Food for thought
Editor's note: Eileen Acello is full-time visiting faculty at St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, in the food marketing department.
Nearly 21 million people have celiac disease or some form of sensitivity to gluten, a protein found in all foods and products containing wheat, barley and rye, according to National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA).
This is not a completely new condition; Americans first started being diagnosed with it as early as the 1940s. Celiac disease is a genetic or autoimmune disorder where the immune system attacks the tissue of the body, according to CeliacCentral.org. It is triggered by consuming gluten, which interferes with the absorption of nutrients from food by damaging a part of the small intestine called villi. When nutrients do not get absorbed into our bloodstream it can lead to a host of problems including malnourishment, cancer, osteoporosis, Type 1 diabetes, infertility and the onset of other autoimmune diseases.
Celiac disease can be triggered by stressful physical and/or emotional events in a person’s life such as surgery, childbirth or divorce. There are nearly 300 symptoms associated with it, although the most common are gastrointestinal – such as abdominal pain, bloating, constipation, gas – and non-intestinal, such as anemia, itchy skin rash, migraine headaches and bone/joint pain, to name a few.
Other groups of people affected by gluten include parents of children with autism spectrum disorder or with ADHD, patients suffering from gastrointestinal disorders like irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn’s disease, individuals following an anti-inflammatory diet and still others who simply perceive that gluten-free food is somehow healthier.
Seeing green
With so many sufferers searching for relief, the gluten-free diet has quickly become one of the fastest-growing nutritional movements in America, according to the NFCA. As a result, gluten-free is top-of-mind for many food retailers. Some are seeing green, envisioning the dollars they can make from what some might call a fad. Others are less excited, viewing the gluten-free movement as reminiscent of other crazes that have come and gone such as the Atkins Diet.
Time will tell about its longevity but thus far the gluten-free category has defied the recession by continuing to grow with a compound annual growth rate of 30 percent from 2006-2010 according to Rockville, Md., researcher Packaged Facts, which expects the gluten-free market to exceed $5 billion by 2015.
Welcome friend
For many consumers, gluten-free foods are a welcome friend. Progressive retailers are already seeing results with their gluten-free programs. Three years in the making, Safeway recently instituted a program called SimpleNutrition after surveying its customers who wanted to make more informed food choices. It uses green tags throughout the store highlighting up to two key nutrient and ingredient benefits such as organic, low sodium or gluten-free.
Other retailers like Whole Foods only work with vendors who are certified gluten-free by one of the independent third-party agencies or allergen control programs which use a 20 parts per million (ppm) threshold, which is the standard proposed by the FDA. Whole Foods offers gluten-free shopping lists for customers with these special dietary needs.
Wegmans is another supermarket that is ahead of the curve with regard to offering consumers with dietary restrictions a place to go and find variety and guidance in their choices. Wegmans has dedicated aisles for gluten-free under its Nature’s Market Place department and a Wellness Key Program throughout the store indicating, with a brightly colored dot, whether a product is gluten-free, lactose-free, fat-free, etc. (Only the Wegmans store brands are bedecked with these symbols so look for the orange dot with a G in the middle of it when you want gluten-free.)
Wegmans is taking proactive steps with six registered dieticians on staff, a Fresh News e-newsletter that is distributed weekly with new products, recipes and nutritional education, an educational video on the gluten-free Web page and it offers lists of products and recipes that are gluten-free in its stores. Wegmans Fresh Stories blog offers helpful hints on products and its dieticians respond to consumer questions about gluten-free issues.
On a smaller scale, Laure Stasik, a registered nurse and dietician, is the owner of Alternative Eating, a thriving specialty food store in Scranton, Pa., specifically targeted for people who need gluten-free foods. Stasik knows a lot about this subject because she has celiac disease and could not find the products she wanted so she went into business for herself and others with this dietary restriction. Her customers travel far and wide to stock up in her store. “I get satisfaction out of watching my customers’ health improve when they begin to follow the gluten-free diet. It’s priceless,” she says.
