Prepared Foods - October 2008 - (Page 19)

cover story combinations, and we expect this innovative product to help grow the frozen pizza category.” The entire concept started with that focaccia crust. “Traditional focaccia bread is a flat, Italian bread made with olive oil that is often topped with herbs or other items, which has experienced a resurgence, as premium, artisan breads are a growing trend in restaurants,” notes Sydney Pham, scientist with Kraft Foods. “Inspired by this trend in artisan breads, the team created a thick, light and airy crust that is crispy on the outside and soft and breadlike on the inside.” “One of the biggest challenges was to deliver a true focaccia texture for the crust dough,” recalls Paul Mankowski, associate director of Research, Development and Quality with Kraft’s Pizza division, “which we solved by using proprietary Kraft technologies. Another key challenge was delivering the product in the short timeline. This was achieved through project management best practices of pilot plant development, followed by scale-up to the manufacturing facility.” Extra virgin olive oil, a blend of cheeses and Italian herbs are mixed into the dough, which is baked and topped with additional Italian herbs and cheeses. However, developers focused on more than the crust; they also added more flavor to the pizza, through the addition of a seasoning blend to top the crust, which is specially selected to compliment the toppings of each pizza variety. The line launched in March 2008 in four varieties: Supreme with Roasted Vegetables is atop a Parmesan focaccia crust, while the Meat Trio’s crust is topped with roasted garlic; Four Cheese has a sun-dried tomato and basil crust, and Pepperoni with Spicy Red Pepper Flakes sits atop an Asiago focaccia crust. To further the premium positioning, Kraft developers topped the pizza with such premium ingredients as a sauce made with crushed, vine-ripened tomatoes, whole-milk mozzarella cheese, fire-roasted vegetables and applewood smoked bacon. “The unique, flavored crust and super-premium ingredients,” Harter relates, “were key elements of the initial pizza concept and were a part of the product’s design from the very beginning. The Kraft Pizza Company goal was to create a pizza with the highest quality ingredients and sophisticated flavor profiles.” However, Kraft’s developers wanted to deliver a dual eating experience. They wanted the consumer to enjoy the pizza and the experience of focaccia bread. Therefore, they opted to allow for a wider rim: sauces and toppings extend no further than one inch from the edge. This crust, obviously, was crucial to the project, as evidenced by the fact that the team would not compromise time on its development. They worked to get the crust right first, before moving on to flavors and toppings, even though this required compressing some time at the back-end of the development to meet the aggressive timeline. “Consumer Insights conducted consumer research with prototypes early in the process,” Pham recalls, “to help guide product development. Key decision makers were identified early, and key meetings were limited to decision-makers, to fast-track approvals. Plus, Singing a Different Attune 3rd Place—Retail: Attune Foods for Attune Probiotic Wellness Bars Recent years have seen consumer awareness of the benefits of probiotics skyrocket. Largely gone are the days when discussions of gut health would kill a conversation, if not clear the room, and “friendly bacteria” was regarded as a contradiction in terms. Now, more consumers are actively seeking probiotics in their foods, but the best, most easily found options have been yogurt and cereal. However, an increasingly grab-and-go culture can take issue with both of these: cereals are not exactly geared toward dining on-the-run or as an anytime snack. As for yogurt, it spoils easily when not refrigerated and does not transport well. Attune Foods’ developers wanted to create a product that was easily consumed on-the-go and that delivered the health benefits of probiotics. A cross-functional team of marketing, operations, co-packers, food technologists and sales professionals set out to create the “first truly portable probiotic food product” with only one goal: it had to taste good, while delivering a real health benefit. The end result actu- ally delivered “five times the beneficial cultures found in yogurt and is the only bar found in the refrigerated yogurt aisle of the grocery store,” explains the company. In the process, developers implemented a patented process allowing the strains of probiotic cultures to remain efficacious for up to two weeks at ambient temperatures. www.PreparedFoods.com ● October 2008 19 http://www.PreparedFoods.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Prepared Foods - October 2008

Prepared Foods - October 2008 Contents Hitting the Shelves Winning Way—Spirit of Innovation Award Winners—Foodservice and Retail MarketWatch Novel Ingredients for Sports Nutrition Products NutraNews The Flavors of Cooking On the National Menu A Matter of Balancing Taste Solving Problems with Dairy Ingredients Colorings: Will I Be Blue? Coloring with Confidence: Inclusions R&D Applications Seminar: Answers for Dairy and Confectionery Applications R&D Applications: Naturally Vibrant Colors R&D Applications: Healthy Foods with Flavor Abstracts

Prepared Foods - October 2008

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