Marketiers Listening to Consumers

[parsley]

Quote

Soft drink formulation: Industry braced for long-term changes

By Neil Merrett

August 4, 2008

Soft drink formulation: Industry braced for long-term changes
By Neil Merrett
August 4, 2008

The British Soft Drink Association (BSDA) claims that its members’ attempts to find alternate formulations for their products has been a long-term aim and commitment and not a knee jerk response to recent research like the Southampton and diabetes studies.

A spokesperson for the group claimed that while all colours and additives appearing in its products were cleared for use in the EU, soft drink makers are nonetheless looking to develop a new generation of ingredients capable of addressing consumer concerns.

“The industry has been moving towards the use of more ‘natural’ ingredients for some time now so reformulation is not occurring because of recent research but due to the ability to the soft drinks industry to listen successfully to the needs of consumers and respond,” the spokesperson said.

'Wellbeing' push

In attempting to move away from sugar sweetened beverages, the BSDA added that soft drink makers are increasingly focusing on formulations designed to offer ‘health’ and ‘wellbeing’ benefits.

“The growing focus on health and wellbeing.. has led to increasing consumption of fruit juice; sales of smoothies for instance grew by 44 per cent last year,” stated the spokesperson.

“Over 61 per cent of soft drinks are now low calorie or no added sugar and this is reflected in the growth last year in diet carbonated drinks and the ongoing popularity of low sugar and high juice dilutables.”

The association claims that aside from taste innovation, the safety and nutrition of its products was the key factor in meeting reformulation challenges.

“Key to the success of the soft drinks industry is its ability to adapt and innovate and we will continue to do so in this constantly evolving climate in which we now operate,” the BSDA stated. “Health and convenience, in general, look set to remain a focus for the future development of soft drinks, and drinks supporting consumers’ five a day regime look set to blossom.”


The BSDA said that it was also attempting to do more to push the message of soft drink consumption within a balanced and healthy diet and lifestyle.

“[Two weeks ago], some soft drinks companies announced their participation in the new initiative against obesity launched by the Advertising Association,” said the association spokesperson.

Innovation concerns

Hans Thorkilgaard, executive vice president of Chr. Hansen's colour division, said that many soft drinks groups in Europe were having to consider reformulating colouring used in their drinks amidst growing pressure from regulators.

Speaking to BeverageDaily.com in April, Thorkilgaard said that while global market research indicated that a big change was already underway in the use of colours by the industry, natural additives were becoming increasingly important for drinks makers.

"Only about 10 per cent of food colours available to beverage makers and confectioners are natural as opposed to synthetic dyes," he said. "In terms of dairy or meat processing, about 70 to 80 per cent of colourings on offer are natural."


Thorkilgaard said that while many major soft drink makers had been pro-active in reformulating their beverages, there was huge global potential for both existing and future developments in natural ingredients.
He said that this increasingly natural focus was apparent in the work of a number of European manufacturers, particularly in Scandinavia, where colourings had - in some cases - been removed from soft drinks.
UNQUOTE

[parsley]

What is it that conusmers want from grain and grain products? Mainly, we think of food. Falling numbers and protein.

Are farmers anticipating what food manufacturers will be sourcing and paying a premium for?

Are farmers growing what marketers WILL BE WANTING? Does the variety you are growing best fill the manufacturer's needs?

Having the right product makes pockets jingle.

It is important to distinguish between the markets you want to target, that being cosmetics? food? paper? bags? etc. If you want to sell to specailty paper or textile industry , you want LONG flax fibres for example.

Every market has different requirements and if anything is becoming more and more obvious, it is that one marketer does not fit all.

What markets are YOU intending on targetting? What are you growing? Is it what the consumer wants?

Parsley

[parsley]

QUOTE
Unauthorised colours, plastic fragments found in products

By Lindsey Partos

05-Aug-2008 -
Bakers and snack makers must remain vigilent in the face of food safety as the European alert system last week throws up negligence in the supply chain.

A too high content of the sunset yellow colour, an unauthorised use of brilliant blue and allura red colours, and the detection of plastic fragments in foods, were all flagged up at the end of July, according to data from Europe's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF).

RASFF, a eurozone tool to minimise risk to the food chain, reported four information notifications from member states last week.

Such notifications, sent directly to the European Commission, are triggered when a food, or feed, presenting a risk to the consumer has been identified.

In week 30, the 21 to 27 July, the RASFF received 21 information notifications in total from member states, of which four targeted the bakery and snacks industry.

The UK warned that, following a border control, it had detected a too high content of the artificial colour E110 - sunset yellow FCF (416mg/kg - ppm) - in a cheese snack hailing from Iran.

Sunset yellow, along with five other artificial colours, is the focus of a legislative package adopted by the European Parliament last month that will see foods proffering any of these artificial colours in their formulations labelled with a health warning for children.

Foods containing tartrazine (E102), quinoline yellow (E104), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), ponceau 4R (E124) and allura red (E129), will have to be labelled "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children".

Manufacturers have eighteen months to comply with the new labelling requirements following the official publication of the law, which is expected within the next few weeks.

Many large companies, such as Cadbury and Nestle, have already made pledges to remove all artificial colourings from their products.

And in a hint of things to come following the new rules from Europe, the RASFF system reports the unauthorised use for a clutch of these artificial colours in fruit flavoured multigrain cereals product from South Africa.

Alerted by Cyprus, the authorities detected the unauthorised use of sunset yellow, allura red and E133 brilliant blue colour in the South African product.

Moving away from colours, the EU's food risk network reported that Finland had notified the system, following a consumer complaint, on the undeclared presence of wheat.

Wheat flour was not labelled - that under EU rules must be flagged, notably for gluten intolerant consumers - in Finnish for a chocolate marshmallow product hailing from Denmark.

Finally, RASFF observes in its week 30 report that following a UK company's own check, the firm discovered plastic fragments - pieces of hard blue plastic - in pre-baked apple pies originating from the UK.

For information notifications, defined as such by EU, other members of the network do not have to take immediate action, because the product has not reached their market, or is no longer present on their market, or because the nature of the risk does not require any immediate action.

By contrast, alert notifications - the second prong of the RASFF - are sent when immediate action is required due to the serious risk of the product, aiming to give all members key information to verify whether the concerned product is available on their market, in order to take immediate action.

Finally, the third prong are border rejections. These notifications concern food and feed consignments that have been tested and rejected - due to the health risk - at the external borders of the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA).
UNQUOTE

We are a global world, communicating in an instant soundbite.

Parsley