MANY of us do our best to eat as well as our circumstances allow and know there is little to compare with home-cooked meals using fresh produce.
So when we reach for something off a shop shelf which makes life a bit easier, we often have a nagging feeling we are compromising on our health for the sake of convenience.
However, the Food and Drink Federation of Scotland (FDF) is working with producers to help them make the food we buy better for us.
The programme grew out of the Scottish Government’s Healthier Future Strategy and has led to some remarkable changes. Bells Food Group has reduced the salt in its pie shells by 50%, taking almost nine tonnes of salt off our tables. Tower Bakery has almost doubled the fibre content in bread rolls provided to schoolchildren.
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The Hame Bakery, in Peterhead, has developed a multi-seed, lower fat, lower salt buttery with an impressive reduction of 91% less salt and roughly 72% less saturated fat – a pretty significant difference both in terms of calories and for those trying to stay within the World Health Organisation’s recommended 4g-5g of salt daily.
Joanne Burns is the reformulation for health manager at the Food and Drink Federation Scotland. Funding for the programme she leads comes directly from the Scottish Government through Public Health Scotland.
“The impacts food manufacturers can have by reformulating their products is one of the highest percentages on improving the health outcomes for people in communities across Scotland,” she said.
“About two out of three adults and 30% of our children and young people are living with overweight and obesity, so it’s so important that we look at measures to try to improve the dietary health of people and communities across Scotland.”
Burns’s team is helping companies change the product, not the person buying it. She went on: “If somebody still wants to eat a packet of crisps or sausage roll, for example, we can reformulate that product to be healthier.
“They might be baked, they might have higher fibre, they might have added vegetables. It still tastes the same, still costs the same, and still has the same texture.”
Research shows that more than 80% of people want food manufacturers to improve the healthfulness of their products. Reformul8 helps companies make healthier swaps.
This includes using ingredients such as such as date puree, chicory root, or tapioca starch to help sweeten or add more “functional” fibre, in products which might not traditionally have contributed to healthy gut activity. Nutritionist Lynn Burns (no relation to Joanne) is a registered nutritionist who has worked for the Food Standards Agency and Department of Health. She was part of the team which helped develop the nutrition guideline tables in the days before databases.
She said: “Something in the region of 75%-85% of our salt intake was coming from manufactured foods and some of those would be sweet foods such as breakfast cereals.
“People didn’t have control over salt intake because it was in everything. By getting manufacturers to reduce the amount of salt, people could still add some salt to their food. It should be a choice, without being hidden.”
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Burns is keen that the conversation shifts from things we should not do, to highlighting the positive changes we can make.
“I do think that if you’re trying to help people eat better, then be wherever they are starting from without shame or guilt. Eating better can look so different for different people.
‘We can always make something a little better. If we reformulate everything a little bit, you’re going to get the aggregation of small gains.”
If people are buying a pasta sauce, a curry or a pizza, for example, Burns suggests choosing a product with a healthier formulation and then adding a few vegetables to the meal (fresh, frozen, or tinned all have health benefits).
Typically, most ready meals only contain one or two of the recommended “five a day”.
The Reformul8 team has launched the Healthier Products Innovation Fund, backed by Scotland Food and Drink, to help food manufacturers connect with universities.
There, food scientists and academics help to create healthier products, as well as ensuring there is evidence for the claims being made. One new brand, DONE, is due to launch this month. It is believed to be the first range of ready meals promising to deliver five a day vegetables or fruit in one serving.
DONE grew out of Paul Mason’s passion for creating meals which his “vegetable-averse wife” could enjoy. “She doesn’t like a plate full of veg, she almost liked them hidden in her food,” Mason said. “So, I used to make her things like spaghetti bolognese and as she was eating it I’d say, ‘There’s five of your five a day in there’. She’d be like, ‘No way! This is delicious!’.”
As Mason chats about the journey the business has taken, it becomes clear how important FDF Scotland’s collaboration has been. “We were awarded this Reformul8 grant and took our concept to the Food and Drink Innovation Hub at Queen Margaret University,” he said.
“They’ve been invaluable fonts of wisdom. Everything’s getting a full nutritional analysis as well. They’ve helped us prove it was possible and gave us the knowledge to go away and do it ourselves.”
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The DONE range launches this month, initially with 10 frozen meals available online with meaty, vegetarian, and gluten-free options. As Mason talks me through the attention to detail on the menu, it is clear he is a foodie on a mission.
“We’re very keen that it’s accessible to everyone. We’ve tried to price the meals as reasonably as possible,” he said. “We’re also planning on sharing our recipes; because we are clean label – there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to make them at home.
“We think the price point is good. I think the ready meals are comparable to the price you would pay if you make it yourself, so we’re going to be quite happy to share the recipes and processes.”
With its intention to use Scottish produce where possible and expansion into healthy puddings and plans for a children’s range, DONE might well be the guilt-free ready meal many of us have been looking for.
Ruth Watson is the founder of the Keep Scotland the Brand campaign.
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