What should you be making?
GM crops reduce biodiversity
Pizza Hut launched low-fat pizza in US
Vital Living buys Doctors for Nutrition 
Coke to take on L'Oreal?
Organic anniversary sees consumption up

NPD

What should you be making?

The ideal meal for today's time-poor, cash-rich consumer is a breakfast bar with a soy milk substitute wrapped in a fibre-filled doughnut, washed down with a carbonated drink with red, lemon or vanilla in the name.
Or at least that's what they are buying, Information Resources' Anne Berlack told delegates at a recent National ACS conference.
According to IRI's research, the hot categories today are milk substitutes, where soy leads the way. Then follow breakfast bars, doughnuts, non-chocolate candies (sweets), bottled water, granola bars, frozen dinners, and yoghurt drinks.
People are looking for more vitamins, fibre, antioxidants, energy, mobility, convenience, and health from their supermarket purchases. Conversely, they want less caffeine, fewer calories, and minimal cholesterol, fat or salt.
"Convenience is not an option," she warned. "Americans work on average 46 hours a week, skip one out of three breakfasts and eat 15 meals a week in their cars."
Fortified water sold in a single-serve pack has shown year on year growth of 182%. But energy drinks are up 132%, bottled water and sports up 113%, and coffee and tea by 105%. 
Women are driving growth in all categories, and they are on the lookout for soy products because they associated them with health benefits. 
So, what's the message? 
"Keep it fresh with an new taste or texture and deliver a benefit that the consumer will notice and make them feel good about themselves," said Berlack. "In addition, leverage the brand name, try to find a way to breakthrough the advertising clutter, and above all, make it convenient to buy and to use."

GM

GM crops reduce biodiversity

A large-scale study by UK scientists of the effects of three genetically modified crops shows that, directly or indirectly, they lead to a decrease in the biodiversity and other unwanted side-effects.
The results cover the farm-scale evaluation of spring-sown crops (maize, beet and spring oilseed rape). For each crop, scientists tested the ideas that the effect on the abundance and diversity of wildlife of the management of the GM crop does not differ from the effect of the management of the conventional equivalent. "The null hypothesis was rejected in each case," said steering committee chairman Christopher Pollock.
"Growing conventional beet and spring rape was better for many groups of wildlife than growing GM herbicide-tolerant (GMHT) beet and spring rape," he said. "Some insect groups, such as bees (in beet crops) and butterflies (in beet and spring rape), were recorded more frequently in and around the conventional crops because there were more weeds to provide food and cover. There were also more weed seeds in conventional beet and spring rape crops than in their GM counterparts. Such seeds are important in the diets of some animals, particularly some birds. However some groups of soil insects were found in greater numbers in GMHT beet and spring rape crops. 
Other research into rapeseed reported in Science that cross-pollination of GM and conventional rapeseed is "inevitable". This will cause unpredictable changes in the development of wild crops.
Pollock said growing GMHT maize was better for many groups of wildlife than conventional maize. There were more weeds in and around the GMHT maize crops, more butterflies and bees around at certain times of the year, and more weed seeds. 
However, Friends of the Earth, an organisation campaigning to stop GM crops, says this is unsurprising given that conventional maize farming is well known to harm the countryside.
The steering committee is collecting data from the winter oilseed rape trials. The results will be published in mid-2004. 

NPD

Pizza Hut launched low-fat pizza in US

US-based Pizza Hut has launched a range of pizze with half the cheese of the regular Thin 'N Crispy recipes, generous portions of tomato sauce and toppings that include lean meats and fresh vegetables. A slice (both medium 12" and 14" large) contains only 3.5 to 5 grams of fat, depending on the selection of available toppings, a quarter of that in a regular slice.
The aim is to fit into "growing consumer focus on lower-fat foods and increasingly busy lifestyles," the company says. 
Consumers can choose up to three toppings from chicken, ham, green pepper, red onion, mushroom, jalapeno, tomato and pineapple. 
They can also fill any gaps with a new, bagged, family-size salad kit for $2.99. Pizza Hut will launch these in Orlando, Las Vegas, Minneapolis and Salt Lake City in November. These include romaine and iceberg lettuce, cabbage and carrots with ranch dressing available in regular and fat-free. 

M&A

Vital Living buys Doctors for Nutrition 

US-based nutraceuticals firm Vital Living is to buy Doctors for Nutrition (DFN), a San Diego company that distributes a food and vegetable-concentrated powdered drink mix called Greens FIRST. 
One serving of Greens FIRST with water has the antioxidant power of 10 servings of fruits and vegetables, claims the firm. It contains certified organic fruits, vegetables and barley grass. These are juiced and then spray dried at low temperature, leaving all the nutrients and live enzymes intact. Consumers have more energy, better digestion and immune response, it claims. DFN distributes Greens FIRST through more than 1000 medical doctors throughout the US. It expects sales of $2m in the next year.

Innovation

Coke to take on L'Oreal?

Coca-Cola has teamed up with Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido in cosmetics joint venture, according to reports in Japanese papers. The new product is expected to launch in April 2004 and to be a drink with cosmetic effects.
(Not beer, I assume - editor)

Organics

Organic anniversary sees consumption up

Americans are eating more organic food a year after the US Department of Agriculture launched its Organic label programme, but cost is keeping out of many kitchens.
More than half of Americans (54%) have tried organic foods, with nearly one-third (29%) claim to consume more organic foods and beverages than a year ago, says the 2003 Whole Foods Market Organic Foods Trend Tracker. In addition, Americans are expanding their horizons beyond traditional gateways to organic foods such as produce and dairy to snacks, ready-to-go and packaged goods. Sales of 100% "certified organic" products are growing at 21%, with 14% of Americans eating more organic foods than they did last year.
Even though one in five will buy organic regardless of cost, seven out of ten who do not eat organic foods say price is a major factor. But rising volumes are driving down prices slowly.