New Food Product Development From Concept To Product

Second Edition
New Food Product

Development
From Concept to Marketplace
Second Edition
New Food Product

Development
From Concept to Marketplace
Gordon W. Fuller
CRC PR E S S
Boca Raton London New York Washington, D.C.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fuller, Gordon W.
New food product development : from concept to marketplace / Gordon W. Fuller.—2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8493-1673-1
1. Food—Marketing. 2. Food—Research. 3. New products—Marketing. 4. Product
management. 5. Food industry and trade—Technological innovations. I. Title.
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Dedication
This book is dedicated to my grandchildren:

Caitlin, William, Seaira, Nicholas, and Amy,
whose inventiveness and creativity at all things have
never ceased to amaze and amuse me.
Preface to the Second Edition
This revision of the 1994 edition has been completely reorganized with much
material added. All new material had to meet one of the following criteria: (1) it
had to make a substantial intellectual or technical contribution to the understanding
of the problems of new food product development; or (2) it had to illustrate cau-
tionary issues associated with the new product development process. In addition,
the material had to describe the real world environment of product development and
not describe what many authors wish the real world to be.
Some of the suggestions made by reviewers, colleagues, and readers have been
included. Suggestions to include fictional examples of new product development,
thus copying styles of presentations developed by many business schools, were
studiously avoided. Fictional examples are too blatantly obvious in the elements
contributing to the success or failure of the product situation they describe. In my
opinion, such examples teach little about product development and provide insig-
nificant understanding of the process. Real life is ever so much more educational.
Success stories also leave one at a loss about what the crucial act or acts leading to
a successful introduction were. What was the “Eureka” stage? Did one successful
act in development outweigh all the stupid blunders that had been made, or were
all phases of new product development carried out correctly?
Others suggested that I obtain permission from my clients to include real life
examples of new food product development. All work with my clients is confidential
and this shall remain so. I did, however, meet this suggestion halfway. I have
identified more clearly than I did in the original edition what are anecdotes from
my own experience. In these examples, neither my clients nor their products are
clearly identified. If my clients do see themselves, they should be ashamed. The
anecdotes illustrate particular misadventures in new product work. They are a
reminder that work on a new product should be undertaken in an organized, thought-
ful fashion with careful attention given to every aspect of development; that all
testing should be completed before the launch; and that calling for advice, assistance,
or guidance to solve problems arising after the product’s introduction is too late.
Unfortunately the real world of product development is not as it should be.
For those who have disparaged the age of some of my references I suggest they
read Chapter 12. I am quite happy to use older literature that is clearly written so
that principles are easily grasped.
I am deeply indebted to my wife, Joan, for reading and making many helpful
suggestions on the text; to my son, Grahame, a senior technical writer for Softimage
Co., a subsidiary of Avid Technology, Inc., for preparing many of the figures, for
many interesting and stimulating discussions regarding the text, and also for reading
and emending my notes on computers, communication technology, and the Internet;
and to my son-in-law, Dr. David Gabriel, associate professor in the Department of
Physical Education and Kinesiology at Brock University, for suggestions and assis-
tance with figures. To these members of my family, thank you.
Helpful discussions on Chapters 10 and 11 were had with Timothy Beltran, BScE,
who at the time of our discussions was executive chef of the J. P. Morgan Chase
dining room on Wall Street, in New York, and who has now formed his own catering
company, Culantro Caterers, in New Jersey; and with Henry B. Heath, MBE, BPharm.
(London), MFC, FRPharmS, FIFST (U.K.), and retired president of Bush Boake
Allen Corp., Dorval, Quebec. To both of these gentlemen, my heartfelt thanks.
I want also to thank Eleanor Riemer, late of CRC Press, who gave me much
encouragement and direction, and her assistant, Erika Dery, who answered my
questions and provided much advice and guidance on style.
Gordon W. Fuller
The Author
Dr. Gordon W. Fuller has a wide variety of training, experience, and skills that he
has used successfully in his consulting practice for over 30 years. He graduated with
a BA (1954) and an MA (1956) in food chemistry from the University of Toronto
and a PhD (1962) in food technology from the University of Massachusetts.
His work experience includes a stint as a research chemist with the Food and
Drug Directorate in Ottawa, Canada, working on gas liquid chromatography of food
flavors. In addition, he spent 2 years as a research food technologist working on
chocolate products for the Nestlé Co. in Fulton, New York, and another 2 years in
applied research and product development on tomato products for the H. J. Heinz Co.
Fellowship at the Mellon Institute for Industrial Research, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Fuller served as associate professor in the Department of Poultry Science at
the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, where in addition to teaching and
research responsibilities in poultry meat and egg added-value products, he carried
out extension work for food processors in southern Ontario. He also held a fellowship
at the Food Research Association, Leatherhead, England, where he gained experience
working with meat products.
Prior to forming his own consulting company, Dr. Fuller was for 8 years vice
president, Technical Services, Imasco Foods Ltd., Montreal, Canada, where he was
responsible for corporate research and product development programs at the com-
pany’s subsidiaries in both Canada and the U.S. His consulting practice has taken
him to the U.S., South America, Europe, and China. He has lectured on agricultural
economics and food technology topics in North and South America, England, Ger-
many, and The Netherlands. As an outside lecturer he presented courses at McGill
University in agribusiness management and new food product development and was
a guest lecturer at Concordia University for many years.
Contents
Chapter 1 New Food Products and New Food Product Development
in a Nutshell: The Mystique and Mythology of New Product
Development.........................................................................................1
I. Introduction....................................................................................................1
II. Defining New Food Products and Their Characteristics .............................. 2
A. New Products ........................................................................................ 2
1. Line Extensions ............................................................................... 4
2. Repositioned Existing Products ...................................................... 5
3. New Form or Size of Existing Products......................................... 5
4. Reformulation of Existing Products ............................................... 6
5. New Packaging of Existing Products ............................................. 6
6. Innovative Products ......................................................................... 8
7. Creative Products ............................................................................ 9
B. Added Value .......................................................................................... 9
C. Customers and Consumers.................................................................. 10
D. Markets and Marketplaces .................................................................. 11
III. Marketing Characteristics of New Products................................................ 12
A. Product Life Cycles............................................................................. 14
B. The Profit Picture ................................................................................ 16
IV. Why Undertake New Food Product Development?.................................... 16
A. The “Why” of “Why Undertake New Product Development?”.........19
1. Corporate Reasons for New Product Development...................... 20
2. Marketplace Reasons for New Product Development.................. 21
3. Technological Pressures Forcing New Product
Development.................................................................................. 22
4. Governmental Influences Pushing New Product
Development.................................................................................. 23
V. Phases in New Food Product Development................................................ 26
Chapter 2 The Generation of New Product Ideas .............................................. 33

I. Getting Ideas................................................................................................ 33
A. General Guidelines for Ideas .............................................................. 33
B. Sources of New Food Product Ideas .................................................. 34
1. The Many Marketplaces................................................................ 35
2. Getting to Know Them ................................................................. 37
3. The Seller/Retailer and Distributor as Sources of Ideas .............. 55
4. Other Sources of Ideas.................................................................. 57
5. The External Environment as a Source of Ideas.......................... 61
II. Knowing, Understanding, and Encouraging Creativity .............................. 67
A. Generation of New Product Ideas: Reality......................................... 68
1. A Caution about Copycat Products .............................................. 69
Chapter 3 Organizing for New Product Development ....................................... 71

I. The Structure of Organizations ................................................................... 71
A. Types of Organizations ....................................................................... 71
1. Committee Politics ........................................................................ 72
2. Hierarchical Politics ...................................................................... 72
3. Court Politics................................................................................. 73
B. Organizing for Product Development ................................................. 73
1. Organizing for “the What”: The Physical Structure..................... 74
2. Organizing for Whom: The Human Side ..................................... 74
3. Organization and Management ..................................................... 76
4. Creativity: Thinking Differently ................................................... 76
C. Defining Research ............................................................................... 80
1. Classification of Research............................................................. 80
2. Fluidity as an Organizational Tool in Research ........................... 82
D. The New Product Development Team................................................ 83
E. Criteria for Screening.......................................................................... 84
1. Applying the Criteria .................................................................... 86
F. Constraints to Innovation .................................................................... 88
1. The Corporate Entity..................................................................... 88
2. Communication Problems ............................................................. 89
3. Personnel Issues ............................................................................ 91
Chapter 4 The Strategists: Their Impact on Screening for Product

Development....................................................................................... 93
I. The Strategists ............................................................................................. 93
II. Senior Management and Its Role in Development.....................................94
A. Defining the Company ........................................................................94
B. An Involved Management ...................................................................95
C. Shaping the Company’s Objectives ....................................................97
1. Company Objectives that Shape Product Development...............98
2. Sanctioned Espionage or Competitive Intelligence? ....................99
3. Benchmarking..............................................................................103
III. Finance Department: The Cautionary Hand in Development ..................103
A. Finance’s Not So Passive Role in Development ..............................103
B. The Financial Realities of Product Development.............................104
1. Slotting Fees................................................................................106
2. Financial Criteria.........................................................................107
3. A Cautionary Note ......................................................................108
C. Financial Tools ..................................................................................108
1. Comparing Costs with Anticipated Revenues ............................108
2. Probability Index .........................................................................110
3. Other Tools ..................................................................................110
IV. Development of Strategy from Marketing’s Perspective ..........................110
A. Marketing’s Functions.......................................................................111
B. Market Research................................................................................112
C. The Time Element: A Factor in Development .................................113
D. The Nature of Market Information ...................................................114
E. Qualitative and Quantitative Market Research Information.............116
1. Focus Groups...............................................................................116
2. Alternatives to Focus Groups......................................................118
F. Marketing’s War Room .....................................................................119
G. Marketing and Sales Departments ....................................................121
H. Marketability and Marketing Skills ..................................................122
I. Summary............................................................................................123
Chapter 5 The Tacticians: How They Influence Product Development .........125

I. Science and Technology in Action............................................................125
A. Research and Development: The Challenges ...................................125
1. Recipe Development and Recipe Scale-Up................................126
B. Spoilage and Public Health Concerns ..............................................128
1. Food Spoilage Concerns .............................................................129
2. Microbial Spoilage ......................................................................132
3. Naturalness: Minimal Processing................................................134
C. Maintaining Safety and Product Integrity ........................................135
1. General Methods and Constraints to Their Use .........................135
2. Thermal Processing of Foods .....................................................137
3. Ohmic Heating ............................................................................138
4. Microwave Heating .....................................................................139
5. Stabilizing with High Pressure ...................................................139
6. Control of Water: Water Relationships in Stabilization .............141
7. Controlled Atmosphere/Modified Atmosphere Packaging ......... 143
8. Irradiation ....................................................................................144
9. Hurdle Technology as a Tool for Product Development............148
10. Low-Temperature Stabilization ...................................................152
11. Other Stabilizing Systems...........................................................154
12. A Summary and a Caution .........................................................155
II. The Role of Engineering in the Development Process ............................156
A. The Engineering Department ............................................................156
1. General Activities ........................................................................156
2. Process Design ............................................................................157
3. Scale-Up ......................................................................................157
4. In-Process Specifications.............................................................159
III. The Manufacturing Plant........................................................................... 160
A. The Manufacturing Plant: A Stumbling Block or an Asset?............ 160
1. Concerns: Space, Facilities, Labor, and Disruptiveness............. 160
2. Copack Partnerships ....................................................................160
B. The Role of the Purchasing Department ..........................................161
1. The Purchasing Department’s Activities.....................................161
C. The Impact of Warehousing and Distribution ..................................162
D. Simplifying the Work: Using Computers .........................................163
1. Number Crunching......................................................................164
2. Graphics.......................................................................................166
IV. Technical Feasibility..................................................................................167
A. The Loop: The Interconnectivity of Questions with Indefinite
Answers .............................................................................................167
B. The Art of Guesstimating..................................................................168
V. Summary ....................................................................................................170
Chapter 6 The Legal Department: Protecting the Company, Its Name,

Goodwill, and Image........................................................................173
I. Introduction................................................................................................173
II. The Law and Product Development..........................................................174
A. Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs).........................................176
B. Advocacy Groups ..............................................................................177
C. Geopolitical Groups ..........................................................................177
D. Expert Panels.....................................................................................178
III. Food Regulation and the Development Process .......................................179
A. Legislation, Regulations, and Safety: A Dilemma ...........................179
B. The Role of Lawyers.........................................................................181
C. Legislating Quality and Safety .........................................................181
IV. Environmental Standards...........................................................................183
V. Summary ....................................................................................................183
Chapter 7 Quality Control: Protecting the Consumer, the Product, and the
Company ..........................................................................................185
I. Introduction................................................................................................185
II. The Ever-Present Watchdog ......................................................................185
A. Sensory Analysis in Product Development ......................................186
1. Sensory Techniques.....................................................................186
2. Objective Sensory Testing...........................................................188
3. Subjective or Preference Testing.................................................189
4. The Panelists ...............................................................................189
5. Other Considerations in Sensory Analysis .................................191
6. To Test Blind or Not? .................................................................192
7. Are There Differences among Tasters Affecting
Discrimination? ...........................................................................193
8. Using Children ............................................................................193
B. Using Electronics: The Perfect Nose? ..............................................194
C. Shelf Life Testing..............................................................................194
1. Selecting Criteria to Assess Shelf Life.......................................194
2. Selecting Conditions for the Test................................................196
3. Types of Tests..............................................................................198
4. Guidelines to Determining Shelf Life ........................................202
5. Advances in Shelf Life Considerations ......................................205
III. Designing for Product Integrity ................................................................208
A. Safety Concerns.................................................................................210
B. Food Safety Design Concerns...........................................................210
C. New Concepts of Safety ...................................................................211
D. The Costs of Quality and Safety Design..........................................213
E. Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) Programs ..........215
F. Standards Necessary for Safety ........................................................216
G. International Standards......................................................................216
IV. Summary ....................................................................................................218
Chapter 8 Going to Market: Success or Failure?.............................................219

I. The Final Screening................................................................................... 219
II. The Test Market: What It Is ......................................................................219
A. Examples ...........................................................................................220
III. The Test Market: Its Goals........................................................................221
A. Some Cautions...................................................................................222
1. The Costs: A Deterrent ...............................................................223
B. Considerations for a Successful Traditional Test Market ................223
1. Where to Introduce......................................................................224
2. When to Introduce.......................................................................225
3. The Length of the Test Market Period .......................................226
4. Disruptive and Unexpected Elements in Test Markets ..............226
5. How to Introduce ........................................................................227
6. What Product to Market?............................................................228
IV. Evaluating the Results ...............................................................................228
A. The Market: Misinterpreted and Misunderstood ..............................228
1. Dynamism and Interrelationships in the Marketplace................229
2. Personal Opinions, Biases, and Self-Deception .........................231
3. Criteria for Evaluation ................................................................231
4. Applying the Criteria ..................................................................233
B. Judgment Day: The Evaluation.........................................................233
V. Failures in the Marketplace .......................................................................234
A. Causes of Failure...............................................................................236
1. External Reasons for Product Failure.........................................237
2. Internal Reasons for Product Failure ..........................................238
3. Product Maintenance: Salvaging Failure ....................................239
Chapter 9 Going Outside for New Product Development ...............................241

I. A Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose.......................................................................241
A.Outsourcing .......................................................................................242
1. Cutting to the Core: Advantages and Disadvantages .................242
B. Outsourcing, Consulting, Partnering, and Joint Ventures.................243
C. A Classification of Consultants ........................................................245
D. What Do Consultants Do? ................................................................248
II. Going Outside for Product Development..................................................249
A. The Need ........................................................................................... 249
B. Finding and Selecting the Appropriate Consultant ..........................250
C. Caveats in Selecting and Working with Consultants........................253
1. Exposure ......................................................................................253
2. Loss of Client’s Collective Learning Opportunity .....................254
3. Employee Growth........................................................................254
4. Dissension....................................................................................254
5. Other Obligations and Responsibilities ......................................255
D. Advantages and Disadvantages.........................................................255
1. Utilization of Resources..............................................................256
2. Flies in the Ointment ..................................................................256
3. The Need to Monitor ..................................................................257
III. Communication: Does the Client Understand the Consultant’s
Language? ..................................................................................................257
A. “Speak Clearly, Dammit”..................................................................257
IV. Summary .................................................................................................... 259
Chapter 10 New Food Product Development in the Food Service Industry ..... 261
I. Understanding the Food Service Industry................................................. 261
II. The Food Service Marketplaces................................................................ 261
A. Customers and Consumers in the Food Service Industry ................ 263
III. Characteristics of the Food Service Market.............................................. 264
A. Clientele............................................................................................. 265
B. Food Preparation and Storage Facilities ........................................... 266
C. Labor.................................................................................................. 267
D. Price, Quality, Consistency, and Safety ............................................ 268
E. Nutrition ............................................................................................ 270
1. Standards ..................................................................................... 271
2. Health Care Sector of the Institutional Market .......................... 273
3. The Military Sector of the Institutional Market ......................... 274
IV. Developing Products for the Food Service Sector....................................275
A. The Physical Facilities of the Customer...........................................275
B. Energy Requirements ........................................................................ 276
C. Labor..................................................................................................277
D. Waste Handling .................................................................................278
E. Customers and Consumers................................................................278
1. The Consumer: Nutrition ............................................................279
V. Quality in the Food Service Market..........................................................279
A. Safety.................................................................................................280
VI. Development of Products for the Food Service Market........................... 280
VII. Criteria for Evaluating a Test Market .......................................................282
Chapter 11 Product Development for the Food Ingredient Industry .................285

I. The Environment of the Food Ingredient Developer ................................285
A. Characteristics of the Food Ingredient Industry ...............................285
1. The Chain of Customers and Consumers: A Welter of
Identities and Needs ....................................................................285
2. Similarities and Dissimilarities to the Food Service
Industry........................................................................................286
3. The Ever-Present Government ....................................................287
4. The Proliferation of New Ingredients.........................................288
B. Focusing on the Customer, Who Is Also the Consumer ..................289
1. Customer Research......................................................................289
2. “Consumer” Research: Yes and No Possibilities........................291
C. The Development Process.................................................................292
1. The Development Process and Food Legislation .......................292
2. What Criteria for Screening? ......................................................293
D. The Future of Ingredient Development ............................................295
E. Meeting the Challenge: New Ingredients .........................................296
1. Marketing’s Impact on the Direction of Research and
Development................................................................................297
II. Ingredients and the New Nutrition............................................................305
A. Opportunities Provided by the New Nutrition .................................305
1. Biologically Active Nonnutrients................................................305
2. Other Ingredients: Some with and Some without Nutritive
Properties.....................................................................................310
3. A Cautionary Note ......................................................................314
B. Challenges for the New Nutrition.....................................................314
1. Problems Presented by Enriched Foods .....................................315
C. Summary............................................................................................316
Chapter 12 What I Have Learned So Far ...........................................................319

I. Looking Forward and Backward...............................................................319
A. Being Sure of the Concept................................................................319
1. The Value of the Earlier Literature.............................................320
2. What Customers and Consumers Want or What Retailers
Want? ...........................................................................................322
3. The Changing Scene in the Food Microcosm............................322
II. What Food Science and Technology Have Wrought ................................328
A. The Impact of Food Science and Technology..................................328
1. How Food Savvy Are the Customer and Consumer? ................328
2. Impact of Technology .................................................................330
3. Trends as Social History .............................................................333
B.
Factors Shaping Future New Product Development ........................342
1. The Influences .............................................................................342
C. New Food Products of the Future.....................................................349
1. On the Future ..............................................................................351
III. What I Have Learned So Far ....................................................................352
References .............................................................................................................355
Index......................................................................................................................377
1 New Food Products
and New Food Product
Development in a
Nutshell: The Mystique
and Mythology of New
Product Development
… the production of a new food commodity might seem to be a trivial matter unworthy
of serious consideration, this is not necessarily so. The technological expertise upon
which any one item depends may require the full depth of scientific understanding.
Magnus Pyke (1971)
I. INTRODUCTION
New food products are described by several sources as the lifeblood of food com-
panies. Companies would eventually languish and die if they relied solely on their
old bell-ringer products year after year. The rewards from a successful new product
can be great, but if the products are failures, the company must absorb severe
financial losses as well as endure a loss of face.
New food products and their development can be written about from many
perspectives: that of the consumer, that of the company’s management, that of a
food journalist — often describing what went wrong — that of the technocrat
involved in the development, and that of the marketer responsible for the consumer
research and promotion materials. Each perspective contributes something to the
study of new products and their development, but each also brings a bias reflecting
the position of the contributor.
An exploration of the mystique surrounding new product development requires
first a complete understanding of the terms used and, here especially, the terms as
they will be used in this book. Agreement on these terms is important in describing
and understanding the new food product development process.
1
2 New Food Product Development: From Concept to Marketplace
TABLE 1.1
Characteristics of a New Food Product as Introduced by a Specific
Food Company
Product has never before been manufactured by that company.
Product has never before been distributed by that company.
An old established product manufactured by a company is introduced into a geographically new area by
that company.
An old established product manufactured by a company is introduced in either a new package or a new
size or form.
An old established product manufactured by a company is introduced into a new market niche, that is,
positioned as one with a new function.
II. DEFINING NEW FOOD PRODUCTS AND THEIR

CHARACTERISTICS
A. NEW PRODUCTS
Very simply, a new food product should be one that is new; that is, the product has
not been presented in the local marketplace or, indeed, in any marketplace, before.
This is, of course, a rare occurrence. Most products advertised as “new” usually
have an analogue, a comparable look-alike, produced locally by a competitor, pro-
duced elsewhere in the country, or imported.
A food product may be new with respect to a company that has not sold it before
but is not necessarily new with respect to a marketplace. Therefore, the character-
istics of a new food product that might be introduced by a company can be described
in Table 1.1.
The simplest definition of a new product is:
a product not previously manufactured by a company and introduced by that company

into its marketplace or the presentation by a company of an established product perhaps
in a new form or into a new market not previously explored by that company.
This definition should not be applied too rigidly. It becomes a little shaky if pushed.
For example, no-name or store brand products, even those as famous as President’s
Choice®, do not fit some of the characteristics or categories.
No-name or store brand products are products purchased from a food manufac-
turer by a store, which then puts its own no-name or house brand label on them.
The retailer has established purchasing standards for the product (often very high
standards, cf. President’s Choice) and has neither developed, manufactured, nor
market researched the product. In effect, these products piggyback on the research
and development work of the food manufacturer.
Tables 1.2 and 1.3 enumerate new food products, describe some general char-
acteristics of each type, and provide some examples.
New Food Products and New Food Product Development in a Nutshell 3
TABLE 1.2
General Characteristics of Classes of New Food Products
Types of New Product General Characteristics
Line extensions Little time or research is required for development.

