Food 'n' Drink – Food and Drink news |

Cornish Sea Salt are a company that has taken much time to create a product that is in demand. Export markets are something that most companies want to break into, they can be very lucrative but unfortunately many companies fail in their efforts. This is often due to a lack of resources and not having a long enough view.

The UK retail market is rather different to others internationally and just because a product has been successful at home does not mean it will take off abroad. Sometimes it is better for companies to focus on their home markets, which while less exciting, can often provide better returns. For example, in the US, just to do business you need to establish relationships with distributors in that country.

When you choose to export a product there will be many layers to the process, such as the distributors, as well as brokers, manufacturers, and wholesalers. At each layer the person will want a cut, which ultimately reduces a company’s profits.

The success of Cornish Sea Salt in Waitrose leads the company to believe that they would have success in the United States with similar retailers, such as Whole Foods. Those particularly keen on specialist foods in America would probably enjoy the niche brand. It might just be for Cornish Sea Salt that a move into the American market is the right choice if they have already saturated the one in the UK.

At some point in a company’s life, small food producers do tend to move towards exports. The first step in such a move is to understand what the customers want in the target country. Detailed research must be conducted so that sales will successfully grow. Companies looking to export would be wise to join the Food & Drink UK Exporters Association.

This group often have stands at trade fairs which are held internationally, recently these have been held in Paris and Germany. They also became involved when the ‘Food from Britain’ scheme had its funding reduced.

Some analysts might say that Cornish Sea Salts would be better off sticking to exports in Europe, and Ireland is still the largest importer of food from the UK. Another consideration that companies must have when they plan to export is to translate the language on their packaging. Not only will this mean the product has the greater appeal to consumers but it will also ensure that various food regulations can be met.

Autumn/Winter range of inspirational foods with a twist from My Secret Kitchen

My Secret Kitchen have just launched their new and intriguing range of foods with a twist, and these new products are just as interesting as the rest of them.

The White wine and Porcini finishing sauce. has been developed after they received requests for something special for pork, white fish and chicken dishes. A finishing sauce, as the name suggests, is designed to add a finishing touch to your dishes and should be added at the very end. White wine has been combined with Porcini mushrooms to create an elegant and classy flavoured sauce.

Adding a touch of the sauce to fish pie, or mixed with chicken stock it will bring a delicious taste to a risotto. It is also great for using with those turkey leftovers, for finishing off a pasta dash and will make your mashed potato extra tasty. It is also suitable for vegetarians as the vegetable based bouillon has been used in its creation.

Chocolate Peppermint Sauce.  is a mouthwatering combination of dark chocolate, fresh peppermint oil and vanilla extract, resulting in a cool and creamy sauce. Add it to your desserts or ice cream, use it to make delicious peppermint profiteroles or stir a spoonful into hot milk to make a soothing drink. Why not pour over the Ultimate Chocolate Brownies for an exquisite taste sensation.

Mochaccino Cookie Mix.- A brilliant cookie mix, bringing coffee together with chunks of white and dark Belgian chocolate.
Background

My Secret Kitchen is the UK’s first nationwide food and drink tasting company, and was started by husband-and wife-team, Clare and Phil Moran They’ve taken the traditional Tupperware style business concept of home demonstration parties and turned it into a wonderful food tasting evening, where the host and his/her friends have an enjoyable time experiencing unusual and different foods, sharing recipe ideas in a warm relaxed non-pressure environment.

The business concept has proven to be a great success in the recession for food lovers who are looking for an extra income and have joined My Secret Kitchen as a consultant, earning money from showing all the great foods.

Food prices are constantly increasing, and branded goods are being ditched in favour of cheaper, own label brands, with over 41% of us buying more of these than we did a year ago. These findings come courtesy of Which?, who have been comparing the buying habits of consumers between 2010 and 2011.

The discount food chain Aldi recently commissioned the MMU,Manchester Metropolitan University to conduct an independent survey in to the difference between brand leaders and their own label goods. The study has revealed that 91% of their own label products tasted just as good as the top brands, and 27% were rated as being better than the brands.

Beans certainly didn’t mean Heinz to the panel of testers, who rated Aldi’s own Corale beans as tasting significantly better than the traditional favourite, in taste as well as appearance. As far as Pimms o’clock is concerned, it seems that their Austin Summer Drink was enjoyed just as much as Pimm’s No.1, and the appearance was scored higher that Pimms.

There were a total of 7 of Aldi’s products that were rated to be of comparable quality to brand leaders. Anchor butter was matched by Aldi’s Greenvale Creamy butter and testers could tell little difference between a kingsmill toastie loaf and Aldi’s village bakery toastie bread. The other products found to be nearly the same were tea bags, tinned tomatoes, lemonade and milk chocolate digestives.

