As consumers place an increasing focus on the health and nutrition credentials of the food and drink they consume, manufacturers are looking for new and innovative ways to meet these expectations.
Reformulation, or changing the composition of food and drink, is allowing companies to provide consumers with healthier options. These new, fortified, reformulated - often legacy products - come in a wide variety of serving sizes and flavours that make it easier for people to make healthy dietary choices.
Changing tastes
Coca-Cola has reacted quickly to the growing demand for healthier options with a commitment that 50% of cola sold will be lower or no calorie by 2020. To date, they have invested £15m in reformulation projects across their brand portfolio and have reduced sugar and calories in Sprite, Dr Pepper, Lilt, Oasis and Fanta, by 30%. In 2014, Coca-Cola Life was launched, a lower calorie cola with a third less sugar. These efforts are allowing consumers to make healthier choices, says Jon Woods, general manager, Coca-Cola Great Britain and Ireland.
“We see from our own sales figures, but also in the government’s data, that people are switching from regular (full sugar) drinks to no sugar alternatives,” says Woods in a blog for the company’s website last month.
“Between 2004 and 2014,” Woods continues, “purchases of regular soft drinks declined by 44%, with the same volume made up by increases in no sugar drinks and water. Even more recent data from Kantar shows that the sugar from soft drinks bought in shops for consumption at home has fallen by 14% between 2012 and 2016. The combined actions of soft drinks manufacturers and consumer education and awareness is powerful and proving effective.”
Consumer education
Consumer education is an important aspect of the fight against obesity and one that food and drink companies are passionately engaged in.
“We engage with governments around their obesity strategies and will continue to do it,” says Paul Graham, Britvic’s UK managing director. “Education on overall diet and encouraging exercise is part of that.
“We run mini Tough Mudder [mud runs] for kids to educate mums and dads about what’s in our Fruit Shoot product and inspire kids to be active. Sometimes getting kids active gets lost in the overall obesity debate.”
As well as encouraging healthier lifestyles, Britvic has pledged to reduce calories per serving by 20% by 2020.
“The products that are lower in sugar and healthier are the fastest growing ones,” says Graham. “With our Robinson’s squash brand, we took out the added sugar or full sugar variant in 2015 because it’s predominantly a family brand and the demand for a full sugar brand was getting lower. By taking out the full sugar option it opened up the space in the market, adding new options to the range.”
Adding ingredients
As well as taking out salt, trans-fatty acids and saturated fatty acids from food and drinks, new, healthier options can become available by adding ingredients. One of the reformulation goals of global snacks company, Mondelēz International, is to increase wholegrain in products by 25%.
“We want to be leaders in wellbeing and product reformulation is a key part of that,” says Sarah Delea, director of global wellbeing at Mondelēz. “We look at where we can reduce sodium, saturated fat and sugar but also add grains. We have a global target for increasing wholegrains since 2012. The focus is on where we can reformulate and make sure it’s not going to change the taste of products. We are not going to change the recipe of our much beloved chocolate but we can make sure we look at portion control and reformulating so our products are individually wrapped and under 200 calories. With portion control consumers get a smaller amount of their chocolate but can still enjoy it.”
Labeling
For Graham, there is a fine line between giving customers products they know and love and promoting healthier reformulations and he believes clearer labeling is key.
“In terms of educating and choices, a lot of the debate is confusing people. It’s very black and white; it needs to be more balanced. We need to [be] clear about what’s a healthy choice and what is a treat,” says Graham.
Reformulation projects also provide opportunities to improve the overall nutrient density of foods by enhancing the content of desirable ingredients such as minerals, vitamins or fibre.
“With Fruit Shoot, we took out the full sugar variant in 2014 but we have developed that further by adding vitamins to the product,” says Graham. “In terms of reformulating children’s products, we have to create great tasting products mums feel good giving to their kids.”
While the industry’s efforts have not managed to stave off the levy on high sugar drinks from 2018, it is making strides to improve the health and wellbeing of an exploding population.
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