Getting Serious About Snacks

Getting Serious About Snacks

By Kimberly J. Decker
Contributing Editor

Dont say she didnt warn you. Remember all those times your mother told you to lay off the snacks because theyd ruin your dinner? And remember how you never listened? Well, she was right. And now look whats happened. Dinnernot just the meal, but the entire institutionis ruined, a casualty of our collective refusal to do as Mom said. Instead, we kept snacking, giving in so heedlessly to our growling stomachs and thirst for instant gratification that actually having to wait for dinner felt like an injustice. And sitting down to a proper breakfast or lunch? How quaint.

Attack of the snack

Never before have the three squares seemed so square. And although its by now cliché, it bears repeating: We are a nation of snackers, modern-day hunter-gatherers stitching together sustenance from scattered snacks. Slow food feasts and leisurely sit-down dinners have their time and place, but for day-to-day feeding, we just cant be bothered with actual meals. No wonder Nearly half of Americans now consume most of their meals away from home or on the go, according to an article in the Feb. 12, 2006, issue of The New York Times Magazine.

Of course, thats not news to Christopher Clark, vice president, operations and membership, Snack Food Association, Alexandria, VA. Its the convenience factor and people eating on the go, in the car, he says. I was meeting with our computer consultant the other day and he said that he almost exclusively has lunch in the car. He told me, The best time to have lunch is when Im planning to meet with one client over here and Ive got a 45- minute drive to my next client over there, and so I eat while Im on the road. What is this motorists menu? Pringles and a handful of other things, he reports. And Im sure there are probably a thousand other people doing the same thing every day.

There are. Thanks to their impatient appetites, the snack food market now represents an $80 billion chunk of the American economy. Thats some serious snacking. But the irony of treating snacking as a serious pursuit is that snacks were never meant to be taken seriously. They were the carefree, sweet-or-salty fun foods we snuck between real meals of good-for-you meat and vegetables. Its for good reason that snacks acquired a dubious reputation among moms who equated them with junk food.

As Americans consume more of their calories as snacks, these whimsical between-meal treats will have to shoulder more of the responsibility previously assigned the three squares namely, satisfying our hunger, our senses, our schedules and our nutritional needs. The snack is the new small meal, says Michelle Peterman, vice president of marketing at Kettle Foods, Inc., Salem, OR. And as such, consumers have higher expectations for snacks to fill. If the food industry is to fuel a nation of serious snackers, manufacturers will have to get serious about formulating snacks.

Sussing out the snackscape

The conventional wisdom that snacks are supplanting meals raises the question of just what distinguishes a snack from a meal in the first place. That, in turn, hinges on the definition of a snack, which is itself a matter of some debate.

Some would argue that if we consider a food a snack, then it is. Such big-tent inclusiveness describes the scene at the Snack Food Association, whose membership, according to its website, includes, but is not limited to, manufacturers of potato chips, tortilla chips, cereal snacks, pretzels, popcorn, cheese snacks, snack crackers, meat snacks, pork rinds, snack nuts, party mix, corn snacks, pellet snacks, fruit snacks, snack bars, granola, snack cakes, cookies and various other snacks. That hardly narrows things down.

Defining a snack in terms of what its made of misses the point anyway. A snack is less a function of its ingredients than of when, where and how we eat it. In that sense, a snack is anything eaten outside normal mealtime boundaries. Granted, in todays post-meal era, that still includes nearly everything. But if you consider that a food eaten away from the table must necessarily meet several criteriaits got to be ready-to-eat, portable, compact, consumable without cutlery and convenient, for startersyou begin to develop a feel for the terrain of the American snackscape.

Perhaps even more pertinent than what makes something a snack is what draws us to snacking. The answers there speak to the very societal and psychological forces that characterize the modern condition. Just peek at your coworkers desk, your childs backpack or your own automobile cup holder. No matter the time of day, odds are youll find a bag, box or bar of something just waiting to be munched. With their round-the-clock ubiquity, snacks no longer confine themselves to isolated occasions such as the mid-morning coffee break, the afternoon nibble or the notorious midnight nosh. The message is that with no time to tackle a legitimate meal, well take whatever nourishment we can get, whenever we can get it.

