Lower Sugar Levels In-Demand
Increasingly, consumers are motivated to reduce or eliminate sugar and/or consume alternate natural sweeteners.
As food developers and manufacturers, remaining aware and reacting to changing consumer demands is a necessary step in an evolving marketplace. With 47% of consumers currently saying that they are actively attempting to minimize their sugar intake, it is incumbent upon us as suppliers to bakeries and product developers across industry to provide sugar-free or no-sugar-added options. At Stewart Ingredient Systems Inc., our developers have been providing reduced-sugar and sugar-free options for use in bakeries and snack producers for more than 30 years.
No matter how close or far off industry projections may have been going back 10 years, reacting in real time to changing demands is the only way to keep consumers pulling products off the shelves. Stewart Ingredient Systems maintains our own in-house R&D along with our just-in-time manufacturing operation which complements changing demands and makes us the perfect partner heading into 2019.
Begin building your next project with SIS by Contacting Us today.
Formulating for Portion Control and Better-for-You in the Bakery Aisle
Stewart Ingredient Systems, Inc. has been formulating solutions for smaller portions and higher flavor intensity to specifically combat the marketplace reaction over the past 5 plus years to smaller portions and better-for-you options in the grocery aisle. Our products can be found on the shelves today in GMO-Free, HFCS-Free and All-Natural snacking options.
As more bakers and food manufacturers continue to develop new ideas to attract the more conscious and attentive consumer, SIS stands ready to answer all new developments from the concept level through market realization. Our development team prides itself and generates opportunity through our rapid response to requests in order to keep developers working rather than waiting on product. When we provide developers with product with our rapid turnaround times, we provide the best opportunity to keep marketing teams involved and interested in approving the next idea.
Whether our focus is delivering high quality flavor and eating experience in a 5-inch pie rather than a 12-inch pie with our fillings to help deliver extraordinary flavor release inside portion controlled items or developing better-for-you options with inclusions for nutrition panels, SIS has the expert developers and manufacturing team to bring these ideas to the marketplace.
Don’t hesitate as we head directly into the fall season. Contact Ross Stewart today at 312-254-3539 or RStewart@Stewartis.com!
Plant-based Foods Growth and Opportunities
Is your next Health and Wellness/Clean Label project in need of protein fortification? SIS has developed a complete line of plant based protein fortified fillings, toppings, variegates and fruit/vegetable dips with protein addition solely from plant based sources.
The Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA) recently released data stating that plant-based foods as an industry has seen a 20% growth over the last year alone and with sales now topping 3.3 billion, this is a market that will see significant shelf-space demand in the coming months and years.
SIS is the perfect partner to develop with in your next ideation project and our experience in developing with plant based food ingredients can only be an asset in your next project. If you would like to discuss further to co-develop your desired system, please fill out our sample request form (Stewartis.com/sample-request-form/) or contact Ross Stewart direct at RStewart@Stewartis.com.
New Ingredients for Craft Brewing
Craft beer being poured.
SIS is pleased to announce that we now offer ingredients for the brewing industry! For the first time in our history we are now supplying infused concentrates for use in the craft brewing process. Cleaner and more effective than using the raw ingredient, SIS can formulate and design a flavoring system that allows manufacturers to produce a more predictable, repeatable and cleaner process.
Contact Ross Stewart (312-254-3539 or RStewart@Stewartis.com) today to discuss receiving samples of our concentrates. With our on-site R&D facility, our process begins with understanding the goals of your finished products and then building our concentrates to custom fit within your vision. Our business model dictates that we only succeed if your product makes it to market. Waste no time. Contact us today!
Seen and Noted: Reducing food waste good for business’ bottom line
At Stewart Ingredients Systems, not only are we looking to produce and sell more product, we’re always looking to reduce inefficiencies and waste. A recent study highlighting the cost-savings that some companies are able to achieve confirms our thinking: “…a British-based food manufacturer achieved a more than 300-fold return on investment by running an audit that revealed seven percent of the food it bought remained in bulk containers after they were emptied.” (Umberto Bacchi/Thomson Reuters)
How does SIS work to reduce food waste? Through innovative and strategic purchasing protocols, perfecting our just-in-time/lean manufacturing processes, utilizing a strong daily reciprocal inventory program, with an emphasis on raw ingredient recovery, as well as strict FIFO and reducing waste through a comprehensive recycling program. The results are the savings and competitive pricing we’re able to provide for our clients.
