Pepsi and Hummus?

PepsiCo and Strauss Group Announce North American Joint Venture

Monday December 10, 5:30 am ET

Sabra Joint Venture Highlights Frito-Lay North America's Commitment to Fresh Dips and Spreads and Expands Its Role in Providing Healthier Snack Options

PURCHASE, N.Y., Dec. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- PepsiCo and Strauss Group announced today the signing of an agreement to form a joint venture partnership to operate Sabra, the top-selling and fastest-growing maker of hummus, with sales approaching approximately $56 million through September of this year. Last year, total U.S. sales of hummus grew to $180 million.

The Sabra joint venture will produce and sell fresh dips and spreads in the U.S. and Canada, while drawing on both Strauss Group and Frito-Lay North America's (FLNA) marketplace expertise to continue building this growing business. Sabra will expand FLNA's role in providing healthier snack options and highlights the company's commitment to the on-trend fresh category. PepsiCo's FLNA division and Strauss will each own 50% of the business.

The joint venture will leverage Sabra, the number one brand of hummus in the U.S. True to its Mediterranean heritage, Sabra's hummus is made with healthier oils and has no trans fat or cholesterol. Sabra products also include eggplant dips, babaganoush spreads, and Mediterranean salsa available in individual and family packs. These products, which have a strong presence in the Northeastern U.S. and Florida, are currently distributed through a combination of independent sales brokers and distributors and its own refrigerated direct-store-delivery system.

"Sabra is a wonderful opportunity to expand PepsiCo's role in providing healthier options in snacking and the joint venture fits perfectly with PepsiCo's 'Performance with Purpose' agenda by demonstrating our commitment to fresh dips and spreads," said Al Carey, president and chief executive officer of Frito-Lay North America. "Sabra is already the leader in hummus, and I anticipate other Sabra fresh dips and spreads to make a similar positive impact on consumers. Sabra products are a perfect complement to Stacy's pita chips for any dipping occasion."

"Thanks to its experience and know-how in the development, manufacturing and marketing of fresh food products, Strauss Group has been developing a new food experience in the U.S. by identifying the potential in the fresh dips and spreads business. I am convinced that the partnership between FLNA and Strauss will create a complementary set of competencies and expertise that will allow Sabra to lead the fresh dip category and offer consumers in North America a range of fresh dips that meets their desire for healthier, fresh foods," said Erez Vigodman, president and chief executive officer of Strauss Group. "Sabra will lead the freshness 'revolution' in the United States and Canada, consistent with notable emerging consumer trends in the world today."

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to be finalized in early 2008.

Nutraceuticals - Food working for you...

December 10, 2007 10:30 AM PST
The cheese that kills, and other nutraceuticals

Posted by Michael Kanellos

It will be delicious, nutritious, and kill tapeworms.

TyraTech, a green technology incubator, is developing a cheese that will be as nutritious as regular food but also kill intestinal parasites, according to CFO Keith Bigsby. The company has signed a deal with Kraft Foods to bring these functional foods to market. Kraft will pay the company engineering fees and, if products come out, royalties from sales. TyraTech is going to try to send me a glass of a drink they are working on for a taste test.

If you are reading this, you probably don't have a tapeworm, but nematodes and other worms remain a major health problem for 2 billion people living in rural Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
TyraTech's product is part of a wave of what some people call nutraceuticals. Basically, these companies produce foods that can provide enhanced nutrition or medicinal properties, according to according to Laurie Yoler, a partner at investment bank GrowthPoint Technology Partners, which recently started to work with companies in the field. While these products will likely be sold as foodstuffs and medical products in the emerging world, they will be largely be marketed as lifestyle products to people in Palo Alto.

Attune Foods, for instance, has come out with a shelf-stable energy bar containing probiotics, the healthy active cultures found in yogurt and acidophilus. Probiotics are big in Europe and Japan and have begun to penetrate the United States. Attune's CEO is Rob Hurlbut, who used to be the CEO of Niman Ranch, the famed producer of natural beef (i.e. no injections).

