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Industrial food suppliers are begging to introduce healthier foods to their customers, representatives at the third annual Marrone’s Food and Trade Show said Tuesday.
Vendors such as Hormel and Campbell’s, which supply food products typically purchased by school districts, restaurants and hospitals, are taking a cue from federal regulations and health-conscious customers to roll out products with less sodium, saturated fats and gluten, a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and related grains to which many people are allergic.
Katie Cecil, territory manager for Hormel in Kansas City, said several of the products on display were geared toward school districts, which are transforming their menus to fit federal and state guidelines for healthier food. On display were meat items with reduced sodium and reduced fat.
“A lot of schools are looking for those items,” Cecil said.
Stuart Campbell, a food broker for Campbell Foods, had numerous vegetable items on display, as well as low-fat meats such as turkey pot roast. He also displayed items such as whole-grain corn dogs.
“People are just now learning about them,” Campbell said. “We’re seeing the demand for more fresh-cut produce and less MSG. A lot of our items also are gluten-free.”
Campbell said companies are “taking a strong look” at getting rid of high sodium content in their foods, but that the cost of the most popular salt replacements have now jumped as much as six times what they previously sold for.
Jean Hartford, a territory sales manager with Brakebush Brothers, Inc., a poultry products company in Westfield, Wisc., said her company has recently started to offer chicken strips with low sodium, gluten-free and whole-grain batter. It also does not add MSG to its foods and uses fry oil with no trans fats.
“There’s a demand that seems to be growing,” Hartford said, adding that her company purchases it’s batter products from a Joplin, Mo., company. “In the last couple years we’ve seen it grow more and more.”
Hartford said her company also is attempting to become more environmentally friendly. It uses fresh oil each day, and gives the used oil to the Westfield school district to be converted into bio-diesel, which it uses to power its busses.
“It saves the district $50,000 a year,” Hartfield proudly said. “The kids also make soap and learn to market and sell it.”
Industrial food suppliers are begging to introduce healthier foods to their customers, representatives at the third annual Marrone’s Food and Trade Show said Tuesday.
Vendors such as Hormel and Campbell’s, which supply food products typically purchased by school districts, restaurants and hospitals, are taking a cue from federal regulations and health-conscious customers to roll out products with less sodium, saturated fats and gluten, a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and related grains to which many people are allergic.
Katie Cecil, territory manager for Hormel in Kansas City, said several of the products on display were geared toward school districts, which are transforming their menus to fit federal and state guidelines for healthier food. On display were meat items with reduced sodium and reduced fat.
“A lot of schools are looking for those items,” Cecil said.
Stuart Campbell, a food broker for Campbell Foods, had numerous vegetable items on display, as well as low-fat meats such as turkey pot roast. He also displayed items such as whole-grain corn dogs.
“People are just now learning about them,” Campbell said. “We’re seeing the demand for more fresh-cut produce and less MSG. A lot of our items also are gluten-free.”
Campbell said companies are “taking a strong look” at getting rid of high sodium content in their foods, but that the cost of the most popular salt replacements have now jumped as much as six times what they previously sold for.
Jean Hartford, a territory sales manager with Brakebush Brothers, Inc., a poultry products company in Westfield, Wisc., said her company has recently started to offer chicken strips with low sodium, gluten-free and whole-grain batter. It also does not add MSG to its foods and uses fry oil with no trans fats.
“There’s a demand that seems to be growing,” Hartford said, adding that her company purchases it’s batter products from a Joplin, Mo., company. “In the last couple years we’ve seen it grow more and more.”
Hartford said her company also is attempting to become more environmentally friendly. It uses fresh oil each day, and gives the used oil to the Westfield school district to be converted into bio-diesel, which it uses to power its busses.
“It saves the district $50,000 a year,” Hartfield proudly said. “The kids also make soap and learn to market and sell it.”
