In the latest instalment of IFE Manufacturing’s Expert Insights series, Dr Paul Sheldrake of Focus Food Solutions shares his perspective on ingredient selection, product formulation and reformulation.

Looking back over your career, what are the biggest formulation mistakes you repeatedly see food and drink businesses make during product development?

This is such a tough question to answer as there are so many aspects that I’ve seen or have the potential to go wrong that attempting to be specific is always going to be a challenge! Nevertheless, here are my top insights and learnings, using my knowledge and in-depth experiences to hopefully help businesses reduce the risks of committing these errors.

• Be certain about their end objectives and what they are trying to achieve. Knowing this helps focus on the desired outcome and what they really want to accomplish.
• Be clear on their choice of materials and what they will adopt to achieve their desired ingredient declarations, particularly if they are aspiring to meet market-relevant trends such as ‘Ultra Processed Foods’, clean and clear label ingredients and other messages on sustainability or perhaps upcycling etc.
• Be sure how they are going to manufacture their products, where they will be able to source the right materials, in sufficient quantities, and whether they can optimally supply them as they grow their market? These are questions that are often not thought out at an early stage when looking ahead to future growth aspirations.
• Be fully conversant with the whole supply chain and shelf-life impact of the products throughout the manufacturing, distribution, and storage aspects until they are consumed whilst ensuring that they remain food safe with high, and consistent quality.
• Finally, and probably most importantly, comprehend, at an early stage, all the relevant costs for the products and how they will afford to develop them. This is a frequent mistake that can cost businesses monies that, with good foresight, could be mitigated.

What questions do founders ask you most often about ingredients and improving product formulations?

Today, I see one set of questions, which is common across all developments and encompasses aspects concerning how ‘clean label’ are the ingredients, what are the range of alternatives they can choose from, what is their functionality and cost-in-use benefits / justifications?

• This is in line with the strong market / consumer-driven trends in this area.
• Within this there are always challenges around the balance of cost versus cost-in-use and value-adding attributes.
• Further to this, characteristics such as sustainability, upcycled resources, minimising allergens etc all play a part in why business founders often enquire about the materials to improve their formulations.

Many businesses are reformulating to reduce sugar, salt and fat or to meet HFSS requirements. Where do they most commonly go wrong?

I don’t believe that what manufacturers are trying to achieve goes wrong, but I do see a range of factors that seem to either stop them in their tracks or make them re-think about what they can or want to accomplish:

• Firstly, in almost all occasions, there is generally not one ‘universal solution’ that can be applied in every development as a direct replacement, so effort must be employed to adapt the formulations to accommodate the alternative materials and achieve acceptable products.
• Where this, perhaps, goes wrong is sometimes when we see that the businesses have stretched their reformulation too far, causing the product to alter too much to be acceptable for the consumer. Thus, knowing how far the limit of acceptability will be, becomes critical to ensure a successful development.
• Affordability and competitiveness are also hurdles that need to be overcome, particularly since most alternatives cost more than the salt, sugar, fat that they are replacing.
• Having a level playing field if this is a strategic, broader initiative such as specific reduction targets so that no one manufacturer can be advantaged or disadvantaged is also something that is regularly discussed and debated.
• Consumer knowledge and education is also essential as many of these alternatives have different ingredient declarations so comprehending what will / will not be acceptable to the consumer is also important.

Plant-based, clean label and functional ingredients continue to evolve rapidly. Which ingredient innovations do you think have the greatest commercial potential over the next few years?

I have always been heavily involved in looking at and working with new and innovative raw materials and there are some categories that do stand out in terms of the current greatest potential.

• Upcycled materials that can offer a (relatively) broad range of application functionality are those that are more likely to see the biggest impact, especially
  • Upcycled proteins (from a broad range of sources)
  • Upcycled fibres, not only for fibre content, but if they can add other functional properties / benefits
• Sustainability stories do have merit but being able to clearly define, measure and communicate these attributes, especially if it is an ‘inclusion’ in another product are where these challenges rest.
• Clean label and materials that have more ‘store cupboard’ type ingredient declarations and are not ‘novel’, offering functional alternatives to more traditionally used ones are certainly attractive.
• Some of the more recent materials I have been involved in appear to be contrary to current regulations where we often see a perceived mismatch between these requirements and strong consumer appeal. It is also imperative to always focus on relevant food safety.

Ingredient functionality can dramatically affect texture, shelf life and consumer acceptance. What do businesses most commonly underestimate when selecting ingredients?

Time, time and time again… although this may seem an odd thing to think about when at the early stages of selecting the materials.

• Time is always needed to thoroughly test the ingredients and products through all stages of the creation, development, scaleup, manufacturing and shelf-life to fully understand what is happening in the interactions within the food matrix.
• Time should be invested to fully analyse the results and get a deeper understanding of more of the underlying science behind them. Having this solid foundation means that later in the life cycle of the product any unanticipated challenges can be reviewed and taken into consideration.
• Time and patience are needed to get new, exciting products or innovative materials to the market with growing commercial volumes, at the right price, to be able to sustain them and make the anticipated profitability for the business.

How can manufacturers reformulate products to meet changing consumer expectations without compromising on taste, texture or commercial viability?

Ultimately, this is one of the hardest challenges in reformulation as the manufacturers ideally want everything to be the same even when using other materials and processing etc.

• The key point is to establish the limits of acceptability so that when the change has been made, the manufacturer will know that the consumer still enjoys the product and will continue to purchase it on an ongoing basis.
• By knowing these parameters, manufacturers can better understand and test their reformations to ensure that the product remains appealing to the consumer, otherwise they may have gone too far and risk losing their consumer base.

Can you share an example where changing or optimising ingredients significantly improved a product, and what other food businesses can learn from it?

It is not easy to share specific customer details, due to confidentiality, but one general example concerned a salt reduction project where the overall salt content was reduced, whilst maintaining the texture, food safety, a clean label declaration and not affecting the cost in a way that it affected the end consumer price.

• This would be the ideal scenario but generally three factors have to be balanced:
  • Cost
  • Functionality
  • Labelling

If every food and drink entrepreneur could understand one principle about ingredients before developing their next product, what would you want it to be?

The one core principle that I advocate is:

• Engage with an appropriate specialist professional at the very beginning of the product’s development since the expert has the proficiency, skills, knowhow and experience to help guide the entrepreneur effectively to make the most of their time.
• Take time to listen, learn and seek out before rushing ahead too fast.
• Upfront investment enables entrepreneurs to fully understand, map out and think ahead for their development, considering all the stages and costs so that they know the project can be viable and affordable makes all the difference to knowing that they are on the right track. A small investment here can save them significantly in terms of other costs further through the development if they can be fully aligned and focussed.