The only brand that the panel preferred to Aldi’s own was when they compared Kellogg’s Special K to Aldi’s Harvest Morn Benefit.

Furthermore, Aldi’s Four Seasons frozen garden peas had a significantly more acceptable smell than family favourite Birds Eye frozen garden peas.

Dr Kritika Mahadevan fromManchester Metropolitan University commented: “When consumers tested the samples with no information about their origin or packaging, they liked many of the unbranded household staples just as much as their branded counterparts.”

She added: “The study used an almost equal split of male and female participants aged between 18 and 84 years (average 48.3 ± 17.3 years), who were students, professionals, family household members, empty nesters or retired pensioners, to represent a cross-section of consumers.”

The research incorporated eleven everyday basket items, including cereal, bread, tea, lemonade, ketchup and baked beans, with one own-label version and one brand version for each. Both products were tested and compared in five key areas: appearance, aroma, flavour, texture and overall liking. Statistical analysis was carried out.  Products that scored more than their counterpart were deemed to be significantly better if p<0.05, i.e. if there was less than 5% probability that the difference was just by chance.

Tony Baines, Managing Director of Buying: “The research shows that choosing lower priced products doesn’t always mean compromising on quality. Savvy shoppers can save large sums of money each time they shop with us and be reassured that they aren’t sacrificing standards. Aldi’s products are like brands, only cheaper.”

According to the study, shoppers who switch these eleven products from the brand leaders to Aldi’s own-label range stand to save £14.27 per shop.

Wing Yip offers new look sauces at Tesco

Wing Yip, the leading oriental grocery brand has secured a deal with Tesco to list four of its stir fry sauces after a significant investment was made in customer research and a whole new look given to its packaging. The four sauces are Kung Po; Cho Mein, Black Bean and Spicy Szechuan. They are available in 185ml and appeared in 300 Tesco stores last month.

Using consumer focus groups, Wing Yip undertook massive research to explore different buying patterns, perceptions of the oriental food sector and also attitudes towards the current branding of products. This resulted in their packaging being redesigned and the listing with Tesco was thus secured.

The director of Wing Yip, Brian Yip, says that their range of sauced combines quality ingredients with traditional recipes to create an authentic tasting Chinese dish. He added that consumers were taking more notice than ever of ingredients and provenance and he was delighted that his company was now able to offer these products to Tesco shoppers.

Mr Yip went onto say that the new look range was the result of the in-depth research they had carried out with their target consumers and that they believed the refreshing new packaging would really stand out in the aisle where the sauces would reside.

These are the first stir fry sauces from Wing Yip that Tesco have stocked, and if they prove popular they will be added in another 200 stores. This should then lead to more products being stocked by the company; and Wing Yip are no doubt looking to a long and successful relationship with Tesco.

An Advertorial Feature

Attempting to remove certain food groups as a result of being diagnosed with food intolerance or allergy can be tricky. We are all used to consuming certain foods that it becomes difficult to avoid them. The following therefore is a list of food substitutes compiled by Dr Gill Hart, Scientific Director at YorkTest Laboratories who specialise in food intolerance and allergy testing.  So here goes:

Bread

Let’s face it bread is very difficult to avoid as it is everywhere. Those that have reactions to yeast, wheat and gluten have to be able to hunt down alternatives easily and there are some great alternatives around. Wheat and gluten free bread now comes in the form of multigrain, baguettes, pitas and even ciabatta! Rye bread may not always be appealing as it can be quite dry, but try toasting it and serving with baked beans, humus or pate; yummy.  Rice, corn and gluten-free oat cakes are also great substitutes. For recipes that use breadcrumbs such fish cakes or puddings it’s easy, just substitute with gluten-free bread!

Spreads

Dairy free alternatives to butter and margarine (most sunflower based spreads still contain cow’s milk) are now readily available. Pure offer the best range with dairy free sunflower, soya and now olive spreads.

Staples

Staple foods are a common problem for many people and can contribute to various illnesses such as IBS symptoms. Pasta is one of the most popular staples, and most supermarkets stock wheat and gluten free pasta now; Tesco have a brown rice penne pasta and other pasta types contain buckwheat, corn and rice for extra flavour, but let’s have a think about other alternatives. Quinoa (which is actually a seed) is a great form of carbohydrate and protein, also try buckwheat (a herb), and of course rice, lentils or the often forgotten humble potato!