Attune wellness bars go down easier than suppositories.(Credit: Mike Kanellos/CNET Networks)

A chocolate bar with more active cultures than yogurt that costs less than $2? There are a hundred neurotic parents I can name that will line up to buy it now that they know it exists. It actually tastes good, too. After taking the picture at left, I wolfed down the company's cool mint chocolate wellness bar. There's a slightly different aftertaste than regular chocolate, but otherwise it goes down like regular chocolate. Ilya Nykin of Prolog Ventures, which invested in Attune, calls these products functional foods.

TyraTech is also working on biopesticides, which are natural pesticides made from microbes. Organic farmers, and a growing number of conventional farmers, spray these on their crops rather than chemical fertilizer. The organic pesticides are safer for humans, advocates say, and can be sprayed closer to the time of harvest than conventional pesticides. Biopesticides also tend to be safer for field workers.

In the past, biopesticides were often snake oil solutions, according to people in the industry. But the killing power and effectiveness of these mixtures has greatly increased over the years while the price has come down. Other companies in biopesticides include AgraQuest and Marrone Organics.

Read the article here

Bugs in the food...good for you!

Bugs in baby food? Microbes in your milkshake? Relax, this is not the latest tainted food scare — it's a growing trend in foods designed to boost health, not make you sick.

These products contain probiotics, or "friendly" bacteria similar to those found in the human digestive system.

There are supplement pills, yogurts, smoothies, snack bars and cereals, even baby formula and chocolate. Sold by major names like Dannon and Kraft, they're spreading like germs on grocery store shelves and in supermarket dairy cases.

And they come with vague health claims of "regulating your digestive health" or "strengthening your body's defenses."

Experts say probiotics are generally safe, and in some cases might be helpful. More research is needed, and it's a hot new area, reflecting a growing understanding of the role that naturally occurring intestinal bacteria play in health. This week, the National Institutes of Health is hosting a conference where top scientists will discuss recent advances.

In the meantime, the market is ahead of the science. It's all part of a burgeoning effort to capitalize on an obsession with health foods. Probiotics are already popular in Europe, Asia and South America.

And there are "prebiotics," too, which contain fiber and other nutrients that feed probiotic bacteria.

So far this year, more than 150 probiotic and prebiotic commercial food products have been introduced in the U.S., compared with about 100 last year and just 40 in 2005, said Tom Vierhile of Datamonitor, a market research firm.

"It is definitely a growing trend," Vierhile said.

To read more - see the article here

Carbonated Yogurt

Yep, and it's really a fun and cool product. Our family bought it and the two teens have been having a blast eating it. It's GoGurt in a tube with carbonated bubbles throughout it. The story behind it is pretty cool too..


PROVO, Utah (ABC 4 News) - A BYU professor could revolutionize the yogurt industry. It's yogurt with a "zing" that combines carbonation and yogurt.

It's the result of a brainstorm Dr. Lynn Odgen had after making homemade root beer with dry ice. General Mills liked the idea and Yoplait's GoGurt "Fizzix" were born.

It was a simple idea. “I thought why not throw a block of dry ice in some yogurt and see what happens,” said Ogden. “I threw it in there and it bubbled away and the results were delightful, a refreshing fizzy flavor.” It was a flavor that delighted his family and got Dr. Ogden to think big. “It wasn't until my wife kept telling me, ‘this is too good, and you’ve got to do something with this. I decided to make a research project out of it.”

He made small batches at first injecting the C02 gas into a vat full of yogurt. When Dr. Ogden realized he had a good combination he brought it to the BYU Sensory Lab where taste testing products is conducted and let students try it.

Thousands of taste tests later Fizzix was born but it wasn't an easy road to get it there. “We took it to every yogurt company we could think of here and in Europe.” Ogden says they liked the product but didn't want to be the first ones to introduce it to the market. Ten years later and several tries with General Mills, they finally said yes.

A policy of only using in-house creations changed at General Mills allowing a second look at Ogden’s invention. And it could be a good boon Professor Odgen and BYU, which holds the patent in 28 countries.