No major manufacturing changes in processing lines or major equipment
purchases are required.
Relatively little change in marketing strategy is needed.
No new purchasing skills (commodity trading) or raw material sources
are required.
No new storage or handling techniques for either the raw ingredients or
the final product are needed. This means regular distribution systems can
be used.
Repositioned existing Research and development time is minimal.
product Manufacturing is comparatively unaffected.
Marketing must develop new strategies and promotional materials to
interpret and penetrate the newly created marketing niche.
Sales tactics require reevaluation to reach and make sales within the new
marketplaces.
New form or size of Highly variable impact on research and development.
existing product Highly variable impact on physical plant and manufacturing capabilities.
Major equipment purchases may be required if manufacturing to be done
in-house.
Marketing and sales resources will require extensive reprogramming.
Reformulation of existing Moderate research and development required consistent with
product reformulation goal.
Generally little impact on physical facilities.
Generally little impact on marketing and sales resources unless
reformulation leads to repositioning of product.
Repackaging of existing The novelty of the repackaging will dictate the amount and degree of
product research and development required.
Slight impact on physical facilities. New packaging equipment will be
required.
Little impact on marketing, sales, and distribution resources.
Innovative products Amount of research and development dependent on the nature of the
innovation.
Highly variable impact on manufacturing capabilities.
Possible heavy impact on marketing and sales resources.
Creative products Generally heavy need for extensive research and development; therefore
a costly venture.
Extensive development time may be required.
May require entirely new plant and equipment. Degree of creativity may
require development de novo or unique equipment.
Will require total revision of marketing and sales forces. Creation of a
new company or brand may be required.
Risk of failure is high.
TABLE 1.3
Examples of Different Types of New Products
Type of New Product Examples of Category
Line extensions A new flavor for a line of wine coolers or for a line of flavored bottled
waters
New varieties of a family of canned ready-to-serve soups
New flavors for a snack product such as potato chips
New flavored breadcrumb coating
A coarser or more natural peanut butter
Repositioned existing Oatmeal-containing products positioned as dietary factors in reducing
product cholesterol
Soy-containing products repositioned as dietary factors combating cancer
Soft drinks positioned as main meal accompaniments
New form of existing Margarine or butter spreadable at refrigerator temperatures
product Prepeeled fruit or sectioned grapefruit or oranges
Fast-cooking products such as rice or oats
Instant coffees, teas, and flavored coffees
Dehydrated spice blends for sauces
Reformulation of existing Low-calorie (reduced sugar, fat) products
products Hotter, spicier, zestier, crunchier (e.g., peanut butter), smoother products
All natural (“greener”) products, organic products
Lactose-free milk products
High-fiber products
New packaging of existing Single serving sizes of, for example, yogurt
product Branded fruits and vegetables
Pillow packs for snack food items
Institutional sizes for warehouse stores
Squeeze bottles for condiment sauces
Pull-top containers of snack dips
Use of thin profile containers
Innovative products Dinner kits
Canned snack food dips (see above)
Frozen dinners
Simulated seafood products
Creative products Reformed meat cuts
Extruded products
Surimi- and kamaboko-based products, soy bean curd (tofu), and limed
corn if these were discovered recently
Short-chain fatty acid–containing products
1. Line Extensions
A line extension is a variant of an established line of food products, that is, one
more of the same. Line extensions represent a logical extension of a family of
similarly positioned products.
Some thought must be given to distinguish what are and are not line extensions,
for example:
• Adding a canned three-bean salad product to a line of canned bean products

involves a change in processing and quality control technology. Developers
have gone from a high pH, low acid product to an acidified product. This
is no longer a line extension; a different market niche is targeted.
• A snack manufacturer that extends its product line from potato chips to
the manufacture of corn chips, corn puffs, roasted peanuts, or popcorn is
not making simple line extensions. Such products have in common only
the snack food element. They may be distributed through the same chan-
nels and displayed in the same section of a retail store, but purchasing
philosophies, storage facilities, and manufacturing technologies have
changed extensively for the manufacturer.
Line extensions are not to be confused with brand extensions. Brand extensions,
particularly brand overextensions, can be a death knell for a brand and the products
under its protective umbrella. One need only think of a favorite brand of food and
picture that brand name extended to carry a line of women’s lingerie or men’s
underwear. It has been tried with disastrous results.
Marketing programs are usually not affected by line extensions, but there can
be some surprises. A manufacturer of a family of confectionery products originally
positioned for children may be presented with some marketing difficulties if adult
flavors are introduced. Children may not appreciate the flavors; adults may not
readily accept the product if they do not realize that the product is flavored for them.
Therefore, different promotions, advertisements, and store placements for the adult
products must be considered.
2. Repositioned Existing Products
A company can be very startled to find, either through consumer letters or surveys
of their consumers’ product usage, that their consumers have come up with a new
use for an existing product, one that the company had never anticipated. These
observations may allow a whole new market direction to be taken and give a new
life to an existing product (a process called product maintenance). The classic
example is ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda finding a new niche as both a body
deodorant and a deodorant for food odors especially in refrigerators.
These repositionings require extensive marketing development because they
take the company into entirely new markets for which brand extension might not
be suitable.
3. New Form or Size of Existing Products
Putting an existing product into a new form, for example, a paste product converted
to a tablet or a sauce to a powder, is a radical departure for customers and consumers
alike to accept. Neither one may appreciate the so-called improvement in the
modified product. Advantages or improvements of the new form over an old estab-
lished product form must be perceived as an advantage by customers and consumers.
For example, the advantages of a dried, sprinkle-on version of a previously wet
condiment sauce may not be appreciated or preferred by users over the traditional
form. Prepeeled, precut french fry–style potatoes were never successful over whole
potatoes in the chilled food, retail market. (This added convenience of a new form
may change; see below.)
4. Reformulation of Existing Products
The “new, improved” product is typical of this category. Reformulation may be

necessary for any number of reasons:
• Some improvement, such as better color, better flavor, more fiber, less fat,
greater stability, and fewer calories, is required in a product to match
competitive products or to fit with trends.
• A raw material is unavailable or too costly because of a scarcity due to
a poor harvest, trade embargo imposed on the source country, or strike-
bound supplier. Reformulation is required to overcome the scarcity.
• New technologies bring improved processes or cheaper ingredients with
vastly improved characteristics and properties that must be investigated
to make an improved product.
• Reformulation is needed to lower the costs of a product to compete with
cheaper products from competitors. This is often the reason for the new,
improved product.
• Regulatory agencies have altered the legal status of an ingredient or an
additive. This has happened in the past with several color additives and
an artificial sweetener. More recently questions have arisen respecting the
safety of some nutraceuticals, for example, kava kava and St. John’s wort.
• Reformulation may also be necessary to create a new market niche for
existing products, for example, one with fewer calories.
Reformulation can usually be accomplished comparatively inexpensively and

within a relatively short developmental time. However, if the reformulation goal is
fewer calories through the replacement or removal of fat or sugar, research and
development may be extensive.
The new, improved product can present a marketing dilemma for a company.
Customers and consumers are apt to wonder, if this new version is an improvement
why was it not offered in the first instance?
5. New Packaging of Existing Products
In its simplest form, the packaging of bulk produce into unit packages typifies this
category (see Figure 1.1). The brand labeling of packaged produce and meats gave
these existing products a new life as new products of higher quality on which a
(1) Field Potatoes
(2) Bulk Potatoes

cleaning, culling, size-grading
(3) Retail Packaging

• 5-lb and 10-lb units
• branded potatoes
• varietal potatoes
• wrapped units of 4
(4) Institutional Market

• precooked, foil-wrapped
• prepeeled, precooked, diced
• french fry–cut
• mashed
• hash browns
• potato skins
(5) Added-Value Marketing

• frozen french fries
• dehydrated potatoes
• canned potatoes
• snack foods
– chips
– reformulated chips
• industrial products
– modified starches
– starch derivatives
– alcohol
FIGURE 1.1 Adding value to the humble potato.
company is proud to put its name (Gitelman, 1986). For example, bananas, plums,
pears, and many other fruits and vegetables were, until recently, all no-name foods;
these now display stickers of well-known food companies. Packages of “speed scratch
products,” that is, mixed, washed salad greens and prepeeled fruits and vegetables,
fit in here. Here, of course, development is minimal. Manufacturing involves pur-
chasing, inspection, grading, cleaning, trimming, storage, weighing, packaging, and
distribution. The key responsibility in making this new product a success rests mainly
with marketing a brand, the quality of which is known and respected by customers
and consumers. As adding convenience progresses, the amount of technology
required to make these products a success and to make them safe increases.
New technologies such as modified atmosphere packaging and controlled atmo-
sphere packaging have permitted the creation of a number of new products and
provided existing products with an extended shelf life for both satisfying existing
markets and allowing the opening up of new markets in a larger distribution area.
Both technologies may require extensive research for safety and shelf life stability
of the products (see Chapter 5, Section 7). Another packaging development is
biobased materials, which offer a marketing ploy as environmentally sound features
(Shahidi et al., 1999; Petersen et al., 1999). Here again, care must be taken over the
safety of these packaging films.
To change a package, for example, from metal to glass containers, means a new
packaging line. Even the changeover from steel cans to aluminum cans to save
weight requires an extensive overhaul of the packaging operation. Similarly, the use
of plastic squeeze bottles with snap-cap lids for dispensing mustard, ketchup, or
other sauces is a major packaging changeover from glass containers.
To change from a cylindrical, conventional can to a thin profile container (the
pouch and the semirigid tray) for thermally processed foods requires a reformulation.
Such a change improves the quality (added value) of the product through faster heat
penetration but requires recalculation of the thermal process. The original formula-
tion was based on withstanding the more rigorous thermal process, and the formu-
lation may not be suitable for the new heat process. In addition, extensive changes
to the packaging line are required.
6. Innovative Products
The remaining two categories, innovative products and creative products, cannot
properly be described without clearly defining what is meant by innovation and what
is meant by creation. Webster’s Ninth Collegiate Dictionary defines innovate as
“make changes.” The Concise Oxford English Dictionary’s definition is “make
changes in.” So, an innovative product is one resulting from making changes to an
existing product.
Innovative products are difficult to categorize. According to dictionary defini-
tions every new product description previously mentioned in this chapter is an
innovation. Despite the dictionary definitions, none of these products were innova-
tive. Generally, the more innovation (change) in a product, the more costly the
marketing strategies of that novelty may become since the customer and consumer
have to be educated on the value of the innovation. In short, the development of
innovative products could be costlier and riskier than any of the other previously
discussed paths to new products.
However, little research and development are required for a frozen food processor
to put a stew, frozen vegetables, and a frozen pastry on a tray and call it a frozen
dinner. Certainly there will be some production line changes. Likewise, putting a can
of tomato sauce, a package of dry spaghetti sauce spices, and a package of dry pasta
together to make a dinner kit requires little research and development effort. Yet both
were remarkably successful innovative products that engendered many imitators.
In the nonfood category, Akio Morita, the inventor of the Walkman® (trademark
of the Sony Corporation), claimed the Walkman involved no invention and no costly
research and development, just expert putting-together of established inventions into
a superbly marketed product (Geake and Coghlan, 1992).
New ingredients can form the basis for innovative products. Simulated crab legs,
lobster chunks, shrimp, and scallops based on surimi technology have formed the
basis for many seafood dishes (Johnston, 1989; Mans, 1992).
An ambitious program of innovation with all its attendant costs for a canner of
commodities such as chick peas, navy beans, and other lentils would be to venture
into the leisure foods arena to manufacture such added-value products as hot bean
dips or ethnic dishes such as hummus tahini. The demographics of many cities
indicate unique marketing opportunities for the adventurous in such ethnic dishes.
7. Creative Products
The dictionary sources noted above both define create as “bring into existence.” A
creative product is, therefore, one newly brought into existence: the rare, never-
before-seen product.
Creative products are harder to define than innovative products and still more
difficult to exemplify. Surimi, a fish gel developed several hundred years ago, is
considered a creative product, as are kamaboko-based products, which were devel-
oped from surimi. Tofu, bean curd, and limed corn meal are also creative products.
Today, one might consider reformed meat products as a creative development, and
certainly extrusion to produce new puffed products is creative.
When creative products are successful, imitators rapidly flood the market with
me-too products. They telescope the time and effort the developers of the creative
product took to create an imitation and market it. In general, the more a product is
a copycat of an existing product, the less development time will be required even
if the product is creative. Development time may be only as long as it takes to get
new labels printed. Similarly, development costs and costs of market entry will be
minimal. Truly creative products have greater costs and development times that may
be measured in years rather than weeks or months.
B. ADDED VALUE
Added value is a characteristic many new products are purported to have. The late
Mae West had a memorable line in the film She Done Him Wrong: “Beulah, peel
me a grape!” Beulah provided added value for a consumer; peeled ready-to-eat fruit
possesses this characteristic. Added value, then, describes the degree of innovation
or change that makes a product more desirable to customers and consumers. The
novelty might be improved stability, improved functionality, better color, better
texture, or better service or convenience. It could mean less preparation time (greater
convenience) or less waste from preparation to dispose of. Whatever the value is,
consumers want it. Meltzer (1991) rather unclearly defined value-added processing
(the terms added value and value added are used synonymously) as “any technique
that effects a physical or chemical change in a food or any activity that adds value
to a product.”
The concept of added value is depicted more concretely in Figure 1.1. I worked
closely with a potato processing operation that produced prepeeled, french fry–cut
potatoes (Stage 4). Not too many decades ago, only field grade potatoes were sold.
They were packed in bulk as 100-lb burlap sacks in grocery stores. Convenience
was added by breaking these into bushel, peck, or half-peck baskets of potatoes —
measures never seen in retail outlets today. There was no culling of bad potatoes,
no size sorting, and no cleaning. One bought one’s potatoes in the fall, stored them
in the cellar, and used them throughout the winter. The quantity of potatoes purchased
was not convenient for smaller families and was far in excess of the needs of the
increasing number of apartment dwellers who had neither cellars nor storage cup-
boards. Many ethnic families did not want large quantities of potatoes, nor did such
quantities reflect the changing food habits of consumers who did not want meals
designed around potatoes.
Initially, added value was created by cleaning, culling, and size grading (Stage
2 in Figure 1.1), followed by more suitably sized packaging in 5- and 10-lb units
(Stage 3). Smaller, more convenient unit packaging (foil- or glassine-packaged
potatoes) introduced new market niches by targeting customers such as “live alones”
and occasional potato users. Offering specific varietal potatoes (Yukon Gold, for
example) or potatoes with properties specific for baking, barbecuing, or frying
provided more convenience (value).
Today, potatoes and several other vegetables and fruits are offered not only by
their brand and varietal names but with suggestions for the best culinary uses of that
particular variety. The customer knows what variety to buy for the purpose in mind,
or the customer can buy the variety, know how to best prepare it, and have the
assurance of quality that the brand name confers. The drive to provide added value
continued with prepeeling, dicing, and slicing the potatoes. This minimized prepa-
ration time for institutional users and concentrated waste in a central location where
it might be more profitably used. The move now was to a new niche, a new market.
However, new problems were introduced. Added value requires application of
advanced technology and labor to reduce losses from spoilage with a more fragile
product and to prevent hazards of public health significance (see Pyke’s statement
opening this chapter). A new market meant new marketing and sales techniques. It also
meant that a distribution network suitable for a fragile product had to be established.
Sophisticated further processing serves the needs of the food service sector with
preprepared hash browns, baked potatoes, partially cooked french fry–style chips,
stuffed potatoes, and so on. Each added value introduces the need for more advanced
technologies to maintain safety and quality and provides greater marketing oppor-
tunities; these also require more complex distribution and sales systems.
Meat, poultry, and fish are also sold with more descriptive names, by brand
names, and with preparation instructions or recipes describing how to cook the
particular cut of meat or species of fish. Added value for both the consumer and the
customer has been introduced.
C. CUSTOMERS AND CONSUMERS

The terms customer and consumer are often substituted one for the other: yet, they
describe two different entities and should not be confused. A customer is one who
buys in a marketplace. This is the person who is attracted by sales material, promo-
tions, or tastings in the marketplace. The customer is the purchasing agent suffering
the blandishments of technical sales representatives or hunting for suppliers able to

offer ingredients and raw materials as well as reliability of delivery, quality, and
price. Retailers are mostly interested in the customer since the customer buys.
Dr. Kurt Lewin (reported in Gibson, 1981) described the customer as a “gate-
keeper.” The gatekeepers are:
• Family members who decide what will be purchased for the household
• Purchasing departments of companies and stores or central commissaries
for restaurant chains, institutions, hospitals, and the like who buy or send
out tenders to suppliers with specifications for manufacturers, for the
military, for caterers to penal institutions, and so on
• Chefs who plan menus and decide what raw produce, ingredients, or
semifinished goods are purchased for the diners in a restaurant
• Owners who determine what pet foods will be purchased for their animals
In addition, the customer makes choices (i.e., purchases) according to their and
others’ likes and dislikes, allergies, disposable income, or commercial industrial
requirements.
The consumer uses (consumes) what is purchased by the customer. The con-
sumer can also be the customer. For example, a diner in a restaurant and a person
walking down the street eating finger food are both customer and consumer. Obvi-
ously consumers influence what customers purchase or serve. Uneaten food returned
to the restaurant’s kitchen; prisoners rioting over the quality and variety of food
prepared for them; ingredient suppliers losing contracts because of poor quality,
inability to meet their clients’ specifications, or late deliveries; or children refusing
to eat their meals: all of these attest to the power of the consumer.
As noted by Fuller (2001), “There is the conflict between the consumer’s hedo-
nistic demand of ‘I want’ and the customer’s practical barrier of ‘I need or ‘I can
afford.”
Therefore, marketing and sales personnel must clearly understand this distinc-
tion between customer and consumer. Sales personnel are concerned with retailing
and retailers and only indirectly with customers unless their duties also include
stocking store shelves.
D. MARKETS AND MARKETPLACES

