Centre of competence for healthy snacks
What is the significance of the trend to healthy, natural snacks for our Cereals & Ingredients division? It is a positive development with interesting market opportunities – we have been producing healthy products with natural ingredients for people of all ages for over 100 years. Which makes us a centre of competence for healthy snacks. We don't need to change our image or break new ground; we just need to keep doing what we have always done: developing and offering high-quality products with added value.
Like our new added-value VIOGERM® High Protein Crisps, manufactured using an extrusion process and enriched with additional vegetable proteins from wheat and rice. The crisps have a protein content of up to 70 per cent – creating a real protein power house.
Healthy eating with style
Completely new products in our range include superfood crisps with teff and quinoa as well as paleo crisps made of chestnut flour, with or without chia seeds. The paleo crisps are based on the diet of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, which was rich in proteins and dietary fibre. More and more people are basing their eating habits on this philosophy, recognising the positive effects the paleo diet can have on weight, health and performance. You can snack on the paleo and superfood crisps as they are or mix them with muesli. They have no added sugar or artificial ingredients.
One of our companies offering high-quality ingredients for producing on-trend snacks is Marbacher Ölmühle, with its range of special flours produced from oil seeds. Some of these are gluten-free and lactose-free, making them ideal for vegan snacks. The flour made from sunflower seeds has a nutty taste and a very high protein content of over 50 per cent. It is perfect for light baking mixtures and low-carb products. Flour produced from linseed is another interesting ingredient for low-carb snacks. It is rich in fibre and contains virtually no carbohydrate.
Whether we are fans of snacks or not, there is no doubt their momentum is unstoppable. What is positive, however, is that we are in an age where snack consumers increasingly focus on healthy products. And young parents place more value on healthy snacks for their children. Our Kids’ Food project is a major priority for us. At HOCHDORF we look forward to actively supporting both young and old with healthy nutrition.
More articles on the subject of Cereals & Ingredients are available in our online magazine HOCHDORF Inside: www.hochdorf.com/en/unternehmen/inside
Vegan and protein-rich ingredients are on trend
The demand for protein-rich snacks is on the rise. More than 3000 new products claiming to be "high in protein" were launched on the market in 2016. The demand for vegetable protein is not just restricted to vegans and vegetarians.
People increasingly describe themselves as flexitarians or part-time vegetarians. For the sake of their health and the environment, they reduce their consumption of meat in particular, which is naturally high in protein, and look for alternative plant sources. As a producer of vegetable and milk-based ingredients, we see this as a positive development.