Consumers all over the world are becoming more mindful about what they eat. The growing demand for clean label ingredients, that they can recognize and understand is taking its toll on the savory sector. See the video below for some insights on labelling and how Essentia can help support soup, sauce, and bouillon producers when it comes to meeting the ever-evolving demands of modern consumers.
Transcript of the video
"First of all, could you talk us through some of the main requirements modern consumers put on soup, sauces and other key foods in the savory sector?
What we experience is that the consumer today is very concerned about what they are eating. They want to recognize and understand the foods that they are purchasing. Claims "free from artificial ingredients" are very important for them, and they want to have as few as ingredients as possible on the label list. You could basically say that the consumer today wants to have food which has a certain authenticity. It has to be the way that our grandmother was cooking in the old days.
Years back the term clean label really took off and has been strongly adopted by the industry, but it seems the term keeps on expanding. How do you see this?
It is correct that clean label used to be only what was in the product and what was written on the label itself. But today, the modern consumer is also concerned about what's surrounding the product itself. Is it healthy for me? Is it sustainable made? Is it transparent to us? Do they know what's in the product?
What is Essentia doing to comply with the ever-growing consumer expectations?
Both sustainability and transparency have always been part of our DNA. Ever since our company was founded, we have obtained byproducts from the slaughterhouses, etc. and turned them into valuable ingredients for the food industry.
Earlier you mentioned transparency. Could you specify how Essentia stocks and fats match this demand?
We basically do this in exactly the same way as you would do it at home, in your kitchen, or any professional chef would do in a restaurant. We obtain these bones or frames from the slaughterhouses. We cook them in water. We are adding no additives whatsoever to the product. And by that, we are producing a natural stock which can be used in any given savory product.
What formats are you supplying and how can that help the industry tap into the trends?
We have basically two different kinds of product. We have a paste, liquid paste product, or we have a powder product. The liquid paste products are made the way that when we cook our bones, we evaporate the stock into a certain dry matter content. We are then adding the salt, normal kitchen salt to the product,
ensuring a low water activity. And by that, we gain a high shelf life up to three years stored at ambient temperature. Or we make a powder product, the same way the bones are cooked and then is evaporated and spray dried. During the spray drying we use no carrier and no additives whatsoever. So, you have here a 100 % stock product, natural stock product with also have a shelf life of up to three years.
We also have the fat. The fat is the marrow fat, which is coming from inside the bone. This fat here, we ensure the shelf life by adding some rosemary extract to the product and we have then one year of shelf life.
How do you see this clean label trend evolve into the future?
I expect it to become bigger than it is today, and I expect also other points to be added to the list of clean label trends. These could be organic and also provenance. Provenance, meaning that consumer wants to eat local manufactured products or coming from a certain region. Next step will probably be higher animal welfare. We have to be concerned about how we treat the animals by the farming and also during the slaughtering before we can essentially eventually use the byproduct to manufacture our stocks and our fat products. For the fish industry, MSC is already a big trend for the fish, but also fish products like fish bouillons and fish soups and so on, would also have to be MSC certified product.
So, is Essentia prepared for this?
Yes. Essentia is very much prepared for this. We already have today in our product range, products that meet provenance, that meet organic and also meet MSC.
So, yes, Essentia is prepared for the future and meeting the demand of the modern consumers."