Market and marketplace are often used synonymously, but each has a unique mean-
ing. A market is conceptual; it represents a need discovered in customers and
consumers that marketing personnel hope to develop into a want, a potential to sell.
That is, one can say that there is a market for organically grown vegetables and
meats or that there is a market for low-calorie foods. This means there are customers
in the many different marketplaces who will preferentially purchase organically
grown products or low-calorie foods. Their needs must be developed into wants and
satisfied with products.
Products are, however, sold in marketplaces, not in markets (despite the use in
common parlance of farmers’ markets). Marketplaces are real physical entities; they
Z
Elusivity
3
X
Technical
Complexity
6
Y
Marketplace 4
Complexity
FIGURE 1.2 Product complexity, marketplace complexity, and consumer elusivity interac-
tions characteristic of new products and their marketing.
are not conceptual. They range from farmers’ roadside stands to giant food stores,
beverage and snack bars in movie houses, and coin-operated food vending machines.
Even electronic food marketplaces operating from Web sites are real marketplaces.
III. MARKETING CHARACTERISTICS OF

NEW PRODUCTS
Figure 1.2 demonstrates three-dimensionally the difficulties accompanying the
movement of known products in known markets into new and unknown markets or
the movement of existing products to complex innovative products.
The y-axis is a measure of increasing marketplace complexity; the farther from
the origin, the more complex the marketplace. This measure of complexity encom-
passes any one or all intangibles such as:
• The product is moved into marketplaces with increased activity by the

competition.
• The product requires more sophisticated warehousing, distribution, and
retailing activities.
• New food legislation and regulations or marketing customs (perhaps in
foreign countries importing the product) need to be adhered to.
• The general economy of the country as well as specific economic factors
in the area being serviced are altered drastically.
• The level, availability, or lack of marketing skills within the company to
answer all the above challenges becomes apparent.
• The geography of the market area as well as the difficulty of selling
novelty or educating the consumer present problems.
The x-axis is an index of increasing the technical complexity required for a

product with innovation, creativity, and added value. The farther from the origin,
the more creativity, innovation, or technical complexity there is in the product.
Consequently more research, development time, and costs are involved. The product
is also more fragile and sensitive to abuse; it requires care in handling and distribution
channels to maintain its high quality throughout retailing and in the hands of the
end user. More education of the customer and consumer is required to recognize the
added-value features. Therefore, more creative marketing technology is needed.
The remaining axis, the z-axis (into the back of the page), is a measure of the
volatility and elusiveness, and perhaps even the fickleness or incredulity, of consum-
ers and customers. How else can one explain the growth in “healthy” foods when
there has been “a dramatic increase in the per capita consumption of high calorie
desserts, salted snack foods, and high calorie confections” noted as far back as 1986
(Gitelman, 1986) and continuing to this day? Or the horrendous outcry over obesity,
which an October E-newsletter of the Institute of Food Technologists claims has
quadrupled, with the contradictory belief of many marketers that consumers are on
a wellness kick? (The average caloric intake by consumers is up over what it was
20 years ago. Today obesity is considered to be of epidemic proportions.) The z-
axis represents the elusive consumer or customer who is targeted in the marketplace.
Elusiveness can be likened to market segmentation, a new market niche. If a product
designed for the general public (a rare event) is redesigned for the teenage market,
that consumer has become more elusive and the market is segmented. If this hypo-
thetical product is redesigned again for teenagers of single parents, more elusiveness
is created. Marketing purists might cavil at this, claiming that elusiveness is really
a variant of the y-axis or marketplace complexity. This is incorrect: it is not the
volatility of the marketplace that is represented but the volatility of consumers and
customers within these marketplaces.
Six numbered cubes in Figure 1.2 represent typical problems faced by developers
as they attempt to bring new products to market. Cube 1, at the origin, depicts the
situation of an established product in a known market (also encountered when a line
extension is introduced into a known market). It is the status quo, the starting point.
Cube 2 represents taking the same established product into a more complex
marketplace situation. This could be simply expanding into a new geographic area
or perhaps into foreign marketplaces. The targeted customers and consumers have
not changed. Development costs are not a factor in getting into the new marketplace.
Only the costs associated with marketing (labels, promotional materials, and adver-
tising), sales (brokers), and distribution increase.
Cube 3 is a product with added value (increased product complexity) introduced
into a known marketplace and aimed at known consumers. Costs for development
to add value as well as marketplace introduction and promotional material to educate
the old customers and consumers now begin to escalate.
In the situation represented by Cube 4, a product with added value has been
introduced into a more complex marketplace, one previously unknown to the devel-
oper. The company has simply expanded into a new marketplace. The targeted con-
sumers remain the same, but there is a new playing field. Researching the new market
area brings increased costs because the old marketing strategies may not be suitable.
Cube 5 represents another repositioning problem. An established product is

targeted for an elusive consumer but in a familiar marketplace. Some examples are
a popular antacid positioned as a calcium supplement for elderly women or a hand
cream that proves to be an excellent insect repellent for campers. Costs can again
increase significantly to reach these new targets that are more elusive. The situation
is risky: A cosmetics company may not want its mystique associated with the sporting
life and insect pests; or a manufacturer of a hot sauce with a high content of
phytochemicals of the capscaicinoid family may not want to enter the quasi-medic-
inal arena based on its product’s content of this nutraceutical.
Cube 6 represents the worst of all possible worlds. A technically complex product
with added value is positioned for elusive consumers in a market foreign to the
developer. The best example may be added-value products such as cheeses made
with medium-chain-length fatty acids for people with digestive disorders in the
health care market. This situation could result when a product is repositioned or a
new market niche opens for it. The risk is high, development costs are high, and
promotion can be difficult. An example of a successful product in this situation is
ARM & HAMMER Baking Soda, for which marketers exploited a rediscovered
property possessed by an old product (using baking soda as a deodorant, dentifrice,
or bath powder).
Figures 1.1 and 1.2 can be compared using potatoes. Industrial products
certainly drive technical complexity far to the right and at the same time push
market complexity into new market areas, for example, the food ingredients and
hotel and restaurant markets. Reformulated chips and other products demonstrate
increased technical complexity (Cube 3) and represent a leisure snack market
(Cube 4) but also a more elusive consumer, that is, the upscale, older consumer
(Cube 6).
A. PRODUCT LIFE CYCLES

Every product has a life cycle, as depicted in Figure 1.3a. The horizontal axis is a
measure of time. The vertical axis is an index of a product’s acceptance, either
volume of cases sold or sales dollars. Here case volume of product sold was chosen
to follow life cycle. Five distinct phases of the life cycle can be discerned:
1. The introductory period is heavily supported by promotions, in-store

demonstrations, and advertising to gain introduction. Sales volume is
initially low as customers and consumers are educated about the product.
2. A strong growth period ensues when first-time customers begin repeat
buying and new consumers are attracted. There is a positive acceleration
of sales growth. Growth continues as new markets open, but continued
promotion and expansion at the introductory pace are costly.
3. A decline in the growth of the sales volume begins. Growth accelerates
negatively.
4. Next comes a no-growth period. Sales are constant, a sign of a stagnating
market.
(a)
(4)
(3) (5)
Case
Volume
Sales
(2)
(1)
(b)
+$
–$
(c)
+$
–$
Time
FIGURE 1.3 Characteristics of products, their life cycles, and profitability. (a) typical product
life cycle; (b) the profit picture; (c) the contribution of new products to profitability.
5. A decline in volume begins. Newly introduced competitive products

adversely affect sales; customers and consumers become indifferent to
the old product. Promotions prove too costly to maintain sales volume.
Life cycle curves can be generated for product categories as well as specific
products within a category. Instant coffee, as a product category, could be described
as still in the growth phase. Nevertheless, the leading brands of instant coffee have
changed places as their manufacturers go through different stages of the cycle at
any given time. The sale of flour had for years been in a no-growth phase that was
only slightly ruffled by the advent of cake mixes; now it is enjoying modest growth
as many households are returning to the art of baking. During a period in the 1970s
when meat prices soared because of a scarcity of beef, the sale of meat substitutes
and extenders grew dramatically, and then plummeted drastically when meat became
plentiful and prices fell. Meat substitutes never reached a no-growth phase (Phase
4); they just plummeted and their life cycle could be described as a spike. Life cycle
curves are as varied as the products they represent.
B. THE PROFIT PICTURE

More revealing of the success of a product than sales is the profit brought in by
those sales. The introductory phases will have minimal net profit (see Figure 1.3b,
Phases 1 and 2) because these bear the costs of past research and development as
well as the heavy costs for promotion, market penetration, and getting shelf space
(slotting fees). There are improved profits during the latter part of the growth phase
(Figure 1.3b, Phase 2). The improvement continues in Phase 3, but toward the end
of this phase profits begin to drop off as costs for market expansion and costs to
support the product against the competition begin to take their toll. During the no-
growth phase (Phase 4), profits barely cover costs to support the product. The
company eventually sees the product as an unprofitable item that costs too much to
maintain. Manufacture of the product ceases.
To maintain the viability of the company, replacement products must be ready
to launch to continue the flow of profits. In Figure 1.3c, two additional products
have been launched by the company. These products maintain the company’s net
profit picture in a healthier state; the profits derived from each new product are
additive, but so are the expenses of research and development and promotion. The
smart company keeps a series of new products in various stages of development.
Bogaty (1974) suggests that for every one product on the national market, two
should be in test marketing. For each of those two, there should be four in the
last stages of consumer testing. He works this idea backward, ultimately stating
that 32 product ideas should be screened for development consideration. The
cumulative profitability of these new food products promises, if they are successful,
a good return on investment. To stay healthy, a company needs to constantly
research markets and marketplaces for new product ideas and maintain in its
portfolio many new product ideas and projects that complement its findings in
market research.
IV. WHY UNDERTAKE NEW FOOD PRODUCT

DEVELOPMENT?
The previous section highlighted two reasons to develop new products. First, they
do not last forever. Second, they contribute enormously to a company’s continuing
profit picture.
Customers and consumers are deluged with new food products each year. Figure
1.4 presents statistics on new food product introductions (Friedman, 1990; Kantor,
1991; Harris, 2002). New product introductions are plotted on a logarithmic scale
against time. The number of introductions, according to this data base, peaked at
the astonishing number of 15,000 products in 1994 but has dropped precipitously
since then. Harris (2002) ascribes the decline to several factors:
105
Log of Introductions
104
103
102
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Year
FIGURE 1.4 The rise and apparent decline of new food product introductions (logarithmic
scale).
• There has been a consolidation of many food companies and hence a

diminishing number of product lines. However, many spin-off brands have
been sold and become the nucleus of new and smaller companies.
• Better market and consumer research have helped companies remove
potential product failures much earlier in the development process. (Harris
attaches great importance to efficient consumer response technology for
this early culling of losers.)
• Retailers are giving more attention and space to their own private label
products. This, in addition to slotting fees and promotional allowances,
discourages many companies, especially small companies, from compet-
ing with new products.
• There may be product saturation in some product categories.
This graphic presentation of the data (Figure 1.4) and its interpretation are
somewhat misleading. Figure 1.5 plots the percent change in the number of intro-
ductions in a 2-year period over those of the previous 2-year period. (This graphing
procedure is discussed in Cleveland and McGill, 1984.) Here the rate of introduc-
tions of new products is seen to have been declining since 1982 and not just since
1994. This decline may be more readily observed from the dotted “best fit” curve
(a fourth-order least squares fit).
Was the 80% increase of 1982 over 1980 simply an outlying spike? Such spikes
are the bane of those familiar with control charts who have occasionally encountered
these anomalies on process control charts. Such aberrations cause the quality control
inspector to rush into the production manager’s office screaming, “Stop production,
FIGURE 1.5 The percent biannual increase or decrease of new product introductions over
several years.
the line is out of control!” Resampling on the line, of course, shows everything to
be “in control.” Were definitions of what constituted a new product introduction
consistent throughout the data gathering?
The decline in new product introductions started much earlier than Harris sug-
gests. Harris’s reasons for the decline may very well be valid, but more reasons to
mark the decline in new product introductions in this earlier period must be sought.
Besides mergers, companies at this time (the 1980s) were getting down to their core
businesses; that is they were downsizing, and often one of the first groups to be
downsized was the research and development department. Hence, it might be sug-
gested that the dismissal of technical staff and the break-up of technical departments
may have presaged the decline in new product introductions. Whatever the reasons,
they are not important to the discussions to follow.
However the decrease in introductions is viewed, whether beginning in 1994 or
1982, customers still see several thousand new food products entering the market-
place each year. Obviously, the sheer number of introductions shows that companies
believe that new products are important to their economic futures.
Unfortunately few of these thousands of new product introductions will be
rewarded with repeat purchases or even last a year from their introduction. They fail
for a variety of reasons. The failures represent the ultimate screening for a new
product, that is, no interest by the customer or by the consumer through the customer.
The odds against success are disheartening. Estimates of the failure rate range
from 1 in 6 to 1 in 20. Skarra (1998) reports that 1 in 58 new product ideas develops
into a successful new product. In my own experience, gained over a 4-year period
with one company’s product development program, for each product that went into
test market, 13 others had received some development at the laboratory bench level
or in the pilot plant before being rejected. Clausi (1974) estimated that in one 10-
year period General Foods Corporation conceptually tested, developed, and under-
took home-use testing on more than seven products to get one considered suitable
for test marketing. Less than half of those introduced to test markets were eventually
successful. This leaves an astonishingly small number of products that will achieve
their developers’ goals of market placement.
Estimates for the number of new food product failures range as widely as
estimates for new product introductions. Any estimate is beset with imprecision. At
which stage was the estimate made? At the laboratory bench stage, in a mini-test
market, in a regional test market, or a year after product launch? Was the estimate
made after the product failed to reach a satisfactory market share? A “satisfactory
market share” is a criterion established by the company’s management and may not
represent an unsuccessful product for customers but merely one that did not meet
management’s objective. Does loss of a product idea during in-house screening or
test market count as a failure? Is a product that is successful in a regional market
but fails nationally a failure? Or is one that just plods along growing slowly and
steadily but fails to reach the profit targets in the time established by management
(both of which may have been unreasonable targets) a failure? At what point during
development and on what basis was the decision made respecting success or failure?
Therein lies part of the imprecision for calculating failure rates.
If new food product development is fraught with so much difficulty, if it is so
costly, and if it has a high rate of failure, why go into it? Would it not be simpler to
save the expenses and coast along with the existing products? As Pyke (1971) stated
at the beginning of this chapter, much science representing time and money has gone
into this endeavor. The failure rate in new product development is, indeed, horren-
dous. The rewards, however, can mean the continued profitability of the company.
It would certainly be simpler but not profitable for very long to ignore new
product development. Food companies have to be profitable to grow and to survive.
“The engine which drives Enterprise is not Thrift, but Profit” (John Maynard Keynes
in A Treatise on Money). New food products are one of the major avenues open to
a food company to be profitable and survive. Some marketers would argue that new
food product development is the only path the food company can follow for survival.
A. THE “WHY” OF “WHY UNDERTAKE NEW PRODUCT

DEVELOPMENT?”
The need for new food product development is driven by five dominant forces:
• All products have life cycles. Eventually they die and must be replaced
or reinvigorated by heavy marketing or see consumer rejuvenation if the
brand or the manufacturer is to survive.
• New products offer the opportunity for aggressive growth to satisfy man-
agement’s long-range business goals.
• New markets may be created, for example, organic or functional foods
markets and companies are tempted to enter with their products. Market-
places may change, for example, e-commerce has emerged, requiring new
products more suited to respond to the changes.
• New knowledge and advancing technologies make technically feasible

food product ideas that were once considered impossible. New knowledge
in the health sciences suggests opportunities for new food products suited
to the healthy lifestyles of today’s consumers.
• Changes in government legislation, health programs, agricultural policy,
or agricultural support programs could require the development of new
food products.
1. Corporate Reasons for New Product Development
Senior management, under the direction of the owners or the shareholders, creates
a corporate business plan that sets out specific financial and growth objectives. Food
companies can achieve growth in a limited number of ways, such as:
• Expanding into new geographic markets: This can be expensive and risky
if the expansion is into a territory where a competitor has a strong foothold.
For products with short shelf lives, the distribution system and its costs
may limit such an expansion. Research and development will be necessary
to increase shelf life. Export markets present their own unique hazards
including the need to accommodate to local taste preferences.
• Achieving greater market penetration with a greater market share in exist-
ing markets: If the market is dominated by the competition, then this
approach means slugging it out with competitors. Large sums of money
are required for advertising and promotion.
• Developing new products: New markets can be opened up and contribute
to growth and profitability (see Figure 1.4c). The umbrella of brands
expands. Such products must be developed to bring in new profits. There
are, however, the costs of their development and marketing to consider.
• Acquiring rivals (the competition) or smaller companies with similar or
complementary products in widely separated regions of the country: A
company can expand its brands into new markets and use those of its
acquired company. (This possibility for growth is beyond the scope of
this book.)
Each avenue above comes with expenses and problems, but each may be required
to strengthen the company’s profit position.
Management seeks ways to meet its financial objectives by reducing expenses
and overhead costs. This is usually anathema to new product development. Expenses
are reduced by:
• Reducing staff: This is explained by the company getting to its core

business. The research and development staff are often the first to go.
• Cutting costs: This can involve implementation of an energy conservation
program, altering benefits programs and cutting wages, restricting travel,
outsourcing some functions, etc.
• Improving processing efficiency by adopting a waste management program.

