Health and Taste Overtake Cost Concerns at Food Matters Live

21 Nov 2014 --- The first Food Matters Live hit the ground running in London’s Excel this week, as more than 200 exhibitors gathered to show their products and services to an audience looking to improve the health and nutrition of its customers.

The buzzwords at the show were low salt, low sugar and clean label. “The trend for health is now taking over from the trend to cut costs,” said Mark Ahern, Technical Manager EMEA at Univar Food Ingredients.

“Manufacturers looking for ways to cut sugar, salt and fat are asking how do we retain taste while making our foods healthier? They have come here today looking for answers,” he said.

Tero Huopaniemi, CEO and President of Finnish company Smart Salt said that the show has lots of potential. “This is a good first show with good quality attendees. It certainly has great future prospects,” he said. Smart Salt is a magnesium-based sodium product that has health benefits as well as preservative properties, which makes it ideal for applications where shelf-life is an issue. The company is expecting good results in the UK, partly due to the Responsibility Deal, which encourages food processors that have signed up to reduce sodium in their products, as part of a pledge to reduce overall salt consumption among UK consumers.

High profile speakers, including politicians, public health specialists and food strategists, to name a few, debated the current issues in the world of global food and nutrition. Critical issues were tackled; childhood obesity, healthier food choices, how to feed the poor and starving versus how to curb our greed, food provenance, calorie reduction, and feeding an ageing population, were all thrashed out before an audience of food technologists, processors, dieticians, nutritionists, students and policy makers.

The overriding question both on the floor and in the conference and seminars seemed to be whether the drive for making foodstuffs healthier is driven by consumer demand or by what the public health specialists think should be done for better health on behalf of the consumer. The majority of consumers do not want to compromise on taste and enjoyment of foods that they have grown accustomed to, which means that the drivers are two-fold: health and taste.

The I Feel Good campaign from Belgian chocolate manufacturer Barry Callebaut balances the solutions perfectly. It has approached the issues by offering a variety of solutions. It can reduce the “bad guys” in its product applications, introduce a functional ingredient for consumers who want an extra health benefit, and maintain a product option for consumers who still want to experience the emotional connection they have with chocolate, while developing products that conform to targets such as the EU Action Plan on Childhood Obesity and WHO targets to reduce or limit sugar intake.

Marijke de Brouwer, Innovation Manager at Barry Callebaut said: “The most important issue in reformulation of products is maintaining the taste to ensure the enjoyment of the product for the consumer. Many consumers have long-held emotional expectations from chocolate products and these have to be fulfilled, while creating a better product.”

Keeping food ingredients natural was another key topic on many visitor agendas. Consumers are looking for that ‘clean label’ with no added chemical ingredients. This is a big ask from food manufacturers and one that Kristina Locke, founder and managing director of SugaVida claims to have the answer for.

“SugaVida is the only superfood sweetener. It is a natural source of B vitamins and can be used in any applications that traditionally use refined sugar, without losing its nutritional value,” she said. Speaking passionately about her product, Locke reported that the stand had many visits from high profile international food manufacturers showing an interest in SugaVida, which is natural, organic, sustainable and offers health benefits, such as being low GI and suitable for diabetics.

Anke Sentko, VP Regulatory Affairs & Nutrition Communication, BENEO-Institute said: "I think we need to find solutions for the consumer and give them better versions of the food they like.” Within her presentation she addressed the increasing consumer awareness about “food matters”. By making smart choices of ingredients certain metabolic processes can be modified. Prebiotic fibres from chicory as well as functional carbohydrates such as Isomalt and Palatinose from pure beet sugar contribute to a low-glycaemic nutrition and help to maintain a healthy weight.

With the debates over healthy food, functional food, sustainable production and providing enough food for all set to rage on for many years to come, the successful future of Food Matters Live looks assured for now.

By Kelly Worgan