The Hindu Business Line : Packaged diet

Look for some packaged foods/drinks to buy and chances are that quite a few of them proclaim their preservative-free, sugar-free status. There’s growing awareness that packaged foods (biscuits, chips, fried foods, other snacks, ready-to-eat, ready-to-cook, instant foods, juices, drinks) are likely to contain unhealthy levels of salt, sugar, oil, hydrogenated fats, chemical additives, preservatives, food colouring and so on.

And with so much information available on health and nutrition today, it’s easy to get confused. But the buzz words from informed consumers seem to be less salt, no sugar, no preservatives and no trans fats. And this group of demanding consumers is growing, forcing food manufacturers to take notice.

Companies often speak of launching healthier versions of existing products. But what exactly is ‘healthy’? To one, healthy may be sugar-free, to another a sugar substitute is unacceptable. How are companies finding the balance between being responsive marketers and viable business entities?

Gayatri Yadav, Director (Marketing), General Mills India, says there are going to be two broad trends in product development. One would be products that “have the presence of good”, those made from wholesome ingredients such as milk, grains and fruit. The second would be free from “perceived negative ingredients” — the sugar-free, trans fat-free foods.

The companies that Life spoke to for this article pointed out that customers and companies are at different levels of health-consciousness and sensitivity. “Even then, the two areas where Indian companies are making efforts to give healthier alternatives are in reducing sugar and attempting to reduce salt content,” says Richa Arora, till recently General Manager (Marketing & Innovation), Britannia Industries.

Say health food and there’s a good chance your products will turn consumers away as they envision biscuits that taste of cardboard or ice-cream without its creamy fullness. There have been instances of restaurants serving health food and not highlighting that aspect as they don’t want customers to think they only serve lettuce and papaya. But this trend seems to be changing.

Says a spokesperson for Pepsico’s juice brand Tropicana, “There is a distinct shift in consumers’ perception of healthy food. ‘Health food’ today is not seen as a compromise on taste or for those who are diet-conscious. More and more consumers are accepting it because it has become imperative to include healthy snacks/drinks due to our sedentary lifestyles.”

Sanjay Sharma, Business Head (Foods Division), Dabur India, agrees that the ‘healthy’ label is not a put-off but points out that it’s largely an urban phenomenon, fuelled by health-conscious younger consumers. An interesting point he makes is that taste is often an indication of the product’s natural and health attributes. “For instance, the bitterness in orange juice is the indication of it being natural and healthy,” he explains.

Dabur has a range of health juices under its Activ brand with no added sugar, and even a fruit soya range. Tropicana, which markets a wide range of juices, does not add preservatives. Where there’s no added sugar, the sweetness comes only from the fruit combination in the drink. Frito Lay, another division of Pepsico which makes snacks such as Lays and Kurkure, was one of the first to do away with trans fat and MSG across the entire range of its foods, says a spokesperson. Recently, it also began using rice bran oil to reduce the saturated fat content in its snacks by 40 per cent.

Arora says companies too need to consciously provide the correct information and perspective. When Britannia launched a range of products under the NutriChoice SugarOut brand this year, it consciously chose to represent them as “zero added sugar” and not “sugar-free” — the latter is misleading for products which are grain-/fruit-/vegetable-based as each of these natural products inherently contains its own sugar, she elucidates.

Does health come at a price? “All health food products are priced at a premium because of the value-add they offer,” says Dabur’s Sharma. Parameters such as taste, juice content and packaging also influence the price.

But according to General Mills’ Yadav, “The key challenge in marketing healthy foods is education.” She goes on to explain that when her company launched Nature Valley Granola Bars, its biggest task was to tell consumers that it was not a chocolate but a nourishing, grain-based snack. “The challenges are less in product formulation and more in consumer education,” she says.

Even price may not be a deterrent when health and taste combine to pack a punch. “The challenge in any such efforts is to maintain the same taste. The line between ‘good food’ and ‘food that’s good for you’ is blurring,” says Arora.

Amen.

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