Fronting fibre
Schofield said there was still disparity between consumer understanding of the concepts of fibre and prebiotics.
“European consumers understand fibre – but their understanding of prebiotics is poor making the prebiotic space challenging to enter.”
Yet she said the relatively recent EU approval of Beneo’s chicory-root inulin and a digestive health claim should start to change this.
“Naturalness is very important to European consumers. Using labelling terminology that links the prebiotic ingredient back to its plant source should help to improve consumers’ acceptance of products containing prebiotics fibres such as agave and chicory root,” she said, echoing recent data released by Beneo on consumer preferences.
Photo©iStock/StuartJenner.