Consuming an excessive amount of fats, salt and sugar shouldn’t be excellent news for one’s well being, with overconsumption linked to elevated non-communicable illness threat. In response, stakeholders – together with producers and policymakers – are taking motion.
For meals and beverage makers, retaining shoppers is an apparent precedence. How can they greatest take away fats, salt and sugar from historically fatty, salty and candy merchandise, and proceed to fulfill tastebuds?
Why are foods and drinks producers reformulating?
Within the UK, new restrictions on meals excessive in fats, salt or sugar (HFSS) are coming into play.
The primary wave of laws noticed HFSS meals and drinks banned from outstanding gross sales areas in-store and on-line, with bans on multibuy presents (together with ‘purchase one get one free’) coming into play October 2025. TV promoting of HFSS meals and drinks will even be subjected to a 9pm watershed at the moment.
To assist guarantee product gross sales aren’t hindered, foods and drinks producers have been reformulating en masse.
However regulation shouldn’t be the one issue driving reformulation efforts. Producers have additionally been reformulating on their very own accord, in response to Lauren Woodley, group diet lead at Nomad Meals – a frozen meals main promoting into 13 European international locations.
“There are a mix of necessary and voluntary measures, and these fluctuate by area and by nation. Nonetheless, I’d say that numerous reformulation in the intervening time is being pushed by the meals trade.”
That isn’t to say that voluntary measures alone all the time take away fats, salt and sugar from product formulations, and as demonstrated within the UK, regulators can search to create a extra even enjoying subject. Regardless of the motivation, producers are placing these vitamins within the firing line. That are probably the most difficult to take away from which formulations?
Chopping sugar from historically candy meals
For Nomad’s Woodley, sugar and salt are the 2 most problematic vitamins in Nomad’s portfolio – which incorporates manufacturers Birds Eye, Goodfella’s, Aunt Bessie’s, and others. They every have their very own challenges, she instructed the viewers at FoodNavigator’s latest Constructive Vitamin Digital Summit.
Whereas sugar presents the apparent candy style to meals, it additionally performs practical roles. “That gives an entire new space of problem, particularly with foodstuffs the place the essential construction is all the way down to sugar.”
For Nomad, this poses a selected drawback in its dessert portfolio, largely centred round its Aunt Bessie’s model within the UK. The method is two-fold: to scale back sugar content material whereas rising fibre. The result’s that Nomad has lowered sugar content material throughout its seven best-selling desserts between 16-22% and elevated fibre by as much as 50%.
The model’s largest promoting product, the Jam Roly Poly, underwent 16% sugar discount and 52% fibre improve. Wanting on the components listing, fibre comes from wheat flour and sugar from fruit jam and sugar.
“This was a very vital R&D challenge, which had a number of technical challenges as a result of we discovered that textures had been totally different, the best way through which merchandise ran by the manufacturing facility differed, and clearly the flavour was impacted as effectively.”
One other household favorite, Aunt Bessie’s apple crumble product, has additionally undergone renovation and is now HFSS compliant. Not that Nomad is advertising the product in that approach. “We’d by no means inform shoppers, as a result of we’re pretty positive numerous shoppers wouldn’t purchase it in the event that they although it was a bit too wholesome and wouldn’t ship on the apple crumble expertise. We stealthily do modifications to those merchandise.”
Additionally within the UK, challenger cereal model Surreal can be centered on sugar content material. The model launched in 2021 with the goal of providing adults zero sugar, excessive protein cereals, however with the flavour of their favorite childhood cereals (suppose cinnamon, frosted, peanut butter and cocoa).
Numerous Surreal’s clients are diabetic, which suggests conventional cereals are fully off limits. Whereas that additionally makes them far more prone to sugar substitutes, steered co-founder Jac Chetland on the Constructive Vitamin occasion, it doesn’t imply Surreal isn’t laser-focused on discovering the right sugar substitute for its merchandise.
The corporate launched with no-calorie sweetener sucralose in its cereal formulations, however suggestions steered the sweetener’s status was not as robust as others in the marketplace. Ultimately, Surreal determined to swap out sucralose for one thing perceived to be extra pure: “We discovered that stevia [sourced from the leaves of the stevia plant] was extra broadly accepted as a sugar substitute,” revealed Chetland.
Why salt and fats discount challenges producers
Whereas sugar was off the desk from the get-go, limiting fats and salt content material was tougher for Surreal.
On the fats aspect of issues, the start-up was decided to make use of coconut oil because the oil provider inside its merchandise. However when it turned out the coconut oil obtainable was low grade, deodorised and bleached, Surreal modified tack and opted for seed oils as an alternative.
Ultimately, it was the salt that posed the most important drawback, revealed Chetland. Being high-protein, Surreal leans on plant-based components together with soy and pea protein. “Naturally, these components are typically larger in salt than another protein alternate options,” he defined, citing dairy protein as an apparent low-salt substitute. As a plant-based model, nonetheless, dairy was not an possibility.
There have been different components Surreal would have favored to make use of, the CEO revealed, however which might have pushed its merchandise over the HFSS regulation limits. General it was a ‘large balancing act’, and one which will proceed relying on client calls for.
“We work with our shoppers to know which components they’re having fun with, which of them they don’t, after which proceed our improvement programme…Our product improvement journey has been one which, to the buyer, appears like we’re on model one, however we’re extra possible on model 24 at this stage.”
Salt can be a difficult nutrient for Nomad, which as Europe’s largest frozen meals firm sells numerous frozen fish. The method of freezing fish can improve its salt ranges, which doesn’t assist issues.
“The problem with salt is getting a accountable stage that also delivers on style – which means you gained’t lose shoppers to saltier competitor merchandise – however which additionally means shoppers gained’t really feel the necessity to salt their meals on the desk or add so many condiments that the general salt within the meal is definitely larger than if we hadn’t carried out the salt discount within the first place,” defined Nomad’s Woodley.
“With salt, it’s very a lot about balancing accountability with the style profile that folks demand, and don’t transfer away from in the event that they don’t get.”
The ‘balancing act’ of reformulation: from components to client testing
That reformulation is a ‘balancing act’ is agreed by components provider Ingredion. For the bigger established manufacturers reformulating present merchandise – slightly than innovating new ones – it’s about making modifications with out negatively impacting client acceptance.
Producers must ask themselves: what’s the primary challenge we need to deal with?, defined Ingredion’s Hazel-Fromm Tatosian, senior director, international purposes. And as soon as that’s determined, they’ll steadiness different facets of the formulation round that resolution.
There are sensible steps producers can take to assist guarantee shoppers settle for newly reformulated merchandise. Dr Laura Wilkinson, affiliate professor in psychology at Swansea College believes conducting repeat client testing in essential.
“It may be very straightforward to get shoppers in as soon as and style the product, however the problem is biology. We sense vitamins, we sense energy from a organic perspective.”
Suggesting that client liking of lowered calorie merchandise can lower over time, the researcher harassed client testing should not be capped at ‘one session’ solely, ‘it’s over the long term’.
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