Vibrant Market for Food Ingredients Still Expanding at Red-Hot Pace.

Garlic grows like crazy. Ethnic flavors from India and the Caribbean gaining, but functional additives that extend shelf life or reduce calories are also hot tickets.

Frozen and other value-added food products are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and so is the ingredients technology that supports creation and production of those products. Today's ingredients, moreover, are increasingly functional as well as flavorful.

New ingredients and processes figure increasingly in production of more nutritious and better balanced "designer foods," according to a study by Business Communications, Inc., Norwalk, Connecticut, USA. The dizzying pace of industry announcements and shifting tastes can confound even the most alert formulator, the study advises.

According to Food Ingredient Industry Review, the overall United States market for food additives was about $5.1 billion in 1999, and is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 5.1% through 2003. At that rate, the market should reach $6.6 billion in 2003. Calorie reduction agents constitute the largest and also the fastest-growing sector, with an expected size of $2.03 billion in 2003, based on average growth of 7% during the forecast period.

Meanwhile, Americans are consuming nearly one billion pounds of spices per year, an increase of more than 100% in the past 20 years, according to the latest spice statistics report from the American Spice Trade Association (ASTA). Thirty-one major imported spices, as well as those that are domestically produced, were tracked from 1979 to 1998.

Garlic use last year reached 3.1 pounds per capita, triple the 1989 rate, ASTA reported. Growth was also strong in hot spices -- black and white pepper, red pepper and mustard seed -- with an increase of 80% in the last 20 years. Hot spices accounted for 43% of total spice usage in 1998, and that's no accident: leading restaurants like Applebee's, Denny's and TGI Friday's are adding spicier fare to their menus.

Kentucky Fried Chicken is about as mainstream as fast food restaurants get, yet it won the American Tasting Institute's Best of Show award this year for its Triple Crunch Zinger chicken sandwich that features white meat chicken strips topped with a "fiery blend of peppers and spices" in a mayonnaise sauce. The KFC sandwich beat out 20 other fast food sandwiches blind tested by master chefs.

Where's the beef?. That was the tag-line of a classic fast-food commercial aired by Wendy's 16 years ago, but it wasn't funny to the beef industry, which was losing sales to poultry. After 20 years of decline, however, per capita beef consumption in the United States increased by 1.1 pounds last year, ASTA reported.

Flavored items may be part of the reason. Examples cited by ASTA include cooked pot roast in six-ounce heat-and-serve portions from Red Oak Farms, Red Oak, Iowa; Western-style beef stew and old-fashioned Swiss steak from Harris Beef Ranch, Selma, California; and Vidalia onion burgers from Farmland Black Angus Beef.

Besides tuning in to new trends that turn on consumers, ingredients suppliers are coming out with products that serve multiple purposes. Herbalox[R], for example, is an additive from Kalsec, Inc., Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA (Fax: [phone]) that helps preserve as well as enhance meat and poultry.

A patented extract of rosemary, Herbalox retards oxidation that would otherwise result in flavor and color degradation, while adding its own flavor and atoms. But Herbalox is just one item in a line from Kalsec that also includes Durabite[R] colorants for cured meat products, Vegetone[R] vegetable colorants, dispersible Aquaresins[R], spice oleoresins, essential oils and a new line of liquid for meat products said to offer both consistency and superior microlilogical quality.

Kerry Ingredients, Bradley Stoker, Bristol, UK (Fax: [phone]), has launched a new range of breadings, batters, breadcrumbs and marinades. Each has a distinctive Indian flavor theme including Balti, Korma, Bombay and Tikka.

"There has never been a better time to produce Indian food," said Kerry's marketing manager, Matt Crumpton. "The taste for exotic dishes is expanding year on year with the rapid growth of ethnic restaurants and the increase in travel to far-away places."

Over half the international ready meals sold in the UK are Indian dishes, and some 46 million curry sauce meals are cooked in British homes every week. "Consumer expectations are for authentic flavors, so Kerry has developed a range of coatings which deliver a faithful representation of the most popular regional dishes, in a format that is targeted at the snack and coated food sectors," Crumpton said.

The flavor varieties also include Lime Pickle, Jalfrezi, Tandoori and Onion & Chicken Bhajias. "We've used authentic ingredients such as cumin, chilli, coconut and coriander to create the various flavor blends in the range," said Crumpton. "Each product comprises a complete coating system and a complementary marinade or seasoning for the core."

Kerry has also launched a new range of sausage seasonings, including Devilishly Hot, Roasted Pepper and Spicy Chili. "Each recipe has been developed to reflect current trends for strong flavors, especially hotter and spicier products," Crumpton announced. "We wanted to develop an alternative to the traditional banger to give consumers something different for the BBQ season. BBQ ownership and cooking continue to grow and BBQ products are becoming increasingly sophisticated as consumers want to experiment with something new."

The new range also includes an Italian seasoning which contains parmesan cheese, Hickory BBQ with a distinctive smoked flavor note, and Moroccan which contains paprika and cinnamon.

From the blissful beaches of Aruba to the bustling harbors of the Virgin Islands, Caribbean cooking has a spicy-sweet flavor all its own. Now food developers can offer signature items themed around this increasingly popular cuisine- with a little help from Newly Weds Foods, Chicago, Illinois, USA (Fax: [phone]).

