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Plugged into Trends

Source:Ringier Release Date:2011-07-13 1107
Food & Beverage
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Multifunctional food and beverages that offer health benefits & convenience are showcased at Thaifex – World of Food Asia, reports MELISSA RICHTER

CHANGING customer demands and a more health-conscious consumer are a major force in the ASEAN market, and manufacturers and food developers are responding to this call. Products that are organic or fortified with vitamins, minerals and nutrients are showing up in a wide range of brands from wine to water, such as those recently highlighted at Thaifex - World of Food Asia 2011 from 25-29 May in Bangkok.


Having more choices and access to easy-to-prepare foods seems to be at the top of everyone's list. Functional foods and beverages that serve dual purposes are the real trend, and health-conscious consumers want hassle-free products that taste great and are good for them. There was a real East meets West philosophy as companies unveiled brand new innovations.


Pre-Cooked & Ready-to-Eat Meals


Convenience is king, and easy-to-prepare, ready-to-eat and pre-cooked food products dominate the scene.


Easy-to-prepare items that appeal to the health conscious without a lot of fuss are exactly what Blue Elephant Royal Thai Cuisine is all about.  They had an interactive station with a chef on hand to demonstrate how to quickly and easily prepare Thai dishes at home. Their motto is "cook at home like in Bangkok" because, as Chef Nooror Somany-Steppe explained, "I have been a chef for more than 30 years. Some of the changes I have seen are that people don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, but they still want to eat food that is delicious and good for them. Our line of products helps them achieve this."


Chef Nooror is also the founding partner and director of Blue Elephant, which showcased RTE meals, Thai cooking sets, cooking kits, Thai soup bases and pre-measured curry pastes that are used to prepare a complete meal in under 10 minutes.  "We serve a large share of the market in Thailand, but we also have a large international community we export to, especially in the UK. All of our traditional Thai pastes and curries are 100% natural and contain no MSG," she added.


One of the latest innovations are the herb-infused cooking oils, which are easy to ship and allow consumers to get the flavour of Thai cuisine even without having access to fresh herbs traditionally used in Thai cooking. Thai holy basil & garlic and the lemon grass, galangal & kaffir lime oils were both popular options that also meet the new EU herb and vegetable import regulations. 


Another leader in the ready-to-eat meal sector is WIP (Working In Partnership). This is a group of various food exporters from Singapore that offer literally hundreds of choices for chilled, frozen and dry food items. High quality, halal and traditional Asian food products are their focus and they have found a way to give the customer foods that taste familiar and are quick and easy-to-prepare. Their most popular items are the frozen gyoza by Chinatown, pie puffs by Polar, satay by Leo Kee, and fish balls and sausages by BoBo.


Organic Foods


On the organic home front, Sampran Food Company showcased their popular line of organic food and beverages under their Healthy Mate brand. Ploenpit Sengprasert shared that in Thailand, the organic food market continues to grow. "People love our traditional products such as the organic black sesame paste and our 100% natural unsweetened peanut butter and almond butter. Our most popular item, however, is still our raw organic honey."


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