If you did n’t know , Kraft got rid of artificial ingredients in its mac & cheese back in January – and sell 50 million boxes without even have to say , " See guys , it ’s not sue junk ! "
The party justrevealedthe new formula , market it as " the world ’s biggest unreasoning tasting trial run . " And it really does slide by for the old stuff , right down to that tokenish radioactive colour , which is now made from spice like Capsicum annuum grossum and turmeric ( Yellow 5 and 6 dyes , you wo n’t be miss ) .
Kraft is only the latest food company to cut out hokey ingredients , joining Hershey’s , Taco Bell , and others . Many are still doin' the same old march dirty as before . But if even mac & cheese can become real food – yes , with its cheese gunpowder and post - apocalypse shelf life – why ca n’t any other production ? We chatted up industry experts to find out .
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Dealing with artificial coloring can be a pain in the ass
When it comes to colour outline , Kraft had it relatively gentle – orangish is a fairly easy one to come up with naturally . But when there are multiple colors and flavor within one product , it get acclivitous .
That ’s why General Mills scrap the blue and green puffs from Trix cereal ( not tricky enough , Silly Rabbit ) , and the companysaysit ’s still reworking Lucky Charms and Monster . But seriously , how can you make multi - coloured marshmallow rainbows all natural ? That leprechaun must be somewhere inconsolably sob .
It’s expensive
Companies usually do n’t note this part ( it ’s problematic to make your average consumer sympathetic to a company ’s expense ) , but switching to natural ingredients is like putting cash into a intellectual nourishment processor and press ON . It ’s a speedy and easy fashion to miss a fate of money .
" Natural ingredients are more expensive , so it rocket costs , " explains David Henkes of Technomic , a consulting business firm for the food industry . " You ’re either going to have to take a lower margin or raise the price to consumer .
" Nobody want to give gross profit but in today ’s environment , if your Cartesian product is not on trend … it ’s a choice between that and see your sales drop 10 , 15 , 20 % a twelvemonth . So you ’re going to take the lower margin and like it . "
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Just seem at Papa John ’s . accord toBloomberg , the pizza pie empire ’s design to eliminate corn syrup , preservative , and artificial colors is be around $ 100 million a year . Pepperoni alone – free of BHA and BHT makeweight – is a nerveless $ 2 million drop in the bucket .
According to Henkes , some caller just are n’t quick to go there financially , but have n’t rule it out yet .
They don’t want to lose customers
" Legacy brand and products have to be very heedful in changing formation , " pronounce Henkes . " Any time you foretell you ’re change the formula , there is skepticism and consumer think it ’s not going to be the same . "
Often , the consumers are proper . The Papa himself toldBloombergthe troupe give up flavor in its spread dressing because there was no other fashion " to get the chemical substance out . "
Which explain why Kraft did n’t herald changing its mac & cheese , instead repackaging it into a promotion stunt .
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It can earn negative attention
consumer tend to want it all : rude product RIGHT NOW . But researching new recipes can ultimately take years .
Mars , creditworthy for delights like M&M ’s , Twix , and 27 other brands , faced backlashfor saying replacing hokey ingredient " is not a cognitive process that can materialise overnight " .
That ’s since been removed from thewebsiteand replaced with a different financial statement , promising to hail up with a " full range of a function of alternatives that insure the wholeness and great taste of the production " in five years .
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So you see , some companies could be planning to switch , but are choose to stay under the radar . Five years may as well be an infinity in atomic number 59 time .
They think the customer base is solid
" ship’s company just may not feel it ’s of import to consumers in those categories , " Henkes adds . " While we always like to think consumer are wanting to eat intelligent and do the correct thing , in a circumstances of instances they are attend for a [ high]-fat , high - calorie product that tastes gravid . "
the great unwashed craveunhealthy nutrient ? Oh yes , and there are all sorts of mental gymnastics used to rationalize unhealthy behavior . " Consumers are complicated . They ’ll eat healthy and offset that with a big candy ginmill by and by on . Not every intersection that manufacturers make needs to be levelheaded . "
It doesn’t necessarily make foods healthier
Making ingredient natural does n’t make them nutrient . innate feeling maycomefrom a raw informant , but a speedy look at what ’s allowed under the police force construct it pretty exonerated that all sorts of processing and tinkering can occur before the flavors wind up in your food . Cheetos , for example , contain the pleasant - sound " natural flavors . "
And that ’s saying nothing about the nutritionary components of the food itself . Grass - fed butter with no endocrine or additive is decent , but it ’s still not a great idea to eat a stick of it .
In the end, though, the people tend to win
Trends are always changing , and some businesses may be wary of chasing tendency . What if , a year from now , the great unwashed need something totally unlike and new ? The process has to start all over .
But harmonize to Marion Nestle , the source ofFood Politics : How The Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health , companies will always follow customer demand " because they have to . "
" customer need artificial factor out of the products , and the noise tier has increase to the point where the company are forced to listen , " she says . " If sales of ware with these ingredients go forward to decline , other companies will do the same . "
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Barbara Woolseyis a Berlin - base writer who knows Kraft mac & high mallow as KD because she ’s bizarre , but mostly just Canadian . Read more of her stuff onFacebookandTwitter .
