The Canadian pulse industry intends to follow the lead of the American soy industry by playing up the functional food attributes of legumes.
It is a strategy endorsed by many keynote speakers at the Pulse Days conference in Saskatoon in January.
Peter Watts, director of market innovation with Pulse Canada, told conference goers that functional food is a mega-trend that is not going away and should be exploited.
But an extensive survey of consumers in Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America and South Africa conducted by ACNielson suggests the trend hasn’t taken off the way some claim it has.
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“Functional foods fortified with added vitamins or supplements and promoting specific health benefits, as well as organic alternatives, are yet to convince consumers of their value,” stated the November 2005 report.
Of the 10 leading functional foods, ranging from cholesterol reducing oils and margarines to iodine enhanced salt, only four were purchased regularly by at least one-third of the 21,100 regular internet users that ACNielson polled in 38 countries.
Lack of awareness, availability and credibility were the main barriers to the purchase of functional foods.
“On average, about a third of consumers in the (five) regions surveyed didn’t believe they really offered additional health benefits as they claimed,” said the report written by the world’s leading marketing information provider.
Watts doesn’t dispute ACNielson’s findings.
“I think it’s true that people in general don’t understand the concept of functional foods yet.”
But he pointed out the list of functional foods extends well beyond the 10 items investigated in the survey. It includes any product offering generic health attributes like being high in fibre or low in fat, not just items like cereals with added folates that have specific health claims stamped on the side of the box.
Using that broader definition, consumers have definitely bought into the concept of functional foods by virtue of the fact they are looking for more nutritional products, said Watts.
“It’s still a very, very promising area for the future of the food industry.”
That is why Pulse Canada launched the $3.2 million Pulse Innovation Project designed to “reorient” how research money is spent on peas, lentils, beans and chickpeas.
“Whereas traditionally, breeding and agronomic issues were the primary focus of the research dollars, now it is increasing quality and utilization and looking at consumer demand,” he said.
Watts hopes the new consumer-oriented research initiative will lead to a Health Canada endorsement for pulses, similar to the 1999 U.S. Food and Drug Administration health claim that sparked growth in soy products.
But there is a danger in making such claims. The soy industry’s contention that eating soy protein protects people against heart disease has recently come under fire by the American Heart Association.
“It’s a good example of how careful we have to be as an industry to make sure that when we do make a claim, it is based on sound science. Otherwise you are going to have skeptical consumers,” said Watts.
