Fruit flavors mix in savory snack applications

TRENDS have seen certain flavors come and go but fruit flavors are universal favorites. In bold new strides, fruit flavors that have been strongly associated with beverages, yoghurts and jellies have crossed over into other food groups such as savouries.

“Fruit flavors are becoming increasingly popular in savory snack applications such as popcorn or extruded snacks, not only in Europe/USA but also in parts of Africa. “We are also seeing fruit flavors being used more extensively in the home and personal care segments,” says Daryl Smith, sales manager at MANE Flavour South and East Africa. A company founded in 1871, MANE creates flavors for beverages, biscuits, confectionery, dairy products and savory food. It has a perfumery division as well.

Gary Boast, sales director at Nicola-J Flavours and Fragrances (Pty) Ltd agrees. “We are seeing some requests for fruit flavors in extruded snack applications.”

Daryl Smith, sales manager at MANE Flavour South and East Africa

Citrus and berries

Consumers are always looking for new and exciting flavors and innovation, but they will always revert to the familiar ones such as berries and citrus, says Mr Smith. These have delivered upon their expectations, take for example, strawberry-flavored dairy products or orange-flavored beverages. 

Berries are normally associated with health, according to Rensia de Lange of Creative Flavours International Pty Ltd, a manufacturer and supplier of flavors and essences for the food and beverage industry. Most people consider berries as some kind of super fruit.  Citrus flavors, she maintains, are always a safe option. 

“Everyone knows how lemon, orange and naartjie (mandarin) taste. This [trend] will most likely continue into next year. For future trends we think that people are moving back to more authentic tastes. They are looking for flavors that are identical to the real fruits that are also linked to health.”

Mr Boast adds that berry and citrus flavors are broadly acceptable across a wide range of applications, taste preferences and cultural groups. These are easily identifiable, easy to market, available and relatively easy to work with, he says. “I once heard someone say ‘take a food, color it red, call it strawberry and it will sell’. I think their popularity will continue.”

His company Nicola-J is a wholly owned independent manufacturer in South Africa. The company has been providing customized food flavors and colors to markets across the African continent since 1996.

Betting on tropical

Commenting on global demand, Mr Smith says the trend in fruit flavors is tropical fruits with “an ethnic appeal”. More specifically flavors such as mango and coconut are prominent.  However, in South Africa, “mango isn’t anything new as it’s been a ‘banker’ flavor in many beverage applications for many years. Coconut is also quite polarizing – love it or hate it, nothing in between. Despite this, we believe that coconut and mango are still going to feature in 2016 in South Africa. We are already seeing hints of coconut profile coming into the market through imported products such as coconut water.” 

Familiar flavors like coconut fruit always stay among the trends

According to Ms De Lange, the African market is into flavors that are common to them, and is not into experimenting with new ones. “We mostly export to African countries. They tend to stick to the familiar flavors like orange, mango, guava, strawberry, banana, vanilla which they are accustomed to. They are mostly not keen to explore new options,” she says. She adds that it’s not uncommon for fruit flavors to be applied in e-liquids, lip balm, and candy floss either.

Authentic profile

In terms of technology and advanced techniques, Mr Smith believes much work has been done in the area of extraction of raw materials and looking at different techniques in order to maintain as much of the original fruit flavor and authentic profile as possible.

Mr Boast says, “We saw fermentation increase in popularity in 2015 as people realized the benefits of probiotics for the gut. He says this is a continuation of the health foods trend popularized in the past few years.

Natural or synthetic?

Discussing the benefits of natural versus synthetic applications, Mr Boast simply says that both applications have their place. “While natural flavors are driven by the health food trend, synthetics remain the sensible economic choice. They have different markets, however, there is a steady but growing trickle down demand for naturals. The pros and cons are well known, synthetics are generally cheaper, more easily available and easier to work with.

Ms De Lange concurs, saying that synthetics are less expensive, better controlled, and have a longer shelf life.  Natural flavors are expensive, have a shorter shelf life, and are not easily accessible.  “However, the negative aspects of synthetics are the undesirable connotations associated with them.”

According to Mr Smith in the past few years and on a global level, there has been a shift towards the use of natural flavors, which is being driven by consumer demand as consumers are becoming more informed around the ingredients used in various products.  This is also increasingly happening within developing markets, he says, but not at the same rate. “As it stands now according to the South African Food Labelling Act, we are not able to make any claims around ‘natural’, he says.

Mr Smith continues: “There are many factors to consider when determining which flavor status is required (market where product will be sold, consumer target market, application, legislative requirements and price). Both natural and non-natural flavors have their advantages.”

Food industry marketing plays a big role in driving these trends, Mr Smith adds.  While Mr Boast points out that in a recent survey in the UK 80% of respondents said they were ‘sick and tired’ of being told what to eat by the food industry and by the media. The health trend and the general increase in health consciousness as people seek to eat healthier will however continue.

“Another trend that is growing is the demand for comfort foods, driven by ever increasingly stressful lifestyles. Consumers seek to balance the two by making a healthier choice as often as possible,” Mr Boast explains.

Ms De Lange shares that trends are also influenced by a country’s economic status particularly in terms of imports and exports while environmental considerations, health, politics and socio-economic factors also play a role.