In this week's round-up of innovation from across Europe, we hear about meat-free brand THIS’s new ‘hyper-realistic’ Pigs in Blankets, back for this year’s festive season, while Princes has launched a new duo of premium drinks that harness the power of botanical extracts such as lemongrass and cardamom. Scroll through the gallery for the latest product development news.
In this week's round-up of innovation from across Europe, we hear about meat-free brand THIS’s new ‘hyper-realistic’ Pigs in Blankets, back for this year’s festive season, while Princes has launched a new duo of premium drinks that harness the power of botanical extracts such as lemongrass and cardamom. Scroll through the gallery for the latest product development news.
Image: Getty/Monty Rasmusen
The Kraft Heinz Company has unveiled SOSU from Amoy, a range of meal kits and cooking ingredients aiming to bridge the richness of Pan-Asian regional cuisine with the practicality of meals you can make in 15 minutes, catered towards consumers with culinary ambitions but not much time for cooking.
SOSU from Amoy offers an assortment of culturally diverse pan-Asian recipes, in the form of meal kits and standalone cooking ingredients. Each meal kit includes a recipe and specialised ingredients, making complex recipes easy, accessible, and time efficient. It is also suitable for vegetarian and vegan.
SOSU from Amoy will launch in Tesco stores around the UK starting with its Japanese and Korean lines. The range of meal kits was developed by Kraft Heinz’s New Ventures unit in partnership with strategic design firm Designit. They worked together in the conceptualisation stage, conducting iterative consumer research and cultural analysis to address existing consumer tensions. Robust testing followed which produced a range of innovative products designed to address evolving consumer needs in the food industry, the latest being SOSU. Designit also contributed to the branding and point of sale marketing.
Caio Fontenele, New Ventures Director at Kraft Heinz said: “The New Ventures business unit was enacted to accelerate innovation in our business and to bring new products and food solutions to the market in an agile way”.
“We partnered with Designit to truly explore and address emerging consumer needs that fit our innovation strategy and have scale potential.
“With SOSU from Amoy, we have packaged affordability and practicality, without losing aspects of curiosity and high-quality food. This meal kit and cooking range will allow consumers to eat well and explore new cuisines, without taking too much time out of their already busy days – that is the beauty of SOSU.”
James Buchanan, Executive Director at Designit London said: “Since partnering with Kraft Heinz we’ve been able to help the New Ventures division bring three new, innovative products to market. Each one is designed to meet a real need in peoples’ lives while also addressing some of the cultural tensions that exist in food right now.
“Working with international cuisine, it was important to avoid any stereotypical banding. We crafted a neutral yet elegant design for packaging that represents the specific regions that the recipes are from, while avoiding any archetypal symbolism or imagery.”
Image from Kraft Heinz
A Spanish health food company is launching in the UK with a range of kombuchas, plant-based meats and cheeses and fresh ready meals.
The B Corp company, Flax & Kale, formed over 40 years ago. Its motto is: 'Eat Better, Be Happier, Live Longer' and the group claims it is the only multi-category foodtech brand with its own production capacity, R&D centre and kombucha lab.
Jordi Barri, CEO of Flax & Kale, said: “Flax & Kale aims to revolutionize the plant-based market by innovating the world of healthy, tasty and sustainable food. Its vision is to achieve a healthier, happier and more sustainable world.
"With B Corp status, it is committed to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in order to keep growing sustainably.”
A healthy alternative to soft drinks, with probiotics and low in sugars, Flax & Kale kombucha is made with cold-pressed juices offering a wide range of flavourful recipes. Options include traditional cola or lemonade: Lemon Fantasy, Kombucola or the signature recipes with different ingredients like spirulina or passion fruit: Blue Mojito, Symbiotic Passion.
New flavours include The Wonder Berry with raspberry, sea buckthorn and blueberries so it is good for bone health, as well as digestion, giving energy and being rich in iron.
Image from Flax & Kale
Frozen smoothie kits, organic fruits, and organic vegetables brand PACK'D has moved to paper film in response to consumer feedback.
Its new paper bags are both ‘scrunchable’ for busy domestic freezers and fully recyclable at home with normal card and paper recycling.
The Organic Vegetable range in the new curbside recyclable paper bags will be available immediately via PACK'Ds own website, a revenue stream which has proven hugely successful for the business in 2022 with a projected revenue for the channel of £250k by year end up from a meagre £50k last year. The paper bags will also launch onto Ocado where PACK'D has enjoyed strong sales, consistently pushing the frozen category with innovative sustainable packaging solutions challenging many of the big-name freezer brands.
Alex Stewart, CEO and Co-founder of PACK'D said: “The joy of being a challenger brand is that we can take consumer feedback and turn it into action at speed. If we feel that we can do better for the customer and the planet then we just get on with it. We’re proud that this will be one of the first frozen packs in curbside recyclable paper anywhere in the world. For us curbside recyclability is everything, otherwise we’re just passing the buck to our customers and giving them an extra task. It’s our job to make sustainability easy for our customers, not more difficult and that means we need solutions that work for them and not just for us. We’re on course to be completely plastic free in 2023 and so far we’ve managed to remove 13.6 tonnes of plastic per year from our supply chain.”
Image from PACK'D
Princes has launched a new duo of premium drinks that harness the power of botanical extracts such as Lemongrass and Cardamom.
