Food Processing - June 2009
Product Development
with a small serving size,” says Sean Craig, senior executive chef for Gilroy Foods & Flavors (
www.gilroyfoodsandflavors.com
), Omaha, Neb. “Creating palatable snack products with a full vegetable serving can be done with the help of ingredient systems such as Controlled Moisture vegetables or GardenFrost purees,” which eliminate excess water in vegetables by up to half and also have significantly less salt than vegetable bases. Kingery says one major goal in savory snack formulation is “how to push the boundaries in snacking while still keeping the food familiar.” To that end, ADM continues to develop “novel technology and ingredients that allow us to deliver familiar snack shapes and textures with added nutrition.” As to how to make that happen, Kingery points to a series of steps for processors to focus on. “When processors evaluate ingredients, they need to consider the overall solution. First, what are the nutritional and marketing requirements? Low fat, increased protein, increased fiber, made with honey or vegetable inclusions? Second, consider how the ingredients will work within the current process. Finally, evaluate the quality of the ingredient supplier and if that supplier can offer technical and production support as this processor incorporates new ingredients.” Making healthier savory snacks is leading to paradigm shifts in some categories. The merging of the cracker, chip and pretzel segments is an example pointed to by Suzanne Mutz-Darwell, marketing manager for National Starch Food Innovation (
www.foodinnovation.
com), Bridgewater, N.J. “Cracker companies are getting into chips – for example, Kraft/Nabisco Garden Harvest Toasted Chips – and chip makers getting into crackers, such as Frito-Lay’s True North nut crisps. [The result is] healthier chips and crackers, not fried but baked, and low in fat but with good texture. Also, clean label products are important.” She points out differences in textures are achievable – or reversible – when new nutrients, such as whole grains and fibers, are added to recipes. “This is where our starch texturizers and process knowledge can help snack manufacturers,” she says. “It’s possible to achieve similar textures through a different process, so if one cracker is fermented [yeast risen] and another is chemically leavened, we have the ability to balance the formulation, snack texturizing starch, process and moisture to target similar textures.”
Not without challenges
Late July’s Dawes admits there are technical challenges in building healthier savory snacks. “Finding ingredients in the form we need them is one,” she says. “We require all our vendors to meet a series of requirements. Not just kosher and organic but sometimes vegan and lactovegetarian, plus sustainable, fair trade and [submission to] third-party audits. “But we still find a lot of really wonderful suppliers to work with,” she continues. “At the end of the day, you have to be really close to your suppliers. I’m feeding these products to my children and other people’s children. I feel very strongly about having that connection.” Sometimes, though, ingredient challenges are not met. “We wanted to include enrichment in some of our new products, yet it was impossible to find a multivitamin powder that met all our
Look to the Future
FONA International’s Mia Arcieri points to some flavor trends on the savory snack horizon, such as habanero, three-cheese blends, beer flavors, rosemary, sweet & savory combos (berry chips), Philly cheesesteak chips and lime and black pepper chips, to name a few recent product introductions. “It’s important to match the flavors, ingredients and seasoning to your brand,” notes Arcieri. “Experiment for consumer interest, but keep the assortment in line with the rate of consumer adoption.” See more “Savory Flavor Trends” in the web version of this story:
www.FoodProcessing.com/articles/2009/junewellnesssnacks.html.
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