Healthier Snacks

Many years ago, as I stood contemplating the choices in a vending machine, a health-conscious professor advised me to always choose snacks with nutritional benefit. This was long before anyone spoke of empty calories, trans fats or the glycemic index. In fact, a bag of chips bore little more front-panel information than the chips flavor, and that was often sufficient to choose our snacks. Looking back, that professor was ahead of his time.

Healthy trends 

Sales data indicate that todays consumers are seeking healthier snacks. According to Snack Food Trends in the U.S., a report from Packaged Facts, Rockville, MD, the greatest gains from 2001 to 2005 occurred in yogurt snacks ($721 million), food bars ($465 million) and nut snacks ($422 million). Fruit snacks rose $127 million. Dried meat snacks rose $68 million. While snacks with a healthy aura gained sales, many perceived as unhealthy waned. Cookies and bakery snacks declined $334 million, with annual growth dropping 1.5%.

Salty snacks, which represent the largest snack category, at 23% of the total in 2005, grew $179 million. While it sounds like a lot, it represents 0.6% growth, compared to 7.6% for food bars, 7.2% for yogurt snacks or 7.2% for nut snacks. The potato-chip segment represents more than $2 billion in annual sales.

Companies are taking notice of shifting consumer preferences and emphasizing appealing labels with accepted ingredients. Natural and organic are appearing more frequently. Trans fats are disappearing, and calorie counts are monitored. Value is added in the form of nutritionally beneficial ingredients.

Philip Katz, senior vice president, Shuster Laboratories, Canton, MA, notes that a healthy snack is all in the perception of the consumer, and this perception may be influenced by marketing, government news regarding food labeling or the media.

A naturally growing market 

The terms natural and organic can lend a healthy image to foods typically perceived as less healthy. A greater emphasis on products that are natural or, even better, organic, may be the most-important trend in the coming year, reports Packaged Facts. For the past five years, the number of new snack products bearing each of these tags has steadily risen, peaking in 2005 at 423 for natural and 148 for organic.

With organics, consider how entering the organic market affects the products offered. Reid Wilkerson, president, McClancy Seasonings, Fort Mill, SC, says his company is nearing completion of its organic certification. The key is, youve really got to look at your entire market, he says. There are some retail outlets that are closed off to you unless you are very careful what you do with your label. Do you want to carry two different products? Or, do you want to design a separate product exactly around that grocery stores requirements? Or, do you want to reformulate your current product so that its one product line that can be sold anywhere? If a product is reformulated, the challenge then becomes matching flavor and acceptability to the original. Your control product line cannot change, he says.

When marketing a snack as natural, particular care must be given to the ingredients used. The back panel translates to the front panel at some point, Wilkerson says. People are flipping around on the back and reading things theyve never read before. With so many chemical-sounding names on an ingredient legend, how can a consumer know with certainty that a food product is indeed natural? Since the FDA has no official definition for the term, this can be difficult.

For consumers, simple labels are better. For technologists, the answer often lies with suppliers. Wilkerson emphasizes, Its incumbent on my suppliers to be able to say this is natural or not natural.

Not so long ago, it was easier for manufacturers to disregard health-food store requirements. It was a niche market. Today, the healthy-food consumer may shop at specialty health or natural-foods stores and/or at mainstream supermarkets. If you want to be in the marketplace, you want to be inclusive, says Wilkerson. We try to formulate based on not excluding anyone from being able to enjoy the product.

For Wilkerson, this extends to providing kosher certification. Indeed, because the kosher symbol means manufactured with supervision, it may translate to a general perception of health and cleanliness by the average consumer. As manufacturers strive to reach the widest buying audience, they are putting forethought into what they will accept in a product.

We are spending a lot more time and effort in trying to address health concerns in the formulation at the outset, rather than trying to fix something, says Wilkerson. I actually have customers that send me a list of additives that will not be entertained. Part of that goes back to good corporate guidance. People are saying, We want to reach this marketplace thats told us that these items are not going to be acceptable in their retail distribution.