And, given that our willingness to cook has fallen in direct proportion to our rising infatuation with gourmet cooking and celebrity chefdom, wed just as soon let Jamie and Rachael fuss with the slicing and dicing while we settle back to watch, snack in hand. Whats more, all that TV-viewing has truncated our attention spans to the vanishing point, so our snacks had better reflect our wired environment: pixelated and digitized into cookie bits, brownie bites and pretzel nuggets. Even a whole apple, let alone a whole meal, is just too much commitment. And mini snacks take less time to chew.

This ascendancy of the snack has implicated it as a symbol, symptom and, perhaps, even a source of the fractured family meal. The accusation isnt baseless. With kids and parents keeping different schedules and cultivating different tastes, heaven forbid anyone should have to inconvenience himself by compromising on when and what to eat. And dont forget that ours is a fiercely individualistic society that venerates the consumer. The Internet, iPods and the BlackBerry have spoiled us rotten, conditioning us to demand and receive what we want, when we want it. Single-serve snack packs with formulations and flavors personalized just for us are merely one feature of what is shaping up to be a repeat of the Me Generation, geared to the 21st century.

The catch is that the Me Generation, Part 2, transcends generations. Boomers, Xers, tweens we all want it our way, right away. Notes Joanne Ferrara, senior director, research and development, Spicetec, Cranbury, NJ, Snacking is part of the way people of all ages eat today. Thus, demographic groups up and down the age scale, as well as across ethnicities and cultures, share a weighty stake in their snacksand snack manufacturers had better pay heed.

Snacks get sophisticated

Take the boomers, for instance. It may well be this generations overscheduled existence that has given the biggest boost to snacking as a way of life. With money to spare, frequentflier miles under their belts, and the cultivated palates to prove it, theyve also given rise to what we might call lifestyle snacking.

Well-schooled in the niceties of cuisine, mature consumers can appreciate the depth and subtlety of an aged Cabernet, and they expect comparable refinement from their snacks. Their connoisseurship has inspired a category of upscale snacks targeted to well-heeled consumers. Were definitely seeing that, especially in items for the boomers, the people who want to spend a little bit more, says Jean Bosenbecker, R&D manager for snacks, Kerry IngredientsKerry Savory Ingredients, Waukesha, WI.

The expansion of organic and artisanal snacks exemplifies the grab for high-end snacking dollars. Typically, in those niche items, they use raw materials that are different than in the standard products that you see, Bosenbecker explains. The chip manufacturers may be buying, perhaps, a better-quality potato or a different blend of corn, or they might combine corn and beans to make a nice corn-and-bean type of tortilla chip.

Such discrimination is the animating philosophy at Kettle Foods. We dont call the people on our line craftsmen for nothing, says Peterman. They really do craft our chips, hand-cooking them in vats of expeller-pressed, high-oleic safflower and sunflower oils that, Peterman says, have always been trans-fat free. The company also prefers the stronger-tasting, high-maintenance

Russet over standard chipping potatoes, leaving the skin on and letting the natural sugars caramelize to produce a more rustic-looking chip that, ironically, commands a premium for its very rusticity. Notes Peterman, If you look inside our bags, there are all different shapes and sizes. We call it lovely imperfection.

Flavors on the edge

Its a forward-thinkingsome might say riskyapproach. But thinking ahead and taking chances increasingly signals upscale to consumers, who are taking their own chances when it comes to snack-food flavors. According to Bosenbecker, Youre seeing interesting profiles: roasted-peppercorn cheese or habañero mango, combinations of flavors that adults are looking for.

Ferrara agrees: Theres no doubt about the fact that Americas palate is more sophisticated than ever before.

The evolution of the hot-and-spicy trend illustrates this microcosm. Not long ago, consumers sought out the novelty of going for the burn, and the spicier the snack, the better. But lately, notes Michael Sigmundsson, senior research scientist at Kerrys Kent, WA, location, I think people want more complexity in their snacks than they did before.

Stephanie Doan, senior food technologist, McCormick & Company, Inc., Hunt Valley, MD, has witnessed the same shift. While the yen for spice persists, she says: The definition of hot and spicy has evolved from the sohot- youll-wish-you-were-dead phenomenon to a much more complex layering of heat and flavor. It includes not only red-pepper heat but specific heat types like wasabi or black pepper, blends of multiple peppercorns, and region- specific chile pepperseach with nuances in flavor profile, from smoky to green.

