Searching for stability in a volatile industry?
As food regulations change or rumors of change swirl through the industry, it translates into far more than a simple label adjustment, especially when you add in the subsequent formulation and equipment considerations.
Companies need to maintain product texture, taste, appearance and ultimately cost in order to retain customer loyalty as they face each individual reformulation challenge. Sorting it all out can keep an R&D department tied up in knots for months.
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Growth Through Product Innovation
For several years now, companies operating in the processed foods industry have sought to increase growth and profits via the well-tread, well-proven path of improving production efficiency, with good reason. Tweaking manufacturing and supply chain processes or implementing more advanced ERP or MRP systems have generally resulted in improved margins in this competitive business.
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Collaborating to Innovate
Historically food product development occurred within the firm boundaries of a company’s research and development department. Many manufacturers and suppliers continue to operatewith such a business model. However, there’s increasing attention to the concept of “open innovation,” a term coined in 2003 by Henry Chesbrough, a professor at the University of California-Berkeley.
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Eggs can do that, too!
Some say fire is mother nature's way of cleaning up the forest, ridding the environment of superfluous elements. This parallels financial recessions, which encourage a reduction in clutter and a return to basics. Indeed, today’s consumers are looking for ways to purify and simplify, and they’re starting with their diet.
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Garlic: The Root of it All
Follow your nose. En route to Gilroy, California, the 'garlic capital of the world'' you’ll smell this litt le bulb before you see it. Just stroll past an Italian restaurant and you can't miss its piquant aroma. Th e fl avor it lends is unmistakable and essential in everything from classic American comfort food to all kinds of multi-cultural cuisine.
It started in the fertile ground and mild climate of the West coast, an ideal scenario for garlic plants, with the ‘softneck’ variety predominant in California. Gilroy opened with a processing facility of just 20,000 square feet, completing its first production run on October 17, 1959. Back then, the distinctive papery white bulbs were sorted by hand and Gilroy concentrated on processing dehydrated garlic.
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A taste of the future
Although only recently accepted into the international food lexicon, umami, the fifth taste stretches back into the annals of food history. Many popular foods and seasonings evoke the umami taste, although it remained unidentified in a scientific sense.
A fermented or pickled fish sauce called garum, rich in umami taste and characteristics, is one of the earliest recorded flavoring agents used in ancient Greece and Rome when Aristotle identified seven basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, spicy, astringent and sandy. Chinese records from as early as 1,000 B.C. documented five tastes.
Other ancient cultures also record more than four basic tastes.
View the report
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What's old is new again: There's comfort in eggs
Comfort foods¦every country has them. And while gender and cultural differences exist, almost universally a comfort food evokes pleasant memories. Comfort foods help soothe anxiety and stress while satisfying a deep longing for a return to simpler times.
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Will You Still Feed Me, When I'm 64?
Every day, 11,000 baby boomers turn 50, and many thousands more are reaching retirement age. However, this generation anticipates experiencing a different style of retirement than their parents before them. As that tidal wave of marketing influence, the baby boom generation, starts to reach age 65 and older, food processors and manufacturers need to consider the nutritional and health needs of an aging population that is redefining the “senior years.”
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NuVal Nutritional Scoring System
Q: What is the NuVal Nutritional Scoring System
A: The NuVal System translates the nutritional value of a food into an easy-to-understand 1 to 100 score. Over time, the systems will score all food products in the store - fresh and packaged, branded and private-label.
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Egg Products = Gluten Solutions
The versatile egg and its associated products have proven their
versatility and multi-functionality in a number of formulations but perhaps no
more so than in gluten-free foods, an emerging trend whose products benefit from
the egg's ability to mimic the structure gluten provides.
Website: www.aeb.org
Contact: Elisa
D'Amiico-Maloberti
email: emaloberti@aeb.org
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Looking For Lower-Sodium Solutions
More
consumers are looking to follow the dietary guidelines to reduce the
amount of
sodium in their diet, and the market is responding. Innophos offers an
innovative solution to subtract sodium from meats, baked good and
cheeses.
