Nutritional concerns have a significant impact upon NPD within the frozen foods industry, reports Jonathan Thomas.
Health and nutritional concerns should continue to affect activity within the markets for frozen bakery goods and potato products. However, innovation and new product development differs between the two sectors. With bakery goods, much of the recent NPD has been geared towards the incorporation of ingredients associated with healthy diets – examples include fibre and protein. Almost the opposite is true for frozen potato products, where manufacturers have been emphasising the removal of ingredients with a negative health perception, such as sodium.
Bakery Goods
The bakery industry represents one of the largest sectors within the global food market. Although most bakery goods are sold fresh, sales of frozen bakery goods such as dough, pastries and cakes are also high. According to Future Market Insights, the global market for frozen bakery products is expected to increase by an annual average of 7% between 2022 and 2032, reaching a value of USD39bn. Frozen bakery products are rapidly becoming part of everyday diets for consumers throughout the world, especially in Europe. Numerous growth opportunities are also arising in China, India and South America, although further development of the market in regions such as Africa may be hampered by supply chain and infrastructure issues.
Convenience represents one of the main growth drivers within the market. However, consumer interest in frozen bakery goods carrying health claims such as gluten-free, organic, low-calorie and sugar-free continues to increase, while there is also growing demand for products fortified with additional vitamins and other ingredients. It is worth remembering that bakery goods such as bread and cakes have attracted a negative press over the last couple of decades on health and nutritional grounds, for reasons such as alleged high levels of sugar, calories and saturated fats.
One of the most significant health trends within the global market for bakery goods in recent years has been the move towards clean-label products, i.e. those eschewing artificial additives and ingredients (e.g. flavours, colours, etc.) To a certain extent, this has helped manufacturers of bakery goods to address consumer concerns that their products are lacking in health appeal.
In the past, new product development within this sector was held back by the various challenges, such as the problem of preserving the quality of the finished product in areas such as crumb structure, as well as developing ingredients which can uphold dough strength and tolerance during the production process. However, products marketed on a clean-label platform are now evident in many sectors of the bakery industry, including the frozen sector.
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