Miller Magazine Issue: 135 March 2021

66 MILLER / march 2021 Think about a retail shopping experience 20 years ago. Now, compare it with the experi- ence in a supermarket today. So much variety, so many alternatives – every day, new choices! It is really impressive to see how many differ- ent product options are packed on every shelf. In less than one generation, the food industry has rapidly adapted to ever more challenging consumer wishes. Today, every category of consumer is very precisely catered for with an impressively broad palette of novel prod- uct. The creativity, innovation and speed with which the industry has achieved this certainly deserves fulsome recognition. Now, what next? Today’s consumer contin- ues to be focused on the functionality of food, looking increasingly for products with health and wellness claims – and is willing to pay 25% more for baked goods, over 60% more for pasta and over 45% more for snacks that sat- isfy this need. In parallel, as today’s consumers are far more conscious of sustainability, plant- based foods and beverages are booming, with forecasted global average annual growth rates above 12% for plant-based meat categories and above 6% for plant-based beverage cat- egories. In responding to these trends, pulses have a great potential as promising next generation ingredients. Beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas are very healthy and environmentally friendly. With production of more than 80 million tons a year globally, pulses are readily available and therefore are destined to play an even more “The use of all types of pulses ingredients in food and feed has great potential. Solely or in mixes with other cereal ingredients, the key will be to find the right proportions to satisfy local consumer preferences – especially in terms of taste. As the space for innovation and product development is still wide open, we can be sure that processing pulses into ingredients will play an important role, ensuring the dynamism, variety and excitement in the shopping experience is maintained for years and decades to come.” Opportunities with High Value Pulses Ingredients Alexandra Londoño Baderschneider Head of Business Segment Pulses, Bühler