New deli concepts go for healthy indulgence

Hamburg, July 2024 – Health brands are offering special indulgence moments, while convenience classics are making points with additional health benefits. Health and indulgence are blending more and more into a whole. Innova Market Insights calls this current top trend “Indulging in Health”. Less sugar, less fat, enrichment with health-boosting nutrients, are guiding principles.

“Consumers want the best of both worlds, health benefits in an indulgent format,” commented Innova market researchers. Hydrosol is addressing this trend with its new Best Ager concepts. After the successful launch in May of five ideas for dairy products with added health benefits, the range has now been extended by two deli products: Best Ager’s yogonaise for digestion and gut health, and fig-mustard dressing to support heart health.

Binia Postel, Product Management Dairy Deli at Hydrosol

Indulgence that helps digestion and gut
Best Ager’s yogonaise is a mayo sauce containing 20 percent thermized and fat-reduced yogurt. It’s based on a stabilizing system from the Stabimuls MRH line that is one of the best-sellers in Hydrosol’s portfolio. The enriched calcium in the yogonaise contributes to healthy digestion and gut functioning. Other advantages are the reduced fat content of 18 percent and the high fibre content. With its creamy texture, the product comes very close to classic mayonnaise in terms of mouthfeel. In addition, the yogurt gives it a pleasant freshness and acidity. “With its added health benefits and special enjoyment value, this yogonaise ticks the boxes on the Innova Top Trend. Furthermore, with its texture and flavor it has a high innovation factor and so high sales potential,” said Hydrosol Product Manager Binia Postel. As nutrition related claims, manufacturers can point to the reduced fat content and the high fiber content, while due to the enrichment with calcium the corresponding EU Health Claim can also be communicated.

Fig-mustard dressing for heart health
“Our fig-mustard dressing is aligned along current trend products,” according to Binia Postel. “We worked with dried figs, heated them with seasonings and then combined them with our special stabilizing system for salad dressings in a cold production process.

The advantage of the system is that it can be used for the production of low-fat mayo sauce with very good results.” Postel noted that fat reduction is frequently a challenge in the deli food category. With this fig-mustard dressing Hydrosol has succeeded in creating a stable emulsion with full flavor and a fat content of only ten percent.

A benefit for heart health is the use of linseed oil, which is known for its high content of omega-3 fatty acids. This enables manufacturers to make EU Health Claims on the packaging based on the content of alpha-linolenic acid. Further nutrition-related statements are the reduced fat content and high amount of omega-3 fatty acids.

These Best Ager concepts, which Hydrosol developed together with its sister companies SternVitamin and OlbrichtArom, are aimed at the 55+ generation, for whom fitness, an active lifestyle, and most of all good nutrition are important. As shown in a current study by the German Federal Institute for Population Research (BIB) and the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, in several West European countries there is still a need to improve the prevention and early diagnosis of cardiovascular disease – and nutrition in this context in particular. This is especially the case in Germany, as well as in Great Britain, Denmark, Finland and other nations in West Europe. The product ideas of the Best Ager campaign support healthy nutrition and offer many new approaches.