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Stealth Health: Improving Your Product Offerings…One Secret at A Time!

It may be hard to believe, but, Canadian manufacturers have been making changes to their products for the last 10 years with the goal of improving the health and well-being of Canadians…and not saying a word about it!

The concept is called “stealth health.”  It was coined by a scientist at Yale University (Dr. David Katz) who had the idea of creating healthier habits for daily living. Stealth health can be defined as: making changes to ingredients or recipes to improve the nutritional attributes of a food or product without promoting or advertising the added benefits.
 
Stealth health can take many forms, such as:

•    Improving nutrient density (e.g. adding healthy multi-grain flours and oats).
•    Including ingredients with added health benefits (e.g. the explosion of cranberries and almonds in many snack bars).
•    Reducing or eliminating unhealthy ingredients (e.g. lower in sodium or reduced fat snacks).
•    Cleaning up the ingredient deck so that consumers know what is in the product and can name every ingredient without researching it.

With all this potential good news, why would manufacturers not want to promote the added health benefits? It is for the simple reason to protect the brand and the perception of the customer.  Consumers may not want their favourite brands to change, so the last thing manufacturers want to do is alienate existing customers by forcing health claims or the perception that a product will not taste as good anymore. The formula changes to recipes must be carefully executed and often can happen gradually over time. Let’s reflect on one of the best executions of stealth health: the Oreo® cookie’s evolution to a healthier option.  
 
In the early 2000’s a lot of attention was being paid to the risks of Trans fats and the high level of hydrogenated oils used particularly in the baking and snack industry. At the time, Nabisco made an announcement they would work towards removing these unhealthy oils from all of their products, and they went to work.  By 2006 their famous Oreo® cookie contained no Trans fats, however there was an absence of a large marketing campaign to highlight this; the packaging ingredients were updated but you never saw a “no Trans fat” tag on the package, and customers never tasted the difference.  Extensive product development and work went into formulation changes to ensure customers wouldn’t see any noticeable difference in the Oreo® cookie. The result…higher sales! Legacy customers stayed with the product, and consumers paying attention to Trans fats could see from the ingredient deck that the cookie did not contain any; therefore, incremental sales were achieved.
 
Some manufacturers have chosen to go all out to promote the perceived added health benefits, for example potato chips are being marketed as cholesterol free (surprise, they always were!) were not because of improved formulations, the interest in consumers for healthier snacks drove interest in promoting the product as a possible healthier snack item.
 
What does this mean for you? Providing choice and balance in your product offerings. Pay attention to the top sellers while also ensuring that at least 10% of what you offer caters to the health-conscious customer group who want to indulge without feeling guilty about it.
 
Looking for other Stealth Health products for your cafe bar or micro-market operation? Let Complete Purchasing Services (CPS) help you to find the perfect mix of products for your residents. Take advantage of CPS’ “Best Value” pricing on hundreds of essential items and assistance from a dedicated locally-based Account Manager, in addition to a wealth of easy-to-use tools and helpful resources to help you run your operations more efficiently and effectively.
 

 
About the Author:
Brian Emmerton is a Registered Dietitian and the Vice President and General Manager of Complete Purchasing Services Inc, a leading supply chain solutions provider for non-commercial clients and hospitality organizations across Canada. Brian has been working in foodservice and consumer affairs for over 30 years to help clients source food and nutrition options that deliver experiences that enrich and nourish lives. 

Much attention has been focused on health risks associated with Canadian diets for many years and after a heightened attention about sodium and salt intake, the next bandwagon coming to the forefront appears to be sugar.

Why is sugar becoming the next ‘naughty’ ingredient? The fact is that we Canadians have a love for the sweet taste and pleasure derived from both the natural (fruit sugar in fruit juices) and added sugars (found abundantly in many products to enhance the flavour) in our favourite foods. Increasing obesity rates (particularly in young children), higher incidences of diabetes and heart disease, emerging diet trends focusing on sugar elimination like Keto, and an increased attention to ingredients and food sources has raised the attention to this potential big bad category!

The question is, do we consume too much sugar? Well, many health experts will say yes, but believe it or not, there are some interesting trends that demonstrate we are actually consuming less sugar than we used to:

• The overall amount of added sugar consumption in Canada has declined in the last 20 years. Food preferences and intakes have changed, while ingredients and formularies of ingredients that contain sugar have also undergone small reductions.  The proliferation of sugar substitutes has greatly increased as had variety of low-calorie products (sugar free soft drinks in particular), as consumers looks for lower calorie options with the same sweet sensation.

• Canadians consume an average 30% less sugar than our American counterparts. It is predominantly due to the lower amount of regular soft drink consumption.  Is it because of fewer choices or a higher proliferation of low-calorie carbonated beverages? The answer is no. Canadians simply reach for water or unsweetened beverages more often (and remember water and sparkling water consumption continues to climb!).

In recent years, some provinces have tried to regulate consumption of sugar through health programs such as school food guidelines and standards. These regulations impacted our industries ability to offer traditional choices that were available through vending and self-serve areas. For the most part, Canada currently does not have any nutritional guidelines related to the quantify of sugar Canadians should or should not consume, however Health Canada suggests choosing foods with little or no added sugars.

So how will this impact our business going forward? Health Canada’s new nutrition labelling requirements which have been worked on for years, are scheduled to be completely implemented by December 31, 2021. In addition to sugar being a mandatory item on the nutrition label, packaging requirements will also change under this new legislation as symbols indicating a product is high in sugar will have to be identified. Stay tuned!

How do we ensure our business thrives even given these potential bumps in the road? Here are a few things to pay attention to:

• Choice & Selection. Offering residents choice and selection in all categories ensures that you are providing a variety of options without added or natural sugar; both impulse purchases and regular frequent offerings can help you demonstrate your commitment to healthy choices. Some residents may look for more natural sources of sugar (i.e. honey) as a preference. Remember to display a mix of both sweet and salty snack options in your impulse section of micro markets, feature areas, as well as in any combo packages you offer.

• Sugar Free Options: This trend is growing, we recommend that 20% of your beverage offerings are free of sugar (e.g. water, sparking water beverages such as Bubly) or low-calorie offerings. It may seem like a lot, however over your entire portfolio is it quite simple to do

• Say Tea! There is an opportunity to focus on tea as it is currently a growth category. Hot and cold tea consumption continues to climb and provides strong revenue opportunities while offering choices with health benefits (and interesting exotic flavours)

Whether your residents have a sweet or salty tooth, staying on top of trends is critical. It can help to keep your residents interested, demonstrate that your services reflect the current marketplace drivers, and provide your business with a competitive edge.


About the Author:
Brian Emmerton is a Registered Dietitian and the Vice President and General Manager of Complete Purchasing Services Inc, a leading supply chain solutions provider for non-commercial clients and hospitality organizations across Canada. Brian has worked and researched consumer behaviors for over 30 years to assist clients in following trends and practices that can drive revenue and growth opportunities.