“After we pay off the debt it could be a source of considerable income for BYU,” said Ogden. They are already on store shelves and come in six flavors: Strawberry Lemonade Jolt, Wild Cherry Zing, Triple Berry Fusion, Fruit Punch Charge, Blue Raspberry Rage, and Strawberry Watermelon Rush.

http://www.abc4.com/content/features/story.aspx?
content_id=9299dbfd-0285-4a7e-a29f-b36bb3ffc6cb

"a million bad snacks"

Kashi Co., the US natural food company owned by Kellogg, wants to rid the world of "a million bad snacks" with its latest marketing campaign.

The California-based firm, which Kellogg acquired in 2000, is to embark on a "Kashi Snack Drive" to encourage consumers to trade in snacks for "more nutritious" Kashi products.

"We think snacking can be fun and good for you," said Jeff Johnson, senior brand manager and nutritionist for Kashi. "We want to show that you can satisfy your snack craving with nutritious food that also tastes great."

The campaign will take place in four US cities over two weeks later this month.

http://www.just-food.com/article.aspx?id=99650

The 100 Calorie Fantasy

In an attempt to assuage public concern about the obesity problem in this country, major snack brands are responding with 100-calorie packs of their most popular varieties. The concept is simple: Give folks wary about their waistlines a way to indulge in their favorite treats without going overboard. "It's a guilt-reduction technique," says Tom Vierhile, the director of Productscan Online, which reports the introduction of new packaged goods. "It's to make sure consumers don't completely rule these products out."

Vierhile says 92 different 100-calorie products were on the market as of July. That's up from 51 in 2006, 33 in 2005, and only 13 in 2004. While the trend reaches soda, pudding, and popcorn, conventional snacks, such as cookies and crackers, are where it's really taking hold.

But these treats are no dieting miracle. They cost more than their full-calorie counterparts, and, despite their figure-friendly philosophy, are not as nutrient-rich as other snacks.

"For people who spend their life eating two 100-calorie snack packs a day, and not eating fruits and vegetables . . . in the long run, it's not a good tool to give to the masses," says Dr. Caroline Apovian, director for nutrition and weight management at Boston Medical Center. "In general, this is a very 2007, very 21st-century invention that is putting a Band-Aid on what the problem is."

That's not stopping these snacks from multiplying on grocers' shelves and finding their way into lunch boxes. Still, even among the snack-food giants, the approach to creating 100-calorie packs varies greatly - from miniaturizing classics to totally reinventing snacking staples.

Kraft, whose line of 100-calorie packs jump-started the craze in 2004, now offers more than 30 products in the genre. It began with just five offerings, Oreo Thin Crisps, Chips Ahoy! Thin Crisps, Wheat Thins Minis, Kraft Cheese Nips Thin Crisps, and Nabisco Mixed Berry Fruit Snacks. While some varieties were merely packaged into smaller portions, others were transformed into lighter fare. The Oreo Thin Crisps, for example, are not the chocolate sandwich cookies most people recognize; instead, they are thin chocolate wafers.

"A majority are brand-new recipes developed specifically for the Nabisco 100-Calorie Packs line and were designed to mimic the taste and deliver a similar experience of beloved classics," Laurie Guzzinati, associate director of corporate affairs for Kraft Foods, writes in an e-mail. "By doing this, we were able to deliver not only on the piece count that consumers are looking for, but also remain a sensible, portion-controlled snacking option."

By the time Kellogg's entered the 100-calorie pack market with its Right Bites in June 2005, it had had time to learn from its predecessors. Dave Rhoades, brand marketing manager for Kellogg's, says that its products are different from competitors' because "[consumers] want snacks that taste like real cookies and crackers, not pressed cookie-like chips." Right Bites offer lower-calorie versions of Keebler Sandies cookies, Fudge Shoppe Mini Fudge Stripes cookies, and Fudge Shoppe Grasshopper Fudge Dipped Mint Cookies, among others.

