Dave Harcourt on Food Processing in Africa
ROCKVILLE, Md.—Americans are snacking more than ever with retail sales of packaged snacks ringing up $64 billion in 2010, up from $56 billion in 2006, according to Packaged Facts new “Snack Foods in the U.S., 4th Edition." The market is predicted to reach $77 billion by 2015 fueled by reduced restaurant dining, busier lifestyles and rising health concerns.
Factors driving the snack sector including less frequent restaurant dining, hurried lifestyles that encourage on-the-go eating, a growing tendency to replace meals with several smaller snacks, and marketer efforts to combat the obesity epidemic by developing healthier snack foods that still taste appealing.
“The boundaries between meals and snacks are growing ever blurrier, creating consumer consumption habits that will resonate for generations. The children of today, comfortable with replacing entire meals with snacks, will pass these lifestyle traits on to their children, ensuring that snacking will remain a big part of American life," said David Sprinkle, research director and publisher of Packaged Facts.
As consumers seek ways to achieve a healthier lifestyle, snack foods that are marketed as "better for you" will remain popular. Companies are realizing that they must highlight attributes such as vitamins, minerals, fiber content and lower sodium to both educate consumers and take advantage of demand for such products. At the same time, with the ever-growing abundance of "better-for-you" snack products, marketers must also offer secondary appeals to attract consumers, such as unique flavors or ingredient blends, with great taste as a given.
The report examines the market for packaged sweet and salty snacks within the context of broader food industry trends in new product development and marketing. The report investigates not only the sales data, new product introductions and market positioning strategies, but also the lifestyle patterns that contribute to the rise and fall of snacking trends. This completely revised edition provides an omnibus approach to the market, examining snacks via two broad classifications, sweet and salty/savory, while providing greater detail for dozens of categories and segments.
Take up of pulsed light (PL) as a decontamination technique is set to take off over the next few years as food companies increasingly realise its safety, cost and environmental benefits, said a leading French research institute.
SupplySide ROCKVILLE, Md.—Americans are snacking more than ever with retail sales of packaged snacks ringing up $64 billion in 2010, up from $56 billion in 2006, according to Packaged Facts new “Snack Foods in the U.S., 4th Edition." The market is predicted to reach $77 billion by 2015 fueled by reduced restaurant dining, busier lifestyles and rising health concerns.
Factors driving the snack sector including less frequent restaurant dining, hurried lifestyles that encourage on-the-go eating, a growing tendency to replace meals with several smaller snacks, and marketer efforts to combat the obesity epidemic by developing healthier snack foods that still taste appealing.
“The boundaries between meals and snacks are growing ever blurrier, creating consumer consumption habits that will resonate for generations. The children of today, comfortable with replacing entire meals with snacks, will pass these lifestyle traits on to their children, ensuring that snacking will remain a big part of American life," said David Sprinkle, research director and publisher of Packaged Facts.
As consumers seek ways to achieve a healthier lifestyle, snack foods that are marketed as "better for you" will remain popular. Companies are realizing that they must highlight attributes such as vitamins, minerals, fiber content and lower sodium to both educate consumers and take advantage of demand for such products. At the same time, with the ever-growing abundance of "better-for-you" snack products, marketers must also offer secondary appeals to attract consumers, such as unique flavors or ingredient blends, with great taste as a given.
The report examines the market for packaged sweet and salty snacks within the context of broader food industry trends in new product development and marketing. The report investigates not only the sales data, new product introductions and market positioning strategies, but also the lifestyle patterns that contribute to the rise and fall of snacking trends. This completely revised edition provides an omnibus approach to the market, examining snacks via two broad classifications, sweet and salty/savory, while providing greater detail for dozens of categories and segments.
The global market for frozen fruits and vegetables is projected to reach 22.6m tonnes by the year 2015, driven by changing food consumption patterns and fast-paced lifestyles.
A new report by Global Industry Analysts says that a growing number of working women, and development of innovative freezing technologies, are also driving the demand for frozen fruits and vegetables.
The global frozen foods market continues to expand even in the wake of adverse economic conditions, driven by consumer desire for convenient and faster-to-prepare foods. Furthermore, the advent of innovative products and packaging, and growing health consciousness of consumers, are also contributing to increased consumption of a wide variety of frozen foods.
The market has managed to overcome the recession owing to the increased demand for healthy and convenient products. The advent of new freezing technologies is allowing manufacturers to preserve nutritional content in fruits and vegetables for longer times.
Changing consumer preferences
The US and Europe collectively account for a major share of the global market, as stated by the new market research report. Asia-Pacific and Latin America are the fastest growing regional markets for frozen fruits and vegetables, with CAGR ranging between 4% and 5.5% for the period 2007-2015.
Changing consumer preferences and requirements significantly influence trends in the frozen vegetables and fruits market, driving the launch of several new, value-added products such as frozen entrees, vegetable mixes, prepared meals, pasta, and vegetables in sauce.
Demographic factors also influence market developments, as evident by the launch of single-serve frozen vegetables packaging, which is aimed specifically at addressing the needs of a growing category of single (young or elderly) customers.
