Food manufacturers will face continued pressure to lower salt levels in their products in response to a growing ‘health crisis’, according to Andrew Ashby, managing director of ingredients supplier Brusco Food Group.
Ashby, whose company recently announced a partnership with sodium reduction system Smart Salt, told
Food Manufacture:
“In the UK we have over 16 million people with high blood pressure and that is one of the main risk factors for stroke, heart failure and kidney disease.
“Regularly eating too much salt puts increased risk of developing high blood pressure because of excess sodium in the body. Ultimately, too much sodium is driving a health crisis in the UK, which is why we should be looking at it from a food manufacturing perspective.”
Colour plays a crucial role in food choice and the leading companies in the field are finding new and better ways to enhance the consumer experience.
“We ‘eat with our eyes’ and if it looks good, we expect it to taste good and do us good,” observes Nathalie Pauleau, global product manager for natural colours at Givaudan.
However, our visual connection with food is subject to change according to wider trends, and Pauleau says this has been especially evident during the pandemic.
“In the current environment consumers are looking for moments of fun and optimism as well as energising experiences and important time out for relaxation, and colours can help connect with these needs,” she explains.
Scientists in Germany are researching ways to revolutionise the chemical industry by replacing petroleum-based raw materials with sustainable proteins from rapeseed oil waste.
The Freising-based Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging’s TeFuProt project aims to counteract the scarcity and long-term price increase of fossil fuels by using food waste for industrial applications.
The processing of rapeseed oil, widely used in food production, results in protein-rich by-products known as rapeseed meal and press-cake.
“Up until now, this residue has been used mainly as a foodstuff in livestock farming but this usage is limited because of the bitter substances contained,” said Andreas Fetzer, scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute.
Representatives from plant-based meat analogue supplier Meatless Farm, Mintel and the Good Food Institute (GFI) will discuss the latest plant-based food and drink trends at Food Manufacture s plant-based protein conference on 31 March.
Michael Hunter, managing director of Meatless Farm, Edward Bergen, global food and drink analyst at Mintel and Zak Weston, foodservice and supply chain manager at the Good Food Institute, will pinpoint emerging trends.
Hunter is the former vice president of global sales for Kellogg Company. During more than 20 years at Kellogg, Michael led the sales and strategy at the company’s frozen food division. He drives Meatless Farm s UK commercial business strategy, leading the sales, technical and marketing teams. He has helped steer its commercial growth despite the pandemic, with retail sales more than trebling.
Widely recognised is the importance for health of plenty of plant-derived ingredients – vegetables, fruit, grains, oilseeds and pulses – combined with more moderate amounts of animal-derived foods for the wealth of essential nutrients these provide.