Culinology - September 2015 - (Page 46)

PETITS fours Nestle USA putting a fresh spin on frozen Nestle recently introduced a new Fit Kitchen line of highprotein meals under the Stouffer's brand. Nestle also unveiled a Lean Cuisine reboot, shifting the brand's focus from diet to more chefinspired, ethnic dishes. Healthy food recalls on the rise Frozen product lines focused on weight management have fallen out of favor with consumers, who today associate healthy eating with high-protein, organic, gluten-free and overall fresher fare. As a result, sales for Nestle's Lean Cuisine brand, and several others in Nestle's frozen food portfolio, have slumped. But the company is determined to refresh the business, which also includes the Hot Pockets, Stouffer's and DiGiorno brands. Nestle's recent $50 million investment in a new research and development center underscores the company's confidence in the future of frozen. "We still believe the frozen category in general is still a very rich and fertile category with lots of potential left in it," said Jeff Hamilton, president of Nestle's prepared foods division. "If you think about where consumers are today, they're looking for real, natural food, and that can still be very consistent with what frozen food is. Frozen is the most natural way of preserving food." Earlier this year Nestle pledged to remove artificial flavors from its frozen pizzas and Hot Pockets products by the end of the year. The company also unveiled a Lean Cuisine reboot, shifting the brand's focus from diet to more chef-inspired, ethnic dishes that offer a variety of attributes and bold yet simple packaging that stands out in the aisles. So far, Mr. Hamilton said, the restaged Lean Cuisine products are off to a good start. But other recent innovations from the brand, like Lean Cuisine Salad Additions, haven't been as successful. The products included microwavesteamed pouches of grilled chicken, vegetables and dressing that consumers added to lettuce to make a salad. "We were asking the consumer to do too much work with that concept," Mr. Hamilton said. Nestle's strategy to repair its flagging frozen brands and draw consumers back to the frozen food aisle is to focus on the quality of the ingredients, the recipes and the ingredient deck. "If you look at the new products we've launched recently, if you just read through the ingredient deck, you'll see all very familiar, recognizable things that you'd find at home in your own kitchen cupboard," he said. "That's a really different way for us to think about formulating our products." "Now [consumers are] really interested in the ingredient panel, so we've changed the way we formulate our products accordingly," he said. Just because a product may be marketed as "healthy" doesn't mean it's less susceptible to a product recall. In fact, with more consumers demanding healthy products it's more likely that a food product recall is related to a healthy product than an unhealthy one, according to a report from Stericycle Inc. In its Stericycle Quarterly Recall Index for the second quarter, Stericycle said there were 178 Food and Drug Administration food recalls during the second quarter, up 47% from the first quarter of fiscal 2015. Sixty-two per cent of the recalls were related to bacteria contamination, with salmonella and listeria listed as the most common contaminants. The leading category behind the FDA food events during the second quarter was vegetables, at 61%, followed by grains, cereals and bakery products at 11%, supplements at 10%, nuts and seeds at 5%, herbs and spices at 3%, and fruits at 3%. There also was a surge in recalls reported by the US Department of Agriculture during the quarter. "There were 10.7 million lbs recalled throughout the quarter - approximately 10 times the volume of pounds recalled in the prior quarter," Stericycle said of the USDA recalls. "The leading cause of these recalls was undeclared allergens at almost 90% of the affected units in Q2." Increased demand for healthy products has numerous implications and a direct impact on product recall numbers. Since 2012 more than 64% of recalls have been related to healthy foods, according to the data. The leading category within the recalls is raw foods - often due to the use of unapproved pesticides. The trend has continued through the second quarter with 65% of recalls being related to healthy food, including listeria contamination and labeling issues among the chief drivers. 46 | Culinology | SEPTEMBER 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Culinology - September 2015

Culinology - September 2015
Table of Contents
President's Letter - It all started with eggs
Emerging Trends - Consumers shifting from sweet to sour
Meeting consumer demand for local
Ingredient Applications - Pulses take off
Plant proteins offer egg replacement options
Flavor Trends - Mixology on the menu
Member Profile - 'Easy' does it
10 years later — Remembering Hurricane Katrina
Industry News
Petits Fours - Nestle USA putting a fresh spin on frozen
Five ingredients to watch

Culinology - September 2015