With a variety of retailers dedicating shelf space to this market, researchers from Packaged Facts expect to see a much wider range of gluten-free products on shelves by 2012, a process driven in large part by companies reformulating existing products for gluten-free acceptability.
Emotional attachment
Many national food companies have realized that gluten-free is not a fad but rather a lifestyle. Those who have been diagnosed with celiac and gluten sensitivity are hungry for foods that they ate in their youth. There is an emotional attachment and brand loyalty to foods enjoyed as children. Consumers are not necessarily looking for new brands but rather want to continue eating brands they know and grew up with. Some of the more progressive companies are recapturing this brand-loyal customer that they have invested in for decades.
Brands such as Kellogg’s, General Mills, Frito Lay and Snyder’s of Hanover are capitalizing on this market by reformulating or relabeling in some cases their existing brands. Kellogg’s Gluten Free Rice Krispies cereal is made with whole-grain brown rice and eliminates barley malt (the source of gluten in the original Rice Krispies cereal). The gluten-free option is produced in a separate facility and each batch is tested to ensure its gluten-free status. Gluten Free Rice Krispies cereal is in the cereal aisle, right alongside the original Rice Krispies cereal and at the same price.
Betty Crocker was the first national brand to launch gluten-free brownie, cookie and cake mixes in traditional grocery stores. This innovative line of products satisfied gluten-free consumers’ previously unmet desire to find great tasting, affordable and easy-to-prepare desserts.
Frito-Lay on the other hand has simply relabeled several of its products as gluten-free starting in 2011. “Since many of our chips are made from simple ingredients like corn or potatoes, they have naturally always been made without gluten. However, consumers with celiac disease have told us it is more helpful when they shop to have the words ‘gluten-free’ included on the packaging. So to help meet their needs, Frito-Lay is now validating with analytical testing that these products contain less than 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten then adding the ‘gluten-free’ claim to our bags,” according to FritoLay.com.
Snyder’s of Hanover has been working with the Gluten Free Certification Organization (GFCO), a program of the Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG), since September 2009 and has announced that its Gluten-Free Pretzel Sticks are GFCO-certified.
Other crossover brands that have capitalized on this audience include: Anheuser-Busch’s gluten-free Redbridge beer, General Mills Chex cereals and Bisquick, Post’s Fruity Pebbles, Boar’s Head and Dietz & Watson. Even the Girl Scouts of America is cashing in on this opportunity with its new Blueberry Pomegranate Nut Crunch.
Follow some basic rules
National brand food companies who want to reformulate their products to become gluten-free must follow some basic rules. Getting certified is key. A new science-based gluten-free certification program is now available from organic certifier Quality Assurance International (QAI) and the NFCA.
QAI, with its parent company NSF International, an independent public health and safety organization, brings more than 66 years of food safety auditing and certification, and 20 years of organic certification experience, to this new consumer label. NFCA is dedicated to achieving greater accessibility of gluten-free foods and health and food safety solutions for celiac and gluten-intolerant consumers.
The certification program requires: sensitive testing procedures; stringent auditing; an independent application review process; the use of feedback from consumers, manufacturers and retailers; a product review; onsite inspection; testing to ensure compliance to 10 ppm or less; and random product testing.
Consumers rely on labels
A survey by Anne Lee at the Celiac Disease Center of Columbia University found that consumers rely on gluten-free labels to identify products. Consumers are more likely to purchase products with the label on the front of the package compared to the back. When consumers were presented with two products with identical ingredients they purchased the product labeled gluten-free.
To alter an existing product, companies can use rice, corn, soy, potato, buckwheat, quinoa, millet or nut flours, according to the American Dietetic Association. However, changing the grains can make the products texture and overall taste change significantly.
Many manufacturers question the economic feasibility of going gluten-free, citing barriers such as the time required to source ingredients and obtain appropriate equipment. But there are options, such as outsourcing by utilizing co-packers with dedicated gluten-free rooms and equipment or gluten-free manufacturing facilities. Another investment is employee training and education. Using testing from an independent lab will also align a company with the new FDA labeling rules.
