight its Solugel premium fish portfolio, with a special focus on its new add-in, Solugel Supra. The ingredient is positioned as the only low-molecular-weight collagen on the market, combining high di- and tripeptide content (45%) with excellent organoleptic properties and dissolution. 

“Marine collagen addresses demand in the premium beauty market,” says Jansen. “Innova data suggests that more consumers are willing to pay for marine collagen as a food and beverage ingredient, as opposed to other marine ingredients.”

PB Leiner will also present its collagen ingredients for use in food products, such as Textura Tempo, a cold soluble gelatin for blends and premixes for different applications such as bakery, restructured meat, confectionery and pet food.

Sea ingredients as food ingredients 
Aside from nutraceutical ingredients, marine ingredients have a great potential to fortify foods with more health-positioned ingredients.

“Seaweed and spirulina are established categories, taking up some of the biggest share of marine botanical ingredients,” says Jansen. “Seaweed is finding its way into pasta, snacks and even beverages.” 

Innova Market Insights data suggests a +7% average annual growth in snacks tracked with seaweed (Global, CAGR 2019-2023). And China was the top country for snack launches tracked with seaweed in 2023.

Kelp and kelp extract also hold a significant share of marine ingredients and are helping to fortify plant-based foods like Akua’s Sponge Bob Square Pants’ Kelp Patties featuring “ocean-farmed kelp.”

More to be explored
The health and functional ingredients trade show will also highlight advances in the nutricosmetics market and regulatory easing, which is facilitating entry from overseas companies to expand into China or export their products to the Asian market.

To see other top companies exhibiting at the trade show, see the Hi & Fi Asia-China event preview. 

By Missy Green