the dynamics of taste perception and the plight of healthy plant-based snack food manufacturers
DESCRIPTION
In today’s fast-paced world, consumers are living more on the go and snacking often. Moreover, people are also conscious of what they are eating and looking for healthier options rather than something that is just going to curb cravings. • Updated Nutritional label • Added Proteins • Bring TASTE forward • Prevention is better than cure • Overcoming future challenges To Read More : https://bit.ly/3ub7jbs To Contact us: Website: https://foodresearchlab.com/ Contact No: +91 9566299022 Email: [email protected]TRANSCRIPT
Copyright © 2021 Food Research Lab. All rights reserved 1
The Dynamics of Taste Perception and the Plight of Healthy Plant-Based
Snack Food Manufacturers
Dr. Nancy Agnes, Head,
Technical Operations, FoodResearchLab
I. INTRODUCTION
In today’s fast-paced world, consumers are
living more on the go and snacking often.
Moreover, people are also conscious of
what they are eating and looking for
healthier options rather than something
that is just going to curb cravings. With
numerous diets popping on the internet,
people have started reading the ingredients
and the following label claims now more
than ever. The conventional idea of a
snack as a quick bite between two meals
has changed.
Due to this reliance, Food scientists are
trying to innovate the snack category as a
source of nutrition. Food manufacturers
are creating healthy snacks that taste great
while fulfilling nutritional requirements
with exotic flavours, high protein edibles
and plant-based options. Snack Food
manufacturers should keep up with the
ongoing food trend and must adapt to the
dynamics of the consumers preferences.
So, lets us learn a few key points which
food manufacturers outsource their
research and development function for
formulation to embrace to create your
favourite and the perfect snack.
II. UPDATED NUTRITIONAL LABEL
The industry which was once celebrated as
offering occasional treats must now supply
to the people who wants healthier choices
throughout the day. Many consumers are
not motivated to buy products that are
closely aligned with well-being and avoid
artificial ingredients, GMOs or pesticides.
This has led to the rise of cleaner labels
and increase in non-GMO and organic
segment products.
In 2015, Kellogg, General Mills,
Nestle, Hershey and Campbell all
vowed to remove artificial ingredients
from all or certain specific segments of
their portfolios. Kellogg has struggled
with this shift already, especially with
K cereal.
Even basic foods such as loaves of
bread, cereal and chocolate are
expected to be made with healthier
ingredients. For instance, a baker in
Orlando, USA, has created bread with
probiotics baked into it improve
customers digestive health (1). With
prebiotics loaded in yoghurt and cereal
from the breakfast menu, bread was the
next foods to add these healthy bacteria
to yoghurt .
Not just your gut, consumers also
prefer to choose food that offers
benefits to their brain, improve
memory and focus, a principle called
neuro-nutrition (2,3). The healthy label
also embraces the clean, vegan, gluten-
free and allergen-free diets, which
many people follow.
III. ADDED PROTEINS
Paleo and keto food diets are two most
recent and important diets which has
Copyright © 2021 Food Research Lab. All rights reserved 2
initiated a new trend in the snack food
industry.
Meat-based snacks (such as cracked
pepper Jerky or Chicken Sriracha Bar)
might come to your mind when you
think of proteins. Meat is still by large
a major player in the protein snacks
category. We have seen increased sales
of beef jerky or pork rinds or salted
fried pork skin from manufactures such
as Utz and Rudolph’s.
We can see that the food formulation
scientist and food manufacturers are
going to great lengths to innovative
flavours in the market, such as Cuban
mojito, apple chardonnay, cilantro lime
etc., which are appealing to existing
and younger consumers.
Plant-based proteins (Protein Brownie)
based new product formulation also
equally contribute to this added protein
section. Higher protein addition is a
common driver for new plant-based
formulations (4). This is done to satisfy
hunger and provide an energy boost.
For instance, Peanut bar has 7 g of
protein which provides long-lasting
energy and makes you feel full (5).
IV. BRING TASTE FORWARD
If a snack doesn’t stimulate your appetite,
it doesn’t matter how healthy it is, and
consumers won’t buy it. Especially with
younger consumers who are looking for
more adventurous flavours and unique
experiences. Food scientists see an
increasing trend and popularity towards
savoury, spicy, Smokey and umami
flavours (6). Moreover, a combination of
these flavour profiles with sweet products
is also emerging, such as sea salt caramel
or smoked almond toffee. Bold, spicy
flavours such as spicy peri-peri Biltong
sticks stand out from the crowd.
The production of snacks, such as extruded
puffs; dehydrated veggie chips (banana
plantain, yuca, mushroom or onion) are
ideal for combining a wide range of
flavours with healthy ingredients, as they
are thoroughly combined at the mixing
stage before the final extrusion or frying
process. Healthy ingredients choice such
as pea proteins, lentils, pulses, cauliflower,
sunflower and flax seeds are great for
experimenting with flavours creating an
overall healthier product.
In recent, a lot of salt flavoured crisps and
snacks can be seen on the supermarket
shelves. Superfine sea salt flakes are
similar to a powdery texture offer an even
coating to the snacks such as popcorn,
potato chips and nuts, delivering an
enhanced flavour impact and less sodium
content. In contrast to salt, major
organisations such as WHO and FDA are
against high sugar intake, with no more
than 10 % of the daily intake amount.
