Food Processing - January 2008 - (Page 48)

INGREDIENT TRENDS In the new year, ﬁber will come in many forms. Hemp may be an ancient plant, but its use as food is only recently popular, at least in the western world. “Hemp is controversial given its botanical association to marijuana,” admits Chris Steinmetz, managing director at French Meadow Bakery (www.frenchmeadow.com), Minneapolis. Hemp seed, however, which comes from a different strain of the plant, is ﬁ nding its way into many basic foods. The nutritional proﬁ le of hemp seed inspired items such as hemp bread. “Hemp is truly a super food and delivers high levels of ﬁber, protein and omega-3 fatty acids,” says Steinmetz. “Including hemp With its high levels of ﬁber, protein seeds and hemp ﬂour in our and omega-3 fatty acids, hemp seed products has enabled French could have a breakout year in 2008, Meadow Bakery to offer truly according to French Meadow Bakery. functional breads.” Organic isn’t new, but 2008 will see far more organic choices, especially given the food ingredient scares of the past year. Paciﬁc Natural Foods (www.paciﬁcfoods.com), Tualatin, Ore., recently launched eight premium ready-to-eat organic soups made entirely from USDA certiﬁed-organic beef, chicken and pork. “The organic meats featured in the new soups are expected to strongly appeal to consumers,” says Kevin Tisdale, director of marketing for the company. “According to the research [The Natural Marketing Institute, January 2005], 65 percent of consumers want a guarantee that all meat products are free of added growth hormones and antibiotics and that animals are humanely raised,” Tisdale adds. Also in the organic offerings is a line of “Light Sodium Soup options” that range in sodium from 280mg to 380mg and contain 90 to 110 calories per 8-oz. serving. New products in the coming year will certainly feature innovative processing techniques. “We’re (a nation of) snackers. We’re tired of having to choose between unhealthy fried and undelicious baked chips,” says Cici De La Montanya, media maven for Popchips (www.popchips.com), Rancho Dominguez, Calif. Popchips are a new take on potato chips and corn chips. “Rather than frying or baking our chips, we use heat and pressure to pop chips out of potatoes, organic white corn and whole-grain brown rice. We found that by popping our chips, we could have all the ﬂavor of fried chips with half the fat, fewer calories and no trans fats, artiﬁcial colors or ﬂavors,” says De La Montoya. The Greek physician Hippocrates compiled a list of more than 400 medicinal herbs and is credited with the quote “Let your food be your medicine.” As consumers become more educated and health conscious, they demand healthier choices. But they don’t want healthy food to taste like medicine, and that is where the challenge lies for the modern food industry. WWW.FOODPROCESSING.COM http://www.frenchmeadow.com http://www.intersystems.net http://www.intersystems.net http://www.pacificfoods.com http://www.popchips.com http://www.gleeson-const.com http://www.gleeson-const.com http://www.foodprocessing.com

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Food Processing - January 2008 Contents Editor's Plate NewsBites The Trends Rollout Food Biz Kids Product Spotlight Seventh Annual Manufacturing Trends Surbey Product Development Ingredients Plant Operations Plant Operations & Packaging New Supplier Products Toops Scoops

Food Processing - January 2008

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