KEY INTERVIEW: The Booming Global Gluten-Free Market

21 Apr 2015 --- Interest in free-from foods is continuing to rise globally, led by the growing availability of gluten-free lines in particular. Products positioned on a gluten-free platform accounted for 9% of total global food and drinks launches recorded by Innova Market Insights in 2014, rising to 17% in the US.

This is partly due to improved labeling regulations, but also to rising awareness of gluten intolerance in the diet and the development of more mainstream and good-tasting gluten-free products across a whole range of food and drinks sectors.

Key areas for activity in recent years have been in bakery and cereal products and snack foods, largely because of rising demand for alternatives to the relatively high number of gluten-containing lines in these sectors or because of the availability of alternative gluten-free ingredients.

The rise in demand for free-from foods is “remarkable” at the moment, according to Lydia Niesel, who is an expert on the subject.

And certainly research shows that in most countries it’s a sector with plenty of innovation, while the free-from category in supermarkets across the globe is rapidly transforming from a “niche” part of the store to the mainstream.

Niesel, who is the marketing manager for Ernst Böcker, has first-hand evidence of this growth in demand. The German-based manufacturer, which produces gluten-free baking ingredients, including gluten-free Sourdough and gluten-free Baking Mixes, is seeing strong growth for its products.

“The drivers of this growth are, on the one hand, consumers who like to avoid food with allergenic potential to have a better lifestyle or who like to control their weight,” she explains.

“On the other hand, the rise in demand is coming from consumers who must find a way of eating “free from” because of a certain disease, like coeliac disease or lactose-intolerance. These consumers can now choose from a much bigger range of products than in former years.”

One of the interesting things about this growth, she adds, is that they have identified that both of these groups of consumers are looking not only for one free-from ingredient, but for a combination of those. “So they are seeking not only gluten-free but also lactose-free, egg-free and wheat-free,” she explains.

So which group of consumers should manufacturers, such as Ernst Böcker, and other free-from suppliers, think of as their prime target audience?

Market opportunities:
According to Niesel it is important to keep both of these two consumer groups in mind.

“The first group is bigger and therefore spends more money in total on these items, but the second group might consist of consumers who wish to rely on certain high quality products for a longer period of time.”

For Böcker, she explains, the greatest market opportunity is in solving problems.

“With gluten-free Sourdough products and gluten-free baking mixes, Böcker supports baking companies worldwide which bake gluten-free products of high quality,” she says. “With the range of fully-baked gluten-free breads, fresh or quick-frozen, Böcker supports companies who don’t intend to set up a gluten-free plant. They can purchase the ready-baked good as product extension.”

The company is experienced at working together with customers and developing their individual breads or baking mixes – sometimes with private-label packaging.

In all of the solutions she has mentioned here, the market is not only focused on ‘gluten-free’, but also on food with natural ingredients.

“All kinds of Sourdough products, not only the gluten-free ones, offer lots of advantages for manufacturing delicious baked goods with short ingredients lists and free from preservatives,” she explains.

Natural ingredients:
Niesel stresses that ingredients for the growing free-from market should be natural.

It’s something that other free-from producers are also noticing.

Research carried out by Innova Market Insights on the snack bar market – which has a lot of products boasting of both free-from and natural ingredients - confirms the popularity of free-from is rising in most parts of the globe when it comes to snack bars. “Free-from claims are trends in snack and cereal bars in most regions except for the Middle East, which focuses more on fiber content and energy claims,” the company says.

Niesel agrees that typical free-from consumers tend to look for products with short ingredients lists and ones that are high in quality.

“For example, vegan food is a big trend at the moment, but some of those products suffer from long ingredients lists with a lot of preservatives inside.”

Therefore, she says, ingredients that help manufacturers create free-from products with natural ingredients hold a strong potential for growth.

“This is where our naturally fermented Sourdough products come into play,” she says. “With the help of gluten-free sourdough products, baking companies can improve taste, texture and shelf life of gluten-free baked goods in a natural way. With the gluten-free Baking Mixes by Böcker, all of which contain gluten-free sourdough, a wide range of free-from products can be processed by baking companies; not only bread, but also fine pastry, hamburger buns or pizza.”

Free-from across the globe
It’s a sector of the food industry that is gaining more recognition all the time, in most parts of the world. But of course different nations have different taste preferences and dietary needs.

Niesel says this is something Böcker has already experienced when it comes to free-from products, and it has been able to tailor its offerings accordingly by adapting to each nation’s demands and preferences.

“The raw materials that come into focus depend on the customers’ country, as different taste profiles are based on various different local baking cultures,” she says.

“In France and Poland, the stronger taste of Buckwheat might be of high interest, whilst in other countries the mild taste of gluten-free Rice Sourdough is in stronger demand. Quinoa Sourdough is also very popular these days, as long as the raw material is available on the market at a reliable price.”

And of course health is another consumer driver which has a role to play in the free-from market, and in baking products.

Niesel points to other ingredients that might satisfy a consumer’s health needs, such as natural fibre sources or ones with high nutritional values such as Flaxseed Sourdough, which contain omega-3 fatty acids.

“After all, the free-from market is developing in a comparable way to the conventional market, but, as a running trend, growth is even quicker,” she explains.

“Food manufacturers continue to develop free-from products that taste similar to conventional products and serve the same trends, like heat-and-eat, snacking, and eat-and-drink-to-go. But the highly influencing trend that runs at the base of all consumers needs is to look for food with short ingredients lists, with natural ingredients and which are free from preservatives,” she concludes.

by Sonya Hook

Ernst Böcker will be exhibiting at the Free From Food Expo on 4 and 5 June 2015 in Barcelona, Spain.