Opposites attract in the frozen dessert market
It’s Halo Top’s world; we just live in it.
At least that’s the impression you’d get after either 1) talking to industry experts about the state of the frozen dairy dessert space or 2) actually surveying that space in your local supermarket.
“Consumers want a consistent product with a long shelf life,” said Jennifer Chaffin, application technologist, sweet flavors for Sensient Flavors, Hoffman Estates, Ill. “And some of the unfavorable ingredients we use today such as high-fructose corn syrup, preservatives and some stabilizers were industry-changing scientific breakthroughs that allowed us to increase food safety and shelf life. They’ve given us opportunities to innovate.”
Flavor from the source
Such relationships are becoming more important up and down the supply chain.
“We see this in the many requests we get to use extracts that enable our customers to tell a story of where their ingredients have been sourced, while at the same time checking all the other boxes of clean-label requirements,” Chaffin said.
Extracts’ growing popularity points beyond their mere “natural” positioning to something even more transparent and cleaner, she added.
“While consumers feel better about natural than artificial flavor, they feel best about natural extracts,” Chaffin said.