Food companies developing products for this market need to consider the FDA’s labeling restrictions. The FDA document should include a definition of gluten-free, synonyms that may be used for gluten-free label claims and an overall threshold value of gluten parts per million (ppm) that can be in a food and still be billed as gluten-free.
Gluten-free certification benefits the manufacturers because it gives them the credibility, recognition and support that they have provided a gluten-free product. The inspections given by the GFCO will also verify that the company is providing high standards in producing their product, with minimum cross-contamination. The manufacturers will also save time and resources that would have been spent answering questions regarding the gluten-free status of their products.
Michael Dernoga and Ridgely (Rid) Francisco, owners of Lizbeth Lane Gourmet Cuisine Simmer Sauces, have recently received certification on their all-natural gluten-free simmer sauces. “This certification allows us to be proactive with our customers and I am happy to say that our sauces fall far under the 20 ppm threshold,” Dernoga says.
Lizbeth Lane Gourmet Cuisine saw an advantage in the marketplace when it created its sauces, which just so happened to be gluten-free. “We have a second marketing position with our sauces – we are also all-natural – that we did not foresee when creating them,” says Francisco. “We soon realized that [gluten-free] is a huge, growing market. There is still a curse associated with gluten-free food – many people think of them as dull and flavorless but that is what gives us the edge with our sauces because our flavor is not compromised a bit.”
The comfort this certification offers the consumer is invaluable to the safety of their health. “Eating gluten-free food is not a choice, it’s a life sentence,” says Jennifer Brockson, a registered nurse and celiac patient. “So to be able to confidently choose foods that I know are safe because they come from a certified manufacturer is a huge relief.”
Sequestering product, testing, taste and texture challenges are among the many factors that interested companies must consider before entering the gluten-free category. “Food companies have undergone an education about what it takes to produce gluten-free food items,” says Elizabeth Arndt, director of R&D for ConAgra.
Market research analysts agree the gluten-free category continues to garner interest from food manufacturers, retailers and consumers. But there is debate about whether interest and demand are sustainable enough to be worth the time and resources food companies will potentially spend working through the challenges posed by gluten-free food manufacturing.
One prediction on the future of the gluten-free phenomenon is that the dabblers will drop out of the lifestyle but companies will continue to make innovations in gluten-free food manufacturing and improve product quality to generate crossover appeal. “I don’t think it’s a fad at all,” Arndt says. “There is a core of consumers who need these products. The growing selection of gluten-free foods is not like the low-carb craze was. The trend is helping to raise the bar on product quality and nutrition for consumers with celiac disease and other gluten sensitivities and it will be a healthier category overall.”
Into the limelight
Many celebrities have helped bring gluten–free into the limelight, though this attention is not always welcome, especially when it comes to misinformation about “going gluten-free.” The media is calling the movement a fad or craze while neglecting to properly cover the medical necessity of the gluten-free diet for some and underestimating the discipline it takes to stay on this diet. For many, gluten-free is just a lifestyle choice but what the fad followers soon find out is that the diet is expensive and limiting to say the least. “While the dabblers get to drop out without a problem, those with celiac risk their health and well being if they drop out,” says Brockson.
If a product is gluten-free it doesn’t mean it’s automatically healthy, says Pam Cureton, registered dietitian for the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research. In fact, gluten-free products actually have a few dietary disadvantages. For one, unlike regular grain foods like bread and rice, gluten-free versions are not required to be enriched with B vitamins and iron (which is why people going gluten-free should also take a multivitamin). You also have to work harder to get enough fiber on a gluten-free diet, since many products are made with fiber-poor rice flour.
The only true prevention
Although researchers are working to develop prevention therapy for celiac disease and gluten sensitivities, the only true prevention is a gluten-free diet. However, innovative food companies and progressive retailers are recognizing this need by reformulating existing product lines, making label changes and creating space on the shelf. Manufacturers and retailers who do not recognize and respond to this need may lose out on a potentially profitable lifetime customer.
The marketing opportunity is ripe and should not be overlooked. Gluten-free is here to stay and now it’s just about taking the steps to provide consumers on gluten-free diets with delicious food that they know and love in a convenient setting. If you build it, they will come … back!