The Editor Presents: The Snacking Edition
14 Sep 2023 | The World of Food Ingredients
Join The World of Food Ingredients’ editor Missy Green for a quick presentation of this month’s edition, which focuses on snacking innovation. She’ll break down the key takeaways from articles covering topics such as fiber-enhanced snacks ingredients, clean label and plant-based formulation, as well as the need for indulgent moments. She will also examine new strategies in precision fermentation.
Brought to you by
Welcome to the World of Food Ingredients September edition of The Editor Presents.
I'm your editor, Missy Green, and it's my pleasure to present you with the snacking edition.
So feel free to grab some popcorn and ask questions in the comment section.
At the end, our moderator will be on the lookout and then I'll address them.
So, let's get to it.
In the food business news, cell-cultured meat is picking up.
Alla Farms recently applied to the UK and Swiss authorities for its cell-cultured beef steak, but not to the EU.
So, right now, cell-cultured meat is approved only in Singapore and the US but looking very promising for the rest of the world.
And this was also a fun launch.
At the bottom of the page, Snoop Dogg launched his own ice cream brand, Doctor Bombay.
Doctor Bombay is a character that started out as as one of his NFTs, and then it transcended the digital world and became an ice cream brand.
So, we're seeing more and more of this, the digital world influencing food development.
And being a source of inspiration.
So we also heard from our knowledge partner.
At Never Market Insights, and they gave us some of the top 10 trends in snacking.
And go to the page.
There it is.
So, one of the most interesting things we found here is that snack, nuts and seeds are making up the majority of new products that are being developed.
So, companies are literally finding ways to spice up things that are minimally processed.
Also, finger foods are the fastest growing at 11%.
So, there's This trend of, like, making anything snackable, right, because snacks are becoming so important as we're moving away from the three meals a day society.
Also, as snacks are, you know, becoming more important, they're becoming more nutrient dense, right?
So, consumers are looking for things like tortillas made from almond flour, and there's an example of one of those there.
A benefit is that it can also carry, like, a gluten-free claim or a keto claim.
And it's not just startups who are doing this.
Even really established brands like Pringles are incorporating more positive ingredients.
So, Pringles recently came out with its harvest lends line, and that has multi-grains, but also sweet potatoes and black beans to their traditional chip.
And then another interesting innovation was, here we go.
These snack puffs that are made from butternut squash.
So, as you see, nuts and seeds are leading in the snack MPD and there's another article that is talking about all the different ways that you can tap into that trend by adding more crunch, more indulgence, and ultimately nutrition to the final product.
Right, emerging tech and alt proteins.
So, this article was written by one of our New York-based writers who attended the Future Food Tech of Alt protein conference in Times Square, and it was all about, you know, all the different technologies that are being developed and how companies are adapting these and then also putting their unique twist on them.
To carve out their space in the market and have their, you know, unique proposition.
The one that stood out is Climax Foods based in California, and the company uses AI to determine what are the molecules exactly in animal-based foods that make that craveable sensory experience, and then how can it be replicated with plant-based ingredients.
A lot of crossovers happening between You know, taking specific components of animal-based foods and then filling them out with plant-based and sustainable ingredients.
Treating away life's troubles.
So this is a global report on indulgent snacking that combined consumer surveys and launch data taken from Enova, and what it found was, you know, we know that consumers go for indulgent foods during stressful, hard times, as, you know, we're facing so many hard times, but What was really interesting was that it also happens through in like the microcosm of the day.
So consumers will start out, like, really health focused with their breakfast, and then as, you know, the afternoon snacks come, it's like, less important.
And then by the time you reach like a nighttime snack, health is generally, you know, not even a factor anymore.
Yeah.
So, health and the sensory experience are both totally relevant and important.
And here we have some highlights from around the world that kind of showcase both of those things.
So, Brazilian popcorn is our, our highlight, and it features, lemon essential oils, and then, Also pretty cool, this wavy Wonder snack from Denmark, it's a combination of seaweed and seeds, and then it's flavored with wild garlic and yogurt.
And many, so many products to check out.
Snacks has historically been, like, just a breeding ground for fun experiment and inspiration.
And I think if there was, like, one trend that was You know, a stand out, it would be protein.
All right, so moving on.
To general, like, OK, what is happening in the taste world?
So, multi-sensory taste combinations really stood out this year.
Here we've got a launch of flavored cashews at the bottom left-hand corner.
