Report finds opportunities for fresh produce

Fruit and vegetable ingredients offer manufacturers a major
opportunity to market nutritious products without the need to resort to using health claims, according to a report launched at Food Ingredients Europe by Taura Natural Ingredients.

The Taura Fruit Ingredients & Snacking Report 2012 says that fruit and vegetables already have an overwhelmingly positive image in consumers’ minds – presenting a major advantage in a market where the European Union’s Nutrition and Health Claims
Regulation is set to make it more difficult to promote products with specific health benefits.

In the new report Taura, which produces ultra rapid concentrated
(URC) fruit and vegetable ingredients, says: “Europe’s exacting, near-pharmaceutical requirements for scientific substantiation have taken the use of many health claims off the table for marketers for now.”

“But for fruit – unlike many healthy ingredients that manufacturers could choose to use in snacks, bakery, breakfast cereals or
confectionery – this will be no obstacle.”

The report includes data from a survey conducted by Ipsos,
in which researchers asked consumers in France, Germany, Spain and the UK what lifestyle changes they felt they should make to improve their health or stay healthy.

In each country, “eat fruit and vegetables” appeared in the
top five responses.