• Adopting a sound process and quality control program to reduce line
losses, reduce substandard quality, and control overfill, rework, and prod-
uct returns.
These thrift measures may help the company’s profitability but are of limited
value for growth. Profit drives the enterprise, not thrift, to paraphrase Keynes.
When a plant operates seasonally, or has a slack season, its management has an
incentive to even out production throughout the year. A plant operating year-round
is more profitable than one idle most of the year. The slack season can be used to
produce new products, putting the underutilized plant to work. This keeps trained
workers employed throughout the year, reduces plant overhead, provides a more
steady cash flow, and benefits the community.
2. Marketplace Reasons for New Product Development

Food purveying is taking many new forms. Warehouse stores, mail catalogue shop-
ping, and teleshopping are changing customers’ buying habits. The traditional super-
market is adopting a new concept in retailing: it is becoming a collection of food
boutiques. Small mom and pop stores are becoming 24-hour convenience stores.
The abundance of restaurants, diners, take-out food outlets, mobile canteens for
work sites and the military, and deli counters in supermarkets makes ready-to-eat
(quick serve or speed scratch) food abundantly available.
The diversity of customers and consumers in the many different marketplaces
can be daunting; both are quixotic, impulsive, and fickle. The customer is the daily
shopper at green grocers, butchers, and bakeries or the more conventional once-a-
week shopper in the supermarket; the customer is also a restaurant patron, the
commissary of a fast food chain buying its pickles and relishes in the food service
arena, or the government buying in the institutional marketplace for military or penal
institutions. Because the needs of the customer and the types of marketplaces change
for a variety of reasons, food manufacturers serving those buying and selling sectors
need to respond quickly to changes.
The profile of customers and consumers in any marketplace, but in particular in
the retail marketplace, is constantly altering. The result is a changing pattern of
buying habits. Many factors cause this:
• Population movements bring changes in the ethnic backgrounds of neigh-

borhoods as immigrants bring their food habits with them. With these
movements come consumers with different food needs.
• Populations age and children move away from home to seek their own
livelihoods. Young couples just starting their careers, some with young
families, move in, and the economic cross section of a community may
change.
• Downtown neighborhoods, left empty because of movement of young
people with children and businesses to the suburbs, become yuppified as
developers move in. They are reborn as fashionable areas for young
professionals (often referred to as DINKs, dual income no kids) who have

different food needs and habits.
• Companies change. Some fold or are absorbed by larger companies, and
the result causes economic change in a neighborhood. Product mixes
change and the companies (customers) change their suppliers.
No matter where the marketplaces are, they are in a constant state of flux with
respect to their customers and consumers; the ethnic make-up, incomes, education,
and lifestyles of customers and consumers in any community change. Local indus-
tries modernize, move, or fade away, and economic values change. All these changing
factors determine what market niches for food products develop and what market-
places are suitable for placing products in these evolving neighborhoods.
Another factor in the marketplace that influences its dynamics is the competition.
The launch, by a competitor, of an improved product requires reaction from com-
panies with similar products whose sales may suffer from this introduction. A new
food product launch by a company requires retaliation on the part of other companies
with similar, competitive products. Retaliatory action may involve new pricing
strategies, promotional gimmicks, or the development of new products to combat
the competitor’s intrusion.
The food manufacturer must accept fluidity in the marketplace as a challenge. No
one product is expected to answer all the demands of customers and consumers forever.
Only a battery of new products will suffice to satisfy emerging market niches. The
many changes in the marketplace can be great motivators for product development.
3. Technological Pressures Forcing New Product

Development
Scientists are continually providing new knowledge about the physical and biological
worlds. Technologists then translate this knowledge into new processing technolo-
gies and products with which to assist daily living.
With computers linked to information databases, any company can access vast
quantities of business and technical information that previously was accessible
only in specialized libraries in major urban centers. Expert technical information
to assist in development programs is available to the smallest, most remote food
processing company.
Advances in food packaging provide good examples of the impact of scientific
discovery and its application. At one time the packaging industry relied primarily
on tin-coated steel, glass, and aluminum, and the mainstays of packaging were the
three-piece can with its lead-soldered side seam and the glass jar. This can gave way
to the two-piece seamless can. Materials such as tin-free steel; new plastics; coated
paperboard; composites of aluminum, plastic, and paper; and even edible food
cartons have permitted the manufacture of a wide range of containers with unique
properties to preserve and protect the high-quality shelf life of foods. There are now
bio-based packaging materials with antibacterial properties (Shahidi et al., 1999;
Petersen et al., 1999; Han, 2000). Protective packaging for containers is now micro-
wavable, edible, biodegradable, and recyclable.
Greater knowledge of food spoilage mechanisms and preservative technologies

has given rise to new products with better stability, quality, and nutrition. Improve-
ments in retorting technology and equipment have elevated “canning,” the workhorse
of food preservation, to a technique that gives added value through improved texture,
color, and flavor. New ingredient technologies can protect flavor (e.g., encapsula-
tion), texture, and other quality attributes of products and maintain these through
strenuous processing procedures.
Advances in nutritional knowledge have produced a growing awareness of the
relationship of food to health and specifically of the function of certain foods in the
amelioration of disease or its prevention. This has spawned a new class of preventive
foods: foods to prevent cancer and heart disease, delay aging, and cure depression.
Food products are now recognized as much for the absence of something (sodium,
cholesterol, saturated fats, refined sugars, or high calorie counts) as for the presence
of something (calcium, fiber, mono- or polyunsaturated fats, antioxidant vitamins,
or nutraceuticals).
Technology has changed the various marketplaces and all the players in them
in many ways:
• Customers and consumers have become more concerned about their health
and the role of food and nutrition in their health and in the prevention of
disease. (But even here there is a certain quixotic element.)
• A growing number of more discriminating shoppers are now aided by
food nutrition labeling, in-store computers providing information about
meal planning and recipes, and home computers on which they can com-
parison shop from the convenience of their homes and widen their hori-
zons for more venues to shop in.
• Social scientists have developed better techniques to research and under-
stand customer and consumer behavior and emotions. Such methodology
provides marketing personnel with improved skills to conceive new prod-
ucts for customers and consumers and to develop better communication
with customers and consumers.
• Food manufacturers are becoming adept at successfully developing new
products based on these concepts for the various marketplaces.
• Retailers are using their knowledge of buyers’ behaviors to attract cus-
tomers (e.g., the use of food odors, in-store tastings, delis, and entertain-
ment) and to serve their needs (advice on foods) to the retailers’ advantage.
Food manufacturers cannot afford to be unaware of developments in science and

technology and the influence these advances have on customers, consumers, and
food retailers.
4. Governmental Influences Pushing New Product

Development
The objectives of government respecting its enactment of food legislation are

summed up by Wood (1985):
• To ensure that the food supply is safe and free from contamination within
the limits of available knowledge and available at a cost affordable by
the customer
• To develop in cooperation with food manufacturers, responsible consumer
groups, and other interested groups standards of composition for foods
and labeling standards that provide adequate information to customers in
order for them make intelligent choices respecting the food they purchase
• To maintain fair trading practices and competition among retailers and
manufacturers in such a way as to benefit customers
How these objectives influence the activities of food technologists, marketing per-
sonnel, and retailers is obvious.
Government at the federal level, state or provincial level, and municipal, local,
or country level strongly influences the business activities of food companies. At
the highest level, senior governments negotiate and establish international standards
for products and trade practices among countries. Some of these trade agreements
are among a few countries (the North American Free Trade Alliance) or among many
countries, as in the European Union (EU). As recently as 1997, the EU adopted a
Novel Foods Regulation (EU, 1997; see also Huggett and Conzelmann, 1997).
Article 1 of the EU Regulation describes the regulation thusly: “1. This Regulation
concerns the placing on the market within the Community of novel foods or novel
food ingredients.” Article 2 explains the scope of this regulation as including “foods
and food ingredients which have not hitherto been used for human consumption to
a significant degree within the Community.”
Compounding the influence of these official levels of government are two more:
international bodies and the quasi-governmental agencies. These also bring regula-
tions to food manufacturing and international trade specifically and new food product
development indirectly. Some examples of regulatory bodies at the international
level are:
• International Standards Organization (ISO) and its recently published ISO

9000 and ISO 14000 series of directives on quality control and manage-
ment and environmental awareness, respectively (Boudouropoulos and
Arvanitoyannis, 1998)
• Codex Alimentarius Commission under the joint direction of the
FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme
Quasi-governmental bodies do not have the legislative powers of the various

tiers of government but do have the support of government and hence the effect of
law. Classic examples are the various marketing boards that exist in many countries
to regulate the local supply, importation, and price of many food commodities and
ingredients derived from them. Other examples are professional and trade associa-
tions. These establish rules of conduct for their members, members’ wage scales,
and regulations that participating parties must adhere to. Table 1.4 summarizes a
wide assortment of activities associated with government, international organiza-
tions, and quasi-governmental bodies.
TABLE 1.4
Various Food Business Activities over Which Governments in
Different Forms and at Different Levels Exert Influence
Activity Influence
Fiscal policy Interest rates for development loans

Grants-in-aid; research funding
Taxation policy
Patents and copyrights Copyright protection and licensing
Research funding if guarantee of patent protection
Trade barriers Tariffs and protectionism
Standards of food product identity
Availability and cost of ingredients
Environment protection Waste disposal
Recycling or reuse requirements for packaging materials
Energy utilization and disposal
Marketing and trade practices Product or advertising claims
Billboard and advertising placements
Zoning by-laws
Store hours
Container sizes
Employment practices OSHA and worker safety
Unemployment benefits
Minimum wage levels
Health policy Nutritional guidelines
Nutritional labeling
Agricultural policy Support programs for commodities
Availability of commodities
Consumer protection Product safety; safety of agricultural chemicals
Labeling; product names; comparative advertising
Inspection services
Adapted from Fuller, G.W., Food, Consumers, and the Food Industry: Catastrophe or
Opportunity?, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2001.
A few of these require further discussion. Governments provide incentive pro-

grams for development to stimulate depressed regions and industries or to spur
research and development for use of specific commodities. These opportunities allow
eligible companies to undertake development programs, modernize equipment, or
utilize new technologies for product development.
National health policies beget nutritional guidelines, and this invariably leads to
standardized nutritional labeling legislation. Food companies wanting to adopt these
guidelines as company policy for all their products may have to reformulate products
to conform to the guidelines.
Standards of identity or nutrient guidelines for food products differ from one
country to another. Food companies with a strong export trade will require refor-
mulation of their products to meet foreign requirements.
TABLE 1.5
Overview of the Stages of New Product Development
Holmes (1968, 1977) Crockett (1969) Mattson (1970)
Company objectives Search opportunities Idea generation

Exploration Translation of concepts into Concept screening
Screening products Preliminary formulation
Business analysis Marketing plan Taste panels
Development Implementation of marketing plan Final formulation
Testing Trial placement
Commercialization Fine tuning
Product success Package design
Copackers
Mini-market test
Symbiotic distribution
Oickle (1990) Graf and Saguy (1991) Skarra (1998)
Exploration Screening Assessing management

Conception Feasibility commitment
Modeling (prototypes) Development Finding the right idea
Research and development Commercialization Developing the business case
Marketing plan Maintenance Development and
Market testing commercialization
Major introduction
Governments also regulate consumer protection and product safety. For example,
several years ago, the U.S. government banned saccharin and cyclamates for safety
reasons. Manufacturers of dietetic foods and low-calorie soft drinks reformulated
their products. Some companies found suitable noncaloric alternatives to reformulate
with. Other companies developed canned fruit packed in water or packed in their
own fruit juices. That is, new product development was forced upon manufacturers
through government regulatory changes.
Governments at all levels can have a tremendous influence on new product
development. An excellent overview of the complex of food legislation and regula-
tion in the U.S is presented in Looney et al. (2001).
V. PHASES IN NEW FOOD PRODUCT

DEVELOPMENT
Most authors agree that new food product development can be divided into several
distinct phases (Table 1.5). Few agree on the number, order, or names of the phases.
For instance, Meyer (1984), not tabulated here, does agree with Mattson (1970) on
11 steps. Authors often then divide the stages into substages and even sub-substages.
This is not a sign of confusion in analyzing and attempting to understand the process
of new food product development. Rather it represents an evolving change in the

thinking or philosophy of new product development. This change is well described
by Earle (1997a), who describes four main stages in the development process:
• Development of a business strategy that describes the project

• The research and development phase of the project including the manu-
facturing design
• Development of programs for marketing, production, and quality assurance
• Organization of the production and distribution for the launch and the
analysis of the launch sales data
Rather inappropriately, screening is depicted as a series of sequential stages in

many descriptions of product development. Certainly there is some sequencing; a
business plan must precede all else, and closure is a successful launch. However,
when authors describe the phases of product development as a sequence, a one-after-
the-other cascade from ideas to a final finished product, they both misstate and
misinterpret the process. The phases do not start, proceed, and then finish as the
next phase begins. The phases are not, strictly speaking, sequential: they often
overlap and are concurrent. Projects might even return to the conceptual phase for
a complete rethinking as new information arising from the development process
becomes available (see, e.g., Bradbury et al., 1972).
Linnemann et al. (1998) have attempted to organize the development process
into an integrated system. They recognize “seven successive steps” (italics added):
• Analyze socioeconomic developments in particular markets.

• Translate preferences and perceptions of consumers into consumer
categories.
• Change consumer categories into “product assortments.”
• Group “product assortments in product groups in different stages of the
food supply chain.”
• Identify processing technologies required for particular product groups.
• Analyze the state of the art in required processing technologies.
• Compare the state of the art of required processing technologies with
future needs.
Linnemann et al. describe their model in some detail and conclude that “dedi-
cated production systems that follow more closely market dynamics” are required;
a structured, integrated approach is needed for the efficient use of both knowledge
and labor required in product development, and integration of knowledge from many
different areas of technology is required. They conclude that relationships among
markets, consumer behavior, the variety of food product, and processing technologies
are inadequate and require further refinement.
The starting point most generally agreed upon is to establish company objectives
and to identify customer and consumer needs (Figure 1.6). Company objectives must
be established in order for all personnel to know what is planned and why. This
Company
Objectives
Perceived Needs
of Market
Ideas
Screening
Feasibility Consumer Financial

Studies Research Review
Development
• Bench-top
• Pilot Plant
Product
Production Progression
Data Flow
Consumer Trials
Test Market
FIGURE 1.6 Phases in new food product development.
clarifies what senior management’s goals are and underscores their determination
and dedication to these objectives. This precedes everything else.
With this clarification of purpose, marketing personnel determine what new
products would meet these company objectives. To do this, the perceived needs
of both targeted customers and consumers must be determined through market
and marketplace research. One does not create new products in a vacuum without
a knowledge of the needs of customers and consumers. Unfortunately this lack of
understanding is often the environment for product development in small compa-
nies where the boss creates new products in a vacuum. The thick arrows in Figure
1.6 show the advance of product ideas and later the product itself. Thin arrows
indicate flow of data and information.
The next phases winnow all the ideas, reducing their number to a manageable
few that are deemed the most worthy. Three parallel screening criteria are used:
• Is the idea feasible within the time frame required by the marketing
department and dictated by senior management and within the skills level
of all the responsible departments? This answer should be provided not
only by the marketing department but also by the manufacturing, engi-
neering, and research and development departments.
• Does the idea meet perceived consumer and customer needs? Does it
resolve the conflict of “I want” vs. the customer’s “I need”? Further market
research will determine how this dichotomy is to be resolved.
• Will a financially sound business plan based on these new products stand
up to critical analysis and meet objectives set by management?
The technical skills of the research and development department are brought
into play as they proceed to create bench-top prototypes that match the product
statement as closely as possible. The next few boxes in Figure 1.6 might suggest
that research and development are dominant elements. This is an incorrect interpre-
tation. As development proceeds, information is used to make more informed deci-
sions. Such information aids in the development of standards for raw materials,
ingredients, and packaging requirements and on process design and equipment
requirements. All are needed for costing purposes. Decisions on the acceptability of
prototypes through taste panel studies, for example, are constantly fed back to the
technical development group.
A series of parallel events (not depicted in the figure) begins, based on the data
obtained throughout the development process. An analysis of the business plan is
now refined by the financial department with more complete information on ingre-
dient, processing, and marketing costs. Sourcing of ingredients and packaging mate-
rials is carried out. Marketing people prepare draft labels and label statements, refine
consumer analysis, plan marketing strategy, and develop promotional material for
use in newspapers, flyers, radio, and television. The manufacturing department
determines in-house production capabilities and manpower requirements.
As data produced at each phase are transformed into useful information, more
positive decisions must be reached. Go or no-go decisions must be made. If the
concept has to be changed, so does the product statement. It is quite common to see
many changes in the direction of product development, and this results in numerous
returns to the drawing board. All are necessary based on the accumulation of more
accurate information. Development is a constantly evolving process keeping pace
with a changing target.
By the time production samples have undergone consumer trials, management
should be able to decide whether to go into a test market. Marketing, depending on
the wishes of the company, may conduct mini-market tests, market tests in only one
or two cities, or go directly into a regional launch (Figure 1.6).
The final phase of any new product development is an evaluation of that test. If
the test market was unsuccessful, then the weaknesses must be determined and
corrected before the next new product is developed. If the test market was successful,
then the reason for its success must be determined. The strong points of the com-
pany’s progress through the development process must be recognized. Such
Consumer
Objective Subjective
CONCEPT Preference
Testing Testing
Testing
Commercial
Product Bench-top Pilot Plant Market Test
Plant
Design Product Production & Evaluation
Production
Process Pilot Plant

Design Process Production
FIGURE 1.7 Idealized representation of activities flow in product development.
recognition (i.e., learning) allows the company to capitalize on what they did right
or to avoid errors for application in future development programs.
Development is a progression from the intangible, the product idea embodied in
a product statement or concept, to the tangible, the actual product with all the attributes
stated in the concept and ready to be tested in the marketplace, the final screening.
Food technologists begin by designing a product based on a concept statement and
alter the product according to the results of sensory and consumer evaluations.
Figure 1.7 is a more realistic overview of the process shown in Figure 1.6. The
upper flow in Figure 1.7 depicts efforts that are largely the responsibility of the
marketing department.
Food technologists formulate a tangible bench-top, or prototype, product based
on the product statement (middle flow in Figure 1.7). Marketing researchers use this
to stimulate consumer research for further refinements of the concept or use it in
mini-test markets for the same purpose. With a prototype product in hand, sensory
evaluations can begin to guide food technologists in formulation refinements. Pre-
liminary product safety and shelf stability testing may require further alterations
both to the product and the concept in these early phases.
The bottom flow in Figure 1.7 is largely the domain of the engineering and
production departments. Engineering and production personnel design processes for
new products, incorporating changes determined by food technologists. At this stage,
reliable sources for ingredients and raw materials should be found and product cost
data confirmed. Potential copackers can be evaluated if it is thought that the product
cannot be made in-house. As development progresses from left to right in Figure
1.7 there is a constant interplay and exchange of ideas between the other two flows.
Each shapes and molds the other streams.
All development from idea generation to test market and even to a national
launch must be viewed as one long, ongoing screening process. Screening is not a
stage in development — it is synonymous with development. Each stage of devel-
opment brings further data that, when translated into information, provide develop-
ment teams with more refined tools with which to screen. As information is gathered
from marketing personnel, technologists, or suppliers, the product becomes identi-
fiable with the needs and demands of consumers. The result is the continuing
interplay of market research, technology, and financial efforts of companies to

produce the right products at the right prices for customers and consumers (Blanch-
field, 1988).
The purpose of the development process is to move a desirable product to market
with the least amount of uncertainty respecting its probability of success in the
segment of the marketplace where it is to compete. Market, financial, and technical
research (and their associated analyses) are nothing more or less than screening
procedures for reducing, as much as possible, uncertainty in the development process.
2 The Generation of New
Product Ideas
To as great a degree as sexuality, food is inseparable from the imagination.
Jean-François Revel (as cited in Robbins, 1987)
I. GETTING IDEAS
A. GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR IDEAS
Thinking up ideas for new food products is easy. There have been several excellent
ideas both for ingredients and food products in the scientific and technical literature,
e.g., leaf protein (Pirie, 1987), protein from exhausted bee bodies (Ryan et al., 1983),
sugar and citric acid from corn cobs and husks (Hang and Woodams, 1999, 2000,
2001), and wine from cheese whey (Palmer, 1979). These are some of the more
unusual ones. These products had a purpose; there was more than just idle scientific
curiosity behind them. But was there a demand for the products derived from them?
Who needed them? With the number of ingredients made from milk (see Chapter
10) and the plentiful availability of excellent wines made from grapes and other
fruits, where was the need for a Château du Petit Lait du Fromage?
They were developed on a “it’s a shame for these by-products to go to waste”
reason. They were created to explore the utilitarian value of a waste product; this is
itself valuable for environmental reasons where producers are faced with the problem
of disposing of these by-products. The wine was ostensibly to demonstrate new and
improved methodologies for pollution control since whey is a major waste product
causing pollution. But all were product-oriented ideas and not consumer-oriented
ideas; they led to producer- or technology-driven products, not to consumer-driven
products. They are all technically feasible but derived in isolation from the real world
of customers and consumers. They are examples of what I have described as “Little
Jack Horner” research after the nursery rhyme character who “stuck in his thumb
and pulled out a plumb and said ‘what a good boy am I.’”
On the other hand, a Reuters (2000) report describes work in Brazil to create a
diesel fuel from soy oil and sugar cane. Both sugar cane and soy beans are major
crops in Brazil (Brazil’s soy bean production is second only to production in the
U.S.), and prices for this commodity are falling. The development of this diesel fuel
was prompted by economic (and political) reasons but it is successful because there
is a need. Opening up a new market for products that are falling rapidly in price
and creating self-sufficiency in diesel fuel are the needs.
33
Thinking up ideas is not the problem. The problem, simply stated, is getting
ideas that fit the following criteria:
• They satisfy the needs and desires of consumers and at the same time
they attract customers, the gatekeepers to the consumers. The seed of an
idea must come from those who will need and use the product.
• The ideas must also be within the skill level, technical capabilities, and
managerial and financial resources of the producing company. These are
often referred to as the core competencies of the company, that is, what
the company does best. Ideas must be implementable.
There are no “perfect ideas” for new food products. The problem is not one of
undertaking the further development of a perfect idea; it is the pulling together of
the skills and resources to bring good ideas to fruition in the marketplace. Good
ideas require that the company have the ability to take advantage of them with
products that they ultimately introduce to their targeted marketplace. The company
must be able to market and sell the product (being able to produce the product is
not always necessary). The company finds itself in a dilemma trying to balance ideas
based on market research of perceptions of customer and consumer needs against
company skills and capabilities.
New product ideas are not likely to succeed if companies do not answer all
consumer-oriented information generated from the marketplace and fully employ
their strengths.
Earle (1997b) sees two prerequisites for successful innovation: a company that
is innovation oriented and a positively responsive environment. The environment
both within the company and external to it must be conducive to and accepting of
innovation. Earle treats the subject from a general, conceptual, and philosophical
point of view.
B. SOURCES OF NEW FOOD PRODUCT IDEAS