So, you know, it's again, like a nuts and seeds type thing.
But then it combines habanero chili with citrus, and then it's using the specific chili, right, the habanero, and that's being combined with dried mango and roasted corn.
So, you've got Like the sour from the citrus, spicy from the habaneros, sweet from the mango, savory from the corn, and it's all in one snack.
And this article also looks, looks at how brands are using social media to drum up an online following, and they're creating this, like, fan base of consumers who are loyal to the brand.
So, G Fuel was a pretty interesting one at the top left corner.
They built up their following surrounding their energy drinks, and then they came out with another functional food, but it was a snack, the protein puffs.
So they already had this, like, captive audience that they knew was into You know, functional things to consume.
All right.
Next, let's talk about synthetic colors.
So, lately, there was a little bit of controversy coming out about red dye number 3, because it's not allowed in cosmetics in the US, but it is allowed in candy.
And this, you know, this was worrying groups like the Environmental Working Group and Consumer Reports, who earlier this year, they asked the confectionery company just born to pull the ingredient from its formulations, but, you know, the company didn't because it's fully approved by the FDA.
So, very legitimate reason to continue to use it.
So, this article delves a little bit into that debate, but it also showcases how natural ingredients are innovating, what they're doing to provide more stability for companies who do want to make that transition.
To clean our labels.
OK.
Beyond Madagascar, so most of the world's vanilla today comes from Madagascar, which effectively gives them a monopoly over the price worldwide.
And, the author of this piece, Daphne Hapkin Frenkel, she's a vanilla expert, has been for many years, and she talks about how vanilla has been going through this very dramatic boom and bust cycle.
So, when the price is high, you have different growers who just like come in and they want to grow vanilla, and then when it's low, they just abandon it, and then it all goes back to Madagascar again.
And she proposes a couple of different ways that, you know, we might be able to stabilize.
The price differences that are going, you know, so vastly up and down.
A lot of manufacturers have just chosen to go, you know, away from natural vanilla, but, you know, she, she thinks that's not really necessary.
Check it out.
And molecular farming is also an interesting topic that's coming up in all the proteins, and this is definitely one to watch.
This is taking a crop and bioengineering it to grow ingredients that that would otherwise be scarce.
So, here is a watermelon that can grow the sweetener found in monk fruit.
And this page you've got corn, which has been bioengineered to produce the heme protein, and this is meaty corn.
You also see here on the bottom soybeans that have been tweaked to express pork protein.
And one of the benefits of this method over technologies like precision fermentation is that a lot of processing facilities already exist.
They can process soy and corn.
So, it's a lot less capital intensive than precision fermentation.
And you also, you know, you already have like a living organism that's supporting growth.
But it's not to say that precision fermentation is not extremely promising, and it's actually really blossoming.
It's been used for decades to make like insulin and B vitamins, so it's not actually a new technology, but what's novel now is how it's being used to make classic dairy-based foods without involving animals.
And the way it's done is by programming yeasts to replicate a specific genetic code when they're fed a certain feedstock.
So, if you think about how sugar gets converted into alcohol and beer, you know, this is feeding yeast, and then it produces, you know, a casing protein.
And then afterwards, the yeast is filtered out and you've got this really pure ingredient.
So, the pioneer of this method is Perfect Day, which already has several products on the market, in the US specifically, but others are, are coming.
In the page, we heard from key suppliers about the trends they're seeing in snacks, and this is covering sensory qualities like, the combinations of flavors are mentioned, like sweet and spicy with the hot honey trend, and there's also, also the health aspects like lower salt and sugar, which are always relevant for snacks.
And injecting meat with trim.
So, why would you do that?
This article was authored by a meat processing specialist who has seen this technique popping up more and more, and you wouldn't know it if you're in the supermarket because it doesn't need to be listed on the label, right?
If you're injecting, a steak with an emulsion of beef trim, it's the same ingredient, so it would be redundant to list it.
But the technique makes the meat more juicy, more plump, and it also reduces the food waste, right, because, you know, maybe you wouldn't use that anyway.
But then she brings up the point, you know, should it be labeled?
So that's the question.
In plant-based innovation, we talked to Hakim Jimo, and he's the representative of Proveeg in Nigeria.
He argues that Africa is being overlooked as an important place for plant-based foods.
He cites the example of the, the Milo chocolate beverage that's hugely popular, but they can't find a dairy-free, version, and, and, and this is despite the fact that lactose intolerance is higher in Africa than other parts of the world.
