Oser Communications Group

1 3 April 2019 SNACKING NEWS Vermont Creamery St. Albans Wins Good Food Award Vermont Creamery was once again hon- ored with a Good Food Award this year, this time for St. Albans, a St. Marcellin-style aged cheese made from cows' milk. The awards shine a spotlight on the taste-mak- ing crafters at the forefront of deliciousness and social and environmental excel- lence. The awards were announced on Jan- uary 11 at a ceremony held in San Francisco, California. This is the fourth Good Food Award for Vermont Creamery in the past five years. Previous winners include Bonne Bouche, the Creamery's flagship aged goats' cheese in 2014, Coupole in 2015 and Bonne Bouche again in 2017. "We are proud to earn the recognition of the Good Food Foundation, an organization whose core values so closely align with our own," said Adeline Druart, President of Vermont Creamery. "Winning a Good Food Award affirms our commitment to social and en- vironmental excellence and outstanding product quality." Further validating the company's core values, Vermont Creamery became a Cer- tified B Corp in 2014; B Corps are busi- nesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental per- formance, transparency and accountability, using business as a force for good. Launched in 2016, St. Albans is the Creamery's first 100 percent cows' milk aged cheese and the first to receive Non- GMO Project certification. The uniquely American take on the French St. Marcellin is packaged in a ceramic crock for easy heating in the oven. When heated, the cheese becomes silken, like a mini fondue. Vermont Creamery's St. Albans was one of two Vermont cheeses to earn this acco- lade in 2019; Spring Brook Farm's Read- ing also took home a Good Food Award. n 1 3 Cocoburg Rebrands as Foreal Foods Cocoburg is becoming Foreal Foods. Hot on the tails of the close of a roughly half- million dollar funding round, the category- defining, plant-based coconut jerky pioneer is re-launching with a fresh look, new recipe formulation, and an expanded product line. The rebrand was unveiled at Natural Products Expo West and is expected to start hitting retail shelves in the second quarter of 2019. The new brand name is a return to Cocoburg's original mission put- ting real food first, making room for a va- riety of new non-coconut products that reflect the company's commitment to pro- viding affordable, nutritious options with a focus on a clean ingredient list. To sup- port this initiative, Foreal Foods will be launching its #safesnacking campaign on social media and beyond. Foreal Foods' sustainable production model uses upcycled young coconut meat from the waste stream of coconut water production in Thailand. Coconut jerky is currently available in three varieties — Original, Ginger Teriyaki and Chili Lime, with new flavors and products slated to launch in the coming months. Vegan co- conut jerky is high in fiber (4 to 6 grams), paleo, keto friendly (5 to 8 grams of net carbohydrates), soy free and gluten free. Coconut Jerky is available for $4.99 in over 400 stores nationwide. For more information about Foreal Foods, call 929.260.1422 or visit www .coconutjerky.net. n Seafood Snacks Benefit from Health Halo BY ROBIN MATHER Snack industry observers know that the meat snacks segment has grown terrifi- cally over the last several years. But rising consumer demand for high-protein snacks also has caused an uptick in interest in a subset of the meat snack channel: seafood snacks. Sales of seafood snacks grew nearly 200 percent in both 2013 and 2014, Nielsen said, and overall sales of seafood snacks were just under $2 million for 2017. "Easy, go-to snacks that are both con- venient and healthy, such as salmon jerky, are a great lean protein option to stash in your desk or bag," says Linda Cornish, President and Founder of Seafood Nutri- tion Partnership, a non-profit that raises awareness about the health benefits of seafood. It's funded by both industry and non-industry donors. Epic and Ruby Bay showed both sweet and savory salmon jerkies at the 2018 Sweets & Snacks Expo. The Huna Totem Corporation, an Alaska Native company founded in 1973, offers salmon jerky bites in regional flavors such as Spicy Firewood Honey, Savory Sea Kelp and Sesame, Wild Alaska Spruce and Salted Rhubarb and Raspberry under its Dear North brand. Fishpeople, a Portland, Oregon, company, has introduced its Wild Alaskan Salmon Jerky in several flavors: Sweet + Smoky, Lemon Zest + Herb, Ancho Chili + Lime, and Rainbow Peppercorn. "Consumers are looking for bolder fla- vors; they're open to trying spicier things," says Laura Ali, Senior Manager of Nutri- tion and Regulatory Affairs for StarKist, which has developed a line of single-serve 2.6-ounce tuna pouches. "They're looking for convenience items. We're all busy, but we know that we need to eat healthy food." The pouches have a three-year shelf life and don't require refrigeration, so they're great for a desk drawer at the office, or a purse at a kid's soccer game, she says. "They're really easy to add as a healthy snack. You can eat it right out of the pouch, or put it on a salad or some vegeta- bles. It gives you that little protein boost to get you through the afternoon." Seafood snacks are a logical choice for increasingly sophisticated consumers, she says, because "they understand and are looking for products that are high in pro- tein and that taste good. They're realizing that good fats, such as Omega 3, and vita- mins like Vitamin D, are important, and they're trying to incorporate more into their diets." Gone is the humdrum tin of tuna des- tined only to be made into ho-hum tuna salad. Today's snacker wants lively fla- vors, says Ali, which StarKist supplies in the form of on-trend flavors such as ranch and honey BBQ, as well as international flavor profiles such as ginger sesame, red curry and Korean BBQ. "Seafood snacks definitely fit a lot of lifestyle choices that people are making," she says. "Many are gluten-free, many are more clean label, with ingredients you're familiar with. People understand that these are healthier products, healthier choices. I think that's what's driving this interest in seafood snacks." Don't Forget Canned Snacks "I don't know if people think of canned as well as fresh seafood snacks," says Sue Ja- cobs, Vice-President of Marketing for Wild Planet, based in McKinleyville, Cal- ifornia. "But if they don't, they should." Wild Planet, which has made its name by sourcing its fish from sustain- able fisheries in the wild, offers both canned and pouched snacks, she says. "A tin of sardines is an excellent snack. One can of sardines in extra virgin olive oil offers 18 grams of protein and 1,800 mg of Omega 3 fats. Those are good fats – they should be there, and there's no rea- son to extract them." That fits with what seems to have be- come the first rule of snacking: What's in it for me? "It used to be that a snack was a bag of chips or a candy bar, but snacks are really becoming a fourth meal for many," Jacobs says. "People are looking to fill that (nutritional) void, and seafood checks all the boxes. Is it satisfying? Check. Does it taste good? Check. Is it healthy? Check." Canned and pouched snacks also check another box: Portability. "Single-serve portions suit our lifestyles. I keep them in the car, and I have sat in traffic in New York, eating a pouch of tuna," says Jacobs, a former triathlete. "A tuna pouch fits in the back pocket of your bike jer- sey, and it's a great post-work- out snack. They're the per- fect size for chil- dren. People send us pictures all the time – someone sent a picture of her three kids lined up at a theme park, all eating tuna pouches." Contemporary consumers are also con- cerned about where their food comes from, she says, and whether those sources of food are sustainable. "We offer quite a bit of information about the fish, the gear, and how we only fish where the biomass is abundant. Our tuna are line-caught with no bycatch; every fish is caught individually." n

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