Website: www.Innophos.com
email: spcustomerservice@innophos.com
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Sodium Reduction: Mining the Possibilities
Egg products can add a clean or netural
flavors and feature a fuctional profile that can assist in creating
reduced-sodium and other formulations.
Website: www.aeb.org
Contact: Elisa
D'Amiico-Maloberti
email: emaloberti@aeb.org
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Eggs' Role in Healthy, Popular New Products
The versatility of eggs, a wholesome ingredient that provides a wide range of benefits in product formualtions, has led to their use in a variety of new products, from indulgent foods to sports enhancement products.
Website: www.aeb.org
Contact: Elisa D'Amiico-Maloberti
email: emaloberti@aeb.org
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Antioxidant Products: Nutritional Science and Marketplace Opportunities
Antioxidants are gaining prominence in a multitude of products. While most consumers know antioxidants are “good for them,” which ingredients are beneficial and why remain a mystery. New classification systems, further research into antioxidant properties and the ability to make claims will help inform the public.
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The Truth About Omega 3: Get all the health benefits of EPA and DHA from fish oil…the best source of Omega-3!
Health researchers have shown increased interest in Omega-3 for decades.First, the dietary supplement industry and, now, the food industries have caught on to the idea that food products containing Omega-3 are a significant marketplace opportunity.
Sponsored by:
Ilucas@ocean-nutrition.com
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New Products Trends: The New Egg in Town
The retail packaged foods and beverage industry is roughly a half trillion dollar business. To succeed in this very competitive arena, food companies must develop and market products that appeal to today’s consumers.
Sponsored by:
joannecivy@aol.com
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Courting Flavor
American consumers are seeking novel flavors and tastes. Manufacturers are responding with interpretations of well-known dishes and new creations. Prepared Foods’ exclusive flavor survey examines the trends expected to impact formulators and manufacturers the most.
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Kids’ Snack Attack
Kids are notorious snackers. Marketing to kids, rising childhood obesity rates and on-the-go lifestyles challenge manufacturers to develop and promote products that satisfy both kids and parents.
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A Grainy Picture
As the outlook for cereal bar growth blurs, the future hinges on hitting ample target markets with relevant, multi-dimensional products.
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Turning the Tide
The trend toward increased obesity may be reversing itself, although challenges remain. Prepared Foods’ “R&D Trends: Weight Control Formulations” survey looks at manufacturers’ attitudes toward product positioning and ingredients for weight control.
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Soy-based Food and Drink
Despite lagging sales and lack of FDA approval for health claims, the soy industry is far from giving up. Recent innovations promise to revitalize and reinvigorate consumers’ interest in soy-based products.
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Confronting Confectionery
Chocolate lovers are certainly not afraid of the dark, and sour flavors are driving sales of confections for adults and children. The candy market continues to grow, capitalizing on the latest trends and benefiting from a number of ingredient innovations.
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Natural, Any Way You Slice It
Responding to foodservice consumers’ demands for a wider selection of natural items, Hormel Foods implemented a new technology to present a natural line of sliced meats and, in the process, displayed the teamwork and innovativeness that were key to its 2006 Spirit of Innovation Award—Foodservice.
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Claiming a Function
Foods with functional benefits have emerged as a key market for manufacturers in recent years, as timestruggling yet health-conscious consumers seek a quick, convenient means to maintain their overall health. Functional foods would seem to fit the bill perfectly; however, manufacturers be warned: consumers may not embrace claim-touting new products.
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Sporting News
A growing number of American consumers are pursuing active lifestyles, participating in sports and receptive to foods and drinks that help them get the most out of their physical regimen. However, their attitudes to these foods and beverages are as different as their motivations for physical activity.
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Sweetening the Pot
Using the right sweetener or combination of sweeteners is key in product success. Potency is affected by other sweeteners and factors such as temperature, viscosity, pH and the medium the sweetener is used in.
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