8th May 2008

Welcome to this month’s Guild of Food Writer’s email Food Newsletter.

GENERAL NEWS

FOODS MATTER
Two interesting press releases from Michelle Berriedale-Johnson of Foods Matter:

52 gluten and wheat free breads and 38 gluten and wheat free biscuits!

This was just one of the judging panels for the new Foods Matter Free-from Food Awards to be presented this month to celebrate the massive growth in the market for free-from gluten and dairy foods – over 300% over the last 5 years according to market analysts, Mintel.
There will be 11 categories including dairy-free, gluten and wheat-free, egg-free and nut-free foods and an innovation award for the most interesting, inventive and successful free-from food launched in the last 12 months.
The overall winner will be presented with an original Tom Allan sculpture commissioned for the awards by the FAIR Foundation – The Foundation for Allergy Information and Research.
The presentation of the awards will take place at Antony Worrall Thompson's Notting Grill on Wednesday 21 May to coincide with Allergy Week and to preview the Allergy and Gluten-free Show in June.

For more information check out the awards website at www.freefromawards.co.uk.

Nutritional profile of free-from foods leaves a lot to be desired.

Over 80% of those who took part in a survey in food allergy magazine, Foods Matter said that ‘free-from’ foods had too much salt and too much sugar; over 75% were concerned about the levels of fats, especially hydrogenated fats in free-from foods.
Foods Matter readers are the ultimate free-from ‘pro-sumers’ – acutely aware, because of their own food sensitivities, of what is on the market and how they would like to see the offer improved.

Other interesting findings to emerge from the survey:
• 85% of respondents would like free-from food to be packed differently for easy recognition
• 98% of respondents would like to see ‘dairy free’/’wheat free’ etc flashes on front of packs
• 80% do not think that recipe changes are sufficiently well flagged up on free-from products
• 75% would like to be able to buy all their free-from food in a supermarket and 85% of those would like to be able to find their free-from food in a dedicated free-from section
• Over 80% rated taste as being the most important consideration when buying free-from food (82% rated it at 4 or above on a scale on 1-5). However, this was closely followed by reliability (77% rated it at 4 or above on a scale of 1-5).
The survey was undertaken as part of the build up to the first ever Free-from Food Awards.

For more information check out the awards website at www.freefromawards.co.uk or contact Laura or Michelle, telephone 020 7722 2866 or email michelle@foodsmatter.com or laura@foodsmatter.com.