Superspuds to hit the shelves
More selenium-enriched products are likely to hit supermarket shelves by 2010, with crop nutrition experts expecting increasing consumer recognition of their health benefits.
Sainsbury is launching selenium-enriched baby salad potatoes this month after a successful introduction of larger, enriched spuds under its Be Good To Yourself brand earlier this year.
Marks & Spencer is also participating in a four-year research project with crop breeders, likely to lead to a variety of new baked goods containing selenium-enriched flour. The project, which is supported by a UK government grant, is due for completion in March 2009.
Selenium was proven to boost fertility, cardiovascular and immune system health and believed to reduce the risk of several cancers, said fertiliser manufacturer and crop nutrition expert Nutrilaw, which supplied the potatoes to Sainsbury's.
However, UK consumption was well below recommended levels, according to md Mark Law, who has spent years perfecting the process of enriching crops, such as wheat, potatoes and mushrooms, with selenium.
One of the key reasons for this under-consumption was the switch to sourcing wheat from Europe rather than the US and Canada, where selenium levels in soil were higher, he said. More recently, the levels in UK soil had declined still further as a result of changes in fertiliser regimes.
Nutrilaw's branded selenium-enriched bread had not flown off the shelves at Waitrose since its launch into the marketplace two years ago. But this was largely because the company did not have a strong retail brand, claimed Law. "It's trusted retailer own-label products or huge brands that are going to succeed in having an impact in new areas such as this. That's because you need to put a great deal of marketing spend behind something very new and we simply didn't have the resources."
However, Sainsbury's product technologist Debbie Winstanley said its Be Good to Yourself spuds had been a big hit with consumers: "They sold very well - in fact, they completely sold out."
