-
Website will open in10seconds
Kerry launches Great Culinary Taste to meet changing consumer needs in prepared meals
14 May 2018 --- Consumers are consistently seeking authentic, delicious restaurant quality prepared meals made from ingredients they know and trust. Taste, convenience, nutrition and traceability need to coexist; and while all four are intrinsically linked to consumer demand, delivering it all at scale and for a profit, is not easy, according to Kerry, the Taste & Nutrition company. In response to these trends, Kerry has launched the Great Culinary Taste; a simple approach to help bridge the gap between the great authentic taste that consumers are looking for and what our customers can produce at scale, helping to create dishes that are inspired by the market, fast-track innovation and reduce complexity.
Great Culinary Taste is a simple approach to working with customers to create simple dishes that are inspired by the market, as well as delivering on the taste and innovation agenda. It aims to take the ingredients prepared meal manufacturers already have available, add a little bit of culinary magic and know-how, to enable them to enhance the taste of existing consumer favorites or add to their range by creating other product variants including more authentic and ethnic dishes. Great Culinary Taste, brings together key elements of the Kerry Taste & Nutrition portfolio of natural, authentic solutions to deliver innovative, clean label foods that are filled with real ingredients. The Great Culinary Taste range includes; plant proteins, natural stocks, infused oils, natural flavors, DairySource-Cream Replacer, natural extracts and marinades, pastes and glazes. Being able to introduce this variety, authenticity and ethnicity to your range, using clean-label ingredients is critical to the success of prepared meal reformulation. The company's latest research indicates that over 70 percent of European consumers now check the back of pack labeling when shopping for groceries, with 73 percent of consumers are looking for more natural ingredients in their prepared meals. 42 percent say they are highly influenced by products that claim to be authentic, homemade or made with real ingredients. Commenting on the changes in consumer demands and subsequent challenges, Grace Keenan, Kerry Marketing Manager, Savoury said: “Informed consumers are demanding more from the foods they eat, but taste remains a key driver of consumer choice. They want simple, transparent ingredients and reassurances that what they are buying is good for them and their families. This creates complexity for the developers of prepared meals, who need to create taste experiences, at scale and without compromising on labeling or nutritionals.” Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst, Keenan said: “Across Europe, we see a need for simple and honest ingredients. From a consumer perspective, this means an understanding of the ingredients used and we also see a lot of requests around the authenticity of taste, whether that is authentic to a region, or authentic to a memory. In ready meals, convenience is what consumers are looking for, but they don’t want to compromise on taste,” she explains. “Our responsibility is to deliver on taste and nutritional regulations.”
“We are doing a lot of work now in the prepared meals space that helps consumers understand and reduce the salt, fat and calories in the foods they want to consume,” she notes. “The response to Great Culinary Taste has been positive. In particular, customers have expressed an interest in our Plant Proteins, Natural Extracts, Yeast and Smoked Ingredients in response to consumer demand for more authentic processes and ingredients in their prepared meals.”
“Overall it has been a great way for us to get to know our customers’ challenges better and partner with them to find solutions, whether it is to introduce a new prepared meal to the market, reinvigorate a consumer favorite, or create a richer, more premium taste experience without compromising on labelling,” she says. “Great Culinary Taste will always be at the heart of prepared meal development and will evolve as market and taste preferences evolve. Regardless of the challenges our customers’ face, we are committed to listening to consumers around the world, understanding their changing needs and helping our customers create great tasting foods that they will come back for time and again.” “We will be launching the second phase of Great Culinary Taste in September 2018, focusing on elevating taste within sauce and soup development,” adds Keenan. You can view a video interview with Keenan on the company's "Great Culinary Taste" ready meals solutions here. Thomas Duffin, Development Chef, Kerry Taste & Nutrition also said: “Food is my passion. Going to work every day brings new and exciting taste adventures and culinary challenges to be solved. What gets me up in the morning is working with other chefs to create delicious dishes that consumers will enjoy the first taste to the last. But what brings that extra buzz is partnering with our customers to push the envelope, to deliver products that meet consumer demands such as; clean label, more natural ingredients or authentic taste, yet continue to deliver pure deliciousness and most importantly, repeat purchase.” “To bring great Great Culinary Taste to life, Kerry chefs from around Europe, have developed a toolkit that can stretch the ingredients already available in a development kitchen, to produce other prepared meal variants and drive costs even lower, by maximizing what is already in the larder. This approach can help manufacturers introduce a new prepared meal to the market, reinvigorate an existing consumer favorite, or create a richer, more premium taste experience,” he notes. By Elizabeth Green To contact our editorial team please email us at editorial@cnsmedia.com 
Related ArticlesFood Ingredients News Sensibly sweet: Kerry’s simulator finds consumer-preferred balance between sweetening agent type, protein and calories
11 Oct 2018 --- Kerry, the Taste and Nutrition Company, has released an interactive consumer preference simulator to supplement their latest white paper on sweetening agents, “Sensibly Sweet.” The proprietary preference simulator utilizes US consumer research data to help industry professionals understand the consumer-preferred combination of three nutritional details – the type of sweetening agent, calorie count and protein count – across six product categories. Food Ingredients News Roha addresses industry shift in natural colors, highlights challenges and new potentials
08 Oct 2018 --- For global colors company, Roha, the shift from synthetic to natural ingredients is primarily driven by the fact that consumers are looking more closely and consistently at labels on packaged food products. Increased interest in natural colors is happening all over the world, specifically in Europe and the US. To answer to the needs of the market, Roha is developing their range of coloring foodstuffs for their global customers, tailoring solutions to fit with their specific requirements. Food Ingredients News Kerry opens first plant in Moscow, focusing on meat processing and snacks
20 Sep 2018 --- Taste & Nutrition company, Kerry, has opened its first plant in Russia, in the Istra district of Moscow. Production will begin immediately with ingredients for the meat processing and snacks market. Food Ingredients News Flavors growth: Univar eyes potential in clean label, free-from and functional plant-based ingredients
17 Sep 2018 --- In today's rapidly changing food industry, keeping up with food trends like “free-from” and the consumer demand for transparency and safety, Univar recognizes the need to be at the forefront of innovation. Univar delivers tailored customer solutions through a broad product and services portfolio sustained by one of the most extensive industry distribution networks in the world. Additionally, Univar offers in-depth food market knowledge and understanding by helping customers achieve the latest food innovations to meet increasing demand. Most of all, Univar understands the importance of food safety and is committed to reducing environmental impact with more sustainable options. Food Ingredients News Savory snacking: Kerry sees health, bold flavors & authenticity spur NPD
12 Sep 2018 --- Kerry Taste & Nutrition research has shown that consumers see health as the most significant gap in savory snacks, and negative ingredients lead them to feel guilty for snacking. Many consumers are moving towards healthier or novel options, such as nuts, seeds and trail mixes, which are growing ahead of the total category. It is essential to consider the flavor pairings with these items, to meet consumer needs through different parts of the day. |