But if it's savory snacks you crave, Frito-Lay has you covered. With varieties of Cheetos, Doritos, and SunChips available, the company provides all the salty treats without changing the recipes. It simply, without cost savings to the consumer, puts fewer chips in a smaller bag.
"It is the exact same product people love, but want a little help with portion control," says Aurora Gonzalez spokeswoman for Frito-Lay.

Hostess uses a combination of portion control, lower-calorie recipes, and added fiber. Some of the company's baked goods, such as carrot cake and frosted cupcakes, now come in smaller sizes to meet the 100-calorie cutoff. The brand's chocolate cupcakes, which come in packs of three miniature cakes about the circumference of a quarter, also offer five grams of fiber. Compare that to one gram in Keebler's Fudge Shoppe Grasshopper Fudge Dipped Mint Cookies.

"We knew fiber was important in consumers' diets," says Kevin Kaul, Hostess marketing director. "Having higher fiber content would allow us to have fewer points in the Weight Watchers system." (The chocolate cupcakes are only one point; most other 100-calorie snacks are two or more.)

http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/2007
/09/12/weighing_in_on_100_calorie_snack_packs/

Candy changes it's ways....Candy with benefits

Top trends driving product releases of 2007/08 include flavor fusions, international influences, artisan palate, sweet benefits, simply sugar-free, originally organic, reinventing classics, the dark side and child's play:

Artisan Palate -- Specialty sweets and sophisticated snacks are evolving to meet consumers' more refined palates. Savor gourmet every day with three new specialty flavors of Rena's Gourmet Truffle Pop Collection (key lime, dark brut chocolate and coconut) or give fruits a gourmet touch with Splendid Chocolate Fondue Au Chocolat. Unwrap a sweet escape with Nestle Treasures® bite-size truffles with gourmet caramel, cappuccino or dark chocolate filling cloaked in silky-smooth milk chocolate. New boxed artisan confections include Russell Stover's® Soho(TM) Collection and Whitman's® Urban Collection and feature gourmet flavors like pear praline and sea salt caramel as well as bite-size gourmet chocolates painted with elegant designs.

Sweet Benefits -- From calorie conscious confections to the healthful and fortified, manufacturers are meeting health conscious consumers' demands with benefits packed into popular sweets and snacks. Among the many new nutritive treats are Welch's® Fruit 'N Yogurt Snacks, which are loaded with real fruit and contain live and active cultures just like fresh yogurt, Hershey®'s 100 Calorie Pretzel Bar and Planters® NUT-triton Heart-Healthy Mix. And in the gourmet chocolate market, new products now highlight heart healthy, antioxidant rich cacao percentages. Indulge in all ends of the spectrum, from Scharffen Berger® Milk Nibby with 41 percent cacao to Guylian Twist 70% Extra Dark.

Simply Sugar-free -- New confections are going sugar-free while staying flavor-full. Share the sweetness on Valentine's Day with PEEPS® sugar-free hearts or indulge in Baskin-Robins cookies n' cream flavored sugar-free hard candies. Tempt your taste buds with sugarless Life Savers® Fruit Tarts(TM) with a mouth-watering blend of fruit and sour sensations. And new flavors and unique packaging of sugar-free gum and mints are also keeping the breath market fresh. New sugarless products include Aura(TM) Clip'n'Go(TM) mints and gum, Cadbury Adam's Stride(TM) new Forever Fruit flavored gum and Wrigley's 5(TM) gum available in Rain(TM) (a tingling spearmint), Cobalt(TM) (a cooling peppermint) and Flare(TM) (a warming cinnamon).

Originally Organic -- For the savvy snack and candy consumer, new products are harnessing the all natural goodness of pure ingredients and increasingly earning the USDA organic seal of approval. Going green never tasted so good with the variety of new organic products like Montana Monster Munchies all-natural cookies, Jelly Belly® natural
jelly beans, Green & Black's organic fine chocolate bars and RJ's all natural black, raspberry and orange licorice.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070917/aqm014.html?.v=24