Convenience food – including crispy snacks based on meat, fish, cheese, vegetables and potatoes – is still a growing category. Within this range of products, there is a discernible trend towards coated foods made from all natural ingredients and no artificial additives (free of E numbers). According to Gerard van der Hoek, Product Manager with Meneba, “Clean labelling is a hot issue. Meneba Texturizers play right into this trend. Our heat-treated wheat and corn flours are all natural and can be declared as flour in the ingredient list: a point that product and application development managers of coated foods will definitely appreciate.”
Crispness
Manufacturers can also tap into the demand for crispier coated foods. As Van der Hoek put it: “Consumers are looking for crispy foodstuffs, which stay crisp a little longer in their mouth. Meneba’s range of pregelatinized Texturizers release moisture faster during frying, while creating a barrier that limits moisture migration after frying. Coated foods stay crispier for longer, with a juicy substrate inside. Crispness is one of the main trends this year and will surely still be on the agenda in 2010.”
Texture
According to Peter Hendrikx, Senior Technical Advisor at National Starch Food Innovation in Hamburg, texture is a key driver of consumer preference. “Consumers typically only remember the texture of a food product when they find it to be exceptionally good, or, more worryingly, when it fails to live up to their expectations. Not living up to the promise made on the packaging guarantees that consumers will not make a repeat purchase. Claims like ‘super crunchy’, ‘extra crispy’, ‘surprisingly succulent’ or ‘lower in fat’ are dangerous as they raise consumer expectations and are hard to benchmark. At National Starch we invest in consumer research to really understand what is driving consumer preference. We also see it as a great starting point to jointly explore with our partners in the industry how to translate consumer insights into new, compelling and feasible winning concepts.”
Low-fat
Low-fat is another important trend in coated foods, according to Paul Verbruggen, Product Manager Processing at CFS. CFS manufactures coated foods production lines and preparation, marination, processing, slicing and packaging solutions food industry. At the seminar, Verbruggen will review innovative processing options geared towards consumer health and the search for low-fat products. What can be done? And how does it affect the cost of production? Verbruggen will also highlight the newest cooking technologies, such as three-zone cooking using impingement. This cooking process enables manufacturers to roast products while increasing crispiness and yield.
Innovation in cost control
Jan Hennipman, Business Analysis & Services Manager at CFS, will explain the Value Model, part of CFS’s Lifecycle Performance philosophy. Software models may help to identify direct (‘hard’) versus indirect (‘soft’) costs, including the ‘true cost of ownership’. The Value Model quantifies the essential value drivers and establishes their interrelationship. By varying the value drivers, manufacturers can instantly see the effect on the cost of goods sold (COGS) per product and pack, and the annual COGS savings. This helps companies make sound decisions to control costs and anticipate future market demands.
IQF innovations
Innovations in Food gas technology can help rationalize coated foods production, as Jon Trembley, Global Cryogenics Centre of Excellence Manager at Air Products explains. Reducing the number of stages of production can improve efficiency, productivity and quality. Gas- based technologies can help accelerate throughput and reduce handling, for example by using liquid nitrogen in a combined mixing, coating and freezing process.