Anticipating which flavor nuances will head down the pike often means calling on research chefs to translate culinary trends into the snacking vernacular. On that point, Cynthia Sasaki, Kerrys senior research manager in Kent, says, Were very fortunate within our division to have a chef on staff. He is continually looking at flavor profiles and developments that are coming through the Research Chefs Association and providing information to developers.

The key to capitalizing on such predictions, however, is identifying the flavors that can actually make the transition from concept to cracker, and when. Our chef is seeing a lot of mango chutney-type products, where theyre combining fruit and savory, and I can see something like that eventually transferring to snacks, Bosenbecker says. But what Ive seen in the past is that it needs to be presented in restaurants first, and that theres a certain timing to when consumers and snackers are ready for something like mango chutney to become mainstream. Once it hits and becomes readily available and people decide that its a profile they like, thats when I think it becomes great pickings for a snack flavor profile.

In the end, Ferrara believes that culinary crossover is a natural in driving new snack profiles. Its fascinating to see how flavors jump from the kitchens and grills of ethnic restaurants to mainstream snacks, she says. Jalapeño-flavored potato chips, wasabi-spiced crackers and pizza-flavored everything are just a few of the success stories shes seen. Wasabi is a great example of an ethnic spice that has gained mainstream popularity and is being used in all different kinds of snacks, she notes. Chipotle is another with even more widespread appeal.

Around the world in 80 snacks

While timing can make or break an internationally inspired flavor, Americas diversifying population, as well as the demographic climate in which our nations snackers now mature, has drastically shortened the time it takes to put a global flavor on the local radar.

In the summer of 2005, Kettle Foods launched two new potato chip flavors: spicy Thai and Cheddar beer. Without a doubt, the two have been our two most successful product launches in our history, Peterman says. But, in a twist that defied expectations, its spicy Thai thats getting the most attention, she says. Its already exceeding some of what we call our legacy flavors that have been in the house for more than five to 10 years.

When spicy Thai bests an old chestnut like Cheddar beer, you know that tastes have turned a corner. Thats the canary in the coalmine, Peterman declares. Maybe five years ago it might have been too early. But Thai food is the new Chinese. Making spicy Thais triumph even more impressive is that the flavor stemmed from a peoples choice contest held on the companys website. We put both flavors out there, and we expected that Cheddar beer would be the hands-down favorite, Peterman recalls. Then spicy Thai came out from nowhere and just surprised all of us. So we said, The fans voted. Lets make it.

As for this years contesta Happy Hour edition, in case youre curiousthe competitors havent eased up on the palate-pushing pace. As of this writing, Buffalo blue cheese, spicy Mary, creamy Caesar, Tuscan three-cheese and dirty martini all remain in contention.

The demographic snack

While a dirty martini potato chip might raise sober snackers eyebrows, twenty-somethings and GenXers have just the hip quotient to get Kettle Foods pointand to like what they taste. This is the cohort, after all, that opened its arms to tamari-seasoned edamame, crispy yam and taro chips, wasabi-flavored rice crackers, Indonesian shrimp puffs, and other alternative snacks. Their younger siblings are no less daring. The younger generations grew up eating out, Ferrara says, so ethnic flavors and foods are part of their normal menu mix.

The interesting thing Im noticing about kids, Bosenbecker adds, is that you go to an Asian restaurant and theyre ordering the spring rolls. They arent just ordering hot dogs or pizza anymore. Theyre trying everything the adults are trying. Kids have all the confidence in the world to sit down with a Chinese menu, a Thai menu, an Indian menu and order things. So their palates are becoming, perhaps, even more discriminating in terms of flavor profiles. And Im talking about children in their young teens. So Im wondering, in five years when theyre 18, what kinds of snack profiles will we be doing then?

It stands to reason that if foreign flavors can put their stamp on Americas snacks, then American snacks might also shape the snacking habits of new immigrants. While many immigrants, eager to assimilate, do enjoy mainstream American snack seasonings salt is a cross-cultural common denominator the difference today is that the market is being further segmented to reach additional niches, and marketers are more open to targeting new flavors to specific locations with a high concentration of a particular ethnic group, says Tom Rieman, senior business marketing manager, cheese powders, Kraft Food Ingredients (KFI), Memphis, TN.

Whats interesting, Ferrara also notes, is that the authentic ethnic snacks that manufacturers are introducing to target Hispanic and Asian consumers are quickly finding their way into mainstream markets.