So then we also spoke a little bit about, you know, Plant-based dairy could be more expensive, and, you know, he says it's true, but Nigeria has, you know, like a middle class and also a high percentage of young people who are interested in, you know, they're interested in sustainability.
In their own way, they're interested in catching up or, like, you know, reproducing what's happening in other parts of the world.
So, What's the biggest problem in plant-based products today?
It's still the taste and the texture.
And this article speaks specifically about texture when it comes to plant-based.
And this is from Charlie Bags, chef Charlie Bags, who spent more than 20 years on food product development.
Looking at how that can be replicated, you know, first on a small scale, and then in an industrial sense.
And in regulatory news, Latin America is still a patchwork of what you can say where when it comes to health claims.
So there are some trade blocks reaching a harmonization like the Central American bloc, CEA, and the Caribbean Community CARICO, but those are just for foods, not for supplements.
So if you're active in the market or you're looking to expand, this is a good resource to understand the region a little bit better.
Another great up and coming market we hear about all the time is the Asian market.
And this is, sort of in advance of FI Asia, which is taking place in Thailand next week.
You know, there's huge potential, especially for health ingredients, and consumers in Asia were the most likely to look for healthier versions of snacks, according to, according to an Enova survey.
So, it's something like, you know, 70%, and that was compared to like 40% of North Americans.
In this article, I spoke with Felicia Cristiani from A Nova Market Insights, and she'll be giving a talk at the show, talking about the top 10 trends and how they apply in Asia.
And one of the most interesting ones I thought was the plant-based development because, you know, she pointed out that in Asia, there's already this very long tradition of meat replacements.
You've got tofu, tempe, And consumers are generally pretty happy with them.
Like they know what the texture is like, they know what the taste is like, but she does think the biggest area for innovation is in plant-based dairy, because, that's something that they're quite open to in her view.
And in the highlights of Health, a recent study found that there's really no safe level of alcohol when it comes to hypertension.
And then in fiber, Fiber is, the gut health trend is continuing, and a recent survey from Enova found that about 50% of consumers are interested in fiber as a functional food.
And then 31 have increased their fiber in the past 12 months.
And You may know oxanthan as an antioxidant ingredient, but it's also up and coming as a gut health ingredient for rebalancing gut flora.
So, this one, this article details a couple of the studies behind that.
And in the view from the top, we spoke with Frank Monmont at Cargill, who says the company is making a major shift now from a single ingredient supplier to a food solutions mindset, and that's focusing on co-creation with the customers.
The company is also invested more in the specialty chocolate space.
So, last year they opened the House of Chocolate in Belgium with the idea that they could bring, you know, every part of the process down under one roof.
And that's it for the snacking edition.
I hope you enjoyed it, and you can feel free to send me an email with any topics, anytime that you'd like to see featured in the world of food ingredients.
So, I will now open the floor for any questions.
We have a question from August Dong.
Why do you think other farms didn't apply to the EU with its cell cultured beef?
All right, thank you for that, August.
So, Yeah, that was interesting that Ala Farms applied, you know, just to Switzerland and the UK.
And, of course, you would have to ask Ala Farms to know the real answer.
But I know that, speaking with different people in the Precision Fermentation Alliance, there's this, there's this, you know, worry that if you apply to EFSA, but then You know, something happens with the application, or they need more evidence to say that it's novel food or not, then that could, they could, like, stop the process.
There's like the stop the clock that can happen.
And then it might, it may be that the process takes much longer before it can actually come to market.
So, You know, it could be that they're waiting to see, like, if it gets approved in other regions first, that can be.
You know, I could set him in a good track.
Right Thank you.
We have another question from Tashi Nira.
Is there anything new happening in fiber?
Anything that happen in fiber.
You know, I was surprised to see that 50% of consumers are interested in fiber as a functional ingredient, because it's, you know, something that historically has not been too, I guess, like an interesting ingredient.
But, I think what is really interesting about fiber today is that prebiotics are becoming, you know, more and more prevalent.
The last vitafoods is that I kept seeing it coming up.
And, you know, that's a great way to sort of like, and help consumers understand how this directly impacts the microbiome and digestive health.
At the same time, you know, there's companies like Beneo who have said, we need to make sure that we don't overuse the word prebiotic because there's only very specific ingredients that can be officially classified as prebiotic.
So, I would say keep watching out for prebiotics.
Don't forget to email me if you have more questions.
