Bösch Boden Spies takes a bigger bite out of snacking

22 Oct 2019 --- Germany-based ingredients specialist Bösch Boden Spies is showcasing its responses to current market trends in the form of innovative product applications based on fruit and nut ingredients. The company’s latest product formulations focus on reduced sugar and salt, plant-based nutrition, healthy snacks and clean label ingredients, underscoring a growing consumer focus on functional snacks, which have expanded as a category.

“77 percent of millennials can’t make it through the day without a snack. The main idea is to have a better-for-you snack, that can replace any meal of the day,” Natalia Willner, Team Manager of Marketing at Bösch Boden Spies, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

Vitamin C-enriched “sorbet shot” with acerola and lemon.“Consumers are willing to pay more for this kind of snack, if it is ready-to-eat and serves their various requirements such as: flavor, dietary functions, health properties, convenient packaging and containing only a few but natural ingredients. Salty snacks, fruit based snacks and nuts are on the rise to serve the different demands that the food industry is faced with,” she adds.

This rise in a so-called “fourth meal” culture has increased demand for quick and convenient yet healthy solutions for busy consumers. This is creating opportunities for wholesome, satisfying and sustaining snacks to fulfill the role of mini meals and play a more meaningful role in contributing to refueling and nutritional needs throughout the day. According to data from Innova Market Insights, there has been a 14 percent average annual growth in food and beverage launches with a snacking claim (Global, CAGR 2014 to 2018).

“Snacks are no longer limited to just satisfying small hunger pangs between meals; the demand for healthy snacks has grown rapidly,” highlights Bösch Boden Spies.

Mini sausages with 30 percent less salt thanks to the addition of prune juice concentrate, a vitamin C-enriched “sorbet shot” with acerola and lemon, and a crispbread sandwich with crunchy cranberry cream filling by Ocean Spray are just three of the many examples of new, trend-driven product developments that Bösch Boden Spies will be presenting at the upcoming Food Ingredients Europe (FIE 2019) in Paris from December 3 to 5. American Seeds-Cake.

At FIE 2019, Kay Schumacher, Head of Product Application and Development at Bösch Boden Spies, and his team will be giving insights into the product innovation surrounding better-for-you snacks. At a Supplier Solutions Session entitled “Nuts about fruit,” Schumacher will provide info on how Bösch Boden Spies ingredients based on seeds, fruits and nuts can be used to create healthier snacks.

At the show, along a “Walk of Fame,” the ingredients specialist will showcase how to use fruit, nuts and seeds in new, innovative and unexpected ways based on current food trends and the wishes of end consumers. The product concepts are presented according to corresponding market trends and their respective product benefits, allowing visitors to gain inspiration for their own product development.”

Representatives of the ingredients specialist’s brand partners, such as Sunsweet (plums), Ocean Spray (cranberries), Diamond Foods (walnuts) and Niagro (acerola), will also be on site. Together with Bösch Boden Spies product development experts, they will present their ingredients, which form the basis of the presented application solutions. 

My velvet Cherry.Among its popular product launches, Bösch Boden Spies released last year its Crunchy Cranberries in collaboration with Ocean Spray. “The product has been developed specifically in response to the salient global food trends. Crunchy Cranberries become especially valuable when used in a variety of trendy applications, for example, in chocolate, yoghurt, as a healthy snack or as a salad topping. The vibrant color makes Crunchy Cranberries a real eye-catcher. With its long-lasting, perfect crunch, this product can compete with snack classics such as chips – and enrich the snack category with its sophisticated fruity novelty and healthy image,” says Willner.

Trendwatching for the future
When asked about trends with the most potential, Willner responds, “Category blurring and hybrid snacks. Any category can be combined, there are no boundaries to creativity and joy of experimenting. Known and familiar products will be mixed with unfamiliar products such as new superfoods, pulses, alternative proteins and vTexturenergy Snack.egetables.”

“Additionally personalization is a major factor to be looked at. ‘I am what I (do not) eat.’ Millennials in particular are looking for solutions that are produced based on their individual dietary needs such as paleo, gluten-free, keto, rich in protein and non-dairy. The combination of exotic ingredients in order to make a new product based on consumers specific diet will create many unexpected results in the future,” she notes.

Staying on top of ever-shifting industry trends can be a challenge for product developers. Recognizing this, Bösch Boden Spies employed a “crowd testing” method to examine ingredient performance, on the show floor of the Anuga 2019 tradeshow. Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst, the natural fruit- and nut-based ingredients supplier presented two new fruit elements at the show to monitor reactions, while also highlighting its pronounced focus on transparency in the supply chain.

By Benjamin Ferrer