For his part, Rieman maintains caution when predicting the widespread acceptance of truly authentic flavors. Often, these highly specialized profiles are not made available to the mass market due to limited appeal to a wider audience, he says. Nevertheless, the impact of the immigrant is that it gives the marketer a position to step outside the box a bit and offer new, more daring snack flavors.

Seasoning essentials

None of this suggests that weve lost interest in the classic profiles that pleased us in the past. Our best-selling flavor continues to beand I think this is true for any brand of potato chip the lightly salted original flavor, Peterman says.

So while were open to new options, the favorite snack seasonings really have not changed much, Rieman says. When new flavors do emerge, he adds, they usually serve as volume builders that provide product news around which to build product promotions. Consumers will often buy these flavor line extensions to try at least once, yet at the same time, they still buy what they had planned to purchase when they started down the snack aislethe flavors they already love, including salted, barbecue, sour cream and onion, and, especially, cheese.

In traditional salty snacks, cheese still rules the landscape, Rieman says. With annual per capita consumption topping 31 pounds, he appears to have a point. The cheese flavor were most likely to encounter in a snack is Cheddar, he says, which remains the standard in chips, puffs, popcorn and crackers. But in the sandwich cracker category, cheese and peanut butter are the primary flavors.

While Cheddar is better, snack designers may not want to start by grabbing a chuck of New Yorks finest. For example, Rieman notes, the sandwich-cracker application points to the versatility of powdered cheese seasonings, in that they function well topically, but can also be blended with a fat system to mimic the texture of refrigerated cheeses with the added value of non-refrigerated distribution, microbial stability and extended shelf life.

The traditional approach to seasoning cheese crackers has been to blend a refrigerated cheese into the cracker dough; but, internally seasoning a snack this way subjects flavors to flashing off, heat degradation and changes that arise during baking, and it often exacts a higher cost because manufacturers will use more seasoning to compensate for what processing destroys. Doan notes: As developers, it is critical to understand the process the snack will undergo to best develop a seasoning that will result in the desired finished flavor profile. Many flavorings can volatilize, caramelize or even burn under high-heat conditions, and snack flavorings that witness frying and baking temperatures use completely different technologies than those that are applied topically in lessextreme heat conditions.

Thus, Adalgiza Salais, research scientist at KFI, advises that, in high-heat processes like frying or baking, manufacturers should use heat-stable flavors and ingredients low in sugar. The use of an intensified flavor component helps to retain some of the volatile flavors that are lost during the high-heat process, and ingredients with large amounts of sugar may cause browning in the finished product after being exposed to high temperatures.

The best way to head off these problems, however, might be to sidestep internal seasoning altogether. Says Rieman, In my opinion, all snacks are best seasoned topically from a cost and flavor perspective. It allows you to put the flavor where it will be tasted and doesnt subject it to harsh processing and high heat.

Doan also advocates seasoning topically, claiming, in general, the less heat a flavoring sees, the more it will hold its flavor. But achieving thorough topical adhesion is as important as avoiding heat-degradation of internal seasonings. Most snacks rely on oil to adhere seasonings to their snack base, she says, either after frying or by spraying oil on after processing. Since oil will pick up the flavor of the seasoning, items with a little more oil usually taste better.With luckor savvy planning that oil might also carry some of the flavor into the base itself as it migrates from the surface.

Manufacturers who take advantage of residual frying oil while its still hot improve adhesion yet further. However, Bosenbecker notes, if a manufacturer is just coating the chips coming out of the fryer with seasoning, rather than applying a separate oil spray in a tumbler, particle size will play a big part in getting good adhesion. Larger pieces of herbs historically dont adhere well, which is why you dont see a lot of large particulates out there.

Salais agrees, adding: The particle size would affect the adhesion to the surface of the substrate. Fine particles will adhere better to a tortilla or potato chip, or to an extruded item. Also, when a seasoning is applied in an oil slurry, a large particle size may clog the nozzles. Also, in baking applications, which offer more flexibility, a larger particle size could be added to the dough, although it may affect the doughs machineability.