Read the article here: http://tiny.cc/te4tjy
Seasonal Offerings from Stewart Ingredient Systems
November is fast approaching and it’s the perfect time to roll-out seasonal offerings for consumers over the next three months. As a R&D house that manufactures all of our custom formulated items under one roof, SIS is perfectly positioned to accommodate any seasonal concepts and equipped to do so in a rapid fashion.
Below is just a spattering of concepts to get marketing and product developments wheels turning. Contact Ross Stewart at (312) 254-3539, ext. 18 today and we will jump at the opportunity to allow our products to speak for themselves!
- Pumpkin Pie Filling
- Sweet Potato Pie Filling
- Apricot Filling
- Cranberry Filling
- Toasted Marshmallow
- Cranberry-Orange Filling
- Pomegranate Filling
- Sweet Pear Filling
- Cranberry-Apple Filling
C-Store Still Matters for Food Manufacturers and Consumers
Can’t stay away from the discourse surrounding consumer’s demands for better-for-you snack offerings. The intersection of on-the-go consumers who demand better-for-you category of snacks often lands in convenience store aisles, and the data suggests that the C-store segment of the market is not shrinking anytime soon. In fact, convenience store sales increased more than 5% year-to-year from ’14 to ’15 with no expectations of that trend reversing course.
With that in mind and knowing that the inside C-store sales annually are well over 2 billion dollars annually, packaged bakery, fresh bakery, cookie and snack bar developers/manufacturers need to have items that can both indulge consumers sweet tooth but also exhibit a real effort to produce foods that show a focus on health & wellness.
More than ever, Stewart Ingredient Systems is well-positioned to help co-develop these products with our long-standing history of innovating within the health and wellness snack category. Our fillings and toppings represent the vehicle to find nutraceutical benefit in snacks more directly than perhaps focusing innovation on the base of the product.
NACS Online
“Convenience Stores Hit Record In-Store Sales in 2015”
General Mills Convenience & Foodservice
“Satisfying Convenience Store Shoppers’ Sweet Cravings”
100% Natural? Maybe. Who knows?
It may well be past time for ingredient declaration standards to be agreed-upon between manufacturers and consumers before the food industry becomes mired in lawsuits and wasted developments. For all of the push towards health and wellness trends—which consumers have now been demanding of the market for at least a decade—it does astound that the FDA has only this year asked for public comment on what the word “Natural” means on food labeling. In May of this year, the FDA opened the topic up for public comment and as of August 2016, more than 5,000 comments have been filed in response. Now, recall again how long consumers had to wait for the Nutrition Labeling changes to be implemented into the marketplace? If the designation of what constitutes “Natural” on our food labeling takes nearly as much time, it is fair to assume that resource spend within industry by those protecting themselves from lawsuit will dwarf the spend associated with Nutrition Label changes.
This much is certain: the domestic food industry’s largest manufacturers are being monitored more closely than ever in 2016. What is not certain is when R&D departments and manufacturers can feel 100% confident that what they are printing on their labels won’t end up landing them in court.
LINKS:
FDA.gov
“‘Natural’ on Food Labeling”
Consumerist.com
“Lawsuits Claim ‘100% Natural’ Label On Nature Valley Granola Bars is Deceptive”
Stewartis.com…New and Improved
Welcome to the new and improved Stewart Ingredient Systems website. Stewartis.com was redesigned in 2010 in conjunction with our name change from Keith Stewart Fruit Products. This latest upgrade enhances the infrastructure of the site to the popular WordPress platform.
New features of the website include a redesigned sample request form, news & updates section and a new section on Health & Wellness, an area Stewart Ingredients has been at the forefront for many years.
Check back often and see what’s new with Stewart Ingredient Systems!
