Anuga FoodTec 2009 Trend Report on Functional Foods

contents

europe

Consumers place a high priority on good nutrition. Ever since probiotic yogurts hit the market, consumers have known that our intestines are populated by innumerable bacteria that go by the names of Bifidus Digestivum, Lactobacillus Reuteri, and Lactobacillus Casei Defensis, to name just a few. The use of such substances as probiotic additives in yogurt and milk drinks is meant to strengthen our immune system and improve digestion. At the same time, more and more consumers are now demanding non-alcoholic drinks that meet the criterion of "functional." In order to meet this demand, manufacturers of functional ingredients are offering beverage producers new solution concepts in which added functional utility originates from natural sources.

Probiotic substances are members of the lactic-acid bacteria family that can be found in sauerkraut, sour dough, raw sausages, and sour milk products such as yogurt and buttermilk. The health-promoting attributes of probiotic bacteria have been known for quite some time now. Japan, for example, has been producing milk products enriched with probiotic bacteria for some 70 years.

Safe trip through the gastrointestinal tract
It's very important that foods containing probiotic substances be carefully processed to ensure that the vitality and stability of their microorganisms are maintained. Such microorganisms need to pass through the gastrointestinal system intact if they are to fulfill their probiotic function. One possibility here is to cover the microorganisms with substrates - i.e. encapsulate them to ensure they pass through the tract safely. The probiotic substances in such capsules are embedded in a network consisting of natural wheat fibres or polysaccharides such as starch or pectins, and are also additionally covered by a coating of protein and carbohydrate molecules.

This ensures that the probiotic bacteria do not have a negative effect on the taste of the foods they are added to. Conversely, the coverings protect the bacteria from gastric acids. Encapsulation here can take the form of any procedure used for the complete encasement of fluids, solid particles, or even gases in a solid material (matrix). The capsules range in diameter from 5 to 500 micrometres. The choice of encapsulation technique mainly depends on the properties of the core and covering materials, whereby spray drying and extrusion have established themselves as the most commonly used processes in the food industry. That's because both techniques can be employed profitably on a large scale in either batch operations or continual production.

Up until recently, the bacteria were usually frozen or dried before being added to yogurt as a highly concentrated powder. However, scientists at the Center of Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan at Munich Technical University have begun employing a different approach by using the lactoprotein casein for the micro-encapsulation of probiotic bacteria. It's not just the covering material that's innovative here but also - and above all - the gentle processing during manufacturing. In order to transform the casein into suitable microcapsules, it is first mixed with the bacteria. After adding a special enzyme known as transglutaminase, and producing a water-in-oil emulsion, a casein gel forms, in which the healthy bacteria are covered by a dense network. The resulting globules with an average diameter of 150 micrometres are subsequently separated in a spinning device, after which they are washed. One gram of microcapsules produced in this manner contains around five billion living bacteria.

The functionality trend in the beverage sector
ACE drinks, energy drinks, athletic drinks, probiotic milk drinks, breakfast drinks, vitamin drinks, wellness drinks, and water with various active additives - there's truly no lack of functional drinks that compete for the favour of consumers on the market. The substances added to such drinks range from cider vinegar, aloe vera, and St. John's wort to ginseng, guarana, kombucha, caffeine, coenzym Q10, vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids, minerals, fibres, secondary vegetable materials, fatty acids and lemon grass.

This functional trend offers food manufacturers various possibilities for developing new functional food products that meet the demands of consumers. Many functional ingredients, however, require sophisticated processing to ensure that their nutritional value remains intact. The main issue here involves heat-sensitive substances added to functional foods. One solution is offered by special metering systems that enable aseptic inline metering of liquid additives after the final heating of the base product immediately before packaging. Here, the liquid to be added is placed in a bag connected to a sterile tube, through which it is injected with a sterile needle into the base product. Steam barriers maintain the aseptic environment during the process. The heat-sensitive functional additive thus bypasses the heating process. Whereas probiotic bacteria were previously to be found primarily in yogurt or fermented milk products, the advent of this new dosage system now makes it possible to add lactic acid bacteria to fruit juices and smoothies. This was how the first-ever probiotic orange juice was launched on the market in Ireland in 2006.

Credibility is the key to success
Various analyses have found that the market for functional foods remains highly dynamic. The Future Institute in Kelkheim reports, for example, that certain forecasts predict functional food will account for around 25% of the global food market volume by 2010 - and that this figure will increase to 50% by 2050. This prediction is not as unrealistic as it might seem - after all, consumers in Germany as well are already acting in a manner that strongly promotes such a trend. In fact, functional food has become so well established in Germany that most consumers barely perceive it as such. If one is to believe the AC Nielsen market research institute, the German market for functional food is now the biggest in Europe, with annual revenues of €5.1 billion. The market's annual growth potential is estimated to be around 20%. According to the "Food Trends 2008" report published by Axel Springer, some 43% of all Germans already pay close attention to "added health utility" when making food purchases.

The only real problem on the German functional food market involves credibility: According to a representative household panel poll conducted by AC Nielsen, around 50% of Germans who refuse to buy functional foods say their reason for not doing so is because they don't believe such foods will have the claimed effect; price is much less of a consideration here. Such results illustrate that lack of credibility represents a true obstacle to the purchase of functional food products. The Health Claims directive offers a chance over the medium term to boost the credibility of functional food among consumers. That's because strict stipulations regarding nutritional and health-related information posted on food products and in advertisements will likely have a positive effect on product communication, and thus ultimately consumer behavior.

write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Exhibition News :: home page