WFSI Release New Fruit & Vegetable Blend For The Beverage Sector

05 Aug 2016 --- Beverage company WILD Flavors & Specialty Ingredients have revealed new ‘fruit & veggie’ beverage concepts in an attempt to stimulate the beverage sector. The concepts, which are available now, aim to appeal to consumers that want unique and premium-quality products, which complement their modern lifestyle and mindful approach to eating.

The new concepts from WFSI, a business unit of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), feature different juice contents and distinctive blends of fruits and vegetables, customized to specific target groups and consumption situations.

Anja Grzbiela, Product Management WFSI, told FoodIngredientsFirst: “The Fruit & Veggie products are triggering new impulses in the segments of still drinks and juice,” she explains, “The new taste profiles do not only arise from the combination of different fruits, but instead vegetables, a new component that has until then only been rarely used, and serves as a harmonious taste partner for the fruit juices.”

Grzbiela added: “Vegetables in drinks are well-known and familiar, mainly because of carrot or tomato in the beverage segment. What is new is that either a familiar, but still new alternative vegetable comes up in the still drinks segment or an interesting and tasty juice with additional vegetable options highlights the high juice segment.”

The new beverage products come at a time where vegetables in beverages are at their most popular. Product launches with fruits and vegetables have nearly quintupled in the European juice sector over the past five years. Whereas there were 62 new products in 2011, in 2015 the number had grown to 296 fruit and vegetable blends on the shelves. Great Britain, Germany, and Poland are leading the way.

In addition to beverages with carrot, which has been popular for years, more and more modern kinds of vegetables have established themselves and given fruit juices new flavor profiles. Examples include beet, cucumber and pumpkin.

“Consumers focus more and more strongly on a healthy diet and quality and are willing to spend more money on a consciously selected nutrition,” says Grzbiela, “Both options, be it still drinks or juices, perfectly fit with the modern consumer whose lifestyle is characterized by a healthy, vegetarian and diverse nutrition. Here age is not of relevance – from millenials to the modern, older generation.”

The new “Fruit & Veggie” product portfolio claims to combine the very best that vegetables and fruits have to offer: healthy ingredients and beautifully balanced flavors.

by Hannah Gardiner