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GOURMET NEWS JUNE 2015 www.gourmetnews.com Naturally Healthy NATURALLY HEALTHY 1 6 Gluten Free Mixes and Blends Offer Unexpected Options BY MICAH CHEEK With gluten free diets making headlines, food companies are putting more focus than ever on their wheat free alternative products. Irene Gottesman, Director of Marketing and Sales at Blends by Orly, credits the shift to the new availability of gluten allergy testing, which has led to chil- dren being tested earlier in life. She adds, "When one child is gluten free, often the whole family becomes gluten free." Parents will start consuming gluten free products make sure their child doesn't have to eat a different meal than the rest of the family. An added benefit to this is a greater ease in meal planning. This increased consump- tion has placed gluten free breads, cookies and pastas side by side with their wheat filled counterparts in grocery aisles. The pre-made foods being produced are a great help to people with gluten sensitivities or allergies, but they still suf- fer some significant shortfalls. The shelf life of unfrozen gluten free baked goods is generally shorter than baked goods with wheat. This causes many baked goods to come out of their package al- ready stale. Some companies have to re- sort to using more preservatives to maintain shelf stability. Flavor and tex- ture issues have also cast a bad light on the gluten free market, and discriminat- ing consumers are now driving demand for products that match or exceed the palatability of wheat based baked goods. Rivaling wheat products is where baking mixes most stand out from other gluten free products. Janine Somers, Director of Marketing at Stonewall Kitchen, says, "Using high quality ingredients and never sacrificing on taste, we develop our gluten free products with the same stan- dards we use for every other Stonewall Kitchen product. Quality and flavor are never compromised." Due to the popular- ity of these mixes, gluten free recipes from pizza crust to doughnuts are now being offered. The homemade aspect of these products offers a greater sense of quality and freshness. "Since everything at Stonewall Kitchen starts and ends with quality, we believe the rise in this cate- gory for us in particular is due to the fact that our gluten free products are just as tasty and satisfying as our traditional mixes," Somers says. The ability to replicate the texture and flavor of wheat based products is deter- mined by the careful mixing of different flours. As the market for gluten free flour blends and baking mixes grows, producers are trying new combinations of grains and starches in an effort to more accurately replicate wheat's behaviors. Somers says, "While most mixes use potato, rice and tapioca flours, developers are looking at oats which also offer a nutritional quality. Another trend in mix development is the use of bean flours and other grains such as sorghum, chia and millet, which are being used in a combination with other gluten free flours." Blends by Orly has a collection of flour blends which are designed as one to one wheat flour substitutes in any recipe, rather than a single product mix. "The rea- son we're able to say it rivals wheat prod- ucts," says Gottesman, "Is because we tested them against wheat recipes." Blends by Orly baked classic recipes with their flours, taste testing them on people who regularly ate gluten. This helped to eventu- ally match the familiar qualities of the orig- inal product. The emotional motivator for making gluten-free products at home comes from how customers feel they are perceived personally. Buying gluten free products can make consumers feel like their eating habits or restrictions are on display. Gluten free packaging is often distinct from other packages, and is marketed pri- marily for health rather than flavor. Gottesman says, "When you're buying something for a dietary issue, you don't want to feel like you're in a pharmacy all the time." GN Mariani Packing Company Announces Exclusive Partnership with Ganeden Biotech Mariani Packing Company, the world's largest independent producer of dried fruit, has partnered with Ganeden Biotech, a rec- ognized leader in the manufacturing and marketing of probiotics. This partnership will allow Mariani to build upon the com- pany's legacy of innovation through the de- velopment of a new portfolio of dried fruit snacks and ingredient products utilizing GanedenBC30 Probiotic Cultures. "As consumers continue to demand more from the snacks and food that they are eating, dried fruit partnered with the benefits of probiotics is an ideal combina- tion," says Miranda Ackerman, Director of Innovation and Business Development. "We are very excited for our upcoming launch of consumer products, initially fo- cused on digestive health and overall well- ness, as well as the portfolio of fruit ingredients in development that we will be able to provide for our global customers." Dried fruit is a natural source of dietary fiber, which is shown to support digestive health. Combining the natural health bene- fits of dried fruit with a highly stable probi- otic culture will allow consumers to add probiotics to their everyday snacking and eating occasions in a more versatile and con- venient way. As the market and education on probiotics increases, consumer awareness continues to grow - currently about 80 per- cent of consumers know what probiotics are and associate them with a health benefit. "This dried fruit innovation combines prebiotics and probiotics into a truly func- tional health product that is complemented by antioxidants," says Dr. Holly Petty, Di- rector of Technical Services and Innova- tion. "Our partnership with Ganeden has enabled us to bring a product to market that delivers active cultures 10 times more effectively than yogurt – but in a shelf sta- ble form." GN Sales of Organic Products Top $39 Billion in 2014 Sales of organic food and non-food products in the United States broke through another record in 2014, totaling $39.1 billion, up 11.3 percent from the previous year, according to the latest survey on the organic industry from the Organic Trade Association (OTA). Despite the industry struggling with tight supplies of organic ingredients, or- ganic food sales in 2014, at $35.9 billion, posted an 11 percent rise, while organic non-food sales, at $3.2 billion, jumped al- most 14 percent for the biggest annual in- crease in six years. In blue states and red states, across the heartland of America and all along the Gulf Coast, sales of organic products are posting double-digit increases. The majority of American households in all regions of the country now make organic a part of their supermarket and retail purchases – from 68 to almost 80 percent of households in southern states, to nearly 90 percent on the West Coast and in New England, according to new market research. OTA's Organic Industry Survey is the most accurate and comprehensive quanti- tative picture of the U.S. organic industry available. It was conducted and produced by Nutrition Business Journal. Over 200 companies responded to the survey, con- ducted this year from February 10 through April 3. The full survey will be available in mid-May through OTA. The U.S. organic sector has expanded significantly since OTA first began tracking the industry's performance in 1997. In 1997, organic food sales totaled around $3.4 billion, and accounted for under 1 per- cent of total food sales. In 2014, organic food claimed almost 5 percent of the total food sales in the U.S., and has consistently far outshone the 3 percent growth pace for the total food industry. Organic fruits and vegetables continued to be the biggest-selling organic category in 2014 with $13 billion in sales, up 12 per- cent from the previous year, and making up more than 36 percent of all organic food sales. Of all the produce now sold in the United States, 12 percent of it is organic, a market share that has more than doubled in the past 10 years when organic produce sales accounted for only 5 percent of the fruit and vegetable market. The organic dairy sector posted an al- most 11 percent jump in sales in 2014 to $5.46 billion, the biggest percentage in- crease for that category in six years. Sales of organic non-food products – ac- counting for 8 percent of the total organic market – posted the biggest percentage gain in six years, with sales of organic fiber and organic personal care products the stand- out categories. GN

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