One example of Newly Weds Foods' Caribbean culinary expertise is its new Calypso Mango Chutney, an integrated marinade/glaze system. With its balance of mango, melon and chili peppers, this product's sweet-hot flavor is formulated to complement practically any substrate including chicken, shrimp and ribs.

To create the new chutney, a Newly Weds Foods' development team consulted FlavorTrak[TM], the company's menu trend tracking system. FlavorTrak data identified the flavor foundation that epitomizes the essence of Caribbean cuisine. Inspired by these findings, the corporate chef created a recipe which Newly Weds scientists used as a culinary target for developing the commercial version. "One taste," boasted Chris Podany, corporate chef, "will transport your taste buds to the Caribbean."

Edlong Flavors, Elk Grove Village, Illinois, USA (Fax: [phone]) has announced new additions to its Specialty/Functional line. Among them are:

* Natural, Kosher Dairy, Water Dispersible Jalapeno Cheese flavors. Available in both emulsion (#4920) or spray-dried powder forms, they offer a balance of green, meaty and savory pepper accents to give products extra firepower.

* Spray-dried Natural & Artificial Sweet Mustard Flavor #4533 has a strong, spicy-sweet Dijon profile with a pungent touch of horseradish.

Italians Eat Out Eight Million Times a Day; Catering Volume Hits $31.3 Billion a Year

Eight million Italian consumers eat away from home every day, and (luring 1999 they spent $31.3 billion doing so, up three percent from 1998, according to Menu Italia, an industry survey.

Some 3.2 billion meals were served last year, the survey found, with the average tab being $9.70. But Menu Italia's figures are for commercial outlets and major institutional catering venues like company canteens and university dining halls -- they don't count schools, hospitals, army barracks and other outlets.

Of the total of 3.2 billion meals last year, 72.6% were consumed on weekdays and the rest (27.4%) on weekends. Some 52% of the meals (1.7 billion) were eaten at lunch time, whereas 48% were served in the evening. No less than 9.8% of all Italian meals were eaten away from home in 1999.

The greatest number of lunches during 1999 were served by company and school canteens at 33.6%, with bars and snack bars accounting for 27%. Pizza parlors are by far the most frequented venues in the evening at 42.9%, followed by traditional restaurants at 34.4%. Eating is more popular in northern Italy than in the south.

Of last year's foodservice spending of $31.3 billion; 63.7% (over $19.9 billion) was tendered on weekdays, the remainder (over $11.3 billion) during the weekend. Spending on social and business dinners totaled more than $20.3 billion, or 65.1% of the entire turnover from the catering sector.

Some 74.1% of total spending (more than $23 billion) was in traditional venues -- restaurants, pizza parlors and trattorias. The remainder was spent in fast food outlets (16.5%), self-service units (1.9%), canteens (6.2%) and ethnic eateries (1.4%). Bars accounted for $3.8 billion, versus $1.9 billion for canteens.

Average spending for lunch, characterized by the speed at which meals are eaten and the simplicity of the food, was $6.50. Eating out in the evening, on the other hand, cost the average consumer about $13.10. During the week, two thirds of all meals ran under $7.60; but on weekends, one in three exceeded $15.

Spicy Chicken Wings: Global Appetizer Shines with Cookstar

Hot spicy chicken wings, which are very popular in the United States as appetizers or snacks -- and often called Buffalo wings after the city where they are supposed to have originated -- are gaining popularity in Europe and elsewhere.

With so little meat on the bone, plain chicken wings have traditionally been a low-value product. Spicy wings changed that. Created by adding marinade to the chicken, they are value-added products, in vogue among foodservice operators and barkeepers.

As such spicy food is often consumed socially, marinaded wings have taken off as a trendy product. They are often eaten with celery and blue cheese dressing (to complement the hot, spicy taste). Spicy wings are now featured on the menu in many of the world's fast food restaurants, often as an American specialty.

For a high quality product, the +wings should be vacuum tumbled in a spicy marinade so that the chicken meat absorbs the brine, producing both a higher yield and juicier meat. The wings can be flash fried in the SuperFry to give the skin a crisp texture; since they are only fried for a few seconds, there is a minimum weight loss.

Convenience Food Systems (CFS), Bakel, the Netherlands, provides the Cookstar system that finishes the production process. Due to its flexibility in controls, an optimum taste and yield profile can be achieved. On various locations in the line a glaze (thick sauce) can be added to the product to improve appearance and taste as well as add weight. In that case the wings are submerged in glaze in a TempuDipper.

The final product, when packed in a CFS packaging solution, can be heated up in the microwave for maximum convenience.

Montreal Set to Play Host To North American SIAL

First it was SIAL (Salon International d'Alimentation) in Paris, France. Then came SIAL Mercosur (South America), SIAL Asia and SIAL China. Now it's SIAL Montreal, scheduled for March 4-6, 2001, in the Canadian city.

Although situated in Canada, SIAL Montreal is intended to serve the entire North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) market, which also includes the United States and Mexico. The show has been endorsed by both the US Department of Agriculture and the Canadian Ministry of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

The latest SIAL clone is a joint venture between Exposium, organizer of SIAL Paris, the Quebec Food Retailers Association (ADA) and the Quebec Agri-Food Export Club. The show hopes to attract 850 exhibitors and 12,000 trade visitors. It will occupy 200,000 square feet of exhibit area at Montreal's Palais de Congres.

For further information, contact Exposium North America, care of Imex Management, Inc., 505 East Boulevard, Suite 200, Charlotte, North Carolina 28203, USA.