Dive Brief:
- Food companies are becoming more innovative with inclusions — nuts, chips, candies, fruits, seeds, and other items that add flavor and texture to foods such as ice cream, yogurt, chocolate and baked goods. Some companies are using healthy inclusions, such as quinoa and other superfood ingredients, to bring a more positive light to "junk food."
- A survey by Canadean asked consumers around the world to rate 100 ingredients on their healthiness as inclusions. Green tea came out on top globally, although American consumers ranked whole grains and blueberries as the two healthiest inclusions. Sprouted grains and seeds made a strong showing, beating out both quinoa and chia.
- The surprise showing by sprouted grains and seeds — a 70% positive impact on health rating, positions those inclusions ahead of quinoa (41.6%) or chia (34.1%) and put them on the items to watch list.
Dive Insight:
The use of more and different inclusions reflects the trend of consumers looking for more adventurous (and sometimes healthier) flavors. Creative development of products using inclusions can help companies attract customers or reinvigorate fruit purees.
Appetites are growing in applesauce-type fruit purees because they offer on-the-go packaging. Inclusions viewed as helalthy can help brands like GoGo squeeZ which is on target for around $200 million in US sales by the end of 2015.
