MONTREAL, Que. – Pulse Canada wants to boost North American pulse consumption, but in some traditional world markets, people are rejecing peas, beans and lentils.
Manfred Hüttmann, director of pulse purchasing with Müller’s Mühle, a leading processing and packaging firms in Europe, said pulse consumption is falling in northern Europe.
“This is a very big challenge over the years ahead,” he told delegates attending the 22nd annual Canadian Special Crops Association convention.
The company’s customer base is middle-aged and older, not the desirable younger crowd. Working young mothers don’t know how to cook so they choose to buy ready-made products.
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“Nobody has time anymore,” said Mühle.
Pulses are natural and healthy but they can’t be eaten off the shelf. They require preparation and fewer people are willing to do that.
Peter Watts, Pulse Canada director of market innovation, said that’s the first example he has heard where consumption is falling in developed countries.
“There is declining pulse consumption in some of the developing countries where we’re seeing people shifting to a more meat-based diet.”
For example, bean consumption in Mexico fell to 11.9 kilograms per person in 2006, down from 18.9 kg per person in 1990.
But in the rest of North America, consumption is rising and Pulse Canada has launched a project to ensure that trend continues by sponsoring research on the nutritional benefits of beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas and sending the results to food companies, nutritionists and consumers.
“The food industry isn’t really focused on pulses because we haven’t done a great job, to date, of raising that awareness,” said Watts.
That is about to change. Human clinical trials have been completed and the association sees an opportunity to increase sales by encouraging processors to incorporate pulses into everyday products so they can boast about the nutritional attributes.
Examples include using bean flour in cereals to create a low glycemic index product or one that is high in protein and fibre, or using pulse flour to make gluten-free cookies.
Watts said there is also an opportunity to get young people to eat more pulses by focusing on the energy-boosting nature of the crops.
One study showed soccer players who ate a lentil-based high protein meal before a simulated match performed better, felt less fatigued and were able to better draw upon glucose reserves throughout the match than their counterparts who didn’t eat the lentils.
