Primary function

Are food and drink manufacturers still willing to buy expensive 'functional' ingredients in a recession? Yes, says Anthony Hehir, market development manager at DSM Nutritional Products. They will just become far more choosy about which ones.Hehir is of course somewhat biased, given that he works for a major supplier of healthy ingredients from green tea and CoQ10 to vitamins and carotenoids. But as a qualified dietician with several years of commercial experience (and a business degree) under his belt, he's also well placed to comment on what makes consumers - and the beancounters at head office - tick.

"I don't see this market suddenly going backwards because there is a slowdown in the economy", he says. "I just think it will force people to become more focused. It's very difficult for food and drink manufacturers wandering around a show like Health Ingredients Europe because there are so many suppliers making so many claims, some of which are supported by good science, some of which aren't. On a day-to-day basis, they are also being bombarded with samples, calls and literature from suppliers, so deciding what to use and who to work with is very hard."

So what's the best way to attract their attention? In most cases, he says, manufacturers will choose an ingredient they want to explore further, research it, and then evaluate potential suppliers, who will need to be able to support them on everything from applications to regulatory compliance, health claims, consumer research and so on.

"The ideal forum for communication is a cross-functional one," Hehir says. "It's no good just getting technical people to talk to each other, there has to be a level of buy-in from the customer's marketing people as well."

But knowing which horses to back is very tough, he says. If the noise generated by this market can be overwhelming for buyers on occasions, it can be almost deafening for consumers, which can generate scepticism and distrust. "The worst thing you can do as a marketer is say to a consumer, 'this bottle does a, b, c, d and e'. Sometimes you need to drill down and focus on one benefit."

Take green tea extracts - a key part of DSM's portfolio, says Hehir. Potentially, you could talk about everything from relaxation to oral health, cardiovascular health and free-radical busting antioxidants. But this will only confuse people if you actually want to focus on fat reduction and weight management.

Likewise, the product vehicle has to be right for the market. "Some countries such as Spain are very keen to try new formats; others like Germany are far more conservative," he says. "You can go functional with anything, but dairy and beverages are probably the best because they already have a healthy image and fit in with modern consumer lifestyles."

As for who to target, this also depends on the market. "Large companies and brands will obviously drive volume but small ones are far quicker to market and can also serve as a teaser and build up a niche that the bigger players can then tap in to. It's also about the right fit for a brand. I actually think, from a nutritional point of view, anything is a good vehicle for fortification. People drink Diet Coke anyway, so why not make it healthier with vitamins?"

As for the EU Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation, which has attracted criticism for imposing pharmaceutical standards - and costs - onto the food industry, which has a very different cost base, Hehir is not convinced by the doom-mongers' warning of impending apocalypse for the health ingredients industry.

Whether ingredients will disappear from the market if health claims about them are rejected is not clear he says. This depends on the ingredient and the type of press coverage its rejection attracts. Some ingredients are now so well established and positively viewed that health claims are not a key part of the proposition, he points out.

For ingredients in DSM's portfolio such as Tensguard [a blood pressure reducing dairy peptide], InsuVital [which can induce insulin production in diabetics and pre-diabetics] or Teavigo [high purity EGCG from green tea], however, health claims are very important, he says.

After all, if you are buying a product to help keep your blood pressure down, you expect it to do what it says on the tin, he points out.

While there is little doubt that many companies could be in for a nasty shock when the 'article 13 list' of approved health claims is published in early 2010, the Regulation will ultimately benefit the consumer, claims Hehir. "The main point is that you can't make a claim unless it's properly supported by science, which in principle has to be a good thing."