Dietary fiber opportunities for CFF among top consumer trends

21 Aug 2017 --- The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a dietary fiber intake of at least 30g per day. Currently, the average dietary fiber intake among adults in the US is about 15 grams a day. CFF GmbH & Co. KG (CFF) produces natural dietary fiber concentrations that are suitable for dietary fiber enrichment in many food applications.

The high functionality of the company’s product SANACEL fibers is at the forefront of the company, and producing dietary fibers from raw materials is where CFF are seeing a lot of potential for the food industry.

FoodIngredientsFirst caught up with Tamina Geiger, MSc Food Technologist, International Product Manager at CFF who notes that even with major food trends setting the bar high for the industry, the company sees fiber enrichment as a key priority.

“In general, consumers are looking for more healthy products, driven by two forces. One is the consumer interest in healthy products with reduced calories and the other driver is about regulatory changes,” she notes. “There are more and more countries that are implementing a regulatory system, for reducing the amount of fat, sugar or salts in their products.”

“Leading companies are now offering low-fat, sugar and salt reduced products. We are seeing a need and direction for more healthy products with clean labels and convincing taste,” says Geiger. “CFF have different solutions which we offer to our customers.”

Fat replacement is one of the big topics that CFF are following because their range of functional fiber blends offers solutions for the development of fat replacement in bakery items. According to Geiger, the functionalities of these blends offer a good volume, texture and mouthfeel, similar to full-fat products, but with a lower fat content.

Texture improvement, avoidance of syneresis and fat separation, yield increase, and stability improvement are some additional benefits that SANACEL dietary fibers can achieve in foods. SANACEL dietary fiber concentrates are available without E-number and provide high water and oil binding as an anti-caking agent, flowing aid, thickening agent or as a stabilizer.

“The fibers are very clean products,” claims Geiger, “They are allergen-free because they are fiber concentrates, free of proteins, even the wheat fibers are free of gluten. They are also kosher and halal and suitable for vegetarian and vegan products. The fibers are very natural and plant-based so they are renewable and sustainable in nature. Answering all of those trends for natural and clean label products,” she adds.

“There are several health benefits associated with our products,” notes Geiger, “They are dietary fiber concentrates, which means the plant materials are not digestible by the human gut. They go through the whole body without being absorbed. This can help with satiety, so consumers can eat less, and therefore lose body mass. It also means this has a positive influence on the gut because it decreases the transition time through the gut regulating bowel movements and preventing constipation.”

“Our newest fiber SANACEL betaG is rich in beta glucan and there are many health claims that have been approved by ESFA. Such claims around sugar and cholesterol levels mean reducing the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases,” she reveals. “I think it has a lot of potential because these health claims on packaging indicate consumers the positive health effects.”

This beta glucan product has been available for some months and, so far has been received positively. “Fiber enrichment and beta glucan enrichment in bakery applications such as bread, cookies and crackers is an area of high interest, especially with a good impact on health, this is what consumers are looking for,” Geiger states.

“Consumers are thinking much more about what they eat and why they eat it – they are much more critical now about the effects on their body. It is an important development and that is why consumers are always on the lookout for additional benefits in food.”

She adds: “Life is getting faster and you have to give a good performance all the time, whether it be at work, at home, or with children and I think now is the time that consumers realize the importance of healthy lifestyles.”

Convenience food is a huge market – people don’t have time to cook and prepare food for the family, so they are interested in looking for good healthy choices. In the past convenience food was not healthy but in the meantime, consumers have more choice and companies have a wider portfolio with clean ingredients,” she says.

How does the future look for the business? “All our ingredients will continue to be produced and manufactured at our main facility in Germany. Our main target is growing and creating a solid distribution network, covering the entire world,” Geiger explains. “Right now we have a good distribution measure covering over 50 countries globally. There are still some places where we can increase our distribution network, however.  And these are the next steps that need to be done,” she confirms.

“Increasing the potential in our current market and developing the remaining countries will be our focus for the future.”

“There are different global trends, mostly originating in Western Europe and the US, from where the trends move to the other countries. Having said that, each country has their own way of viewing and experiencing food. For CFF, it is important to understand the industry trends first, which makes it much easier to bring a product to the market,” she finalizes.   

By Elizabeth Green