Another question formulators might ask is whether a seasoning designed for one snacka rice cake, for instance will function on a different medium, such as, say, a fabricated potato chip. From a sensory standpoint, the answer depends on both the seasoning and the nature of the snack base. With creative product development, Doan says, most flavor profiles can be translated across the board to the most-common snacking mediums: potato chips, tortilla chips, nuts, pretzels, crackers and snack mixes. Jerky may court a narrower range of flavors, mainly in the meatyspicy- soy-sauce vein, and a few flavor combinations havent proven themselves across multiple applications quite yet, such as sweet notes like chocolate on potato chips. But, she says, as developers, we are always trying new combinations.

In terms of processing, translating a seasoning across snack media involves a different set of considerations. If you just look at tortilla chips, Bosenbecker says, it depends upon how the manufacturer is making the tortilla: How much do they rinse the corn after its been cooked and before its ground? How fine are they grinding it? Do they use white corn or yellow corn? How thin do they sheet the tortilla? What kind of oil are they using to fry it? How long is it in the oven before it goes into the fryer? You can go into the grocery store and buy three different varieties of tortilla chip and you will have three different types of products that can affect a flavor choice when you season the chip.

Adds Sasaki: Even with a potato chip, we have what we call a flat chip versus a crinkle-cut. Typically, youd think it would be easy to translate seasonings to the two because the bases are essentially the same. But the flavor impact is different between a crinkle and flat chip. The bases size and thickness and the ability of seasonings to stick to smooth surfaces or pool into nooks and crannies all come into play.

Salubrious snacking?

Seasoning manufacturers have also found themselves thinking more about what many agree is the defining feature of todays snackscape: the health-and-wellness trend. Notes Doan: Labeling has become a big part of the way the snack-seasoning business has changed. Companies are removing partially hydrogenated oils, monosodium glutamate, and similar ingredients from their labels.

The seasoning suppliers arent alone. No one escapes the scrutiny of a health-focused populace. As Lisa Katic, R.D., nutrition consultant to the Snack Food Association, says, All across the food industry, and not just in the snacking segment, health is the number-one driver of new product development. Convenience also scores points, she says, and taste is always a given. But if you can develop convenient, portable snacks with good taste and health, youve created a triple benefit.

The healthful snack might cause some cognitive dissonance among those whose concept of snacks doesnt extend beyond the chip, cracker and cookie aisles. For them, snacks are the sine qua non of empty calories. But, notes Katic, there can be more to a calorie than meets the eye. Lets just use potato chips as an example, she says. They contain a fair amount of vitamin C because, after all, they are potatoes. Theyre not as high in sodium as people think, either. Theyre pretty high in potassium, which our bodies need. And if you eat an ounce-bag of potato chips, which is generally your single-serving size, its 150 calories.

All the same, a conflation of factors from the updated USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans and recent FDA labeling decisions, to fad diets and relentless (if not always accurate) media reportinghas trained the spotlight on snacks, putting pressure on manufacturers to shape up or risk revolt.

Lost in

translation

No issue captures the zeitgeist better than the case of trans fats. Responding to evidence that consumption of trans fatty acids increases levels of LDL, or bad, cholesterol and, thus, heart disease risk, the FDA required in Jan. 2006 that the per-serving amount of trans fat in a food be listed separately, below the saturated fat declaration on a products Nutrition Facts panel. While the ruling makes no recommendation to remove the trans fats that arise when we hydrogenate liquid oils for stability and textural purposes, so dismal is their current reputation that many manufacturers have chalked up the labeling law to a de facto ban. Even the prospect of the ruling goaded fat suppliers and their customers into a small-scale Manhattan project to develop viable, trans-free alternatives to partially hydrogenated oils.

The ball really got rolling when Frito-Lay, Plano, TX, announced that it would eliminate trans fats from its snacks, while also reducing the total amount of saturated fat in all its products, according to Willie Loh, Ph.D., director, sales and marketing, Cargill Specialty Canola Oils, Minneapolis. And with Frito-Lay being a leader in its particular segment, he says, it really demonstrated that this is where the consumer was going. As a result, it very much led the way. There were companies talking about it before, but when you have a giant like that, that meant dramatic change.

And how. With processed snacks among the most reliable hiding places for trans fats, smoking them out would take a concerted effort. Prior to the past couple of years, says Brent Zacharias, marketing manager, oil and traits, Dow AgroSciences Canada Inc., Calgary, Alberta, partially hydrogenated oils containing trans fats have been used in most all applications, such as for frying, internally as a shortening for baked goods, topically as a spray oil, and in coating and filling applications. So almost all snack foods, from deep-fried chips to baked snacks to iced or coated bakery cookies and crackers, are candidates for reduction.