Cereals

Cereals that are gluten and wheat free? Well there is so much choice now. Starting with gluten and wheat free muesli, but remember again to watch for hidden ingredients. Depending on your particular combination of problem foods there may be added, nuts, seeds or dried fruits that you need to avoid. Remember that, for those with symptoms of food intolerance, the average number of IgG antibody food reactions is 6; it’s the particular combination of foods that is unique to you that is important. There is concern about the gluten content of oat based porridges, so try quinoa and millet porridge instead, very filling so you won’t need a huge portion. Try topping your porridge with added pumpkin or sunflower seeds, flaxseed or linseed for extra flavour. The protein in these seeds will keep you going through the morning, and along with the low glycaemic load of the porridge oats or quinoa, you certainly won’t want any snacks until lunchtime!

Milk

Cereals have been covered but what about milk? The supermarket shelves are now awash with milk substitutes, but they are sometimes difficult to hunt out! You can usually find milk alternatives in the “Longlife or UHT Milk”, “Free-From” or “Fresh Milk” sections but how they are categorised does vary from supermarket to supermarket! Try alternatives such as oat milk (I like the one that is fortified with calcium and vitamin D), coconut milk (great for sauces) and of course soya milk. Rice milk and hemp milk have less substance to then and so don’t make such good Yorkshire puddings or sauces, but are great for porridge and on cereals. Have a look and see, but do check out hidden ingredients, for example may of the milk alternatives contain sunflower oil, which isn’t helpful if you have reactions to sunflower seeds as well as cow’s milk! Remember too that goat and sheep milk contains similar milk proteins to cow’s milk and so may not be suitable for you.

Flour

What about wheat and gluten free alternatives to flour? Well I have found some great recipes that use ground almonds instead or trying substituting wheat flour with gram flour (chickpea flour), rice flour or coconut flour.

Yeast-free?

If your test results show that you have reactions to yeast in your blood then eliminating yeast from your diet can be quite a challenge. Yeast-free bread is available, or try making your own Irish soda bread. Easier to try are alternatives such as oat, rice and corn cakes. Watch out for fruits which contain yeasts on their skins, particularly berries and skinned fruits; try alternatives such as mango, pineapple and bananas. Avoid fungi like mushrooms, and substitute blue and mature cheeses. Note that gravy granules and stock cubes contain yeast but there are yeast free alternatives (try Anthony Worrall Thompson yeast free organic vegetable stock cubes from Tesco).

So that wraps up the list. If you have been diagnosed with food intolerance then it is recommended that you seek the help of a practicing nutritionist who can help. This is why YorkTest have developed the food intolerance programme to help those that need it as you can end up doing more harm than good. For more information visit YorkTest.com or call 0800 074 6185

Getoily.com is a new family-run business with an obsessive passion for premium-quality olive oils and balsamic vinegars.

The site introduces consumers to some of the finest olive oil and balsamic vinegar producers from around the world. As well as an impressive choice of products, the website will help consumers choose the right oil and vinegar for their taste and style of cooking. Visitors to the site will also be able to be kept up to date with news from producers, join in monthly give-aways and ask any questions they may have about the oils and vinegars in today’s market.

James Tyler, getoily.com’s MD, said: “It’s an absolute delight to open up these wonderful products to the consumer. We’ve spent years meeting some of the world’s finest olive oil and balsamic vinegar producers, creating relationships that allow us to bring in some spectacular products for the public back here in the UK. It’s amazing to see the way the fine food business has changed in the UK over the past few years, not to mention how knowledgeable the consumer has become about produce from around the world.”

Danone the diary company has withdrawn its requests to approve its claims that the brand offers many health benefits to its consumers.

Danone has often promoted its yoghurt drink Actimel as a natural strengtheners of the body’s defences and that Activia will help regulate digestion.  According to the company, it is simply waiting for the European Food Safety Authority to clarify how approval is granted for status as a healthy food group.

At the same time, Danone already withdrew its health claims voluntarily form all products that are sold in France and in the UK. Last year a UK regulator banned an ad for Actimel that touted its health benefits.

The regulation of such claims is currently in transition within Europe and up until the present all claims have been up to the sole discretion of the national regulator from every separate European country.

The UK Advertising Standards Authority placed a ban on the television advert for Actimel in the UK, after it ruled that the health claims that it could help boost the immunity of youngsters against illness were not substantially backed by evidence.

In the future, all advertising that contains health claims must be approved by a European regulator although at the moment the requirements and process for approval are still being considered and drawn up with a final meeting scheduled to take place on the 1^st of June.

In response, Pierre-Andre Terisse the chief financial officer for Danone stated that they withdrew their application from the EFSA in order to allow themselves time to have a say in the meeting.