Nutrition in a Jiffy

Convenience foods are popular in Asia. Despite the recession, there remains a strong consumer demand for products that are easy to use, simple to understand and fit consumers’ on-the-go lifestyles. While such foods often come at a premium, they are launched in record numbers to consumers who are willing to pay a little extra for the foods they love.

According to Mintel’s Global New Product Database (GNPD), 23% of Asian food introductions till June this year carried conveniencerelated claims such as “microwavable,” “convenient packaging” and “easy to use.”

This notably represents an increase in year-over-year convenience claims. In 2008, 16% of new food introductions in the region had convenience claims. This underscores the opportunities Asian food manufacturers have identified in the convenience food market.

Market growth is not just about launch numbers. Innovation is what drives the convenience food market, and Asian companies have continued to be savvy, forward-thinking and consumer-centric with their new product introductions.

Instead of relying on synthetic beauty ingredients that are added to processed foods, manufacturers are using natural ingredients such as bananas, almonds, oats and strawberries.

Beauty foods
Manufacturers have found convenience and nutrition to create a powerful synergy that appeals to consumers, which play an important role in the development of the beauty foods category. By adding beauty-focused functional ingredients to everyday convenience foods, manufacturers are able to cater to consumers who want to enhance their appearance from the inside out. Ingredients such as collagen, hyaluronic acid and coenzyme Q10 are among the most popular beauty ingredients and they frequently appear in Asian snack and beverage categories. Japan, dubbed as the most advanced beauty food market in the world, has seen such ingredients migrated to a less traditional category — rice. Last year, Nippon Flour Mills introduced a Moisturising Collagen & Ceramide Mix for Rice under its Oh My brand.

While collagen and ceramide are familiar ingredients to the food market, these tablets that are added to cooked rice highlight the sophistication of the Japanese beauty foods market. In South Korea, Haiti’s Beauty Style Banana Choco Bar falls within a more traditional convenience food category – confectionery – that focuses on natural goodness. Instead of relying on synthetic beauty ingredients that are added to processed foods, the Beauty Style line uses ingredients such as bananas, almonds and oats known to enhance beauty naturally. While this kind of “natural goodness” product is quite common in the West, it is a largely new concept to Asians, underscoring the trend of global migration of products.

Morinaga’s Ottoto Snack Packs contain fried noodles with Worcestershire sauce and nori seaweed in the dough. It is uncommon to have the sauce paired with fried noodles in a salty snack.

Weight management
This sector has been an area of product development for convenience foods focused on health and wellness. Asian manufacturers are fortifying snacks and treats with weight management ingredients that are commonly found in dietary supplements and functional beverages.

Philippines-based Del Monte recently launched Fit ‘n Right, a chilled fruit cup with lcarnitine to help burn body fat. Not only does this product claim to enhance metabolism and manage weight, its single-serve format is packaged with a mini fork that makes it convenient as an on-the-go snack.

The LiteChoice Premium Rice & Oats Guilt- Free All Day Snacks is formulated with a patented ingredient rarely found outside the beverage category.

Sold in Thailand, this wholegrain snack contains Teavigo, a fat burning chemical made from green tea, which is claimed to enhance the body's metabolism and boost weight loss.

The concept of satiety, or feeling fuller for longer, has also migrated from beverages to convenience foods. Satiety has become an increasingly important weight management platform around the world, but its benefits are most commonly associated with dairy products or grain-based foods.

In Japan, Kracie Foods’ Grapefruit & Soda-flavored Hunger Alleviating gum claims to promote a sense of being full using glucose, which raises the body's blood sugar. It contains sugar cane fibers that are touted to fill the stomach, as well as konjac powder, a root extract traditionally used by the Japanese to aid weight loss. The manufacturer claims the gum's konjac powder content can inflate up to 200 times its original volume, complementing the product's satiety concept.

In Japan, Kracie Foods’ Grapefruit & Soda-flavored Hunger Alleviating gum claims to promote a sense of being full using glucose, which raises the body's blood sugar.

Meals on the go
Besides health and wellness, recent introductions feature foods not normally associated with convenience that are portable, accessible and easy to prepare. Breakfast foods for example do not usually provide the most convenient options, particularly when they have to be eaten in the office. Meiji Seika's Perfect Plus range has made this segment more accessible with its Desk Breakfast bars.

These bars have unusual breakfast flavors such as Honey-on- Toast and Cheese, of which the latter offers a savory slant on meal replacement bars, in contrast to traditionally sweet flavors such as chocolate, strawberry and fruit.

Similarly, consumers often find pasta takes a longer time to prepare. To make this pantry staple more convenient, Nisshin Foods developed Ma Ma Microwavable Spaghetti, a dish that is conveniently prepared in the microwave oven. The product’s unusual N shape provides greater surface area to enable a short cooking time of five minutes without using a sauce pan or hot water.

For consumers who do not have five minutes of cooking time, they can now enjoy the flavor of noodles in a more convenient snack form. Morinaga’s Ottoto Snack Packs contain fried noodles with Worcestershire sauce and nori seaweed in the dough. While the sauce is a popular condiment for Japanese savory pancakes, it is uncommon to see it paired with fried noodles in a salty snack.

Despite a downturn in the economy, the Asian convenience food market remains strong. With a continued focus on innovation and consumer needs, this category should continue to evolve and grow.

Besides health and wellness, recent introductions feature foods that are not normally associated with convenience.

www.mintel.com