And in the foodservice industry, Loh adds, most of the par-fried foods were cooked in hydrogenated soybean oil and most of the oil in the stores, where the finished frying took place, was hydrogenated soybean oil.

Of course, snack manufacturers werent willfully disregarding consumer health in turning so consistently to hydrogenated oils. The technology was developed in the 1930s to increase unsaturated oils stability. By saturating the double bonds in a liquid oil with hydrogen, it left the oils less susceptible to oxidation. Adds Loh, There are different levels of stability. Theres resistance to heat, resistance to oxygen, resistance to light, to hydrolysis. And in general, the more you hydrogenate, the more stable the product.

Hydrogenation also conferred other properties that industry came to appreciate. The more we hydrogenate, the more we solidify oils, allowing for their use as hard shortenings. Which for snacks, by the way, helped with some practical benefitsamong them, better topical seasoning adherence and a less oily surface. Ironically, this groomed partially hydrogenated vegetable oils as healthful alternatives to saturated animal fats such as butter and lard, and to the tropical coconut, palm and palm kernel oils that also came in for nutritional criticism due to saturates.

How times have changed. Now that science has incriminated trans fats, tropical oils and even butter look almost innocent by comparison. But those arent the only choices for replacing partially hydrogenated oils in pursuit of a lower-trans standard. Stan Andrews, bakery ingredient applications, ADM, Decatur, IL, lists interesterified shortenings as his top choice for replacing a snacks partially hydrogenated oils. Interesterification subjects a blend of fully hydrogenated solid and liquid oilsboth of which contain negligible amounts of trans fatsto an enzymatic process that strips the polyunsaturates from the liquid oil and the saturated fatty acids from the solid. Yet another set of enzymes then reanneals both species to the glycerin backbone in a mix of saturates and unsaturates. The finished interesterified shortenings will be low in trans fatty acids and simulate partially hydrogenated shortening, he says. Another advantage, he says, is that interesterified shortenings can replace partially hydrogenated ones on a one-to-one basis with very little, if any, adjustment of the rest of the formula or processing.

But, notes Loh, while interesterification may address the trans-fat issue, it still leaves open the question of saturates. You end up with a zero-trans shortening that has some intermediate melting characteristics, he says, but the problem is that the saturates go up. Several years ago, he explains, his company launched an interesterified shortening. A typical all-purpose shortening runs between 25% and 28% saturated fat, and it also has about 25% trans. Well, we got the trans down to about 2%, but we drove the saturated fat up to somewhere between 33% and 37%. And you know what the market reaction was? Well, you really didnt solve anything. You shifted the problem. And it was a reasonable response. It was a tactical solution, but we didnt think that it was an overall solution.

Better that the overall solution offer an oil low in trans and saturates that also displays the processing and convenience characteristics of the oils were trying to replace. According to Zacharias, using high-stability canola oil, high-oleic sunflower oil, and low-linolenic soybean oil permits significant reductions in saturated and trans fats, while also achieving equivalent performance in preparation of the snackfry life and shelf life is the same or better, sensory characteristics are preferred, and a positive impact on nutrition occurs.

But Loh still advises caution when approaching actual reformulation. We work with all the major companies and nobody has just taken one oil and dropped it in, he says. You have to put R&D into it. Among the issues he urges manufacturers to consider: You may change your products shelf stability. You may change its shape, and that can have a huge effect. And even supposing youre only changing a few of your products, youve now got different oils, and over the last 40 years youve become very efficient at only having a single hydrogenated oil coming into the plant. So where are you going to put the second oil? Or the third, or the fourth, or whatever is required to maintain key product characteristics and quality.

As for actual ingredient modifications, You may have to adjust texture by working with the flour or the sugar, or working with texturizers, Loh continues. And lets say that your product comes out more brittle than before; you might have more cracking. Then you may have to go to a less-flexible packaging type, or to a better packaging in terms of excluding oxygen or UV light. And when you get to manufacturing, you may have to change your line somewhat. You might have to put in different tanks. You may have associated piping with those tanks. Now were talking about capital investment.

