Healthy new ideas at Process Expo
Date: 12 August 2008
Baker Perkins launches new snacks and confectionery
Baker Perkins is bringing process technology for new snack and candy products that focus on the crucial issue of a healthy diet to the USA market.
Two significant new ranges of extruded snack that can be made with Baker Perkins processing equipment are being introduced at Process Expo in Chicago (booth #12118). The option of replacing traditional savory fillings with real fruit brings positive nutrition into the extruded snack arena; a totally new selection of innovative shapes creates additional opportunities by adding interest and variety.
Both concepts support manufacturers facing the challenge of a rapidly changing commercial environment, in which traditional savory snacks have been singled out for criticism because of high levels of fats and salt.
Co-extruded fruit filled snacks can be marketed to both children and adults as 'good for you', while still offering the taste and convenience that consumers demand in a snack product.
The concept involves the replacement of conventional savory fillings with a fruit filling. These use highly concentrated fruit pastes from Taura Natural Ingredients, who have worked closely with Baker Perkins on the development of these products. The key to their appeal is the combination of an intense fruit flavor with a crunchy cereal. The low moisture activity of the Taura pastes ensures that the crispness of the shell is maintained so the products can be packed and distributed in a conventional, convenient format.
The same ranges of shapes and textures used for savory snacks are available, and there are many exciting possibilities for different flavor combinations of fruit fillings. All the product shapes that have been successful in the savory snack arena can be replicated: for children this can be a successful introductory point of reference. For adults, the more exotic fruit flavors can be used as a marketing strategy.
The second new concept in co-extrusion is the co-extruded wafer - a thin 'credit card' type product that opens up a whole new area of marketing opportunities including dips and countlines.
These slim, rectangular products can also incorporate fruit or savory fillings; they may be positioned as snacks in their own right, or as 'dipping' products - perhaps a fruit filled snack into a yogurt, a healthy peanut butter into savory spread, or a tomato filled snack into cheese.
Baker Perkins is also launching inventive confectionery products. Deposited fruit snacks are 100% real fruit with no added sugar, and a convenient way for both children and adults to increase fruit intake. They can be positioned as a 'good for you' alternative to conventional snacks and confectionery, or used to bring interest and variety to the health food market.
They are made from concentrated fruit paste, as a bite-size piece or a bar; real fruit juice can be incorporated and softer textures used for centre filling. Both adult and child versions may be fortified with vitamins, calcium and other functional ingredients to reinforce the healthy positioning.
Depositing is into moulds that can be shaped and embossed to produce a range of shapes from simple squares, circles or ovals, to fun shapes or characters that will appeal to children.
ServoGel technology also provides a unique, new and low cost solution for the production of jellies that can be positioned as fruit substitutes. Real fruit pieces can be included within the confection, along with real fruit juice added as a centre filling or in the syrup.
This new capability creates the potential to build a higher-value product portfolio with jellies in low sugar / sugar free formats, with no more than 1% fat. Appeal can be further broadened by the use of exotic flavors such as passion fruit and mango, as well as favorites such as orange, strawberry and apple.
![[logo] Fivesite.co.uk](/gfx/gfx_logo_fivesite.gif){kind=logo}