The frozen vegetables market in the US continues to grow, despite the adverse economic conditions. The introduction of novel preparation methods and packaging options has contributed to the sustained demand for frozen vegetables in recent years. Modern steam technology and new vegetable combinations have managed to attract investors’ as well as consumers’ attention, largely driven by the superior freshness of frozen products as against canned products.
The trend towards home cooking is also benefiting the category, as customers exhibit preference for healthy and fast-to-prepare meals. The growing health-consciousness among consumers is fuelling the demand for convenient vegetable-based products, including meals and side dishes that are also affordable and healthy.
Frozen fruits
Frozen fruits accounts for a relatively smaller share of the overall market for frozen fruits and vegetables. Growth in the frozen fruit market is propelled by the fast-paced modern lifestyle that has led consumers to look for easy and hygienic fruit products that eliminate the conventional hassles of cleaning and chopping fresh fruits thereby by evading the all-important time constraints of traditional cooking.
Source: Global Industry Analysts
Having announced that Arla Foods amba is to invest over £150 million in building the world's first billion litre liquid milk dairy, Arla Foods UK has confirmed that it has secured a 70-acre site at Aston Clinton, Aylesbury, on which to build what will also be the first zero carbon milk processing facility.
During the land search, Aylesbury emerged as the front‐runner giving the best overall logistics solution to service Arla’s customers, when considering both raw milk collection from farm and finished product to the retailers. It also provides the best access to a densely populated area.
When it announced its intention to build the new facility in November 2009, Arla referred to it as being the most ‘environmentally advanced in the world’ and today confirms its plans to establish the dairy as a zero carbon operation. Throughout the design stage, the potential impact on the environment of each element of the dairy has been evaluated and the best available construction techniques, advanced process technologies and cutting edge renewable energy opportunities will be utilised.
Commenting on the new build, which will be operational in 2012, Peter Lauritzen, CEO of Arla Foods UK, said: “I am delighted that, once again, Arla is taking the lead in setting the future standards of the dairy industry. Being zero carbon will put the new dairy in a class of its own, demonstrating our environmental responsibilities and our ambition of becoming the UK’s number one dairy company.”
Jakob Nielsen, Arla’s project director for the new dairy, comments: “We are already working with the local authority to agree the scope of the planning application and we are in the process of finalising the design specifications. The next step is to appoint contractors to work with us on the project.” It is anticipated that circa 500 production, distribution and administration jobs will be created at the site.
Source: Arla Foods amba
Food and drinks manufacturers across the world are turning in greater numbers towards natural colourings, as consumers shun artificial ingredients and additives, according to a Leatherhead Food International report.
Entitled Global Market for Food Colours, the report finds the trend to drive demand for colouring foodstuffs, which are increasingly coming into favour, since they're not classed as additives and therefore require no E number.
The global market for food colours grew by 2.1% during 2009 to reach $1,450m, and has risen by 16% in value terms compared with levels in 2005.An AOk Drinks survey reveals a growing understanding of antioxidants and identifies knowledge gaps for the industry to tackle.
The majority of people who purchase drinks such as AOk know that antioxidants are good for us, that we need to consume plenty of them to gain any health benefits, and that they fight free radicals, according to a survey by AOk Drinks.
Stuart Roberts, MD, founder and nutritionist at AOk Drinks, says: "We're not surprised that people generally understand that antioxidants are good for us, but we were surprised at the level of understanding, which is higher than anticipated. Two-thirds understand that antioxidants fight free radicals and 65% know that they defend the body (cells) against oxidative stress."
Red grape, cranberry, pomegranate and green tea are cited as leading natural ingredients that are packed with antioxidants by more than half of respondents. Kidney beans are a good source of antioxidants but this isn't widely known (15%), as producers in this sector haven't pushed this message during recent years, unlike in the juice sector.
"Word of mouth marketing by leading antioxidant drinks brands has worked wonders for the industry, but it's the consumers' desire to regain control of their health and well-being that's driving this awareness," says Roberts. "I'm frequently asked to explain how antioxidants work, what free radicals do and how they can benefit different conditions."
The consumer survey of 102 British adults was conducted independently online by AOk Drinks in June and July 2010 ahead of the August rebrand.
Source: AOk Drinks
Almonds were the most popular nut used in new products launched in the EU last year, Mintel data indicate, with over 50 per cent of almond-containing foods in the confectionery and bakery categories.
I am constantly amazed by all the great tools coming online for the sharing of media and always have to give them a try.
In this Posterous "Blog" and the associated twitter posts I am simply writing a headline that puts my position and then reproducing and linking the original author's material.
This is unlike my DIGIVU post where I write my own text and simply link to the information to which the blog refers.
I have 3 separate blogs here all with an African focus:
http://www.digivu.posterous.com - personal interesting stuff
http://www.safpp.posterous.com - unused food processing information
http://www.digienv.posterous.com - energy & environment
daveharcourt on twitter
www.digivu.co.za
