Packaging
DRINKTEC 2009 – PRODUCT AND TECHNOLOGY TRENDS (PART 2)
Thursday 03. September 2009 - Why does beer smell of bananas, cloves or liquorice? Does ESL milk really taste as good as fresh milk? What messages do colours portray on labels and packaging? Sweet and healthy - is it possible? At drinktec 2009, World Fair for Beverage and Liquid Food Technology, it´s not all about the technology used to manufacture and bottle beverages and liquid food - it is also of course about the products themselves.
Without the technology there would be no products. But new products, in turn, can sometimes foster the development of new technologies. What follows is a brief (and by no means comprehensive) look at some of the very latest themes from the world of beverages and food. Topics that are being hotly debated in the sector at the moment and which in some cases are already affecting consumer behaviour: Product and technology trends, Part 2.
When beer smells like liquorice
Does your beer smell of bananas, cloves or liquorice? Yes? Dont worry – you can trust your nose, because precisely these nuances can be smelled and tasted in the finished product by everyone. Guaranteed. So get to know one of the most multi-faceted beverages in the world. At drinktec. With a world champion.
We start this sensory journey with the essence of any of these beers – malt. The rule here is that the more malt that is dissolved in the brewing liquor, the higher the wort content, which gives a fuller flavour. Malt also brings colour and very special aromas into play, ranging from a sweet caramel note, reminiscent of block malt, to roasted aromas such as liquorice, chocolate and coffee.
Hops also offer real variety, because the green gold has long been used to create more than just bitter flavours. There is a great difference between what are known as bitter hops and aroma hops. In the case of bitter varieties the hop flower in the beer tends to be subtle, although the perceived bitter flavour is much stronger than with an aroma hop. By contrast, beer made using aroma hops smells fresh and spicy, sometimes even with citrus aromas, and the bitter flavour is pleasantly mellow.
The final component providing the aroma is yeast, both bottom-fermented and top-fermenting strains. Wheat beers, which smell either of cloves or ripe bananas, are typical results of top-fermenting yeasts. Bottom-fermented yeasts tend to provide less strong aromas, which are the optimal platform for hoppy beers, for example. But once again the exception proves the rule. After long storage bottom-fermented strong beers acquire fruit notes such as apple or blackberry.
In short: just give beer tasting a go, the experience is well worth it with around 8,000 ingredients to discover. By way of comparison – red wine has only 1,200. The ideal platform for entering this fascinating world is drinktec 2009, because as well as outstanding technologies, it also offers sensory seminars with none other than Karl Schiffner, the current world champion beer sommelier. These seminars are taking place on 15, 16 und 17 September from 11.30 am to 2.00 pm and from 4.00 pm to 5.30 pm in the drinktec lounge in Hall B1.
ESL – Innovation or misleading packaging?
ESL milk has already pushed the fresh milk we know so well off many refrigerator shelves. Some people say that this is a clear signal that consumers are accepting the milk. Others disagree, saying that the retail trade and industry are just using ESL to optimise their margins. But whats the real story ?
ESL stands for Extended Shelf Live. The fact is that the shelf life of an ESL milk in the refrigerator is around three weeks, while conventionally pasteurised fresh milk usually goes off after a week. Bacterial spores are responsible for this, as they are not destroyed in traditional pasteurisation conditions and tend to germinate sooner rather than later. ESL reduces these bacterial spores and so extends the shelf life. In very different ways.
The most common process is VTIS, in which the milk is heated to 127 degrees in fractions of seconds using steam injection and stays at this temperature for around two seconds. For comparison, in pasteurisation the milk is heated to 72 to 75 degrees for 30 seconds. And in the case of longlife milk, with its distinctive boiled taste, it is three seconds at 150 degrees.
The two other processes focus on mechanically separating the bacteria and spores using membrane filtration or centrifugation. Here too individual fractions of the milk are heated longer for safety reasons, but as these amounts are so small, no boiled taste is transmitted to the end product.
It has been proven that none of these three ESL processes substantially alter the nutritional value of the milk. The same is true of the taste, because the thermal load to which ESL milk is subjected to is not much greater than in conventional pasteurisation. When it comes to quality the longer shelf life is much more important: for example many vitamins are very light-sensitive, so the amount of light to which milk is subjected during the initial milking process on the farm, then during processing in the dairy and later when being stored in the kitchen has more effect on the product quality than the ESL process itself.
