Top 10 Most Innovative Foods in China in 2017

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Planner：Mote Chan（WeChat ID：motechenfbif）

Author：eieibob、Jadien

After half a month’s collection, vote and internal selection, FBIF finally figures out the Top 10 Most Innovative Foods in China in 2017. Wishing to promote China’s food innovation, we picked out the top 10 pioneering products of 2017.

What kind of product is the most revolutionary and is capable of over shadowing the rest for a long time？

Among all the criteria of the selection, “Creating a New Category” is the most important one. Besides, flavor and packaging design also matter. We have faith in the theory of Al·Ries: brands that create and dominate a new category are more likely to succeed in the end.

We also believe that innovation of long-term significance is not about playing with concepts, but addressing customer’s pain points. We could see that the picked products could satisfy the demands of various consumer segments, like gender-based customization, or involve the application of new technologies such as freeze-drying and self-heating packaging technologies that could make consumers enjoy healthy and tasty food more conveniently.

We couldn’t accurately predict the future of each product, but the categories created by them might have a significant impact on human catering.

The following are Top 10 Most Innovative Foods:

1. Bella Pupa | Bugsolutely

Reason: It helped develop a new category of insect protein snacks.

Insect snacks have become a hot topic in recent years, and some people even claim “insects will be the alternative food in the future”.Bugsolutely’s action of transforming silkworm chrysalis into snacks might set off a revolutionary wave of insect snacks in China, thus convincing more people to accept this sort of food.

Bella Pupa Chanbaobao is a chips-shaped snack made of 26% silkworm chrysalis powder. It is the first edible insect product in China, created by the joint efforts of serial entrepreneur Massimo Reverberi and a team of Chinese and French food designers and scientists. Bugsolutely uses silkworm chrysalis meal with the highest quality, which is an innovation. First of all, silkworm pupa is rich in proteins, vitamins, minerals, folic acid, and cellulose, and is popular with some consumers in China. Second, it requires less resources and space to raise silkworm pupas while it has higher protein conversion rate. Given the circumstances of rapid population growth and a risk of food shortage, this kind of food will be of great significance. Third, in terms of flavor optimization, the research team developed 48 product prototypes to run sensory tests to better serve Chinese consumer’s demands for delicacy.

2. Nuan Hong Hong | Yili Group

Reason: The first universal product for female in menstrual period in China.

Under the traditional mindset, women usually use ginger and red date-based brown sugar water and purple rice porridge to fight against exhaustion as well as feet and hands iciness that appear in the menstrual period. In view of this, Yili launched its brand-new “Nuan Hong Hong”, a drink that could help women cope with the unfavorable conditions during the menstrual period. Firstly, it is a gender-tailored food targeted at female consumers in menstrual period. Besides milk powder, the product also contains iron, calcium and folic acid to help resolve the problem of nutrient loss in the period. Secondly, under the circumstances of the serious homogeneity in the market, a subdivided product based on sex differences could enable consumers to reach a consumption consensus. In the end, the pink packaging could give women in the midst of the period suffering a mental hint of “making you warm”, “cheering you up” which could help develop the concept of “Warm Ecology” to respond to the constant emotional need.

3. Enfagrow Young Children Formula | Mead Johnson Nutrition

Reason: It created a new category of infant formula liquid milk in China.

The domestic milk powder market has been deeply affected by the two-child policy and the rise of professional females’ proportion in the whole population. To keep up with the trend at home and fill the gap of the liquid milk market, Mead Johnson Nutrition launched the product, thus segmenting a brand-new blue ocean out of the established milk powder business. It is known that the product has been on the American market for 10 years and has been popular among local customers with very mature key technologies in Europe and the United States. It has 6-layer bottle security material packaging and the bottle is sealed with an antioxidant steel lid. And with vacuum negative pressure and sterilized preservation technologies, the product reached the commercial germ-free level without any preservative. The formula liquid milk is appealing to consumers as it could help prevent milk regurgitation, constipation and other conditions resulting from inappropriate mixing ways while meeting babies’ needs for nutrients. It could not only be enjoyed at room temperature, but be heated in a hot water cup.

4. Probiotic Yogurt Melts | Orui garden food

Reason: “Probiotic that could melt in the mouth”, which created a new category of complementary infant snacks.

Choosing snacks for kids has been a serious problem for parents. Since there are already a variety of categories on store shelves, shifting R&D efforts to caring food will surely lead to a unique product that receives consumers’ recognition. This yogurt melt is made from fresh pasture fermented yoghurt and fruits through mixing freeze-drying technology. First, it adopts FD freeze-drying technology with which the material structure won’t be damaged and over 95% of nutrients will be preserved; Dehydrated enzymes losing activity will achieve long-term freshness without adding pigments, essences and preservatives. Second, as no less than 1×106CFU probiotic is added into each gram of Yogurt Melts, it is helpful in improving babies’ intestinal growth. It is also more suitable for kids with its flavor of melting in the mouth. Last, the cartoonish animal images on package appeal to children and therefore make it more likely to be saleable.

5. Dongchi ice cream | Want Want Group

Reason: The world’s first ice cream that can be stored and transported at room temperature.

