There's a clear trend towards bolder snacking, combining classic flavors with modern twists and a boost of health benefits.
Perfumer + Flavorist+ connects with Kerry vice president, Snacks, North America, John Kaufmann and global portfolio director, Tastesense™ Salt, Hugo Leclercq to discuss the evolving savory snack category.
Take a look at what's trending in the savory snack category, consumer demands in salt reduction and Kerry’s flavor technologies that address formulation needs.
According to Kerry research, what is trending in terms of flavors in the savory snack category?
John Kaufmann [JK]: Bold and smoky flavors, cheesy goodness, swicy (sweet and spicy) combinations, nostalgic twists, brand collaborations, and healthier options are among the top trends in the savory snack food market. There’s a noticeable shift towards more adventurous snacking, blending traditional flavors with contemporary twists and adding a health kick.
Swicy is a term used to describe the combination of sweet and spicy flavors that are mashed together to appeal to consumers who enjoy both taste profiles. Products like fiery mango, recently launched by Doritos or chili lime.
Meals as flavors incorporate the flavors of popular meals into snack foods, a trend is driven by consumers’ desire for more variety and novelty in their savory snacking options. Combining meal flavors into snacks can create a sense of familiarity and comfort for consumers who enjoy dishes like pizza, cheeseburgers, deli sandwiches and the like.
What are the current consumer demands in terms of their snack products?
JK: Consumers are looking for ways to make savory snacks work for their needs, which could mean adding protein, energy, or even immunity-boosting ingredients. This also involves reducing sodium without compromising flavor intensity. Adding Proactive Health to the equation, ingredients like Kerry’s BC30 for immunity and digestive support while Kerry’s Tastesense™ solutions can be leveraged to mask any off-notes associated with higher protein snacks, ensuring flavors remain bold and intense even with significantly reduced sodium or sugar.
Additionally, incorporating Dairy Taste into snacks like chips, popcorn, crackers, nuts, seeds, and extruded snacks will continue to drive traction. Brands are now focusing on meeting their sustainability goals by reducing carbon footprints through low-carbon dairy options with no impact on the eating experience. Kerry offers an extensive portfolio of dairy taste solutions, ranging from flavors to powders, which can be utilized to create delicious, sustainable products.
There’s a noticeable shift towards more adventurous snacking, blending traditional flavors with contemporary twists and adding a health kick.
What are some of the challenges when creating savory snack products while meeting the consumer demand for salt reduction?
Hugo Leclercq [HL]: Reducing sodium intake in snacks is not only imperative for public health but also presents an opportunity for snack brands to meet the evolving consumer demand for healthier options. By understanding the impact of excessive sodium consumption, adhering to the new WHO recommendations, and implementing effective strategies, snack brands can contribute to a healthier and more sustainable snacking landscape.
However, brands are hesitant to push the boundaries on salt reduction. A major challenge in reducing sodium is recreating the initial taste impact of sodium chloride. Traditional salt alternatives and existing tools in the marketplace have struggled to replicate that comforting and iconic upfront salty taste you experience when you first crunch into a potato chip.
Kerry’s deep understanding of salt interaction in snack seasoning formulations enables it to push the boundaries of sodium reduction, achieving reductions of over 60% in some applications. Tastesense™ Salt, available both as a standalone solution for salted crisps and as part of more complex snack seasoning formulations, is backed by robust science linking taste receptors with proprietary product chemistry, salt morphology, proteolysis and fermentation.
Kerry’s proprietary in-house capabilities allow for the creation of multidimensional, novel taste ingredients from natural botanical extracts, peptides, and ferments (both yeast and non-yeast based), as well as various by-products from valorization streams. By working synergistically and leveraging cross-disciplinary knowledge, Kerry’s flavor creation team and application experts can tackle challenging sodium reduction formulations, resulting in more sustainable, nutritious products that do not compromise on taste.
Can you share some of Kerry’s flavor technologies that tap into the consumer demand for salt reduction in their savory snack products?
HL: Through our 360° profiling protocol, we have proven that our Tastesense™ Salt solutions enable snack seasoning brands to reformulate without sacrificing taste intensity. 360° profiling provides a comprehensive and unbiased understanding of how saltiness is perceived in complex foods. It allows us to evaluate salt intensity and flavor delivery throughout the entire eating experience, from the first bite to chewing. We wanted to investigate if our Tastesense™ Salt solutions enhance the overall flavor experience. It does.
Our research and development team collaborated with Sensory and Consumer Product Research to collect sensory data on Kerry's Tastesense™ Salt solutions in BBQ seasoned chips. We compared chips with reduced salt content (500 mg/100g) to a control with higher salt content (700 mg/100g). The results clearly demonstrate that Tastesense™ Salt provides a saltiness and flavor experience like the control, matching the upfront taste impact of salt almost exactly. Consumer sensory evaluations confirmed that our BBQ-seasoned chips with Tastesense™ Salt were equally liked compared to the control. Through our 360° profiling protocol, we have proven that our Tastesense™ Salt solutions enable snack seasoning brands to reformulate without sacrificing taste intensity.
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