New Nutrition Business

NEWS PAGE

This month

Danone secures global deal on innovative probiotic technology

August 2010 – Swedish probiotic science company Probi and Danone have signed a 10-year license agreement that gives Danone exclusive rights to use Probi’s L. plantarum 299v strain technology in probiotic fruit drinks and fruit juices for digestive health. Simultaneously, Danone has also signed an agreement to acquire 51% of the ProViva brand – a very successful and innovative probiotic dink – from Skånemejerier, the Swedish dairy co-operative which owns the brand.

Does Nestlé settlement spell the end of the line for immunity claims in America?

August 2010 – In Europe the term “antioxidants” is fast-disappearing from supermarket shelves – even the word is now treated as an illegal health claim by regulators.

Everywhere in health and wellness

August 2010 – We try in every issue of NNB to cover a range of companies. But so focused is one particular company on health and wellness that wherever you look, they are there, investing in growth businesses, licensing technologies and building brands.

Heart-health debut for probiotics

August 2010 – Dairy products could be the first introduction consumers have to foods containing a probiotic that lowers cholesterol, thanks to a multi-million dollar collaboration between the Canadian developers of the probiotic – called Cardioviva – and global functional dairy leader Danone.

Satiety yoghurt fails to give satisfaction

August 2010 – The graveyard for satiety products has a new headstone. Danone has laid its Shape yoghurt sub-brand Feel Fuller For Longer to rest, adding to a growing number of functional foods claiming to reduce the appetite which have failed to satisfy.

Danone dumps probiotics for US kids

August 2010 – Is Danone playing it safe with its US kids’ dairy strategy, dumping probiotics and foregoing omega-3? Or rather, Danone’s moves could be signalling what many have increasingly come to believe: that the benefits of omega-3 and probiotics are of only niche interest, and in the mass market value rests on “simple” back-to-basics benefits, such as “all natural and no high fructose corn syrup”, coupled with convenience and packaging innovation.

Early adopter strategy pays off for dairy and beverage pioneers

August 2010 – How do you take innovative new products to market? And how do you achieve growth rates of 30% per annum? Two brands that have done just that are Lifeway and GoodBelly. They have persuaded Americans to pay premium-prices even in the depths of recession. One of them even outsells Yoplait’s competing efforts. Together they are models of how to create a new category by targeting early adopters.

New Nutrition Business strategy briefing: how to use fibre to succeed in digestive health

August 2010 – This is the first of a new series of strategy case studies in which we will take an ingredient or a health benefit platform and look at what the success factors are, the barriers, the consumer beliefs around it, and how – across a number of food and beverage categories – you can use that ingredient or benefit as part of your own strategy. We begin with fibre for digestive health.

Last month

Three decades of dietary advice: no change?

July 2010 – Do dietary guidelines serve any useful function? Are they little more than a vague mission statement, aspirational yet irrelevant? Do they influence only the eating habits of the most-informed, most health-conscious consumers?

The right way – and the wrong way – to commercialise new “naturally healthy” science

July 2010 – Our case studies on pages 12 and 15 illustrate perfectly the importance of good commercialisation strategy. They show how two very similar science-based natural product concepts – with similar active ingredients and similar benefits – were commercialised in very different ways and as a result got very different results in the marketplace.

“Concentrated dose” is redefining food and beverages

July 2010 – The “daily dose” or “concentrated dose” format has become one of the defining product formats of the global nutrition business – in Asia at least, where it is long-established. But in the West it is still an embryonic concept and one most marketeers continue to shy away from.

Why ingredient, benefit and product must fit together

July 2010 – Failure to see a product and its benefits through the eyes of the target consumer is one of the most common causes of failure in the business of food and health.

Industry lobbies European Commission over ‘missing’ health claims evidence

July 2010 – With frustration around the flawed EU health claims process hardly diminished by a recent meeting that was judged too crowded and too “political” to satisfactorily address concerns, a section of industry has decided it won’t just stand by and watch its claims made illegal. The group is urging others to join it in lobbying the European Commission to hold off from banning some of the claims EFSA has rejected. By Richard Clarke.

Uncertain future for antioxidants in Europe

July 2010 – Is the term ‘antioxidants’ set to disappear altogether from supermarket shelves in the European Union? It sounds unlikely – incredible even – but in theory it could happen. And if you haven’t guessed already, it’s all because of the EU’s Nutrition & Health Claims Regulation.

Anti-cancer benefits drive sales of super-premium natural product

July 2010 – Keen to help consumers access the anti-cancer benefits they’d discovered in very young broccoli sprouts, two ground-breaking scientists have applied smart packaging and intellectual property protection to their “functional vegetable” – branded BroccoSprouts – creating a premium product that retails in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific. By Richard Clarke.

First failure teaches Booster Broccoli how to differentiate

July 2010 – Despite excellent science, a failure to use packaging innovation to differentiate from low-cost commodity products lead to Booster Broccoli, a high-sulforaphane broccoli, being withdrawn from Australian supermarkets. But the backers of Booster Broccoli aren’t going to let years of development go to waste. They’re banking on improved presentation to better persuade consumers they should be paying a premium over conventional broccoli. By Richard Clarke.

How fruit and veg are yielding their secrets to ‘metabolomics’

July 2010 – With global interest growing in the commercialisation of super-nutritious fresh produce, the race is on to develop and refine the technologies that can help companies bring tried and tested products to the market quickly and effectively. The EU is putting €3.5 million behind metabolomics, a technique that allows much faster and more accurate identification of the make-up of foods. By Richard Clarke.

Still learning from Yakult

July 2010 – A pioneering company in food and health, and one of the first to create a global health brand, there are always good lessons to be learnt from the fortunes of Japan-based Yakult Honsha: how to grow internationally; the challenges of how to handle a health brand when it reaches maturity in the mass-market; why sticking to a core competence is usually better than diversification; the power of the “concentrated dose”; even how to by-pass the stranglehold of giant supermarket chains and build sales direct-to-consumer. By Julian Mellentin.

A new breed of portable, healthy gourmet treats

July 2010 – Sahale Snacks started with a mission to bring portable and interesting snack foods to backpackers with a gourmet sensibility. Now, with distribution expanding into Costco and Starbucks, this quintessential Seattle company has a broader mission to reinvent American snack categories and populate pantries with healthier options. Noticed for its innovation, the company recently expanded its product line and seems well on its way to attaining those goals. By Karen Raterman.