The ice cream market is becoming more high-end and recreational due to consumption upgrade. Ice cream has transitioned from a seasonal item to leisure dessert. To cope with the situation, Want Want Group, based on its past icy product manufacturing experience and technology, introduced new production lines, and took the lead in adopting its globally pioneered preserving-ice-at-room-temperature technique to make this great snack. In terms of packaging, Want Want Group chooses to collaborate with Tetra Pak and uses 6-layer aseptic packages accompanied with the easy-to-tear design. The product is a revolutionary breakthrough as it could be stored and shipped at normal temperature.

6.Kabrita Jing Ying Goat Milk Nutritional Children’s Formula | Ausnutria

Reason: The first goat milk formula for children over 3 years old.

Kabrita Jing Ying Nutritional Children’s goat milk formula is the first goat milk powder in China dedicated to kids over 3 years old. The pioneering Jingying factor could work with lutein, DHA, taurine and vitamin A to protect against blue light and thus reduce the risk of eye diseases like xerophthalmia, shortsightedness, etc. At moment, most domestic children’s milk powder is stage 4 milk powder and products that could meet consumers’ more specific needs are absent. Also, it is known that children aged 3 and over are readily susceptible to immunosuppression and malnutrition and need appropriate nutritional supplement; As the age for children to use electronic products keeps dropping, parents become concerned with the protection of their kids’ eyes. Under such circumstances, the product fills the gap in the market and becomes a pioneer in the category of goat milk formula for children over 3 years old in the domestic market.

7. FitBody | COFCO Lohas

Reason: Positioned as a body-shaping product, China’s version of “diet drink”.

In the past year, Coca Cola swept the world with its Coca Cola Plus. And this year COFCO Lohas’ FitBody will be hailed as “China’s version of diet drink”.

The product, which took 6 years to develop and is the first beverage COFCO introduced with the concept of body shaping requiring no diet, contains 4g of DF Fibersol®-2 in each 500ml, sugar and calorie free. Fibersol®-2 could contribute significantly to the proliferation of probiotics like Bifidobacterium in the gut, improve the makeup of your gut bacteria and that way help repair the gut, alleviate the symptoms of constipation and diarrhea. Besides, it also helps keep down the levels of blood glucose and triglyceride, guard against diabetes and lessen fat accumulation in internal organs, lower serum total cholesterol and promote the absorption of minerals. In a way, the drink, a joint work of Lohas, COFCO Nutrition & Health Research Institute and ADM, is capable of regulating the function of human body. Currently, FItBody comes in two versions, the standard version with plant-based lactic acid bacteria and the enhanced version containing Acai berry. It advocates the idea of “It is up to shape your body. 21 days could build a better self.”

8. Cheese & Art | Yili Group

Reason: The first room temperature cheese snack in China.

As the first cheese snack that can be stored at room temperature in China and not restricted by the requirement of low temperature, ushering in a new era of cheese snacks. Using ingredients like Gouda, Cheddar and Mozzarella cheeses, and combining with wild sea fish, it is pretty tasty and fresh. For example, the one with classical Dutch, Italian and British flavors has over 45% cheese content in every 28g which provides 418 kilojoules of calories, 4.6g of protein and 12mg of calcium. In addition to the creation of a new category, compared to traditional snacks, it also boasts a more energetic marketing strategy such as inviting Ning Zetao to participate in the live launch of the new product, opening an official Weibo account to interact with fans, attending the Strawberry Music Festival in May joining hands with Star War, which all lay a solid foundation for grasping the new generation.

9. 4°Healthy Chicken Breast | Sunner Development Group

Reason: Pioneered in the category of healthy chicken breast.

This product is tailored to gym-goers and takes a high-end path. Ingredients from ecological farms are picked and no meat containing 4% or higher fat is allowed. To tackle the problem of chicken breast tasting dry and ensure the freshness and tenderness, Sunner uses 50-60°hot water spraying and scalding dehairing technology, 12-hour acid discharge technique, and removes connective tissues by hand and processes all ingredients at a 0-4℃ ambient temperature. Besides, it is a gender-customized product which meets the different requirements of male and female gym-goers and has a 169g black package for men and a 121g white package for women. The considerate design reflects the company’s care for prospective consumers and provides purchasers with a better shopping experience as well.

10. XIAOLONGKAN Instant Hot Pot | XIAOLONGKAN

Reason: A pioneer in the domestic instant hot pot field.

Hot pot was once unsuitable for retail due to the scene-based consumption, but the emergence of the hot pot for lazy people resolved this problem. Positioned as an instant food and applying the heating principle of military field self-heating bags, XIAOLONGKAN Instant Hot Pot allows hot pot fans to enjoy the delicacy anywhere and anytime they like. Dedicating to simplicity, it takes only 8 steps before the feast is ready. With great convenience and rich food ingredients, it stands out among the peers. It has high health and hygiene standards and a fresh taste. Aseptic operation is paid much attention to. It is worth mentioning that as the instant hotpot market is still fledging with baffling varieties and has no unified planning, there exist a host of opportunities as well as various problems, such as product quality, ingredient security, hazardous self-heating bags which concern potential consumers. Take XIAOLONGKAN as an example, it has been upgrading its products in the hope of improving hot pot category system, with the current product being its version 3.5.

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