Yikes. No wonder that when customers ask Loh which alternatives are best for frying, fillings or coating, his answer is a big It depends. When I say that to people, he adds, they usually think that I just dont want to tell them. But you cant make those statements. Hes found that hes best been able to see companies to success when those companies have decided very clearly that they need to switch and that they want to work with you, rather than just have you throw something over the wall for them to try.

Gumming up the works

Maureen Akins, applications food science, TIC Gums, Inc., Belcamp, MD, understands. We have had many people call for help with trans fat removal from every type of application, she says. Right now were working with a company thats trying to replace shortening from a crème filling that was based on hydrogenated fat. And they switched it out for palm oil and now they dont get as much set. So now we have to provide them with a little more structure, a little more ability to hold air cells. She chose cellulose derivatives, such as methyl cellulose or hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose, for the purpose because, as she says, theyre excellent at stabilizing air cells.

Gums have long had a place in the product designers fat-sparing arsenal, and theyre coming in handy in the latest trans-shedding campaign, particularly in their ability to replace hydrogenated oils in snack-seasoning coatings. So if I want sprinkles to stick to my cookie or salt to my cracker, Akins says, a syrup of gum arabic blended with a sugar alcohol such as glycerin or maltitol is an excellent adhesive.

Gum arabic is itself highly tackyone of its original uses was as a glueand, as a syrup, it also adds an attractive sheen to a snack. So, if youre looking for the beautiful shine of an egg wash, gum arabic will give you the same thing, she says. You will need a drying step if you are using gum arabic for sheen. Generally, you would make up a stock solution of arabicmaybe 50%and spray or coat on to the product. You would either need to rebake to drive off additional water or let it air dry before packaging.

Gum arabic syrups may particularly earn their keep in the fight to eliminate yet another unwelcome ingredient from snacks: sugar. Instead of just going for low-carb, everyone now is going for a low glycemic index, Akins says. So everyone is trying to remove sugars from their products, especially people who are making granola- or energy-bar type applications. To replace the rice or corn syrups that normally hold such bars together, she says, Weve run into a lot of customers who are looking to find a substitute binding agent.Again, a syrup of gum arabic in combination with a sugar alcohol, she says, is beautiful as a binding agent for those types of applications either extruded bars or bars that are more granola-like.

The sugar alcohol not only replaces the usual sweetener syrups but is synergistic with the gum arabic, Adkins says, in that they produce an extremely high-viscosity product. So if Im trying to mimic a 42 DE corn syrup, which is very viscous, I can use a combination of gum arabic and glycerin that can easily mimic the exact rheology of that product. And then I can portion it out exactly as I would if I were using a standard corn syrup make up a batch, have it set and meter it as necessary. Basically, its a one-for-one replacement.

Gums typically require considerable water for hydration, but because the glycerin in the gum arabic syrup assumes that responsibility, its low water activity means that theres hardly any water in the syrup at all, Akins explains. While they contain enough moisture to achieve the viscosities mentioned above, a bar made with them will still maintain its low water activity, which is important in snacks, particularly bars. As an added benefit in certain applications, like an extruded energy bar, she says: You can use the syrup in areas where youre not going to have additional bake-off of product. So now I dont have to waste extra energy baking off additional water.

Sodium shakedown

While sugar and trans fat have stolen the spotlight so far, excess dietary sodium remains something of a sleeper among Americans nutritional concerns. But it may be about to wake up. A big health-related issue is the high level of sodium in many snacks, Ferrara says. Its a particular concern for those who suffer from high blood pressure. People are looking for lower-sodium options, but they still want their favorite flavors and textures. The main strategy for reducing sodium in snacks and other products has been simply to replace the salt with substitutes such as potassium chloride. Unfortunately, its bitter aftertaste makes it difficult for consumers not to notice.

Now that the scientific community is just beginning to understand the physiological mysteries behind our reactions to flavor and sensory experiences, Ferrara says, her company has attempted to parlay that insight into an advanced salt-flavor enhancement technologynot a salt-replacement ingredientthat increases salty taste perception. It draws on amino-acid and peptide technology to help manufacturers cut up to 50% of the sodium in a snack application without changing the flavor. It does so not by replacing salt removed from a formula, but by enhancing the salt thats already there.

