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GENERAL NEWS www.kitchenwarenews.com n FEBRUARY 2018 n KITCHENWARE NEWS & HOUSEWARES REVIEW 11 BY ROBIN MATHER As a busy mother of three herself, Joy Bauer definitely understands the grab- and-go lifestyle, and why so many parents reach for snacks to satisfy their children and themselves between meals. "I think everyone is so overscheduled and juggling so many things in their lives that they're often not sitting down to eat traditional meals anymore," Bauer says. "So grab-and-go snacks that actually provide nutritive benefits to your body and give you quality energy have become super, super important." Bauer thinks about these issues a lot. She's a registered dietitian, the nutrition and health expert for NBC's " Today Show," a monthly columnist for Woman's Day magazine and the official nutritionist for the New York City Ballet. She's written 12 best-selling books – the most recent, "From Junk Food to Joy Food: All the Foods You Love to Eat...Only Better," published last year – and was the Director of Nutrition and Fitness for the Department of Pediatric Cardiology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, New York. She's also the founder of Nourish Snacks, a line of sensibly indulgent granola bites in five flavors – Blueberr y Apple, Chocolate Banana, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Double Chocolate and Coconut Vanilla. Knowing what your customers are looking for is a big factor in making wise retail decisions, Bauer says. "A key to success is to make the healthy food snacks area look inviting – clean, well-organized," she says. "People are going to mosey right on over, if it looks enticing. Use good signage, circulars and shelf talkers to draw your customers' attention to the healthier option snacks you offer." Customers have become much more informed about health, she says. They know what they're looking for, and you can help them find it. "I always say there are three golden rules for a snack: It should be no more than 200 calories – that 's the sweet spot where hunger is satisfied but your appetite isn't ruined. It needs to be made with whole, nourishing, quality, nutrient-rich ingredients. And it has to be delicious, something that makes your customer happy and satisfies their cravings." There are wonderful, real food snacking options, Bauer says. " You can couple peanut butter with an apple, or turkey slices wrapped around bell pepper strips to dip into spicy mustard." Logically, however, retailers want their customers to reach for the packaged snacks, too. Bauer has some thoughts on that. " The iconic snacks like chips and cookies – customers who want that stuff will find it, so there's no need to waste the f ront and center space on these items. It 's the newer, healthier stuff that has never been seen or tasted before that should be most visible. Think of it as helping to fuel your customers with beneficial nourishment." Oftentimes, Bauer says, retailers will do a test, putting healthy snacks out in easy customer view. "But they don't always give it a fair shot – they decide it's not working before it 's had a chance to do so. Retailers have to decide that they're going to make a positive statement, or lead an initiative, for their customers' benefit." Retailers should listen when customers ask about healthy snack products, she says. "Health takes center stage in the mainstream magazines, online publications, all over the place. Health is hot right now. Customers are seeing healthy snacks everywhere, and are asking about them." Understanding customers is obviously important, Bauer says. " Take moms for example. They rank their kids as top priority, and health is super important," Bauer says. "If a mom is going into a store to buy milk and she sees healthy snacks, that 's going to be a logical add-on purchase for her." Understanding Hot Trends in Snacking Two of the hottest topics in snacking right now are protein and sugar. Ever yone's talking about the protein trend in snacking, Bauer says. "Protein is important because it helps sustain your blood sugar and satisfies your hunger," Bauer says. "But a lot of people are getting too much of it — you need about half of your body weight in grams. If all you're doing is snacking, then yes, protein is something to look for. But most people are eating protein with at least one meal a day – eggs at breakfast, or a turkey sandwich at lunch." Because that 's true, high protein snacks aren't needed as much. "If you are somebody who's skimping on meals completely, it 's as easy to grab a Greek yogurt and a piece of f ruit as it is a protein bar, but both are good choices. Plant-based protein is becoming more and more prevalent, and that 's great. It 's good for the environment and it's great for your body. But I don't think protein is the end- all for snacking." As for sugar, well, we're all aware that our sugar consumption is out of control, says Bauer. Americans are eating far too much sugar – the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that the average American consumes 19.5 teaspoons of sugar every day, or about 66 pounds of added sugar every year, per person. That 's more than 13 five-pound bags of sugar a year. W hile the U.S. Dietar y Guidelines recommend 5 to 15 percent of calories a day in "discretionary