Food companies have three sources for ideas for new products (Table 2.1). These
are only sources of ideas; the ideas must still satisfy the needs of customers and
consumers. This detail of satisfying a need will be found only within the market-
places where the customers and consumers are to be found with research that is
done by marketing personnel.
Pressures (see Chapter 1) that drive a food company into new food product
development are also sources of ideas. New technologies such as extrusion process-
ing technology opened up a wide vista of ideas for snacks that compelled snack
producers to develop new snack ideas. The development of a greater understanding
of the principles of water activity and hurdle technology offered consumer product
manufacturers new categories of semimoist foods ranging from dog food to fruit
leathers to chilled foods; manufacturers looked closely at these new technologies
for new product opportunities. Even the need to reduce the waste management costs
by upgrading a useful by-product into an added-value product motivates a company
into doing research to find new uses for the by-product if the needs of customer and
consumer alike are satisfied by doing so.
The Generation of New Product Ideas 35
TABLE 2.1
General Sources for New Food Product Ideas
General Source Specific Impetus Providing Inspiration
The marketplace Market research to identify customer and consumer needs; results of
consumer profiling
Retailers providing details of customers’ buying habits and expressing their
own requirement for products
Distributors expressing their requirements for products and problems they
encounter with handling
Within the company Sales force’s interaction with retail buyers and with individual customers in
stores and their observations of competitive products and their placement
within stores
The need to recycle or reuse by-products more productively and efficiently
to protect the environment and to reduce costs of waste removal
Spontaneously generated ideas from employees
Outside the marketplace Advances in science, technology, and nutritional knowledge
Competitive intelligence gathering
New market openings
Review of food and cooking literature
Review of technical, trade, and scientific literature
Exposure to new sources of raw materials, of newly developed ingredients,
of new equipment, and new consumer products at national and international
food trade shows
New government food legislation
New product development is neither an exercise to gussy up a waste product

nor a means to display a company’s technical skill to the consuming world. One
does not start with either a waste by-product or a new widget maker and wonder
what to do with it. If these tactics do satisfy a perceived market need, this is fine,
but caution is advised. Technical innovation, per se, will never sell a product except
to other technocrats. Nor is new food product development meant, necessarily, to
be novel for the sake of novelty. New food products are meant to fill perceived
needs, satisfy the desires of customers and consumers, and meet the expectations of
those consumers for those products. The products must deliver what the company
has promised in its promotional campaigns for these products.
1. The Many Marketplaces
The customer, frequently with the consumer in tow, is found in many diverse
marketplaces (Table 2.2). This fact, logically, would make the marketplace the best
site in which to find out what satisfies the perceived needs of at least one of these
entities, the gatekeeper.
The observation that hits most is the great diversity of marketplaces that there
are and with this the great diversity of consumers. Researchers must first decide in
which marketplace the new product will be positioned and how best to conduct
research in that marketplace. How one attempts to uncover the “perceived needs”
TABLE 2.2
General Classification of Marketplaces Selling Food Products and Ingredients
General Classification Examples of Types
Artisan-based Farm gate, farmers’ markets, country fairs

Butchers, greengrocers, specialty bakeries, cheese shops, fishmongers,
wine stores
Carriage trade and specialty gourmet stores such as coffee, tea,
chocolate, and confectionery stores
Grocery (food) store Family-owned-and-run small grocery stores and large supermarkets,
often with artisan-based stores (butchers or greengrocers) within them
Special food stores (organic foods, health food stores, stores catering
to religious observances)
Box stores (large sizes or case lots)
Bulk stores (products are loose in bins)
Convenience store Paper/magazine stores, tobacconists
Drugstores* (chocolate bars, snacks, and small units of canned goods)
Department stores,* often with a specialty food section
Food service Full service restaurants; fast food restaurants with sit-down and take-
out service; hotels; roadside diners; bars, especially bars with happy
hours; coffee and tea houses
Take-out restaurants, mobile street vendors, walk-up kiosks, vending
machines, cafeterias (work sites, schools), mobile canteens
Gourmet commissaries (Chinese dim sum, Indian curries, French
croissants and patés)
Transportation meals (in-flight and on-train meals)
Institutionalized care feeding (nursing homes, hospitals, short-term
care facilities), penal institutions
Personal chefs, rent-a-chefs, home-care feeding for elderly
Military feeding (messes, cafeterias, field kitchens, combat rations)
Industrial arena Food trade exhibitions with demonstrations
Supplier-sponsored short courses demonstrating special ingredients
Sample distribution to industrial users
Electronic and postal services Catalogue ordering services
* Local retailing legislation may restrict the sale of foods in these stores.
Adapted from Fuller, G.W., Food, Consumers, and the Food Industry: Catastrophe or Opportunity?,
CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2001.
of customers and consumers will be very different for industrial marketplaces,

consumer product marketplaces, or hotel and restaurant marketplaces.
It is advisable first to define or, at best, to describe what is meant by “perceived
needs” of either customers or consumers. Perceived needs are known neither by the
customers, the consumers, nor the market researchers. Market research discovers a
gap in the market, a need; the customers, or the consumers, when presented with
the product or the concept embodying this need, have that flash of blinding light
and say, “That’s what we’ve been looking for.” Neither the customers nor the
consumers may ever have realized this need themselves. Marketing personnel did
not create that need. Market research uncovered the need for the customers or
consumers to discover for themselves.
Market research is actually, then, a means of screening new product ideas. Of
all the ideas gleaned from all sources (Table 2.1), only those that uncover that hidden
need will be most likely to succeed and offered to the technologists for development
into a tangible product. The others will be rejected.
It is within these marketplaces (Table 2.2) that food manufacturers must attract
customers and consumers with new products. Food retailing, wholesaling, and indus-
trial sales have changed in response to the demands brought on by the changing
lifestyles of customers and consumers in these marketplaces and by the very diversity
of the marketplaces themselves. Each presents opportunities.
All information about the desires, buying habits, and any other characterizing
traits of customers and consumers helps developers define products for the particular
targeted consumer. As a result of the information, the needs and expectations of that
targeted customer and consumer are better understood.
2. Getting to Know Them
The simplest beginning to getting to know about customers and consumers is with
census data. Demographic and psychographic information about the vast population
of customers and consumers are essential to this understanding. This is readily available
data but its inherent weaknesses for obtaining targeted information must be recognized.
a. Census Data
In many countries demographic information (census data) provides statistical data
about population size plus several other characteristics, usually at 10-year intervals.
The information often includes the age distribution of the population, income dis-
tribution, the number of family units as well as nonfamily units, the number of
children per family unit, the number of single-parent families, male to female ratios,
the ethnic backgrounds of different geographic regions, whether families rent or own
their homes, and so on. By itself, demographic information is not very inspiring for
specific product ideas, but there are some (Foot with Stoffman, 2001) who believe
that not enough effort has been made to use it for predictive purposes.
Taylor (2002) used Canadian census data to compare the top seven countries
serving as sources for immigration into Canada for the years 1961 and 2001. Table
2.3 displays the countries from largest to smallest numbers of immigrants.
When the numbers of immigrants are examined, the extent of immigration and
its impact on the food microcosm becomes more apparent. In 1961, the Italians, the
largest group immigrating into Canada, amounted to fewer than 15,000 individuals.
In 2001, the largest group immigrating into Canada, the Chinese, amounted to a
little over 40,000 individuals. Two distinct observations are apparent from the data:
• The rate of immigration has obviously increased in this 40-year period.

More people are on the move now than 40 years ago for a variety of reasons.
• The pattern of immigration has changed dramatically. Europe is no longer
the origin of most immigrants; Asia has become the dominant source of
immigrants.
TABLE 2.3
Top Country Sources for Immigration
into Canada, 1961 and 2001
1961 2001
Italy China
United Kingdom India
United States Pakistan
Germany Philippines
Greece South Korea
Portugal United States
Poland Iran
The exciting factor is that immigrants bring diversity with their cultural traditions
and ethnic food customs wherever they settle. This diversity is exhibited by the
arrival of restaurants and stores stocked with food products reflecting their food
habits and cooking styles. Here there are ample opportunities for new food product
ideas for any food manufacturer. The impact of immigrants on the food supply is
such that their foods, once viewed as exotic, eventually become mainstream, as
occurred with Italian and Chinese cuisine.
Another example of the value of demographic data to provide insight into
population profiles and generate new product ideas can be seen in school registration
records. The cultural diversity for five centrally located schools in Montreal is
presented in Table 2.4. Any baker, butcher, grocer, restauranteur, delicatessen owner,
or supermarket in these school districts who ignores the richness of the cultural
diversity in their immediate vicinity by not providing food products, especially
child- or teen-oriented snack food items reflecting the community profile, does so
TABLE 2.4
Cultural Diversity in Five Centrally Located Montreal
Schools
Students from Other Culturesa
District (major mother tongue spoken in school)
SK [St. Kevin’s] 95.2% (Tagalog 53%)

HB [Henri Beaulieu] 94.3% (Arabic 79%)
B [Barclay] 94.8% (French and English 57%)
CL [Camille Laurin] 94.3% (French and English 53%)
LV [La Voie] 93.6% (Tagalog 75%)
a Children born outside Canada or born to at least one immigrant parent.
From Lampert, A., The Gazette, Montreal, A1, Oct. 9, 2002.

at its risk. If there are children from a diverse ethnic background, there must also
be parents who shop for foods required in their cuisine. This opens the door for
consumer food product manufacturers and suppliers of ingredients and raw materials
for these ethnic products.
These Canadian census figures are typical of population changes noted in other
countries and reflect movements of people bringing their ethnic cooking traditions
with them. They modify the available local products to suit their tastes. Whether
this is called the localization of ethnic tastes or the “ethnicization” of local foods is
immaterial. These people represent new product ideas and opportunities for the
introduction of new products meeting their needs.
Per capita consumption figures are calculations based on what food has been
produced and imported minus what was exported minus what, if any, was stockpiled
and divided by the population. They are not consumption figures per se, but are
“disappearance” figures; these foods disappeared or were used somehow and some-
where in the country. They provide a poor and indirect reflection of either customers’
purchasing habits or consumers’ usage habits and no information at all on the habits
of specific segments or regions of the population. They purport to pertain to the
average consumer, an entity that does not exist.
The term average consumer is often seen in the literature. Yet, it is so highly
inaccurate that it is meaningless. An average is a statistical construct with significant
meaning only if it is representative of a homogeneous group; that is, the members
of the group have recognizably similar traits. Even a superficial reflection on the
customers and consumers seen in any marketplace will reveal that they are not
recognizably similar. There are children who can be subdivided into babies, toddlers
(for whom purchases are made by parents, grandparents, and godparents), tweenies
(a well branded group), and teenagers; adults are subclassified by so many niches
as to be almost indefinable; by age, by ethnic grouping, by religious conviction, by
income, by profession, and so on. Confound these with ethnic, religious, and cultural
diversity and a world of market niches appears.
b. Other Sources of Data
One cannot speak about the average shopper or how much and when this person
spends. To do so requires similarity of stores, geographic locations, and local resi-
dents. New product developers are not developing a product for an average consumer.
They develop products for specific customers and their associated consumers (i.e.,
a targeted group), who represent niches in which these targeted individuals are to
be found.
An astonishing amount of information can be obtained about customers and
consumers using demographic data that has been broken down for cities and towns
along with other databases. For example, much information can be gleaned by
combining regional population statistics with:
• Magazine subscription lists or magazine sales in local areas. Sales of

topical magazines reveal the interests (e.g., hobbies, cooking interests
such as barbecuing, outdoor activities) of people in those particular areas
• The use of reward cards, which provide a wealth of information about

purchases, the amounts purchased, and location of purchases
• Membership lists for trade and professional associations, which give evi-
dence of educational levels and, indirectly, the income levels of the area
Consumer information and personal information about consumers are located

in databases all over the country. When all sources are cross-referenced, surprisingly
accurate pictures of customers and consumers in general, and individuals, can be
had. An address provides information about income status when used in association
with property tax records that identify expensive residential areas. This collation of
data is called consumer profiling. The lack of privacy it represents in the computer
age is a fact of life and a frightening concern for many people.
Indiscriminate use of demographic data can, however, be misleading without inte-
gration with other sources of information. Foot with Stoffman (2001), however, do not
believe demographic data has been mined enough. If one were to use the following
demographic data isolated from other databases, the result could be disastrous:
• The over-55s are the fastest growing segment of the North American
population.
• They have the most wealth of any age category.
• Females make up the greater part of that older population because statistics
show women outlive men. Consequently, many over-55s are either wid-
owed or single.
• Women over 55 need extra calcium to prevent osteoporosis.
• Other physiological changes in aging for this population are general
frailty, poor circulation, high blood pressure, a general loss of flavor and
taste sensations, often a loss of teeth, and constipation.
Some product developer may incorrectly see an opportunity here to bring out a
high-calcium, low-sodium, low-fat (simply because the percent of calories from fat
in the diet is acknowledged to be too high), added-value product (older people can
pay) that is a bland, soft food fortified with fiber and vitamins (for good measure)
in an easy-open (over-55s lose their strength and dexterity), single serve (they live
alone) container.
Certainly there are frail and incapacitated over-55s in nursing homes and other
institutions. They are an elusive population. New products designed for their special
needs will come from astute product developers in food service companies. But the
over-55s are also people finishing schooling, which was interrupted by children.
They join travel groups and travel to exotic places on conducted tours, for example
with Elderhost™ or on tours sponsored by their university alma maters. They initiate
their own Olympics for the elderly. They consult either professionally or voluntarily
with small local businesses or with projects in third world countries.
The aging market, as one example, must be seen clearly as highly segmented. To
capitalize on its vitality, the generation of new product ideas must come from knowing
these consumer niches. More than demographic data is required for this understanding.
TABLE 2.5
Percentage of Sample Populations
Indicating Some Degree of Vegetarianism
Year Vegetarians (%)
1984 2.1
1985 2.6
1986 2.7
1987 3.0
1988 3.0
1990 3.7
1993 4.3
1995 5.4
1997 5.0
From Vegetarian Resource Group, Web site, 2003; Vege-

tarian Society, Web site, 2003.
c. Other Statistical Data: Vegetarianism

The practice of vegetarianism is also a highly segmented one, whose proponents
may practice it for health or ethical reasons and may be rigorous, loose, or even
part-time vegetarians. Some refuse all animal products. Others refuse red meats but
will partake of poultry and seafood products. Others will eat animal products such
as dairy products and eggs, for which there has not been a killing. The reasons for
adopting a vegetarian diet are many, but do not involve developers.
The important issue is that there is a market for a myriad of products, as many
customers and consumers believe they are adopting a healthier eating style; with the
growing interest in nutraceutical factors found in many fruits and vegetables, they
are buying into vegetarian products. Silver (2003b) states that the vegetarian market
is worth about $1.25 billion, with the sale of meat alternatives having grown nearly
40% annually for the past 8 years. An interesting characteristic of this market is that
many meat eaters eat vegetarian on occasion. One area of special activity for the
food service sector is the many college and university cafeterias that now offer
vegetarian menus. Fast food chains have also adapted their menus to include vege-
tarian food items.
Krizmanic (1992) reported on a survey that found that 7% of the American
population considered themselves vegetarians. However, more recent statistics seem
to agree that vegetarians represent approximately 3% of the population. Proportions
of vegetarians in the population vary by area, age, ethnicity, and sex. But there is
no agreement on whether this is a growing group or one that is relatively static. Data
in Table 2.5 obtained from the Web sites of the Vegetarian Resource Group (2003)
and the Vegetarian Society (2003) do suggest that there is modest growth in this
area. The former group estimates the market potential as approximately 20 to 30%
of the population!
A health reason for vegetarianism was headlined several years ago in a respected
science magazine, “Surgeon General Says Get Healthy, Eat Less Meat” (Anon.,
1979). Such reports have since been taken up by science editors of nearly every
newspaper chain.
The vegetarian niche is attractive for developers in many ways:
1. It straddles the health food market or healthy food market, thus satisfying
a need of customers and consumers.
2. It is common practice in many ethnic food styles. As such with an ethnic-
inspired flavor addition, it fits many market niches.
3. There is already an established market for vegetarian foods, albeit a small
one, so acceptance is already present.
4. It satisfies many market niches (main course, side dish, and ethnic cuisine),
and thus many diverse consumers can be attracted to it.
A wider selection of many varieties of fresh vegetables and fruits has become
available. These are becoming a more important and attractive part of meals,
approaching, but not yet supplanting, meat as the main item. Fresh fruit is eaten
more frequently. Undoubtedly, vegetarianism is growing.
The vegetarian sector also requires the use of new ingredients to replace meat
and gelatin. This has been accomplished with soy-based products, textured wheat
proteins, meaty vegetables, and rice starch.
d. Other Statistical Data: Obesity
CNN news flash viewed February 4, 2003: “London theater seats too narrow for
U.S. behinds.”
Governments are very concerned about obesity and its ramifications: it represents a
major expense for the medical and health care systems. MacAulay (2003) describes
obesity as an issue of national importance in the U.S. She mentions several programs
and campaigns that the American government is implementing including some
programs by individual states that might possibly tax high-fat, high-sugar foods.
Car, airplane, and theater seats have to be redesigned to accommodate wider bottoms
and bigger bellies. Obesity is a direct factor in many health and social problems
(Lachance, 1994; Birmingham et al., 1999). According to P. James of the World
Health Organization (WHO) obesity is on the increase, “doubling every five years”
(Reuters, 1996) and it is an epidemic.
The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS, 1999) reported on the basis of
the 1999–2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) that
the proportion of overweight or obese (body mass index greater than 25.0) U.S. adults
is estimated at 64%, up from the previous NHANES III report (1988–1994), which
gave an estimate of 56%. Since the NHANES II survey (1976–1980) there has been
a steady increase (age-adjusted) from 47 to 64% in the 20 to 74 year old category.
The data (NHANES, undated) for children whether boys or girls, male or female
adolescents, or whether white, Hispanic, or Mexican American also shows an
increase in obesity. The American Obesity Association has obesity data broken down
by history, age, gender, educational level, and geographic distribution in the U.S.
(A.O.A, 2002).
This increase in overweight and obesity results in health and social problems
later in life. It is occurring despite a declared interest by the public for wanting good
health, eating healthy foods, and living a healthy lifestyle. The meaning of these
contradictory findings is unclear. It demonstrates the public’s ignorance of nutrition,
abetted by misleading or ambiguous advertising and overzealous promotion by food
manufacturers. Gitelman (1986) commented on the same issue nearly 20 years ago.
A colleague of mine, a biochemist no less, exclaimed to me when fat-reduced chips
appeared, “Now I can eat all I want without worrying about calories!”
At the same time, skinless chicken breasts are disappearing from menus, and
extra rich creamy foods and extra strong (i.e., cream) drinks are appearing. There
seems to be market niches for a diversity of interpretations of both health foods and
healthful foods and hearty foods. There is still a strong hedonistic market that can
be catered to side by side with healthful foods.
Sloan (2003a) suggests this confused market demonstrates four product
opportunities:
• Foods for both weight control or loss and foods for health (i.e., disease
prevention)
• Foods that are low carbohydrate and high protein
• Foods that have minimal caloric density since the desire to lose weight
is a high priority
• Repositioning existing “healthy” foods back to what they are: low-fat,
low-carbohydrate foods
Political lobbying enters into this arena. Eilperin (2003) reports that the U.S.
Sugar Association is angry at the WHO’s recommendations to curb sugar intake to
no more than 10% of daily calorie intake. Development teams should be alert to
governmental and nongovernmental agencies’ actions through their programs and
perhaps to changes in taxation policies if “empty calories” should come under
government scrutiny in this still confused arena.
e. Environmentally, Ethically, Socially, and Religiously
Responsible Foods
There is a small but growing market for foods that are not classifiable by their
nutrition or health-giving properties but on what may broadly be called ethical or
social grounds. That is not to say that their adherents do not believe these foods to
be healthier or that they necessarily are healthier. The marketing issue is that
consumers believe them to be so and there is a market for them. The growing
organic food market proves this to be the case. For developers this segment is full
of paradoxes.
Environmental, ethical, and social concerns as elements affecting food products
and their consumption are confusing. Some equate the concerns to the developed
world’s proprietary attitude to third world nations; others see a confusion of issues
involving agricultural practices such as organic farming, factory farming, animal