So dont expect a powder that you batch right into production. By taking into account the snack base, processing conditions, targeted sodium reduction and other factors, Ferrara says, we work with our customers existing formulations or help them develop new ones to incorporate the technology, which, she says, is a customized solution, not a one-size-fits-all product. One size may not fit all, but this technology does fit the full range of snacks. Most applications that could use a sodium cutback can benefit, including all salty snacks, flavored crackers and microwave popcorn. Even hand-held meal-type snacks like pizza pockets and soups-on-the-go are great candidates, she says.

Snacking smartly

All this anxiety over sodium, sugar, fat and so-on troubles Katic. It gets back to my point that we really have to get away from this demonization of one ingredient in a food because consumers should not choose to buy a food or not based on the presence or absence of one ingredient, she says. We may want our nutritional advice to be as simple as possible, but then, she points out, it backfires and you realize that really isnt the way to go.

Encouraginglyand ironically, thanks in part to diet fads such as Atkinsconsumers, even as they fret about one nutrient or another, are learning how to better strike a healthy balance. Their attitudes have transitioned, Andrews says. I think that what the low-carb fad did was bring about an awareness of good carbs and bad carbs. True, even the scientific community may not agree as to which is which, and the same unsettled environment characterizes our understanding of good (i.e. monounsaturated and omega-3) versus bad (trans and saturated) fats. But the mere public acknowledgment of these distinctions shows that at least consumers are thinking.

Instead of stripping all the bad stuff from snacks, product developers can add value by formulating with what consumers consider goodlike protein. We have seen a steadily growing market interest in providing snacks that offer higher protein levels, notes Luping Ning, applied technology manager, The Solae Company, St. Louis an interest driven by the positive perception that protein as a macronutrient enjoys in the marketplace. He says soy proteins have come a long way in the last five to 10 years, as flavors and functionality have both improved. The fact that the majority of nutrition bars contain soy protein, he notes, speaks to their flavor and functional performance in this category.

Design and delivery innovations also open the door to more healthfully formulated snacks made with whey proteins, notes Sharon Gerdes, technical support consultant, Dairy Management Inc. (DMI), Rosemont, IL. DMI, in conjunction with Utah State University, Logan, and Grande Custom Ingredients Group, Lomira, WI, has developed a process that allows for the extrusion of significant amounts of whey protein into a crisped form similar in taste and texture to regular crisped grains thats ripe for application in bars and snacks. So now, instead of just snacking on starch and carbohydrates, now you can have a higher percentage of protein, she says. The technology can pack protein amounts from 30% to 80% into the crisps, and adjustments to the twin-screw extrusion process yield variable sizes and shapes. Theyre very versatile, she says. They work in your more traditional nutritional and protein bars to equilibrate the moisture and add some textural variety, and they also can be stand-alone snacks. You can put all sorts of different flavors with them. Cinnamon and cheese seem to be particularly popular, she notes.

The whey protein crisps illustrate the close relationship between ingredients and technologies that emerge to take advantage of them, and that relationship continually stimulates snack product development. The quest for new snacks, as well as associated ingredients and technologies, allows us to make snacks from organic, non-GMO ingredients, and with value-added ingredients such as fiber, protein, healthy fats, etc., says Kumaresh Chakraborty, marketing director, J.R. Short Milling Company, Kankakee, IL. These ingredients, plus the added benefit of baked extruded snack pellets as opposed to frying, all help to create the new, healthier snack alternatives to traditional frying. With todays new technologies, the baked or puffed products rival the flavor characteristics of the fried products.

But we dont necessarily have to change snacks much to make them more healthful. Notes Rieman, As part of a healthy diet, snacks have a place without modification. For example, simply controlling the portion size via packaging sends the all-important signal that calories are what really count. Portion-controlled packaging to limit the snack quantity to 100 calories is a move that would benefit consumers and that does not require any changes to the snack, he says.

Katic agrees. As guidelines for people, I generally say that a snack should be anywhere from about 150 to 200 calories, she says. So if you can fit it into that parameter, youre looking at a snack. And if you can get a baked snack, a whole-grain snack, or even a packaged fruit snack, youre doing a lot better. Thats why companies are saying, Okay, if thats what people want and if theyre going to buy it, were going to invest in it.

Kimberly J. Decker, a California-based technical writer, has a B.S. in Consumer Food Science with a minor in English from the University of California, Davis. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area, where she enjoys eating and writing about food. You can reach her at

[email protected].