Healthful flavorings 

In developing a healthy snack, the base product is extremely important. Its very difficult to have a healthy seasoning or flavoring perception on a pork rind, notes Wilkerson. Similarly, no matter how healthy the base, a name like barbecued ribs flavor is not going to connote wellness. You start thinking about this in terms of words: grilled vs. fried, says Wilkerson. The term roasted has a better connotation in food preparation than fried. You have to create a product as a whole that is perceived as an excellent alternative to something that may not be quite as healthy.

Rule No. 1 in developing a healthy product is Do no harm to the product, says Wilkerson. Dont add anything thats going to hurt the label. Then you need to enhance the base with the flavors.

Flavoring a base that has its own profile can be challenging. The more-neutral bases like potato, and corn to a little bit lesser degree, are easier to flavor. The flavor does not have to be as strong, continues Wilkerson.

However, snacks based on soy have a distinctive back note. You can complement that note in many different ways, but you have to work in concert with it and not try to mask it, he says. The trick to good flavor work is not trying to cover something up, its to work with or around, or complement what the base product is. Thats the trick. Covering something up doesnt really do you any good.

Beans are a fairly recent entry in the chip market, finding a following in natural-style corn tortilla chips. A base made from beans requires a complementary flavor. Chile flavors work well with this type of profile, Wilkerson continues. It lends itself to the Mexican or Southwestern flavors.

You can use a chile cheese, or chile cheese lime, things like that, that play off each other. From a marketing standpoint, you go with flavors that are a little exotic and maybe a little bit familiar. Maybe an applewood smoke, mesquite or maybe a chipotle. You play off the names to flush out the flavor profile. A recognizable flavor name might entice consumers to try an unknown, healthy product.

Amy Marr, director of marketing, Gilroy Foods, Gilroy, CA, says: Interesting and bold flavors are key ingredients in making healthy snacks that keep people interested. Weve all learned the lesson by now that no matter how healthy it is, if a product doesnt taste good, people wont make a repeat purchase. She says the companys chile offerings can help snack developers tap into flavor trends like chile lime or the sweetheat sensations that are showing up everywhere.

Marr notes that salsas are an incredibly popular and healthy addition to snack time and that as consumers are becoming more familiar with regional flavor differences, a wider variety of chiles and interesting seasonings, we foresee more chile names and flavors being called out on labels, from habanero peach salsa to Thai chile salsa with a burst of lemongrass. It doesnt hurt that chiles also have a folk reputation as an herbal remedy and a general health aid.

Cheese doesnt usually qualify as healthy unless it can also claim low fat. However, Wilkerson says he is working a lot with Parmesan and Romano cheeses. These cheeses are considered healthy for two reasons: First, there is no artificial color; second, they are more intensely flavored than American or Cheddar, so consumers perceive they can be used at lower levels and thus contribute a lower fat content. This last observation might not be a given from the developers perspective, because the flavor of dried cheese varies greatly depending on the supplier, and is influenced by the addition of natural flavors to the seasoning.

Traditionally, popcorn and corn puffs were seasoned with a slurry of soybean oil and cheese. As manufacturers reduce the fat, applying flavoring can be challenging. In itself, popcorn is a healthy base, but is more difficult to flavor if its air popped, since theres no surface oil to allow the seasoning to adhere to or to soak into the popcorn.

Some companies, such as Herr Foods, Inc., Nottingham, PA, add vegetable oil to help with adherence. In addition, Wilkerson says, a lot of it has to do with particle size. Large pieces dont do well on an air-popped popcorn seasoning they just roll off. So you can make some inroads all the way back to using very, very fine salt and build your product up like that, so you can have a seasoning blend thats got very, very, very small particle size.