By the way: the technological answers to these and all other current trends in the production and filling of milk products are being displayed at drinktec 2009 in Munich.
Further information on this topic is available from a number of drinktec 2009 exhibitors, including:
GEA Westfalia Separator (A4.314), Krones (B6.100), KHS (B4.333)
Colours count
If the label and/or packaging does not win the consumer over in the blink of an eye, the product stays on the shelf, as people make instant decisions. The trick is to convey information quickly, both through the printed word and in a more subtle way based on feelings, using colours.
Colour is used in a targeted way as an information carrier in label and packaging design. It should transport a message to the recipient in the communication process, making it come alive, and linking it to a pleasant emotion. For example, shades of green and blue combined with grey or black lend themselves well to communicating reliability and safety. By contrast, strong shades of red and yellow grab peoples attention. White stands for freshness, plus it makes labels and packaging look bigger or more voluminous.
There are also factors which are not connected to the selected shade but which transmit additional messages, for example bright colours are light and friendly, while dark colours are gloomy; clean, saturated colours have a dominant effect and desaturated colours give a subdued effect; delicate colours convey the impression of sensitivity, warm colours create closeness, cold colours create distance, single colours create order and clarity and many colours together are confusing.
In addition the colour must suit the target group. The colours that appeal to young skaters are different to the ones that will win over wellness-oriented best agers. It is therefore important that both the colours and the message are coherent to the recipient and suit the brand and its manufacturer, or the product will not appear credible, giving rise to mistrust. And then that product will definitely stay on the shelf. For this reason, before every creative decision, all those involved should at all costs recall the two golden rules of packaging design, which are: less is more, and as much as possible usually helps very little.
Anyone wanting to know which other basic rules still apply in the world of beverage and liquid food technology packaging should on no account miss drinktec 2009.
Further information on this topic is available from a number of drinktec 2009 exhibitors, including:
CCL Label GmbH (B5.424), Krones (B6.100), KHS (B4.333), Töpfer Kulmbach GmbH (B5.426)
Sweet challenge with and without calories
For a long time it has not been enough for consumers that a product tastes pleasantly sweet. As sport, health and the issue of obesity become increasingly important, consumers are looking ever more closely at the physiological effect of sweetening ingredients. The beverage industry must take up this complex challenge, using both sugars and sweeteners.
High-glycaemic glucose gets quickly into the bloodstream, but leads to a high level of insulin release. The result is sudden hypoglycaemia with bouts of ravenous hunger. Using this argument, sugars with a low glycaemic index (GI) are increasingly in demand today in dietary and sports circles. These are characterised by slow, steady absorption into the body, which has little effect on the insulin level and provides a feeling of being full for longer. In addition current studies show that some low glycaemic sugars promote fat burning, so that is easier to mobilise the energy from the bodys own fat. And this slower utilization is sometimes also considered to lead to less tooth decay.
A second trend is combining different carbohydrates which, depending on the level of exertion, provide the ideal energy mix for the body – from quickly available to long lasting. Another major topic is of course sweetness with no calories at all. One of the hottest potatoes in the sweetener industry at the moment is stevia, a South-American plant which promises unbelievable natural sweetness. Its dried leaves and the powder obtained from them are 15 to 30 times sweeter than sugar, and instead of calories they have numerous trace elements – plus the substance does not attack teeth. The sweetness comes from the element group stevioside, which makes up ten percent of the leaf content. A powder 250 times sweeter than sugar can be extracted from the leaves.
However, unlike Japan, Australia and Switzerland, stevia has not yet been approved in the EU. The licensing process is underway but cannot be concluded before 2010/11 at the earliest, so those with a sweet tooth will have to be patient. Sweet alternatives that are ideal to use until then are being displayed at drinktec by companies including Tate&Lyle and Beneo-Palatinit – key word sweetening concepts.
Further information on this topic is available from a number of drinktec 2009 exhibitors, including:
Tate&Lyle (B1.325-1), BENEO-PALATINIT (B1.325-2), Döhler (B2.302), Wild (B1.101)