More consumers are turning away from
high sugar foods, especially soda. These
ingredients are widely used, and finding
alternatives is a considerable challenge. A
major challenge for manufacturers is that
the consumers want the taste of sugar and
salt in their products. Artificial sweeteners
are also out of the equation as
manufacturers are being forced to
experiment with other flavours and
Copyright © 2021 Food Research Lab. All rights reserved 2
enhances. We have seen PepsiCo and
Coca-Cola removing aspartame from their
diet products (7).
V. PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN
CURE
Consumers are now requesting for free-
from products, such as fat-free, sugar-free,
dairy-free, nut-free etc. The popularity of
such free-from products has greatly
increased is due to the awareness of food
allergens and lifestyle choice. For instance,
nut allergies happen when your body’s
immune system overeats the proteins
found in the nuts. Human’s defence system
treats them as a threat and tries to fight
them off. Wheat allergy (Gluten
intolerance) is an immune response to any
of the proteins present in wheat, barley and
rye, including but not limited to gluten.
Wheat is one of the top food allergens in
the USA, commonly recorded in children.
Is lupin a new product?
Lupin is a common legume, belonging
to the peanut family and readily
available in some parts of Asia and
Europe. Lupin flour and protein started
becoming available in the United
States, where it was considered as a
wheat replacement in gluten-free
products. The US-FDA issued a red
alert warning as it can cause an allergic
reaction ranging from a mild case of
hives to full-blown anaphylaxis (8,9).
However, for most people foods
containing Lupin are safe to eat.
What are the challenges with free-from
products?
The first and foremost challenge with these
products is to source alternative
ingredients. Secondly, scientists have to
make sure the ingredients interact together
similar to the conventional ingredients in
the original recipe. Moreover, despite
using different ingredients, food scientist
also needs to achieve the same flavour,
consistency, functionality and texture.
Snack food manufacturers struggle with
relatively high costs of free-from
ingredients than conventional ingredients ,
showcasing major restraints for the growth
of this market segment. As the market is
driven by the increased diagnosis of food
allergies and awareness about health
benefits associated with special dietary
lifestyles; the snacks and ready to eat
(RTE) segment which is projected to grow
at the highest during the forecast period.
VI. OVERCOMING FUTURE
CHALLENGES
While the snack food industry has faced
quite a few hurdles, it has still offered
healthier food choices in many segments.
Future trends tend to emerge from the
existing ones, making it easy for
consumers to follow internet leads. Other
challenges that which remain constant are
to bring down the overall cost of the
product, scale up time, competing in
different segments and markets and the
important of all to be compliant with all
local and international regulations.
Food Research Lab can help you solve
these problems. FRL is for food
manufacturers as well as those companies
involved in NPD and developing spec
without manufacturing. FRL gives you the
ability to improve all phases and aspects of
new product development, such as original
specification, ideation, recipe tracking.
Additionally, you can get them out to
market quicker than ever before.
Dr Raj is a trained food scientist from
New Zealand, with 10 years of experience.
Upon completion of his PhD, he worked
for various FMCGs. He is the recipient of
the Oxoid food science award from the
Heriot-Watt University and Callaghan
grant from University of Otago and
Callaghan Innovations for his academic
performance. Raj writes early in the
morning, then spends the rest of the day
Copyright © 2021 Food Research Lab. All rights reserved 2
working as a full-time technologist and as
a consultant at Food Research Lab,
Chennai & the UK, where he makes his
experiments work.
REFERENCES
1. https://www.bakingbusiness.com/articles/42933-
orlando-baking-launches-bread-with-probiotics
2. https://medium.com/@jenniferroberts050_60595/ne
uro-nutrition-the-impact-of-food-on-our-brains-
646335c6dbfd
3. Devi, Aruthra & Narayanan, Rita. (2019). A Review
on Neuronutrition. Asian Journal of Dairy and Food
Research. 10.18805/ajdfr.DR-1454.
4. Kårlund, A., Gómez-Gallego, C., Turpeinen, A. M.,
Palo-Oja, O. M., El-Nezami, H., & Kolehmainen,
M. (2019). Protein Supplements and Their Relation
with Nutrition, Microbiota Composition and Health:
Is More Protein Always Better for
Sportspeople?. Nutrients, 11(4), 829.
https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11040829
5. Kaufman, F. R., Halvorson, M., & Kaufman, N. D.
(1997). Evaluation of a snack bar containing
uncooked cornstarch in subjects with
diabetes. Diabetes research and clinical
practice, 35(1), 27-33
6. https://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/business-
resources/flavor-trends-savory-snacks
7. https://www.coca-colacompany.com/au/news/fanta-
and-sprite-join-the-no-sugar-movement
8. Cochard, M. M., & Eigenmann, P. A. (2011).
Allergies to nuts and seeds. In Nuts and Seeds in
Health and Disease Prevention (pp. 137-143).
Academic Press.
9. https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-
petitions/lupin-and-allergenicity-frequently-asked-
questions