Ingredients
HEALTHY
AND PERMITTED TREATS
Along with the need for higher quality
ingredients, the market has also shown
an increase in ‘better for you’ products.
In the context of healthy indulgence,
organic claims along with cleaner labeling, such as ‘free from’, found their
place in many of 2015’s new product
launches for biscuits and bakery pro-
ducts. Among the fastest growing
positionings around new product development are gluten-free, organic and
high/source of fiber.
Within the health category, there are
two distinct subcategories: active
health positioning and passive health
positioning. The former refers to biscuits and cakes that include additional
nutrients, for example, a wafer bar
coated with high protein chocolate.
The latter refers to biscuits and cakes
with reduced or ‘free from’ options, for
example, a chocolate cake with lactose-free dark chocolate or chocolate
cake made with low-fat cocoa powder. In recent years, the passive health
trend has been strongly supported by
news highlighting issues around
gluten, sugar and artificial additives.
Along with this trend, consumers are
looking for more minimally processed foods.
Although still small, the active health
trend is gaining ground with an in-
creased interest from consumers in
the added nutritional benefits of their
food. In this context, manufacturers
are highlighting high fiber, magnesium and protein content. Some
ingredients are also added for their
perceived properties and benefits
(e.g., guarana for stress relief or to help
with concentration).
More surprisingly, vegetables and flowers are conquering the sweet
market with more inclusions: apart
from the traditional carrot cakes, consumers are now able to find chocolate
biscuits with beetroot, hand-finished
chocolate and beetroot loaf cakes,
biscuits with white chocolate and
violet or rose petal inclusions.
Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate offers a
range of coatings, fillings (including
yogurt and mocha flavors) and inclusions, as well as single origin, lactose-free and organic chocolate, which
can help producers of bakery products
address such market trends. l
“Texture claims are in vogue, with
bakers playing with textures in
order to create an assortment of
new sensations. Accentuating
textures and combining them also
represent a way to position
products as premium.“
BISCUIT WORLD • Spring 2016
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