Speciality-Food-Magazine-November-December-2024

10 @specialityfood F rom the statistics, you would think that Britain was suddenly on a health drive. According to recent research, 60% of adults believe that artificial sweeteners do long-term health damage (Kantar), 70% are avoiding UPFs (Mintel), and yet 26% of the UK are obese. The good news is that, once again, the food industry has the answer, and it's functional foods, so we can all sit back and relax. The industry is buzzing with talk about gut health and products with added benefits. Suddenly, we have new products that will undo the wrongs of bad food and unhealthy lifestyles. Over the last decade, trends born in the gym are suddenly being promoted to people who are not running marathons or trying to bench press 100 kg. Just because those of us aged over 40 are exercising more doesn’t mean we need foodstuff designed for endurance athletes. Products scream out “added protein.” Whilst some players in this area are doing things right, many are not – anyone for “high protein bolognese?” There is a more straightforward solution for those who love food and cooking. Isn’t good food just a question of buying and cooking well? Shouldn’t we all aspire to buy food grown well, lovingly cooked, and eaten at mealtimes? We should celebrate food without any packaging; if it does have packaging, it should be recyclable and have a sensible list of ingredients. We should celebrate producers and brands that are trying to find the right ways to create the food we eat without turning to mad science. That doesn’t mean that all processed foods are bad; this is a complex area. Many items include processes like stone ground flour, cold- pressed oil or fermented dairy products. The key for all of us is to be mindful of what we buy and avoid things we can’t make in our kitchen. If we need more of a specific vitamin or ingredient, we should seek natural ways to get it into our diets. This can’t work in all cases, but it can work more than we think. As we enter another new year, attention briefly turns to OLLIE LLOYD ADVISOR “Functional foodvs food” being healthier, trying to lose weight, and living a better life. Retailers and brands should think responsibly about how to capitalise on these moments. So, can I suggest we go back to basics and celebrate the simple things in life? Let’s celebrate making bread from scratch. It only takes flour, yeast, salt, water, oil, and some time. As a post-lockdown convert to bread making, it really is worth the effort, and those retailers who sell quality flour should encourage their consumers to get their hands dirty and start kneading (or fire up the KitchenAid, as I do)! Let's embrace gut health by making pickles and kimchi rather than buying products claiming gut health credentials. If you get them right, I have found that kimchi adds crunch, colour, and a real flavour hit. Many great independent brands offer convenience in this area, like the Crooked Pickle, Eaten Alive and The Cultured Collective. Or, if you are feeling adventurous, have a large jar to hand, some cabbage, a few ingredients like garlic, ginger, fish sauce, spice, and some vegan food, and you are good to go. Chopped up, it makes the most amazing base for a cheese sandwich or kimcheese sandwich, if you will. Let's engage with some of the more sane trends on TikTok, like “the cucumber guy” (AKA logagm), who has over 6 million followers. Heed his call to action that sometimes, one just needs to eat a whole cucumber. He is right, as there isn’t anything as satisfying as smashed cucumber served with soy sauce, salt, sesame seeds and some chilli if you want. Or you can go rogue and mix sliced cucumber with some crab, mayonnaise, chilli and spread it on toast. If we want to get healthy in 2025 and make farmers, producers, and those producing genuinely functional foods have a better year than ’24 then let's all embrace eating and cooking well. Consumers need hints and tips; this is where brands and retailers come in. Work out what recipe will get your target consumer cooking with your product and SHOUT it from the rooftops. Plaster it on your packs. Create QR codes that link to simple step-by-step recipe guides. Retailers can offer any number of recipe cards and demos if they have the right space. But just remember that with most meals being prepared in under 30 minutes in the UK, you would do well to keep it simple. Isn't good food just a questionof buying and cookingwell? With tighter regulations for food and drink products that are high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) now in effect, the landscape for healthier food and drink options is changing. No longer are sugar-free products restricted to health food stores or free-from aisles – now, they’re in high demand across the board. BRANDS AND RETAILERS ARE ADAPTING TO HFSS Since HFSS rules were introduced, retailers and manufacturers have responded by changing their approach to health and product reformulation. “Many brands have chosen to reformulate existing products to abide by new restrictions, while other brands have developed NPD that are compliant with the new rules and healthier,” says Emily Keogh, founder of Palm PR, an agency that has supported several food and drink brands to understand the new rules. “For example, products with less or no added sugars are more common now than ever before, while the rise of functional foods with added health benefits such as fibre, gut health and immunity support have also continued to enter the market,” Emily says. And she only expects this trend to continue as more brands and consumers become savvier with healthy ingredients. Indeed, IGD surveyed members of its Industry Nutrition Strategy group in April 2023 and found that 44% of retailers and manufacturers had already responded to HFSS rules with reformulation or new product development. While reformulation is undoubtedly challenging, big brands were achieving reductions in sugar even in traditionally indulgent categories, like cake and pizza, IGD found. The snacking and confectionery categories have been through “huge changes” recently, Emily Low and no-added-sugar food and drink are moving out of the health food store and into the mainstream thanks to HFSS rules. Speciality Food asks the experts how to stock and sell these products agreed. Mars made waves when it announced a lower-sugar, protein Snickers bar, for example. While some of the key bans on promotions have been delayed until 2025, Jon Walsh, Bio&Me co-founder and CEO, says major supermarkets have still “gone further and acted responsibly,” for example by avoiding multi-buy promotions on HFSS products. All the retailers surveyed by IGD had made changes to their store layouts, while in-store signage Selling the new wave of sugar-free food and drink