For cheese puffs, its possible to flavor with an aqueous system. The problem is you have to have an additional processing step to remove the water, says Wilkerson. So youve got to go back into an oven. Products with a lot of surface irregularity are easier to flavor. Pretzels are a good example of something thats very difficult to coat without spraying something thats tacky onto it and then coating it, he says. Youd like to have it done in one step, but something thats slick like that has a tendency to repel a seasoning blend or a powder. As you will recall, the honey-mustard product is a broken product. And you add a slurry onto that. The inside of the pretzel is exposed and allows much more absorption.

The heart of any good savory snack seasoning has always been salt. Its somewhat surprising, given the aging of baby boomers and the healthy eating trends, that sodium levels are not dropping significantly. For the five-year period ending in 2005, Packaged Facts reports 44 low-salt snack introductions. Compare that to 410 no-trans-fat labels.

Katz explains that hes seeing reduced sodium in processed foods, but is not seeing as much in snacks. If the reduction is there, its usually compromised, he says. You give up a lot of flavor. For a snack to be successful, its got to deliver so the consumer will go back to it. Still, a number of salt reducers and enhancers are coming on the market that can help lower sodium without lowering acceptance. (Well take a closer look at these in next months issue of Food Product Design.) 

Trans-free snacking 

Consumers want products that contain no trans fat, but they also want products that taste fresh. To accomplish this task, companies are moving toward the use of oils and shortening that have lower trans-fatty-acid contents, says Tom Tiffany, manager of food oil applications, ADM, Decatur, IL. A small amount of transless than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving can be labeled 0 grams per serving per the FDA.

For chips, Tiffany suggests corn oil, cottonseed oil and midoleic sunflower oil to achieve zero grams per serving. Bars and snack cakes can use products such as blends of naturally stable oils and fully hydrogenated vegetable oil, interesterified soy-based blends or palm-based blends, he says.

Palm oil also is a good option for frying snack foods. Palm oil has a consistency like butter. It is extremely stable, says Gerald McNeill, Ph.D., R&D director, Loders Croklaan USA, Channahon, IL. Naturally, without any processing, it is a 50:50 mixture of monounsaturated fat and saturated fat. Fractionation can produce a liquid product. Saturated fat can be reduced by blending palm oil with soybean oil.

Pressed palm fruit releases a deeply colored oil which may or may not be desirable in a snack products appearance, though it might add to its healthfulness. Its red because of the presence of carotenes, McNeill says. Its similar in color to carrots. Its a very healthy component. Its a vitamin precursor, an antioxidant. We cant really use that on a large scale because everything would be tinged with a reddish color. Typically, the oil is treated with a natural clay to remove color. There is also a high level of antioxidants in the palm oil which are not colored. The carotenes are vitamin A precursors. The other antioxidants are vitamin E type, and they are present at relatively high levels. Thats another factor that gives extra stability to the oil.

Palm and palm kernel oil blends reduce trans fat, but increase saturated- fat content, as do the animal fats, says Roger Daniels, director-new business development Bunge Oils, Bunge North America, Bradley, IL. These fats are stable without hydrogenation, which appeals to food manufacturers who do not want partial hydrogenation on their food labels.

Bunges identity-preserved oils provide good shelf life without hydrogenation, says Daniels. One of these products uses canola seed oil with higher oleic acid. These products are 2½ to 3 times as stable as traditional soy or canola oil. Low-linolenic soybean oil is produced from Pioneer soybean variety. This oil has a linolenic- acid profile of less than 3%, giving it a natural stability that reduces or eliminates the need for partial hydrogenation when used as a frying or spray oil.

Changing the type of fat is difficult enough. However, lowering the fat content in snacks takes quite a bit of R&D effort, Tiffany cautions. Flavor and mouthfeel are issues that need to be addressed as the fat content is lowered, he says.

To reduce the total fat content, Katz says the challenge lies in finding alternative approaches in reaching the same textural characteristics and flavor profile. A good example is baked snacks vs. fried snacks, he says.

Calorie consciousness 

At one time, effective snack marketing was you cant eat just one. Now, the trend is moving toward calorie-controlled serving sizes. Too often, smaller convenience packages mislead consumers into thinking they arent eating many calories. The industrys answer is 100-calorie packs. These allow consumers to know exactly what they are eating and to easily factor calories into their diets.

