With the pandemic influencing every area of life, health is front-of-mind for everyone, and this is influencing the types of snacks consumers are opting for. This trend is even more pronounced when purchasing snacks for kids, with three quarters of consumers globally stating that it is ‘extremely or very important’ that childrens’ products cater for better nutrition.

Across the globe, a total of eight out of ten consumers state that they plan to eat and drink more healthily as a result of COVID-19. With freedom of movement more limited as a result of the pandemic and more working and studying from the same location, snacks that used to be consumed on-the-go or in-between-meals, are now being served as a healthy part of eating at home. As well as looking for healthier snacks for home consumption, consumers are wanting a balance between indulgence and health and are seeking out snacks to fuel their day. In fact, one in three consumers worldwide is now wanting to eat snacks for energy purposes and half of the consumers globally are choosing to directly substitute skipped meal occasions with a snack.

In addition to this rising interest in snacks in general, plant-based alternatives are increasingly becoming a focus for many. Figures show every second consumer is ‘very or extremely interested’ in plant-based food and drink products , resulting in many producers looking to create plant-based snacking alternatives to tap into this trend.

Creating snacks that meet these wide range of consumer requirements can be challenging for manufacturers. However, functional ingredients such as those produced by BENEO are helping producers to create healthier, yet indulgent tasting snacks that meet a range of nutritional and technical needs.

BENEO’s versatile rice starches are well positioned to help manufacturers cater for both the growing consumer demand for plant-based and indulgent products that have a healthier profile. The BENEO-Technology Center has been developing new snack recipe reformulations that provide a soft and creamy texture with a full-bodied mouthfeel in dairy-free products for example. Rice starch is an ideal clean label texturiser, thanks to the ingredient’s small granule size when compared to other starches, resulting in a smooth and creamy mouthfeel. Depending on the rice variety used, rice starch results in a texture ranging from short to long, making it ideal for use in snacks such as puddings, mousses and yoghurts.

When it comes to delivering sustained energy, many manufacturers are working with the BENEO-Technology Center, to create new snack products that contain BENEO’s balanced sugar Palatinose™. Derived from sugar beet, Palatinose™ is a fully, yet slowly digestible carbohydrate. It is ideal for use in various applications as it is soluble, very low hygroscopic and comes with a mild sugar-like sweetening profile. From a nutritional point of view, it delivers the full carbohydrate energy a person needs to function but has a balanced effect on blood sugar levels.

With the pandemic changing consumer snacking behaviour across the globe, there has never been such a time of opportunity for producers looking to create healthier and tasty snacks that offer a range of other benefits.