rights, and health concerns.
i. Pollution and Environmental Concerns
Pollution and the environment are major concerns among people in the developed
world and are an emerging concern among indigenous peoples in the less developed
world. Since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992, governments see
that they must act, or be seen as acting, to reduce pollution. Dumping waste into
oceans, lakes, and rivers or burying it in landfill sites is no longer acceptable. Medical
wastes, dumped at sea, have washed up on the eastern seaboard beaches of the U.S.
and has been clandestinely dumped in foreign countries (Patel, 1992). Cities and
nations can no longer find landfill sites for garbage disposal. Disposal of waste is a
significant cost for food companies who pay to have waste hauled away and then
pay a tipping fee at a land disposal site.
To manage waste, less waste must be produced in the first place. Products or
processes will be rejected if they produce excessive waste or if they arouse environ-
mentalists to protest against the companies producing the waste. Therefore compa-
nies need to divert some of their technological skills to improving processes and
products to make them less wasteful and to upgrading the waste into useful by-
products. Products prepared and packaged to minimize waste in the home or in the
area where the food is consumed or that centralize waste production where waste
can be treated in an environmentally friendly fashion are becoming demands of both
governments of all levels and customers.
Pollution and other environmental concerns caused by agriculture (especially
large-scale factory farming operations that produce tremendous amounts of animal
waste), fish farming, food manufacturing, and especially the food packaging industry
are highly visible. Food containers, for example, are the most obvious feature of
processed foods, especially if empty containers are seen strewn along highways,
dumped into streams, or littering city streets. Yet the container is a necessary evil
designed to give optimum protection to the product from harvest areas to the
processing plant and thence throughout the stable life cycle of the finished product.
Without the package, according to Akre (1991), nearly half the available foodstuff
in the developing world would be lost to human consumption, whereas developed
economies (which use packaging) lose no more than 2% of available food. Waste
and its ever-present companion, pollution, are inevitable in the food microcosm; the
mechanisms to deal with them effectively and efficiently are often lacking. Devel-
opers need to consider their actions respecting waste production and consider alter-
natives or devise systems to reduce waste and pollution. Environmental activists are
a large enough political force that governments listen when they become concerned,
active, and vocal (Akre, 1991).
ii. Counterarguments to Recycling
Product developers are, therefore, compelled by public and governmental pressure
to use either recyclable or reusable packaging or biodegradable material for pack-
aging. Both alternatives present developers with a dilemma. Recycling or reusing
requires a collection system, an added cost. Some experts argue that recycling is not
energy efficient, requiring energy to return the recyclables, energy to pick up the
recyclables and deliver them to a recycling center, and energy to process the recy-
clables. The news that biodegradable packaging material is more expensive and is
not readily biodegradable in most landfill sites makes manufacturers reluctant to use
these (Lingle, 1990). The use of degradable packaging materials raises several
problems, not the least of which is the reaction of regulatory officials to contact of
the degradable materials with foods. A similar challenge may be put to the edible
films that are emerging.
Headford (1996) describes efforts for a database of the “global food industry”
that will include environmental issues and a study of the reporting strategies respect-
ing environmental issues of major food manufacturers and retailers. Her studies
indicate that the major environmental issues for companies are energy, packaging,
recycling, and pollution.
iii. Meeting the Ethical Shopper’s Demands
Ethics will have a greater role in shaping the purchasing habits of future consumers
(Wilson, 1992). Guides are available for shoppers that provide information on the
companies behind the food brands, for example, The Ethical Shopper’s Guide to
Canadian Supermarket Products. These guides describe a company’s environmental
record and its policy on women’s issues, labor relations, and consumer issues in
general. There have been similar developments in the investment community where
stock investment plans are devoted entirely to holding stocks of companies, including
food companies, whose policies are ethical and green. Kraft is reportedly planning
to sell coffee certified by the Rainforest Alliance.
Social concerns are shaping food product development; old products are being
redesigned to appear more ethically responsible. New products are being developed,
for example, shade-grown coffee beans and products derived from them. Marketing
and marketing policies are changing to accommodate these shifts.
It is still a confused area, and development teams are well advised to tread warily.
iv. Alternative Formats for Selling
The influence of the so-called “alternative formats” for retailing food, the ware-
house outlets, direct mail selling of food items, as well as direct sales (selling
directly into the home) has not yet been fully assessed as to the changes these
will bring to the food marketplace or even whether such alternatives will survive
in the future. However, these alternatives will influence the development of new
package formats and new products to satisfy the demands of these channels.
Conventional retailers will have to combat the impact that alternatives have on
consumers and their buying habits.
v. Customer Fancies: Less Processed, More Natural, Organic Foods
These environmental concerns have indirectly led many consumers to want less
processed, more natural foods. As a result, there is a general reluctance to accept
highly processed foods — which the consumer understands as “ersatz” and “some-
how not good.” Lee (1989) refers to these people as “food neophobes,” that is,
people who consider new food technologies, food additives, and ingredients as
untried, artificial, and hazardous. The interest of consumers in minimally processed
chilled foods may reflect this desire for less processing and more naturalness. Busch
(1991), when discussing consumers’ concerns about the growing application of

biotechnology to the food microcosm, puts it this way:
They desire foods that have been prepared in traditional ways, that contain few or no
additives, that are “natural,” and that are made neither from transgenic plant[s] or
animals nor via new fermentation techniques.
This distrust of processing and high technology may be challenged and dismissed
as irrational, but nevertheless, it is there and it is growing. It should be noted,
however, that consumers espouse biotechnology in all its subdisciplines in matters
of health and vanquishing disease.
Also, the demand for organically grown products, even organically grown added-
value products, has increased. Jolly and his colleagues (1989) reviewed some star-
tling historical statistics:
• A 1965 survey conducted in Pennsylvania showed that only 15% of

respondents were greatly concerned about pesticides. A similar survey
conducted in the same state in 1984 found that 78.7% of respondents were
concerned about the use of pesticides.
• In 1965, 94% of respondents felt there had been adequate inspection of
food purchased at retail, but this figure had dropped to 48.9% by 1984.
These figures indicate a growing lack of confidence in the safety of the food supply.
Jolly et al. (1989) found that 57% of all respondents in California judged organic
foods to be better than nonorganic foods, and 35% considered them to be no different.
Obviously there is a perception that organic produce has advantages. These advan-
tages were listed in order of importance as:
• No pesticides or herbicides
• No artificial fertilizers
• No growth regulators
• Residue free
Campbell (1991) reviewed two Canadian surveys of consumers’ concerns about

the food supply. When asked about their most serious food concerns, most respon-
dents (26%) answered pesticides; pollution (24%) was next and nutritional concerns
followed (15%). When a multiple response was permitted, the answers were food
poisoning (72%) and pollution and pesticides tied at 69%. Food additives rated low
as a perceived hazard.
Whether scientists think pesticides are a hazard or not, other people — nonscientists,
the consumers — do believe pesticide-free foods have an advantage for both health and
safety. Many major retailers in many countries maintain an organic food section.
“Big Firms Get High on Organic Farming” read headlines in The Wall Street
Journal (Nazario, 1989) in 1989. Many farmers and large companies with extensive
farm holdings (Sunkist Growers, Inc. and Castle & Cooke, Inc.) have joined the
movement to natural or organic farming. They find there is a demand for their
organically grown products. Many realize that organic farming can be as profitable
as so-called chemical farming. As Nazario wrote, “case studies have found that
yields and profits can be just as high on an organic farm as on a non-organic farm.”
It is worthwhile for any food technologist to visit a natural food store, examine
the products, and talk with the people purchasing them. A complete line of fresh
produce is available at elevated prices; people are buying despite the price differen-
tial, so deep is their distrust of nonorganically grown produce. Since large farming
companies have moved into organic farming with their more efficient agricultural
practices, prices for fresh organic produce are falling.
Irrational as it may be to food technologists, there is a strong demand for
organically grown produce and the added-value products that are made from them.
The organic food business is no longer “a counterculture business run by flaky
hippies” (Nazario, 1989). McPhee (1992) reported that organic food introductions
have increased 400% since 1986 and the organic beverage category has increased
1450%. Yet, the organic food industry is not without its problems. As McPhee noted,
big companies are still testing the market cautiously, well aware that any movement
into this new market could have repercussions to their regular lines.
The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) published a Scientific Perspective
(Newsome, 1990). In this paper an objective assessment of organically grown foods
was presented. It pointed out that the claim that organically grown foods are healthier
is scientifically baseless: IFT highlighted problems with organically grown foods
citing the Listeria outbreak in cabbages caused by the use of sheep manure (natural
fertilizer usage). Newsome concluded in this Scientific Perspective that:
• Organically grown foods were not superior to conventionally grown foods

with respect to quality, safety, or nutrition.
• They are more expensive.
• They provide less product variety for consumers.
• Diets based only on organically produced foods may “present the risk of
possible loss of balance and variety.”
All the above may have been absolutely correct at the time the article was written;
one might now rethink the latter three issues. But this is not the concern of developers.
If consumers perceive there to be an advantage, if consumers are willing to alter shopping
habits to go to specialty stores to purchase organically grown products, and if consumers
are willing to pay more for organically grown foods, then one must admit there is a
certain qualitative superiority since the consumer is right. Hauck (1992) described a
ranching and meat operation in the U.S. that provides organic beef and lamb, with sales
of $25 million in 1991 projected to $50 million in 1994. There is clearly a market for
organic foods for consumers who believe these products to be superior.
The consumer is becoming better informed, better educated, and more vocifer-
ous. The result is a very strong consumerism movement. Food scientists and tech-
nologists in their ivory towers are being challenged. Their science and technology
have apparently outstripped their communicative skills. Perhaps this poor commu-
nication has been a factor in a consumer mistrust, not only of science, but also of
big business and, equally, big government (e.g., see O’Neill, 1992). Communication
between consumers, on the one hand, and science and technology interests, big
business, and big government is not well developed (Lee, 1989; Busch, 1991). Until
communication has been improved and the vitriolic rhetoric that has developed is
curbed, consumerism and all its manifestations may be a prominent consideration
for new food product developers in the future.
Developers need to pay attention to the environmental, social, ethical, and
religious aspects involved in product and process development as well as to the
technological aspects of their development.
vi Changing Food Habits and Lifestyles

Cooking, particularly gourmet cooking, has become a hobby for many consumers;
they are becoming generally more interested in food and cooking. Proof of their
interest is the burgeoning numbers of cookbooks describing a wide gamut of ethnic
cuisines, the growing popularity of cooking schools, and the popularity of television
cooking shows. Consumers are doing more cooking from scratch; that is, consumers
have gone back to using traditional recipes for home cooking, especially for special
occasions. Experimentation with new cuisines has led to the use of more exotic
ingredients. This awakening to exciting foreign foods and cooking styles has pro-
vided food manufacturers with opportunities for new products and ingredients.
Families eat fewer meals together. This means that more meals are eaten away
from home. In addition, grazing (snacking) is an established and preferred eating
pattern for many people who accept several small meals a day as normal practice.
Such a change in eating habits opens up opportunities for finger foods that are tasty
and nutritious. For years food pushcarts have operated on the streets of large met-
ropolitan areas to take advantage of the snackers and grazers. They serve the function
of the fast food restaurant without the overhead of expensive real estate. Many of
these pushcarts sell ethnic foods, which seem very suited to finger foods, for example,
empañadas, mini-pizzas, calzones, and tacos. In addition, they offer fresh fruits and
prepeeled raw vegetables; nutritious snacks have become a natural consequence of
this change in eating habits.
There is a serious side to meal patterns and their influence in daily life. Chro-
nonutrition, an offshoot of chronobiology, the study of biological rhythms, has
emerged as a study of the “time-dependent features of nutrition” (Arendt, 1989).
How does time or the timing of meals and the consequences of digestion affect food
selection or other biological rhythms in the body? The practical application for these
studies is the concern for the safety and efficiency of shift workers, airline crews,
or, of course, the military, especially when on patrols, when the daily rhythms of
these people are disrupted. The gastrointestinal problems of shift workers can lead
to work loss, fatigue, and inattentiveness. Worker safety could be endangered.
Based on the findings of chrononutrition, foods, particularly snack foods, could
be designed to provide proper nutrition to workers whose biological rhythms are
disrupted by their work schedules.
f. Surveys and Polling: Asking Questions

An assignment given to my students for a course on new food product development
required that they keep a diary of all food purchased and eaten during a 1-week
period. They were required to record portions purchased, cost per serving, type of
packaging, country of origin, whether it was an added-value product, and whether
special handling, storage, or preparation was required. In class the purchases were
discussed with respect to quality, desirability, and satisfaction (as student consum-
ers), ease of preparation (limited kitchen facilities were available in the dorms),
packaging, ease of storage, ease of disposability or recyclability, cost vs. value, and
so on. Then the students were to develop ideas for products they would have preferred
to have eaten, that would have fit better with their lifestyle as students, and that
would have made life, their “food life,” more enjoyable.
This exercise produced a welter of ideas that would have delighted any product
development manager. When confronted with a what-would-I-prefer situation the
students began to look at what constituted their lifestyles: students are cash poor
and have long working hours, limited food preparation facilities, limited time for
preparation, and academic pressures. They came up with ideas that fit their needs.
They looked more closely at themselves as consumers. They were no longer faceless
consumers: they had an identity and were a definable consumer niche.
Psychographic data obtained through polls and surveys reflect behaviors and
attitudes of customers and consumers. From an analysis of the data, developers can
define the qualities that must be designed into products to meet the needs and
expectations of targeted consumers. If people have more leisure time (based on
demographic data) plus a desire for a healthier life style (based on psychographic
data), this suggests ideas for nutritious snacks or low-calorie beverages such as fruit
beers, wine coolers, or low-alcohol beers to accompany leisure activities.
In the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s consumers were concerned about nutrition in
general. Nutrition was, in some vague way, good for one’s well-being without
consumers being very sure why. Now consumers know why. Today, consumers focus
on very specific health and nutrition issues that fit neatly together, such as:
• Products to fit a healthy diet, with foods that provide protection against
diseases such as cancer, heart attacks, depression, and memory loss
• Products containing nutraceuticals (functional foods, probiotics and pre-
biotics, phytochemicals), for which a body of reputable literature is slowly
appearing that suggests these may assist people with certain digestive
problems, behavioral problems, and specific disease conditions
At the same time, consumers have not entirely abandoned such concerns as low-
calorie, low-salt (sodium), high-fiber, and low-cholesterol foods. In addition, interest
in natural or organic foods (by which consumers generally mean additive-free foods)
is growing. All this information leads to new product ideas. Psychographic data plus
demographic data provide the inspiration for food product ideas.
Consumers are slowly changing cooking and eating habits. Consumer magazines
are enjoining their readers to fry less and broil more. Unfortunately most local
governments are cutting back on educational funds and usually the first items to go
are courses such as home economics (or household science); good food habits, meal
planning, and general knowledge about food safety are the first items to go. Statistics
show that most families use at least one (frequently more) factory-prepared food at
their meals, so this advice to fry less and broil more falls often on deaf ears.
Meal patterns have changed. In Victorian days and earlier, four or five meals
were the order of the day. The work habits of our modern world reduced that to
three. However, my personal observations of food habits of most office workers and
students today show that five or six meals are more common than the “three square”
of more recent times. The following meal periods with typical fare are common with
both students and office workers, particularly young female office workers:
1. Early morning: fruit juice, coffee or tea, cold cereal or toast, muffin,
croissant or Danish. The beverages and the baked items were frequently
eaten on the way to work or school, in class, or at work.
2. Mid-morning: coffee, milk, or juice and a baked item (Danish pastry or
muffin), often with fruit, or fruit alone.
3. Noon: sandwich, yogurt, hamburger, or hot dog (the students’ fare), cole
slaw, and fried potatoes.
4. Mid-afternoon: similar to mid-morning with the possible addition of
machine-dispensed foods such as soft drinks, peanuts, and chocolate bars.
5. Evening: Students relaxed over beer, chips, and other snacks in the campus
buttery; office workers went home to a light deli snack (paté, small pizza,
cole slaw, or bread — all items picked up on the way home) before going
out for the evening.
6. Night: students ate supper in the cafeteria or at apartment residences.
7. Late night: both office workers and students usually ate a snack before
retiring.
These are eating periods, snacking periods, or grazing periods. Today many
people follow no traditional meal pattern regulated by the clock but eat when they
are hungry.
Much useful information is obtained from data received firsthand from customers
and consumers through surveys and polls, but there are some caveats to be observed.
By far the best and most interesting of several courses in statistics I have had
was given by a professor who made a comment about surveys that has stuck with
me as a cautionary principle: “Don’t believe them.” By way of explanation, he
described what is often heard on the radio or TV news or read in newspapers: “This
survey result is correct within ±x percentage points 95% of the time.” The professor
would get very excited saying, “No, no, no! That is an incomplete statement. It is
wrong. They should say that this result is either right or wrong. If it is right then.…”
Then he explained. The survey questionnaire could have been poorly prepared.
The survey could have been improperly carried out or the results could have been
misinterpreted. Without assurance of knowledge of the manner in which a survey
has been conducted, no survey results should be accepted as fact but merely accepted
as a news item filler.
A survey is a collation of many interviews. Interviews are simply one-on-one
encounters between an interviewer and an interviewee during which the attitudes of
the interviewee are sought. There are two types of interviews:
• Structured interviews in which the interviewer has a very specific list of

questions to follow faithfully and poses these to the interviewee. The inter-
viewer then records the answers by checking off the appropriate squares.
• Unstructured interviews in which the interviewer uses a prompt sheet
rather than a list of questions with which to conduct the interview and
record answers and opinions.
Cohen (1990a) discusses interview techniques as a tool in product development.

