Once the domain of specialised sports and nutrition markets, protein is no longer a niche ingredient for fitness fanatics! In fact, it has become one of the most popular ingredients on the market.

A rise in consumer awareness around health and wellbeing has stimulated significant growth in the protein sector and ordinary customers are actively looking for tasty treats that boast additional nutritional benefits. As a result, snacks with boosted nutritional benefits are flying off the shelves – and more and more companies are looking to break into this lucrative market by providing protein snacks of their very own.

With our decades of experience in new product development, we can help the sports industry, nutrition industry and other companies create a whole host of nutritionally functional treats. From cookies and bars to flapjacks and raw bars, we can develop protein products that are suitable for all kinds of dietary requirements, food trends and nutritional levels. New product development is subject to annual volumes, but as long as these requirements are met, we can proceed with creating your perfect product.

Thinking of developing your own protein product? Read on below to find out four key reasons why our process is so successful at helping our partners achieve their goals.

Staying Up to Date with Industry Developments

With the popularity of protein higher than ever before, there is constant research and development being conducted within the protein sector in order to meet the growth in demand and cater to new trends and markets.

Learning about new and emerging more versatile products and ingredients is a key part of our NPD process. By encouraging the continuous personal and professional development of our NPD team, we are able to approach projects with the most up-to-date knowledge and provide our clients with the most effective solutions.

Meeting Nutritional & Health Claim Regulations

If you are going to make a product with higher levels of protein, you’ll want to be able to advertise this additional nutritional benefit to your consumers on the product’s packaging and promotional materials.

Nutritional or health claims, however, can only be made if the product complies to certain European Commission regulations that ensure that all claims made about nutritional properties in food products are clear, accurate and meet FIR requirements.

It’s an extremely important factor to get right to make sure you can promote your product effectively in the future. We will ensure that any protein product you develop with us meets the packaging regulations.

Striking the Balance Between Functionality & Flavour

Creating a tasty product with a pleasant texture and appearance is always important. But this can be a challenge when it comes to protein products as many protein ingredients are not renowned for their delicious flavours or textures! At Food Connections, however, we rise to the challenge and put a lot of work into developing recipes that mask the typical protein taste and texture to create truly enjoyable, tasty products that still have considerable nutritional functionality.

Our NPD team will work carefully to balance nutritional requirements alongside any measures taken to minimise unwanted aftertastes and unusual consistencies caused by the added nutritional ingredients. The result? A terrifically tasty product that balances flavour with functionality.

Catering for a Range of Dietary Requirements

This is where our years of experience and training really come into play. Thanks to their detailed and comprehensive understanding of ingredients, nutritional substitutes, and the ways in which various ingredients interact, our NPD team is highly capable when it comes to creating truly effective, delicious products that meet your requirements and the demands of your customers.

We can create traditional protein bars using effective, popular and affordable protein sources. We can develop specialised high protein products for the sports sector that are low in fat and sugar by considering alternatives to traditional sugar and syrups, and finding reduced fat alternatives with similar abilities as traditional ingredients when it comes to binding, consistency and texture.

Should you wish to cater for specialised diets such as vegetarian or vegan, then our highly experienced and knowledgeable NPD team will explore a range of suitable alternative ingredients including plant-based protein sources such as soy, wheat, rice and pea protein. And, should you wish to make a really niche product, we can incorporate further specialist ingredients, too. All natural ingredients? A low-fat vegan protein bar? We can do that. A low-sugar, low-fat, vegan raw bar? Well, we can do that as well. It’s certainly a tricky task, but our expertise means its achievable.

And what about creating a product that is mindful of halal or allergen requirements? Well, our production facilities are already halal certified. We can also accommodate a variety of allergen concerns – simply discuss this factor with our team.

Have a Chat with Our Team

So, do you have a product in mind that you’d like us to develop? Well what are you waiting for?! Our team can’t wait to chat with you about your ideas and see how we can help. Get in touch with us on 01530 830180 or use our contact form to have us call you.

Posted 13 Mar 2018 by The Food Connections Team