calories," including both sugar and fat, children and teens are getting about 16 percent of their total caloric intake f rom added sugars alone. "Sugar is certainly villainized right now," Bauer says. "But the answer is not to turn to artificial and fake sugars. You can help your customers by giving them a chance to choose lower-sugar, better-for-you snacks." Remember, she says, "Health is a huge priority for a majority of the population – and it 's not just about diets and losing weight. People know that eating the right foods, in the right combinations, has lots of positive health effects.... In a world where so much seems out of control, our food choices are most certainly within our control." KN Snacking Can Be Part of a Healthy Life Food waste, digital and online innovations, and consumer values are expected to drive some of the major food and nutrition trends in 2018, according to the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation. "The rise of the connected consumer and technological advances will help redraw the food landscape in 2018," said Joseph Clayton, CEO of the IFIC Foundation. "As our values move to the foref ront in our decisions about what to purchase and consume, we will find a marketplace that is enhanced by innovation and is more aligned with our individual needs and desires." Drawing f rom its in-house sur vey research and health professional expertise, along with other data and observations, the IFIC Foundation has identified several hot topics for the New Year: Waste Not, Want Not By some estimates, about 40 percent of food produced for our consumption never reaches a human stomach. IFIC Foundation research suggests that food waste is both an educational challenge and opportunity among consumers that more players in the food system appear poised to embrace, with food purveyors stepping up their own commitments to address the problem. Growing awareness and concern about sustainability in general and the impacts of food waste in particular — environmental, economic, humanitarian — are indicative of broader interest in food values. Seafood sustainability is a specific area of concern, as consumers better appreciate the health benefits of seafood but also want it to be produced responsibly and sustainably. Virtual Shopping an Increasing Reality While the food sector as a whole notes relatively modest gains year over year, business is booming online. There are more ways than ever before to buy groceries. New players and familiar retailers are rushing to meet the demand. Vertical integration and consolidation, along with the startup culture and a strong economy, will yield new choices and added convenience for consumers. Some of the key trends include more diversity and continued evolution in home-delivered meal kits; the use of connected, voice-controlled digital assistants to facilitate consumer decisions and purchases; the increasing speed of food deliveries with a wider variety of options f rom packaged to perishable; and even recipes on demand. Blockchain Promises Total Transparency "Blockchain" is an emerging buzzword in the digital realm. The technology leverages data to improve business efficiencies and supply chains, and it holds great promise for the food system, especially food safety. Har vard Business Review calls it a "foundational technology" that is poised to remake many of our financial and social transactions and industries. Blockchain will help give consumers unprecedented information about where their food comes f rom. Nutrigenomics: The Impacts of Food at the Molecular Level Nutrigenomics, broadly speaking, studies how our diets influence our genes. A growing body of evidence and scientific interest in the field have put us on the brink of revolutionar y advances in personalized nutrition. Nutrigenomics has begun giving us answers about why people respond differently to different diets — especially why some people and not others become obese — which are factors that have long bedeviled nutrition research. New insights will help improve the quality of future scientific studies – not to mention the quality of our diets and health. F lavor Savorers Take a Walk on the Wild Side Taste has been the top driver of Americans' food purchases for the entire history of the IFIC Foundation's annual Food and Health Survey. In 2018, our palates will be treated to ever more exotic and esoteric options. Restaurants and retailers in urban areas in particular are seeing the proliferation of choices f rom areas in the world where taste is abundant but Americans' familiarity is lacking. As social media and our daily lives become more and more inextricable, expect to see your f riends and family chasing the "next big thing" when it comes to flavors. Less Is More: Clean Labels and Clean Packaging While the clean label movement will reach new heights, the food system will continue to grapple with exactly what the term means and how it will affect claims being made about foods. In a possible backlash to label clutter, including the proliferation of certifications, as well as marketing and health claims, some food producers are developing minimalist packaging to help set them apart and reduce consumer confusion. KN Food Values, Technological Innovations Power U.S. Food, Nutrition Trends

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