Whether a formal, structured questionnaire or a cue sheet of topics is used,
surveys do permit interviewers to get personal opinions, comments, and reflections
on a wide variety of topics of interest to the client. Unstructured interviews give
great freedom to interviewers to probe very deeply into subjects. Herein is one of
their weaknesses — interviewers may force “don’t know” or “no opinion” responses
into specious answers or opinions from interviewees.
Converse and Traugott (1986) discuss the errors that can arise in the analysis
and interpretation of polls and surveys of the general public; these are equally valid
for polls and surveys of customers and consumers. There are several sources of error:
• There is a volatility of opinion among respondents that can vary with

time. This source of error is especially important to product developers
since development does take time — time during which subjective opin-
ions can change or be changed by external events.
• There is an inherent difficulty in measuring subjective states of respon-
dents. How does one measure, for example, “is likely to buy,” which can
be found in questionnaires? It is a conditional question, i.e., the respondent
“is likely to buy if such and such happens.”
• Incomplete data, especially “no response” or “won’t respond,” compro-
mise sample coverage.
• Measurement errors can be introduced by the interviewer, the respondent,
or the questionnaire itself.
• Individual market research houses may have different techniques for
weighting responses. These can generate bias in the interpretation of results.
Interviewers, using either structured questionnaires or prompt sheets, can sway

respondents in many subtle ways, consciously or unconsciously. Voice, clothing,
body language, physical appearance, age, or sex of the interviewer can trigger this
influencing effect. To avoid any bias being introduced during an interview, an
interviewer requires skill, training, and experience.
Unfortunately, many interviewers are not skilled, trained, or experienced. Often
they are college students earning money on school breaks. An incident observed in
the shopping mall of a small city provides an excellent example of inexperienced
interviewers.
Two college-aged men were conducting a survey in the mall. I was curious as to what
was being surveyed and frankly wondered why I wasn’t being interviewed since males
and females seemed to be the targets. I edged close enough to them to overhear one
young man say to the other, “It’s my turn to get the next [good looking girl] to
interview.”
The results of this survey from this particular portion of the interviewing team
might be biased toward attractive young women. Properly trained interviewers add
to the expense but their use is worth the investment. For companies employing
market research houses, the caveat is “buyer beware” regarding how the survey or
poll is conducted. If the survey is improperly conducted, the cost is twofold; the
money spent on the survey is wasted and the information obtained is misleading
and can lead to other mistakes.
The structure of questionnaires or their counterpart, prompt sheets, requires
careful design to remove ambiguity. The language of the survey’s preamble, and even
the order of questions, must be designed to avoid any bias. The following hypothetical
example illustrates how a change in a questionnaire could introduce a bias:
Potential voters are being polled for their voting preferences for three political parties.
Mr. Right leads the Right Wing Party. Ms. Left leads the Left Wing Party. Mr. Middle
leads the Middle-of-the-Road Party. All the lead-in questions pertain to the platforms
and public issue policies espoused by each of the parties. The last question, however,
asks, “Would you vote for Ms. Left, Mr. Middle, or Mr. Right?” From delving into
political philosophies, the survey has jumped to leadership personalities, introducing
a very different slant to the survey.
Consciously or subconsciously, respondents express opinions or answers as

directed or influenced by the wording in the questionnaire. Clients hiring market
research houses need unbiased and objective data; they do not want data that support
preconceived concepts about customers and consumers that either they may hold or
that is held by the market research houses. If clients have preconceived, but errone-
ous, ideas of what their customers and consumers want, their desire for vindication
of their view may influence the wording of the questionnaire. As Converse and
Traugott (1986) state, different research houses may have their own reasons for
weighting responses.
Data based on interviews must be cautiously interpreted. Interpretations based
on data from a small sample of targeted consumers should not be extrapolated to
broader populations without interposing strong reservations. The results, without the
hyperbole of marketspeak introduced by the market research house or even by the
client’s own marketing department, should be seen as providing only a very general
reflection of the targeted population.
g. Telephone and Mail Surveys
Telephone surveys reach a very disperse population in a large geographic area. They
are not selective regarding who is contacted, and not all potential respondees have
telephones. In telephone surveys, questionnaires must be brief because they are
intrusive. Interviewers have interrupted respondents at home. Questions, nonetheless,
can be somewhat more detailed (given the constraints mentioned above) since
interviewers can explain difficult questions. When computers are handy, interviewers
can key in respondents’ answers, and the results are available in real time. There is
no delay, and the development team can proceed rapidly. Interviewer bias in tele-
phone surveys is much less since facelessness of both interviewee and interviewer
removes any visual elements causing bias.
Mail surveys have no geographic bounds. Since most marketing research com-
panies keep mailing lists of respondents characterized by income, religion, ethnic
background, and so on, great selectivity of respondents is possible. These listings
can be selected to represent the target population that a company desires information
about, but they are far from randomly selected or representative of an elusive
population. They are that market research house’s private listings.
h. Advantages and Disadvantages of Mail and Telephone

Surveys
Mail surveys are the least costly technique of gathering data. They have no inter-
viewer bias, but that does not mean the survey questionnaire itself will be without
bias. The explanatory text, the wording of questions themselves, and the objectives
of the survey can influence responses.
Printed questions must be clear and self-explanatory on mail surveys. Unstruc-
tured surveys cannot be used since respondents have no contact for an explanation
of ambiguous or complex questions. Any difficulty in understanding questions could
discourage respondents from finishing the survey or may elicit false data based on
the respondents’ confusion. This need for simplicity in mail surveys may limit the
kinds of information companies can obtain.
TABLE 2.6
Advantages and Disadvantages of Various Survey Techniques
Type of Survey
Survey Characteristic One-on-One Exchanges Mail Telephone
Costa High Low Low to medium

Geographic scope Limited in area Limitless Limitless (long
distance costs)
Potential for bias High Low Low to medium
Availability of results Slow to medium Slow Rapid
Selectivityb of respondents Nonselective to highly selective Selective Low
Style of questionnaire Complex Simple Short (intrusive)
Lengthy Medium
a Costs for any type of survey can be variable. Generally, personal interviews are more expensive,
especially if specific interviewees are targeted. Long distance charges can add to telephone surveys
unless done locally in several cities.
b If respondents in each survey technique are preselected from screened lists then the survey can be
highly focused. Random selection of telephone numbers provides no selectivity. Accosting shoppers
in a mall also provides little selectivity beyond selecting for obvious physical traits such as age, sex,
skin color, weight, etc.
A disadvantage of mail surveys is a notoriously poor mail-back response rate.

Response rates of 45 to 50% are considered excellent; lower rates of return are the
norm. The slow return of completed questionnaires delays data analysis.
Nonresponses, whether in personal, telephone, or mail surveys of targeted pop-
ulations, contribute significantly to sampling error (Converse and Traugott, 1986).
Both telephone and personal surveys are intrusive; telephone surveys, especially
during evening hours, can be especially irritating and invite negative survey results.
Table 2.6 compares the advantages and disadvantages of these surveys.
i. A Modern Delphic Oracle
A novel method of surveying, especially to spot trends that might lead to new product
development ideas, is the Delphi method of forecasting. It is based on questionnaires
mailed to addressees whose opinions are valued (for example, senior company
executives). These selected respondents are assumed to be acknowledged experts in
the topics under consideration or are leaders in the various industries for which
forecasts are sought. The process is much like conducting a think tank by mail at
this initial phase of enquiry.
Opinions from the first survey are collated. A second questionnaire is formulated
based on a consensus of the responses given in the first one. The same respondents
are canvassed again, but this time the questionnaire is based on the expert opinion
derived from the first survey. The respondents may or may not revise their opinions
in the face of this new information. Again, the respondents’ answers are collated.
The researchers can decide to continue or not with yet another questionnaire digested
and distilled from the additional, rethought information gained in the second survey.
The survey may go for a third time (rarely are more than two performed), and again,
the answers are collated. By this third round a semiquantitative analysis of future
trends in particular fields of interest based on expert opinion has been obtained. The
Delphi technique of surveying is a very powerful tool in evaluating and forecasting
trends. A good example of a Delphi survey is the Food Update survey described by
Katzenstein (1975).
j. Elusive Populations
Reference has already been made to the difficulties of researching elusive populations
(see Figure 1.2). Sampling these populations presents unusual problems for market
researchers. Some examples of elusive populations are (Sudman et al., 1988):
• Racial, ethnic, or religious groups within larger populations

• Income levels of various groups (professionals, tradespeople, retirees, etc.)
• Persons with specific illnesses or disabilities
For the food product developer, some examples of elusive populations of cus-
tomers and consumers might be:
• Users of organic foods and vegetarians (Nathan et al., 1994).

• Those following religiously or philosophically based diets or socially or
culturally based dietary laws such as Halal, Kosher, Baháí faith (Solhjoo,
1994), or Zen macrobiotics (a diet based on a balance of principles of yin

and yang) typical of Zen Buddhists. These diet principles regulate types
and composition of foods to be consumed and their processing. Erhard
(1971) and Glyer (1972) provide extensive reviews and discussions of the
early literature on various cultural philosophies regarding diet.
• Those practicing ethical or socially responsible food selection (for exam-
ple, buyers of coffee made from beans sold by workers’ cooperatives
rather than from multinational manufacturers).
• Those with food allergies or metabolic dysfunctions (Blades, 1996;
Brown, 2002; Cullinane, 2002; Steinbock, 2002) resulting from genetic
errors of metabolism or surgery or prophylaxis (e.g., immuno-suppressed
individuals).
• Those who are overweight, underweight, or anemic and require special
nutritionally designed diets.
• Those who use dietary supplements, such as athletes and the elderly.
• Teenagers, the elderly, and pensioners.
(The articles by Cullinane, Steinbock, and Brown discuss allergy problems and
preventive action taken by a supermarket chain, an industrial caterer, and a company
in the hotel, restaurant, and leisure activities markets, respectively.)
Each elusive population presents different levels of difficulty to survey. Obvi-
ously listings of elusive populations that would greatly assist sampling are not
always readily available to researchers. Hospital or medical records, where acces-
sible, or self-help or social associations to which members of these groups might
belong may have listings of those with specific disorders. Some groups, such as
teenagers and ethnic groups, can be geographically located within cities, for exam-
ple, in high schools.
By any measure, sampling these populations is difficult and hence costly. Demo-
graphic data (census data) can assist market researchers by identifying where these
groups are not present. Sudman et al. (1988) discuss sampling techniques for groups
that are geographically clustered, more general techniques (network sampling) for
nongeographically grouped populations, and sampling techniques for the most elu-
sive of all populations, mobile populations, by capture–recapture methods.
3. The Seller/Retailer and Distributor as Sources of Ideas
a. Analysis of Purchases
Retailers gather much information about customer shopping habits through the
universal product code printed on foodstuffs and recorded at the time of purchase.
These include:
• What items are purchased and which items are not moving well. This
simplifies stock keeping and opens the door to efficient consumer response.
• Which items are purchased as a function of the total dollar amount.
• Which stores have the highest average purchase per receipt.
• Which products are purchased together. Ideas for new product develop-
ment (or for piggyback couponing) may come from frequent purchase
combinations. If product A and product B are purchased together fre-
quently, would combining the two in a single product or packaging them
together as a single unit be a logical product idea?
Obviously some caution is needed in interpretation of data of this nature: prod-

ucts purchased together are not necessarily used together. Nevertheless, studies of
purchase combinations do yield ideas for new products.
A similar caution applies to the interpretation of data describing case movements
of goods between warehouses. These movements are what they are: product is being
moved around, nothing more, nothing less. Case movement is only an indirect
measure of customer interest, much like per capita consumption figures.
b. Marketplace Analysis
By studying all categories of products available in the marketplace, one can note
gaps — products or categories of products that are not available. GAP analysis is
another technique for generating ideas for product development. Simply put, mar-
keting people (usually) select a particular product category and then examine the
marketplace for empty spaces in that category.
In a typical GAP exercise, a grid is drawn. Each row of the grid describes some
product attribute such as texture, flavor, color, particle size, function, application,
etc. Columns might be labeled by form, that is, solid, liquid, or gas; or ready-to-
serve, condensed, frozen, or dehydrated for soups and other items. When the grid
is filled in with data from the marketplace, ideas for new products may be revealed
by the empty spaces of the grid.
In Figure 2.1, for example, if hot pepper condiment sauces were the category
selected, marketing staff would construct a grid as depicted. Horizontally, the form
Solid Gas
Hot Sauce Sprinkle-on Paste Pour-on Dispensed Pressure-
Flavor as Foam dispensed
Hot Pepper
Ginger
Garlic
Mustard
Horseradish
Blends
(e.g., Curries)
Black Pepper
FIGURE 2.1 Example of a GAP grid for hot condiments.

of the condiment sauce has been expanded from a liquid to a solid with two
possible forms: a concentrated paste (squeeze tube dispensed) and a ground pow-
der. The gaseous forms are also in two forms: dispensed as a foam or dispensed
by gas as a liquid or paste, the latter pushing the product into more sophisticated
packaging techniques.
Vertically, one can adapt various flavors based on a single variety of spice (e.g.,
black pepper). One can also base the sauce on various plants such as hot peppers,
ginger root, or horseradish, with variations of heat level. Or combinations of spices
and plants can be used. Still other adaptations to be used vertically in the grid are
ethnic varieties of Indian curries or sauces based on Thai or Japanese cuisine.
As the grid is filled in, the following would be noted:
• There were numerous liquid pour-on sauces with wide variations in ethnic
types of sauces, heat levels, and flavors.
• There was a large number of solid “sauces” (i.e., round sprinkle-on prod-
ucts), with an equally wide variation in heat levels, types, and flavor
• There was no “gas” product, that is, pressure dispensed — discounting,
of course, pepper sprays used for incapacitating highly agitated, violent
individuals or as a personal protection device.
Here is a product gap. Does this suggest that there is an opportunity for a foam-
or spray-dispensed hot condiment sauce?
GAP analysis, a form of attribute analysis, looks at the marketplace for product
vacuums. Where a space is noted on the grid, no such product exists — in some
cases perhaps for very good reasons. No product may exist because both customers
and consumers see no advantage for such a product or have no expectation of one.
On the other hand, is there an undetected need for such a product, which has never
been fulfilled, because such a product has never been presented? The main purpose
of this exercise, however, is to stimulate thinking about unfulfilled market opportu-
nities as the grid is stretched beyond its limits both horizontally and vertically.
GAP techniques can be applied broadly to financial and marketing matters as
well. Again a grid is made. Columns could be labeled as years when products (in
the rows) reach the ends of their effective life cycles. Or columns could be different
sales regions and rows the products that marketing needs to introduce into those
markets to keep them strong. Or columns could represent anticipated income from
different geographic areas projected for the next 5 years. Rows represent products
both existing and new to fill the gaps opened up on the grid.
4. Other Sources of Ideas
a. Ideas from within the Company

Ideas for products for new market opportunities can spring from many areas and
activities within large and small food companies. Internally generated ideas must
still lead to products that satisfy the needs and desires of customers and consumers;
ideas for products are not intended to merely satisfy the personal whims of individ-
uals within the company.
First and foremost as sources of ideas for new products are the company’s retail
and industrial sales personnel and technical sales representatives. Salespersons are
sensors in the marketplaces they serve; they are the eyes and ears of the company.
Where the retail sales force restocks shelves in grocery stores and supermarkets,
they can review the shelves for the competitors’ products or check in-store displays.
They have closest contact with the customer or with the retail store manager as they
discuss orders. These people meet consumers; they see the placing, price, and
condition of their competitors’ products and are aware of promotional displays. They
know what the competition is doing at the store level. Their discussions with store
management can reveal weaknesses in products, their packaging, or deliveries. Store
returns may point to problems with formulations, and complaints by customers to
store management may uncover faulty preparation instructions.
The sales force is the strongest resource a company has for determining what
is happening in the marketplaces they service. They provide competitive intelligence
by reporting the earliest signal of competitive activities in the marketplace that needs
to be heeded by the company. By listening to retailers, customers, and industrial
users, sales representatives present their company with ideas of what is wanted in
a new product and they provide information about how much customers are willing
to pay for this innovation. Some of the product’s design work has been done for the
company that listens.
A novel approach is used by one company to give this consumer and marketplace
awareness to its engineering, research and development, and distribution depart-
ments. Members of these departments are required at regular intervals to accompany
a sales representative on customer contact visits. Such visits serve several purposes:
• Customers (i.e., retailers and the client’s research and development per-
sonnel) are impressed by the concern displayed by the company.
• Staff of these sometimes insular departments are exposed to the environ-
ment of customers and the marketplaces in which their products compete.
• These individuals see opportunities for improving their products and pack-
aging or for new product ideas.
b. Ideas from Customer and Consumer Contacts

When consumers or customers take time to e-mail, write letters to, or telephone
food manufacturers, they are expressing a need to be heard. They may want to:
• Vent anger about a failed product. This provides clues regarding faulty
preparation instructions or the need to reformulate to improve a product.
• Express pleasure about a favorite product. This suggests ways to improve
a product by enhancing those pleasurable features.
• Enquire about a product’s suitability for a special diet. Is this perhaps an
unexpected opportunity for product extension?
• Seek clarification about cooking instructions. This suggests cooking
instructions are not clear.
• Offer useful information or new uses they found when using the product,
suggesting possible line extensions for the product. These could be prod-
uct maintenance opportunities.
Customers and consumers need to be respectfully listened to, and their letters
should be responded to in a constructive manner.
Hotline telephone numbers (1-800 numbers) are used by many food companies
on their labels and advertising brochures; these let customers and consumers directly
call the consumer relations department, where consumers’ needs are addressed
immediately. In addition, companies with staff skilled in consumer relations can
elicit background information on the callers to get user profiles. Valuable psycho-
graphic information so obtained assists food companies in their marketing strategies
and new product development plans. Better still are Web sites, for example Kraft
Kitchens, where customers who sign on are “personally” corresponded with.
Product complaints can be likened to the tip of an iceberg: much is hidden
beneath the surface. Estimates to evaluate the significance of complaints vary widely.
Ross (1980) gave me an estimate that for each consumer who complains there are
eight who did not and will not try that product again. Other estimates provided by
colleagues suggest that there are 20 or more consumers who do not complain for
each consumer who does. Graham (1990) reports that for each consumer who
complains there are 50 who do not.
All complaints should, first, be acknowledged. Then the complaints should be
classified according to their nature, the product involved and its code identification,
identification and location of the complainant, place of purchase, and the time when
the purchase was made and the defect noticed.
From these records, the astute, consumer-oriented company looks for common
threads. For example:
• A hidden product defect (if it is a common recurring complaint) may

indicate a need to improve a food product by reformulation or new process
technology. Similar complaints from across a broad marketing region
might suggest that something serious happened or is happening in man-
ufacturing or in the distribution channels.
• A package weakness (poorly positioned labels, scuffed labels, overgluing
and glue stains, dented cans indicative of rough handling, leaking lids,
etc.) may indicate poor package design or a problem in transportation and
distribution.
• An idea for a new product may be suggested by complaints. If products
consistently fail to meet consumers’ needs or expectations as evidenced
by complaints, then an analysis of complaints may find ideas for new
products more closely designed to meet those needs (Cooper, 1990).
Daniel (1984) describes an elaborate computerized system for organizing con-

sumer complaints of a hypothetical food company with a 1-800 telephone number.
It is designed for a quality control function but could be adapted for an approach
more oriented to consumer relations. Cooper (1990) describes the planning and
implementation of a program to organize consumer complaints to provide:
• Weekly summaries of all complaints