Of all healthful labels, single-serving package tags had the most introductions in 2005. According to Packaged Facts, there were 522 single-serving snack products, as compared to 246 no trans fat, 129 low fat and 91 low calories.

With a sizable percentage of American adults overweight or obese, weight loss is an important health concern, says Rhonda Witwer, business development manager, nutrition, National Starch Food Innovation, Bridgewater, NJ. Snack-food formulators who can offer great-tasting foods that combine healthier eating with taste and convenience will have a winning recipe in the marketplace.

Some manufacturers are downsizing the snacks so they look like a satisfying serving. Another option is to downsize the calorie content. Resistant starches provide developers a tool to deliver fiber and lower snack-food calorie content. Most starches are digested and absorbed into the body through the small intestine, but some resist digestion and pass through to the large intestine where, through fermentation, they act like dietary fiber, explains Witwer.

National Starch Food Innovation offers a natural RS2 resistant starch made from high-amylose corn. It delivers 60% insoluble dietary fiber, says Witwer. Other insoluble fibers have a significantly higher water-holding capacity, which can lead to dough handling problems. The high-amylose-corn resistant starch can be easily formulated into crackers, cookies, baked bars and other types of snacks.

Witwer recommends replacing flour with a 1:1 substitution using their resistant starch. This resistant starch delivers 1.4 kcal per gram vs. flours 4.0 kcal per gram, so it reduces the calorie contribution from the portion of flour that it replaces 65%, she says. Resistant starch supports some of the qualitative aspects consumers like most in snack foods, such as improved crispiness of sheeted baked snacks, increased crunchiness of extruded snacks and higher crumb moisture content in bakery products.

According to Witwer, this starch may be used up to 20% in sheeted baked snacks, nutrition bars, biscuits and cookies, and extruded snacks. It may be used up to 10% in cakes and pastries. Starting levels are 3% to 5%, with sheeted baked snacks and extruded snacks potentially using less.

Corn isnt the only option. MGP Ingredients, Inc., Atchison, KS, produces a wheat-based resistant starch with 70% fiber. The companys potato-based resistant starch is 80% dietary fiber. According to Steve Ham, director of marketing specialty ingredients, MGP Ingredients, these products can be used as a 1:1 replacement for wheat flour. These products have a low water-holding capacity, he says. They are easy to incorporate into some formulas. They can help add crispness in snack foods.

For best results, Shishir Ranjan, application scientist, MGP Ingredients, recommends using the resistant wheat starch up to a 10% level in corn curls and snack pellets. Our studies show that the snacks get whiter as indicated by higher L values when measured using a Minolta Chroma-Meter, he says. Using MGPs resistant wheat starch reduces absorption of fat in deep fried snacks by 13% to 23%. Crispness, as measured by the TA-TX2i texture analyzer, is improved. Total dietary fiber is enhanced by 2.3% when the resistant wheat starch is used at a 5% level.

Grain goodness 

Formulators of whole-grain snacks may consider whole-grain corn flour in their formulations, says David Huang, senior market development manager, National Starch Food Innovation. The company offers a specialty hybrid high-amylose corn product that provides a dietary fiber content of 33% per 100 grams, nearly triple the level delivered by wholegrain wheat flour and whole-grain oats, he says. It also contains antioxidants comparable to levels provided in blueberries, nearly 3 times the vitamin A and 1½ times the folic acid available in traditional whole-grain sources, while delivering fewer calories. In addition to these dietary-fiber and nutritional attributes, this wholegrain corn flour provides functional benefits for baked goods and snacks. The product adds crunch and long bowl life to cereals, enhances the crust texture of hard rolls and artisan breads, adds high fiber and great eating qualities to whole-grain cookies, and imparts a surprisingly lighttexture to whole-grain cakes.

