Milling & Baking News - July 15, 2008 - 26

Food Ingredient Solutions

More than meets the eye
A new approach to co-branding with functional ingredients
benefits both manufacturers and suppliers.

ookies become extraordinary
when dotted with authentic
M&M's. Consumers know
what to expect, unlike with generic
candy-coated chocolate drops. The latter simply does not have the same effect as the "melts in your mouth, not in
your hands" candies.
The concept of formulating baked
foods and snacks with branded ingredients, and marketing their inclusion,
is not new. Beyond chocolate candies,
there's Nabisco Cheese Nips "made
with real Kraft cheese" and Mrs. Smith's
Cinnabon Cinnamon Coffee Cake "with
authentic Cinnabon Makara cinnamon
and Cinnabon cream cheese frosting."
In this traditional approach to cobranding, two big-name brands combine to form an even bigger concept
in the eyes of consumers. The right cobrand provides instant name recognition and allows a company to capitalize
on its partner's marketing expenditures.
In addition, co-branding provides products and packages with pizzazz - something generic ingredients often lack.
An up-and-coming approach to cobranding is less about pizzazz and more
about validation. In fact, the co-branded
ingredient's inclusion is invisible to the
consumer. This trend is all about including branded functional ingredients -
from fiber to whole grain flour. As with
traditional co-branding, marketers of
functional foods are able to capitalize
on the promotion and education invest-

ments that the branded functional ingredient supplier has made. Further, the
burden of proof of the "functional benefit" is placed on the ingredient supplier,
making the functional food marketer
more of the middle man and the delivery vehicle for the beneficial ingredient.
How sweet it is
Alternative sweeteners long have
been promoted on packages when
used in product formulations. While
NutraSweet was the forerunner, Splenda is the most popular today.
"The 'Sweetened with Splenda Brand'
logo is increasingly being embraced
by the bakery and snack food industry
because of the positive consumer messaging it conveys about great taste and
healthier choices," said Dave Tuchler,
vice-president, brands, Tate & Lyle, Decatur, Ill. "These products carry a range of
claims, including both specific sugar-free
or reduced-sugar, as well as more general
mainstream healthy positioning."
Research conducted by Tate & Lyle
consistently demonstrates the added
value of the "Sweetened with Splenda
Brand" logo on retail products.
"Specifically, 41% of U.S. consumers
agree that presence of this logo on a package makes them more likely to choose
that product," Mr. Tuchler said. "In addition, a similar or greater proportion of
consumers agree that the logo conveys
attributes about the host product such as
'suggests it's a healthy choice' and 'provides a taste reassurance.'"

VITALICIOUS

Quality promises
Unlike the obvious M&M or Cinnabon swirl, co-branding with alternative
sweeteners is transparent to consumers. The only promise being made is
reduction of sugar calories, and thus, it
is not as complex as co-branding with
functional ingredients, where oftentimes various health claims are made.
For example, The Solae Co., St. Louis, created Solae brand soy protein ingredients. From the Solae web site, con-

26 / July 15, 2008

ᮤ Cargill's CoroWise logo is present on
Vitalicious Dark Chocolate Pomegranate
VitaBrownie.
Milling & Baking News

sumers read that Solae soy protein is a
healthful, plant-based protein equal
to other protein sources such as meat,
eggs and milk. Compared with animal
proteins, Solae soy protein is cholesterol-free, low in saturated fat and lactosefree. In addition, Solae soy protein
contains all of the essential amino acids
and substantial amounts of arginine
and glutamine, both of which help to
support immune system health.
Solae soy protein ingredients may
be found in more than 3,000 products,
with many packages displaying the
Solae logo as a "trust mark" of proven
nutrition and exceptional taste, according to the company.
Fiber opportunities abound
When it comes to fiber, a variety of
branded fiber-providing ingredients
are available to food manufacturers.
The Promitor Dietary Fiber line, for
example, has two products that are
excellent tools for adding fiber to a
wide range of bakery products, said
Jim Miller, director of product management at Tate & Lyle.
"Promitor Resistant Starch 60 is a
dietary fiber that has excellent heat
and process tolerance making it ideal
for snacks and ready-to-eat cereals,"
he said. "It has the additional benefit
of reducing fat pickup in fried snacks.
At only 1.7 calories per gram, Promitor Resistant Starch can also help customers achieve low-calorie positions.
"Promitor Soluble Corn Fiber 70 is a
dietary fiber that is water soluble and
can be used anywhere corn syrup or other sweeteners are used. It is well suited
for bakery applications such as bakery
fillings, cookies, cakes, crackers, breads
and coatings for cereal or snacks."
Promitor dietary fibers have specific criteria to ensure consistent usage
of the Promitor logo. To support the
brand, Tate & Lyle's www.promitorfiber.com web site contains useful information about the benefits of fiber
in general as well as the benefits of
Promitor dietary fibers.
For
more
information
on
value-added
ingredients,
visit
www.bakingbusiness.com. MBN
- Donna Berry
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

http://www.promitor http://www.ber.com http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com

Milling & Baking News - July 15, 2008

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