The drinks are also made from not-from-concentrate juice and account for one of your five-a-day with each pack containing approximately 5 x 200ml servings.
The line-up of flavours includes Apple, Pineapple and Lemongrass, with the Lemongrass giving the drink a light citrus aroma with a hint of floral notes, and Apple, Mango, Passionfruit and Cardamom.
The range is also made from not-from-concentrate juices and accounts for one of your five-a-day with each pack containing approximately 5 x 200ml servings.
Simon Stokes, Senior Development Chef at Princes, said: “At a time when shoppers are looking for alternatives to traditional beverages, Princes Botanicals are a must-try – especially for those who like the unique and authentic taste of botanical plants.
“This announcement is another exciting one for Princes, as we continue to innovate and provide a broad range of delicious, affordable options for our customers.”
Each drink in the innovative new range has an RRP of £2.50 and can be found in the long-life juice aisle in Tesco and Morrisons.
Image from Princes
Health and wellness brand Protein Works has unveiled new Kickin’ Korean Noodle’ flavoured SuperMeals. Described as a ‘highly nutritious vegan meal’ it is the latest in its Savoury SuperMeals’ range that aims to ‘reinvent lunchtimes’ through affordable, nutritious, and convenient meals that take under ten minutes to make.
The Kickin’ Korean Noodles feature Korean spices, tomato, garlic, onion, and chilli. Like all other SuperMeals in their range, Kickin’ Korean Noodle is enriched with essential vitamins and minerals as well as vegan protein to deliver an impressive 22g of protein per serving.
According to the company, the dish also contains all 26 essential vitamins that your body needs, as well as the ideal amount of protein, carbohydrates, fibre and fats. Like all other Savoury SuperMeals too, Kickin’ Korean Noodle Savoury SuperMeal is 100% vegan. It added: “SuperMeals have been developed by the nutritional experts at Protein Works using the latest food technology to create nutritionally-complete and affordable meals that don’t require prep or involve any food waste. Other SuperMeals include: Mexican-inspired Bangin’ Burrito and their classic Italian Tomato & Herb.”
To coincide with the launch, Protein Works has also introduced its Savoury SuperMeals Jar, a unique double-walled thermal mug that reduces the cooking time of food. It can be used to make meals such as Kickin’ Korean Noodle by just adding boiler water, mixing it, and letting it rest for 8 minutes.
Launch offer price is £17.43, RRP is £34.99
Image from SuperMeals
Premium Spanish food brand Brindisa has introduced La Chinata Smoked Hot Sauce product exclusively in the UK. The spicy sauce is made with smoked peppers grown in ‘La Vera’, a traditional pepper growing region in Extremadura, southwest Spain. The new La Chinata Smoked Hot Sauce is a tangy condiment for any type of food and can be used to flavour main dishes or as an accompaniment to side dishes. This product is exclusive in the UK to Brindisa.
Recognised worldwide for its Smoked Paprika Powder, the La Chinata brand was founded in 1975 in the village of Malpartida de Plasencia in Cáceres, Extremadura, where the company founder, Florentino Oliva, was born. More than three decades later, it remains a family business where rigorous quality control of its Smoked Paprika Powder remains inherent.
Monika Linton, Founder of Brindisa, said: “This new smoked hot sauce is a real store cupboard staple, highly versatile and perfect to bring heat to so many dishes. The ingredients are of the highest quality, from world-famous brand La Chinata and the distinctive taste of the wonderful Pimentón de la Vera from southwest Spain.”
RRP £3.45 for 100ml, the La Chanita Smoked Hot Sauce is 100% natural and 100% vegan.
Image from Brindisa
The Family Food Co. range is currently made up of 9 dishes for kids, alongside 3 family meals, of various global cuisines. From bolognese to curries, the variety of meals from countries across the world aims to develop and grow little taste buds.
Founder Cherrelle Beckitt launched the company to provide an easy and trustworthy option for busy parents struggling to find spare time to cook nutritious meals from scratch.
“We want The Family Food Co. to help eradicate parent guilt,” said Beckitt, “In today’s society we’re expected to work, raise children, cook, and clean for our families, but it’s simply not possible.
“It’s easy to get bogged down and feel like a terrible parent when you have to feed your child a ready meal because you’re too exhausted to cook from scratch, but now you can do so without the guilt and with the knowledge that the convenient food you’re feeding your child is 100% balanced and dietitian-approved. Our flash frozen meals lock in all the delicious flavours and nutrients for a balanced meal so you can forget all the hassle that comes with recipe planning and food shopping.”
Image from The Family Food Co
THIS is bringing its ‘hyper-realistic’ Pigs in Blankets back for this year’s festive season.
Launching with Tesco and Waitrose from early December, the product aims to tempt even more meat eaters to trial and adopt at one of the traditionally meatiest times of year.
THIS Isn’t Pork Pigs in Blankets (£4.50, 190g) are made using THIS’s signature mix of pea and soya protein. It combines the brand’s award-winning bacon and mini sausages for a delicious, meat-free festive option. The product also has 75% less sat fat than the average meat equivalent, is high in protein and a source of fibre.
Andy Shovel, Co-Founder of THIS said: “Our pigs in blankets are back by popular demand. They’re proof you don’t need meat to have a decent festive spread.”
The launch is off the back of a flurry of NPD from THIS, including a Vegan Turkey-Free and Stuffing Baguette with high-street giant Greggs and a trio of ready meals with Tesco.
Image from THIS
