No Sugar Product Trends

Freshens Recreates Its 25-Year Old Frozen Yogurt Recipe With Truvia® Brand

"We challenged the Truvia® brand to create an alternative base for yogurt and smoothies that would be identical or better than our current formulation with 25 percent fewer calories," said , Senior Vice President at Freshens Quality Brands. "What they came back with exceeds our expectations so much that all original base mixes will change over to the naturally-sweetened base with Truvia® rebiana."

"The applications team at Cargill brings unparalleled knowledge and know-how to change a recipe to reduce calories and sugars while maintaining its taste and quality," said , product line director, Truvia® ingredient for Cargill Health & Nutrition. "The introduction of Freshens ' new product line is another example of the innovative solutions the Truvia® brand helps food and beverage companies develop."

Freshens has always used natural yogurt ingredients with live and active probiotic cultures and is the only retail concept that fortifies each smoothie mix with 100 percent of vitamins A, C, D, E and 25 percent calcium, while Freshens original frozen yogurt base is sweetened with cane sugar. The brand will launch its new Truvia®-based products with a related messaging campaign to communicate the dedication to natural ingredients, while highlighting the better-for-you nutritional changes to their loyal customer base, which primarily consists of 18-24 year-olds living on college campuses.

"Our consumers want frozen yogurt and smoothie offerings with fewer sugar carbohydrates," said Redmond. "We're eager to post the new formulation's calorie count on our menu boards and to discuss how the Truvia® brand has helped us reposition our product to appeal to more health-conscious consumers. Thanks to Truvia® brand, we're now lower in calories and better tasting than other retail frozen yogurt brands."

Just over two years on the market, the Truvia® brand continues to set the trend in the sugar substitute category. As the number two sugar substitute, Truvia® natural sweetener has achieved a 12.7 percent share of U.S. retail sales of the sugar substitutes category, surpassing Merisant's Equal® (aspartame) for the past 17 months and Sweet'N Low for the past 12 weeks. (Source: ACNielsen Food/Drug/Mass+Wal-Mart, 4 weeks ending 4/16/11.

Formulation Trends in Functional Foods & Beverages

I remember back in the 1990s sitting in meetings at Nature’s Way talking about the potential of the functional food and beverage sector, which at that point was in its infancy. Now, well over a decade later, we are in the ramp up to significant expansion of the category with new products entering the market on an almost daily basis. A simple walk down the beverage aisle of Whole Foods provides an excellent example of the proliferation that has occurred.

The sheer volume of functional beverage entries is both staggering and intimidating. Even more sobering, 50% of those brands probably won’t be on the shelf one year from now. The beverage isle is a brutal retail battleground where brands either thrive or die.

Functional food brands have not yet proliferated to the extent that functional beverages have, but based upon a review of marketplace activity and trends many more functional food introductions are on the horizon. And the key driver here is the consumer, believe it or not. In survey after survey, consumers have stated they prefer their health and wellness to result primarily from what they eat and drink, so it is not a huge leap to expect expanded growth for this market in the near future.

What is a Functional Food?

As defined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), Washington, D.C., functional foods are “those foods that encompass potentially healthful products, including any modified food or ingredient that may provide a health benefit beyond the traditional nutrients it contains.” Functional foods can include cereals, breads, yogurts, snacks and beverages that are fortified with vitamins, herbs or other specialty ingredients. A specialty ingredient may be a naturally nutrient-rich whole food source such as spirulina, garlic, soy or a specific component of a food, such as omega 3 fatty acids from salmon.

Market Dynamics

Functional foods and beverages represent roughly a $40 billion category in the U.S. retail market. Growth between 2009 and 2010 slowed a bit compared to 2008—primarily because of the recession—and saw the discontinuation of many slow moving entries, particularly in the beverage sector. That being said, the functional food category is still outpacing traditional food and beverage sales in the U.S.

Not surprisingly, nearly 90% of functional food sales occur in mass-market channels, including food, drug, mass volume stores (e.g., Wal-Mart/Target) and club stores (e.g., Costco/Sam’s). Large consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies such as General Mills, Kraft, Nestle, Tropicana and Coca Cola have led the charge in this sector during the past several years, and they continue to own the category in the minds of consumers looking for added functionality.

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