Mike Veal, director of marketing, ConAgra Mills, Omaha, NE, suggests that snack producers looking to add nutritional appeal to their products would benefit from the companys high-fiber barleys concentrated nutrition and nutty flavor. A whole-grain cracker, chip or flatbread would gain mouthfeel and visual appeal with Sustagrain flakes.

Compared to traditional barley, which has 10% to 12% fiber, the Sustagrain® product has 30 grams of fiber per 100 gramsand 40% of that fiber is solublemaking it a potent tool for heart health, says Veal. It has a rich, nutty flavor that would be perfect in whole-grain snacksfrom pretzels to bars.

The use of whole grains and fibers in formulas may require some adjustments to the formula and manufacturing process. Formulation of dough systems with whole-grain ingredients requires the addition of more water for proper ingredient hydration and dough rheology, lowered mixing requirements, and possible adjustments to functional ingredients, such as dough strengtheners and conditioners, advises Veal.

Functional snacks 

Flaxseed has several components that have potential health benefits, says Clifford Hall III, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Cereal and Food Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo. Flaxseed is one of the leading sources of ALA (alphalinolenic acid), which is essential for maintaining human health. It also is rich in fiber.

Flaxseed could be added to snacks as a whole seed or as a whole milled (or ground) flaxseed. Flaxseed oil is not recommended for these types of products, due to potential oxidative instability, Hall advises. Incorporation of flaxseed at the 5% to 10% level should produce acceptable products in terms of textures. The product will take on a nutty flavor at these levels. However, the intensity of the flavor is not so excessively strong that a flavor coating would not be able to mask it. However, he cautions, Levels beyond 15% to 20% may alter textural attributes of products. The high gum level tends to bind water and thus might impact texture.

Halls laboratory has been evaluating shelf-life and quality parameters of a flaxseed-fortified extruded snack product. In this product, we have incorporated up to 20% whole, ground flaxseed in the formula, he says. Under normal storage conditions (metalized bag under invert environment) the product remained oxidatively stable for five months. We have yet to evaluate the product after the fifth month.

In addition to ALA, consumers are looking for marine omega-3 fatty acids. Patrick Luchsinger, marketing manager, North America, Lipid Nutrition, Channahon, IL, says his company recognized that consumers would want omega-3 fatty acids incorporated into everyday foods like snacks, so they developed the Marinol line of fish-oil concentrates, which uses a microencapsulated technology to protect against oxidation. This doesnt affect the taste of the end product, says Luchsinger. New technology developments have worked to further extend the ingredients uses in snack applications such as cookies and crackers. We have not experimented or had a customer experiment with Marinol in a fried snack such as potato chips or tortillas. However, we have had successes in baking applications such as cookies or crackers where the baking temperature can reach 300ºF to 375ºF.

Ram Chaudhari, senior executive vice president, chief scientific officer and co-founder, Fortitech, Inc., Schenectady, NY, believes new innovations will play an important role in helping to create nutrient-dense snack products. A scientist can formulate a premix for snack foods that targets brain health, added energy, overall wellness and immunity, he says. Moderation is the key when adding nutrients into any category. It is more convenient to purchase healthful, great-tasting snack foods at stable, low prices. Value is crucial.

Chaudhari stresses that snack foods are considered fun foods. Its not recommended that they should be fortified with a heavy load of nutrients, he says. It is prudent to take a conservative approach when it comes to nutrient fortification. One has to make sure that by improving the nutrient profile, it should not affect the taste, texture, stability and mouthfeel.

Zinc and other minerals would likely impact taste and texture, Chaudhari cautions. Seasoning is a good vehicle to deliver a few select vitamins and minerals. Rice-based snacks are also an excellent vehicle to add vitamins like B1, B2, B3, B5 and E, to name a few, he says.

American consumers today are more aware of what they are eating than consumers 15 years ago. One thing is certainly clear: Indiscriminate snacking is becoming a thing of the past.  

Cindy Hazen, a 20-year veteran of the food industry, is a freelance writer based in Memphis, TN. She can be reached at [email protected].