The opening remarks were given by Lakshmi Narasimhan, regional business manager, South Asia, Novozymes, and explained that how important it was to maximise the quality and value through enzymes and that a lot of innovations were taking place in the sector.
The first day had only one session of the conference as the event was extended to a three-day one this year. The first speaker, Tony Andrew, senior director, specialty sales, Asia-Pacific, Solae, threw some light on the soy protein in active nutrition and shaping the consumers. He said that it was essential for us to concentrate more on proteins and fibre than carbohydrates looking at the current heath issues across the globe.
Replacing ingredients with natural ones in flavours, colours and preservatives were thoroughly explained by Sumant Naik, chief executive officer, ITC Colours, at the conference. He stressed that today it was important to use permitted colours and that the stringent laws have been enforced if not adhered to it would lead into heavy fines and imprisonment.
"There are many permitted colours throughout the world like red, yellow and green, and using colours were not dangerous, but the need of the hour is to implement to the judicious and holistic approach in the industry, Naik said adding that the it has become mandatory for all to keep in mind about the health of the consumers today and that a well-developed research should become the guidelines for each one of us."
The third and the last interesting topic that was discussed was the ingredients perspective in new product development (NPD). Antoine Barre, confectionery market manager, Roquette, France, highlighted that the challenges and the opportunities in the confectionery products keeping in mind about the health of the consumers.
He explained that the today the lifestyle was moving towards the high fat, high sugar, low fibre and protein product snacking leading to various health issues like obesity, which has become the main concern in the world today.
Is it possible to reconcile a healthy way of eating with good nutrition and are WHO recommendations compatible with good nutrition? Barre said, "The answer is yes," adding it is important to reduce around 25-30 per cent of sugar for the food products such from each of the segments like confectionery, beverage, ice cream, chocolates and baked foods today.
He then cited some of the examples for sugar free confectionery products highlighting chewing gums and hard candies as the safest mode of enjoying the confectionery segment (sugar-free).
Henri Gillard, baking market manager, Roquette, France, said it was important to include a lot of fibre in our diet for a healthy lifestyle. WHO Recommendation for fibre was 30g per day and this needed supplementation in many countries.
Lastly, a question-and-answer session was conducted and a token of appreciation was given by UBM to all the speakers of the day. It highlighted that health ingredients are picking up slowly in India, along with other nations such as the Middle-East and Europe.