• Complaints broken down by product or brand
• Complaints broken down by specific factory
Such information in the hands of plant managers, quality control managers, as

well as senior management alerts all to a potential breakdown in the processing
system and can also motivate process or product improvement or new product ideas.
The Internet has brought a new means for airing complaints: Web sites on which
people can post complaints anonymously. These sites are commonly called “gripe
sites.” Such sites require monitoring by a company, as they may contain malicious,
misleading information about a company or its products that needs to be countered
early. Damaging information may arise from disgruntled employees, cranks, or
competitors.
Complaint files should not be handled facilely by marketing personnel with a
form letter and coupons, thereafter discarding the correspondence. All consumer
complaints, indeed any consumer communication, should be catalogued and cross-
referenced under the complainant’s name, street address, city and postal code, and
the nature of the complaint or the comments made. These files may contain infor-
mation about consumers and how they use products; they may identify product or
package defects that require correction; they may pinpoint the sources of crank
complaints by those seeking free coupons; or they may identify competitive activity.
In new product introductions such interpretative information can be useful.
c. In-House Product and Process Research and Development
All food companies conduct experimental trials in their laboratories or pilot plants
or on their processing lines to test the use of new equipment, new ingredients
with improved properties, and new supplier sources of raw material. These studies
and experimental trials require careful documentation, cataloguing, and cross-
referencing and then storage in a central repository where they can be accessed.
However, so simple a task is rarely undertaken by many companies. In my
experience with both small and large food companies, a company’s experimental
plant trials or other research projects are either not written up at all or if they are
written up are hidden away in privately held files scattered throughout the plant.
This unavailability of information represents a significant loss of research and
development dollars.
These records have more than historical value; they may contain clues to new
products that will be found by future technologists. At the very least, they are records
of past product ideas and formulations that were rejected. Reasons for rejection of
products or processes 10, 5, or even 2 years ago may not be valid today. Times and
technology change, as do customer and consumer needs. Projects impossible a short
time ago could be within present processing skills through advances in process,
package, and ingredient technology.
A later research team will be doomed to waste time and money “reinventing the
wheel” when they could have been building on the work of past groups. If a test is
worth doing, it is also worth recording and filing the results competently so that
others can find the data and understand the information therein.
Information retrieval can be confounded by bureaucratic red tape:
In one large multinational company, all projects did require write-up and were deposited
with management. Indeed, even laboratory work notebooks were confiscated. I had
reported on several projects, mainly on the rheological properties of molten chocolate,
fondants, and syrups. I needed one of my reports on previous work for reference on a
current project. To my amazement I was refused access. I did not have security clearance
for access to my own research work!
All reports of process and product experimentation that have been conducted
need to be collated, organized, and catalogued with computer access within an
information management system that permits ready accessibility.
d. Collective Memory
In-house reports for computerized information management retrieval systems as
presented in the previous section can be developed further to create a collective
memory of what happened when problems were encountered and how those prob-
lems were solved. In the history of any company, people have encountered and
solved problems in manufacturing; they have overcome short supplies of raw mate-
rials by either a combination of reformulation or novel processing steps; people have
resolved failures in products or packaging. Ideas and experiences that company
employees have had are important to the company as a resource. If the knowledge
and experience of the cadre of old-timers and pensioners can be organized into an
accessible body of information, then companies have an asset valuable for the clues
to problem solving and suggestions for new product ideas or process improvement
contained within them.
This collective memory is a tool that no company should allow to be lost.
Whitney (1989) describes the development of expert systems using the skills and
experience of company personnel. A general discussion of expert systems is provided
by McLellan (1989).
5. The External Environment as a Source of Ideas
Ideas generated exclusively from within companies carry risks. They may bring a
too introspective range of ideas for development. Exploration of opportunities
derived from ideas outside the company will balance this.
a. The Competition
It is a marketing axiom that a wise company knows what its competitors are doing.
To state the blatantly obvious, the competition also competes for the customer’s
attention and dollars and for the tastes and preferences of the consumer. Any activity
by competitors in the marketplace may require retaliatory marketplace action. This
action can be the impetus for an accelerated product development program requiring
the generation of new ideas for products with which to counter the competition’s
new introductions.
There are several ways (see, e.g., Table 4.1) in which the activities of the
competition can be followed. Each one provides little pieces of information that
when integrated together reveal a broad picture of the competition’s direction. This
activity is called competitive intelligence gathering and is discussed more fully in
Chapter 4.
Many food companies omit even simple intelligence gathering activities; they
are unaware of what is going on in the marketplaces they service. When management
do not visit stores to learn what is happening on store shelves in the marketplace,
they are probably equally unaware of who their competition is or how their products
look side by side with their competitors’ products and how these are judged by
customers and consumers.
If competitive products are more successful than yours, then why? Are there ideas
here for improvement of existing products? Are there ideas for demonstrating a
perceived edge or difference over the competition that is discernible by the consumer?
Inspections of competitive products, including sensory and compositional anal-
yses, provide data that allow:
• Comparison of ingredients to provide an approximation of ingredient costs

and therefore an estimate of the competition’s cost margins (i.e., compet-
itive intelligence gathering)
• An assessment of quality characteristics of the company’s self-manufac-
tured products against competitive products and a determination of the
appeal to the competitor’s customers
• An evaluation of flavor preferences with taste panels
• An evaluation of package and label appearances to gauge what the cus-
tomer sees on the store shelves before a package is picked up in a
supermarket
Maintaining a strong competitive program of product development requires such

activity.
In addition, the information obtained as outlined above can provide ideas for
new products. Companies can indulge in free association of ideas to generate new
product concepts. An attribute of one leading competitor’s product put together with
features of another market leader combined with something from a third product
may lead to a new product concept. Such free thinking can be very exciting for the
developer. Competitive products on store shelves are probably the source of new
product ideas for many companies. This activity has now been graced with a name,
benchmarking.
b. Food Conferences, Exhibits, Trade Shows, and Research
Symposia
Attendance at domestic and international food and equipment trade fairs is essential
for members of the development team; these are places where companies often
showcase their new developments and advanced technologies. Attendees have access
to vast arrays of food products, ingredients, and the latest developments in processing
equipment. They see and sample a variety of consumer products, ingredients, and
food equipment from around the world. They network with other international
business people to discuss export market opportunities and discuss their processing
problems with technical sales representatives. In other words, they get maximum
exposure to a broad range of ideas, products, and contacts from many countries.
Such awareness of the wide variability and availability of food products internation-
ally plus creative thinking can lead to ideas for new products.
Similarly, domestic and international technical meetings on food topics are
sources of new knowledge and ideas. Conferences where technical papers are pre-
sented and discussed reveal novel research and development activity that may suggest
new possibilities for new products and could also reveal the research activities of
competitors. For example:
• Technical papers provide access to research and development findings a

year or two before these results are published in journals and several years
before they appear in books.
• Authors of the papers can be quizzed about details of their research
methodologies and about directions that more recent, unreported devel-
opments have taken. Such discussions are particularly valuable in poster
sessions, where more probing, directed, and self-interested questions can
be asked. Useful contacts (networking) with experts active in a company’s
interest areas and with academics can be made.
Who should go to shows and conferences? The obvious answer is: those who
will be the most interested in personal development and who will return the most
benefit from the experience to their companies.
c. Public Libraries
Public libraries have sections on food and cooking with extensive collections of
cookbooks filled with recipes. Recipes based on local, national, and international
cuisines provide ideas for new food products or serve as starting points for bench-
top test products. More importantly, public libraries have librarians, who are pro-
fessionally trained in finding sources of specialized information.
Computer-assisted information retrieval systems, common in all libraries, give
subscribers access to databases to fit any need for information. These services are
reasonably priced and can complement the resources of small library collections.
d. Specialized Libraries and Library Services

Without access to information, businesses would be helpless. Information about
markets, food legislation, trade statistics, financial analyses of companies, consum-
erism, and consumer trends are necessary tools for strategic planning. Equally
valuable for food technologists is access to technical information. However, most
food manufacturers do not have a staffed on-site library (Goldman, 1983). One way
around the problem of lack of library facilities is to subscribe to a database. Databases
are available from publishers on CD-ROM or DVD or on-line.
Williams (1985) provides a general discussion of the basic types of databases

available: bibliographic databases, full-text databases, and numeric databases. She
also describes and discusses aids to on-line retrieval such as user-friendly front ends,
intermediary systems that help the searcher with questions, and gateway systems
that help the searcher reach other databases within the system. Access to technical
literature through these databases reduces the time spent in literature reviews, pro-
vides a wide access to literature beyond the budget means of most food companies,
and provides scientists in development with the technical literature support they need.
Buxton (1991) describes some general databases available in the U.K. and
explains the terminology used (in user-friendly language). Hill (1991) describes the
International Food Information Service, a database producer whose main product is
the well known Food Science and Technology Abstracts (FSTA), which is available
in printed form, on-line, on magnetic tape, and on CD-ROM. The database contains
original abstracts, authors’ summaries, and, in approximately 10% of the cases, title-
only entries. Classification in FSTA is tabulated and on-line hosts for accessing the
database are described.
A different database compiled for retrospective searching was described by
Mundy (1991). The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), based in the U.S.,
develops citation indexes. Well known to most food technologists is the Science
Citation Index© (SCI). This index comprises four interrelated indexes. SCI can be
used to find recent papers on a particular topic that use earlier papers in that field.
The subject index uses key words or phrases to provide a list of authors using these
reference phrases in their titles. The corporate index provides information on what
has been published by researchers at a particular company, and this leads to an index
of authors from that location. SCI is available on CD and on-line and was previously
available on magnetic tape. ISI also produces the popular Current Contents©, which
is available on-line and was available on magnetic tape.
The Information Group of the Leatherhead Food Research Association (U.K.)
has produced Foodline©, which comprises scientific and technical, marketing, and
legislation databases (Kernon, 1991). These can be accessed on-line. The scientific
and technology database FROSTI© (Food Research on Scientific and Technical
Information) dates from 1974. All entries contain a concise abstract of the article
with key word cross-referencing. The marketing database FOMAD© (Food Market
Data) is supported by two databases, FLAIRS UK© (Food Launch Awareness in
the Retail Sector) and FLAIRS NOVEL©. The latter contains information about
products described as novel with respect to attributes and that are introduced
anywhere in the world. FOREGE© (Food Regulation Enquiries), a legislation
database, provides information concerning permitted food additives worldwide
(Kernon, 1991).
An interesting demonstration of the value of computers for storing and sorting
data for application in predictive techniques in microbiology is discussed in Gibbs
and Williams, 1990; Cole, 1991; Walker and Jones, 1992; Williams et al., 1992; and
Buchanan, 1993.
O’Brien (1991) provides an overview of available food and food-related data-
bases. For readers interested in the topic or perhaps interested in subscribing to a
service, some difficulties and problems associated with food databases are discussed
by Pennington and Butrum (1991), especially the virtually inescapable translation

problems associated with food nomenclature, food descriptions, as well as taxonomy
of foods as these vary from country to country. These are major problems in
international trade. For example, fish and fish products have a rich variety of local,
regional, and taxonomic names that present difficulties in translation. Klensin (1991)
describes the use of multimedia (and hypermedia) techniques to answer some of
these difficulties described by Pennigton and Butrum (1991).
Stored technical information is useful only if it can be accessed. If that infor-
mation could be organized and structured so as to be available to assist the user just
as the apprentice in real life has the expert to lean on, it would be a valuable tool.
Anderson and coworkers (1985) describe developments in intelligent computer-
assisted instruction that are “programs that simulate understanding of the domain
they teach” and can interact with the student according to a strategy. This is, in
essence, an expert system.
The use of expert systems in the food industry is comparatively new. An oft
cited example is the Campbell Soup Company’s retrieval of the expert knowledge
of their hydrostatic cooker operator before his retirement and the development of
this information into an expert system (Whitney, 1989). The chief value of expert
systems is in improved training programs for personnel, in having an “expert” on
site in times of crises to prevent the introduction of hazards into the food, in the
design of new processes, in developing better control systems for safer food, and in
the preservation of the accumulated wisdom of experts. Bush (1989), McLellan
(1989), and Herrod (1989) describe in detail what is involved in the development
of expert systems and the immense amount of effort required in their production.
Specialized libraries, for example, business libraries, reference libraries, tech-
nical (medical or engineering) libraries, and patent libraries, provide information
and statistics on a wide variety of subjects valuable to developers. Many maga-
zines, trade journals, and technical journals can be accessed via the Internet. The
patent literature can be an interesting source of data for investigating what is
patented and what patents are pending. From the pending applications, a company
can find information revealing directions in research and development that com-
petitors are pursuing.
Technical libraries are equally valuable in providing ideas for new products or
new developments in the science and technologies of foods, food processing and
preservation, and nutrition (see Table 2.7). Specific ideas such as these, ranging from
snack foods to ingredients, may not have direct interest for a developer, but they
can provide guidelines for formulations or processing and experimental protocols
or suggest products that can be adapted from these ideas.
The value of reviewing scientific and technical literature is threefold:
1. The subject matter of articles has value for what it describes about a food
or process. Typical examples are Babic and coworkers (1992), who
describe stabilization systems for chilled ready-to-use vegetables (with
carrots as the example) and Slade and Levine (1991) and Best (1992),
who describe water relationships in foods, their implications for the qual-
ity and safety of many foods, and their control to stabilize foods.
TABLE 2.7
Examples of New Processes and Products in the Technical Literature
Type of Product Product or Process Described Reference
Jellies Complete process for extraction of juices from Mazza, 1979

wild native fruits and their manufacture into
jellies
Vegetable pie filling Carrot pie filling preparation Saldana et al., 1980
Beverage Nutritious, chocolate-flavored shake-type Fernandez de Tonella et al.,
drink prepared from chick peas 1981
Snack Nutritious West African snack food, akara, McWatters et al., 1990, 1992
prepared from cowpeas
Fruit leather Fruit sheet made from prickly pear with Ewaidah and Hassan, 1992
formulation, composition, and sensory data
included
Fruit leather Detailed manufacture including packaging Amoriggi, 1992
and storage of fruit leathers from mango,
banana, guava, and mixed fruits
Snack and bakery Process for explosion puffing of bananas Saca and Lozano, 1992
item described
Ingredient Synthesis of valuable ingredient, vanillin, Thibault et al., 1998
described using methodology allowing
vanillin to be called natural
Extruded snack item Formulation of corn flour, green gram dhal, Thakur and Saxena, 2000
and gum snack food. Primarily a
demonstration of response surface technique
for formulation optimization
Gruel-based foods Processing conditions described for Tamime et al., 2000
preparation of ethnic gruels such as porridge,
atole, kishk, and trahana
2. Information on the authors, and where the work was performed, provides
contacts with whom the product developer may wish to communicate in
future.
3. There are acknowledgments at the end of the article listing the supporters
of that particular research. This information plus the authors’ addresses
may identify who sponsored the work and thus reveal competitive activity
in a particular field (all part of competitive intelligence gathering).
e. Trade Literature
Ingredient and equipment suppliers provide trade literature, newsletters, and bulle-
tins describing their new products and their applications. This literature can be
surprisingly fertile ground for new product ideas or information about new ingre-
dients that will inspire new ideas for product development. For example, Jones
(1992) surveyed food labeling directives for European Economic Community fla-
voring in a very timely review published in Dragoco Reports published by Dragoco,
Inc., which would be invaluable for developers who may be contemplating entering
the European Community with flavored foods.
Ingredient suppliers often provide sample recipes employing their products with
their promotional and technical bulletins. For example, the California Raisin Report
Winter 1993 issue describes kosher foods and provides recipes for various baked
goods suitable for Jewish traditional holidays. The American Spice Trade Association
supports a column, “Flavor Secrets,” published in Prepared Foods. The March 1993
issue entitled “Comfort” Pies describes meat pies from various countries, provides
a recipe for one, and advertises the availability of pilot recipes for others.
f. Government Publications
There is a wealth of new product ideas in the deluge of literature available from
governments and their various departments and agencies. Governments regularly
promote the use of agricultural commodities or underutilized crops. They provide
recipes using the foodstuffs, with manufacturing directions and occasionally market
test data. Where these fit both the manufacturing capabilities and resources of a food
company and the demands of consumers as indicated by market research, this readily
available source for increasing a company’s ability to generate new food product
ideas should not be overlooked.
Government publications are also valuable sources of much demographic data
such as population movements, age composition of the population, incomes, food
and nutrient consumption per day (USDA, 1980), meal patterns, and so on. Disclo-
sure on companies who have received research monies, grants-in-aid, or development
loans provides information on activities in food research and plant construction
among competitors.
Descriptions of developments in regional food research laboratories and agri-
cultural research stations are published regularly. For example, the Food Research
and Development Centre at St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, Agriculture Canada, publishes
an information bulletin in one issue of which Gélinas (1991) described work on
frozen bread doughs. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS, 1975) published a
book describing the properties of underexploited food plants with promising eco-
nomic value. Included in this are descriptions of the vegetable chaya, now readily
available in supermarkets; winged beans; the cereal quinua (quinoa) and grain
amaranths, both of which have become more commonly used products; and the
oilseeds of jojoba and buffalo gourd. Specialty stores in many large cities currently
stock all of these. Another example from the Food Development Division (FDD,
1990), Agriculture Canada, is an extensive study on modified atmosphere packaging.
II. KNOWING, UNDERSTANDING, AND

ENCOURAGING CREATIVITY
Edwin Land (1963), then president and director of the Polaroid Corporation, on the
occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Mellon Institute, said:
In our laboratories we have again and again deliberately taken people without scientific
training, taken people from the production line, put them into research situations in
association with competent research people, and just let them be apprentices. What we
find is an amazing thing…. In about two years we find that these people, unless they
are sick or somehow unhealthy, have become an almost Pygmalion problem; they have
become creative. If there is anything unpleasant to an unprepared administrator it is to
find himself surrounded by creative people, and when the creative people are not trained
it is even worse. They have two unpleasant characteristics: first, they want to do
something by themselves and they have some pretty good ideas that do not fit in with
policy; secondly, they have the most naive, uncharming and unbecoming direct insight
into what is fallacious in what you are doing, and that, of course, is a blow to policy.
I do not want to romanticize these people. I am simply reporting on what we seem to
find is a fact … and you have to find out what to do with these awakened people.
James (1890) describes genius as “little more than the faculty of perceiving in
an unhabitual way.” Another writer (Anon., 1988a) commented as follows about
creative people:
Highly creative people are eccentric in the literal sense of the word. They have less
respect for precedent and more willingness to take risks than others. They are less
likely to be motivated by money or career advancement than by the inner satisfaction
of hatching and carrying out ideas. In conventional corporate circles, such traits can
look quite eccentric indeed.
Stuller (1982) recognizes several types of creativity and provides examples

of each:
• Theoretical (Albert Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton)

• Applied (the Curies, Henry Ford, Alexander G. Bell, and Thomas A. Edison)
• Inspired (artists and composers)
• Imaginative (writers and poets)
• Prescriptive (thinkers such as Plato, Machiavelli, and Martin Luther)
• Natural (dancers, musicians, singers, and sports figures)
However he classifies creativeness, he also recognizes a common theme through-

out: creative people have the ability to make associations of dissimilar things. That
is, their creative ability is not compartmentalized.
A. GENERATION OF NEW PRODUCT IDEAS: REALITY

The means to develop ideas for new product development are well within the
capabilities of all food companies that have a desire to pursue them. Of course, the
rub is do they?
Goldman (1983) surveyed 47 food companies in southern Ontario ranging in
size from those with fewer than 100 employees to those with more than 500 employ-
ees for their management practices regarding food product development. The com-
panies represented canning, freezing, bottling, drying, and chilling, as well as fresh-
pack operations. The products processed were meats, fish, cereals, fruits and vege-
tables, beverages, dairy, confectionery, and pet foods.
The method most used for idea generation was imitation of products of com-
petitors already in the marketplace. This leads to products of the me-too variety with
little innovation or originality and no thought for either the customer’s or the
consumer’s needs and expectations. Techniques employing focus group discussions
(Marlow, 1987; Cohen, 1990a) and brainstorming sessions were next in frequency
of use. (Focus groups will be discussed in greater depth in Chapter 4.) Surprisingly,
lowest for frequency of use were those techniques most easily performed or most
readily available: attribute testing, recipe books, company personnel suggestion
boxes, and the patent literature.
Goldman (1983) noted that as the level of formalized organization of new product
development increased, there was a greater tendency to make use of a wider variety
of techniques for idea generation. This might also suggest that where companies
employed a more disciplined approach to new product development, formal tech-
niques for idea generation were considered a more valuable tool.
1. A Caution about Copycat Products
According to Goldman as well as from my personal experience, the disparity between

what idea generation could and should be and what it is in reality is enormous and
somewhat terrifying. Companies waste money and effort on new food products by
following competitors onto the store shelves with me-too products. This is risky
business at best because:
• The originator of the new product has researched the market to obtain a
clear picture of the needs and expectations of customers and consumers.
The copycat manufacturer does not have this picture.
• The originator is into the market first with a carefully planned marketing
program. It will cost the copycat producer more marketing dollars to get
market penetration into the competitor’s already established market.
• The originator has the processing know-how and has established distri-
bution channels. The manufacturer of the copycat product must learn the
technology, and time is not on this company’s side.
Copycat products bear a strong element of risk. The copycat does not have the
history of development backing up its efforts.
Looking at competing products on the shelves and analyzing a competitor’s
product should be used not for copycat products but for ideas that will compete with
the next generation of products aimed at the constantly changing consumer. That is,
today’s products on today’s shelves are the precursors of tomorrow’s products. This
is where the developer should be looking. No company can spend too much time
generating ideas based on all the information that can be gleaned from all available
sources. Shrewd screening will weed out bad and unprofitable ideas later in the
process of new product development.
3 Organizing for New
Product Development
The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.
Lao Tzu, Book 1, Tao Te Ching
I. THE STRUCTURE OF ORGANIZATIONS

Governments, companies, associations, or social clubs — all these groups require
organizations of some kind to function in an orderly manner. Large companies
demand very elaborate organizations (often more than they need); small companies
usually work with very little formal organization. Organization facilitates, or is
supposed to, the practice of management and management techniques and establishes
lines of communication, control, and authority.
Organization is considered by many to be important for proper and effective
management of new product development; others see organization, especially an
overly bureaucratic one, as hampering creativity. However, as will become clear
shortly, the practice of management and management techniques (and indirectly the
internal structure of the organization) will vary widely with who is managing whom
and for what purpose. Managing food scientists is very different from managing
marketing or production personnel.
A. TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONS
In the Godkin Lecture, Science and Government, Snow (1961) describes three kinds
of organizations, which he refers to as closed politics. In the management of such
organizations, there is “no appeal [hence their closed nature] to a larger assembly”
such as a group of opinion, an electorate, or various social forces (p. 56). These
systems of closed politics are:
• Committee politics
• Hierarchical politics
• Court politics
Snow’s closed politics are characteristic of governance systems in all organiza-

tions from committees formed to arrange the company Christmas party to the
management of the affairs of tennis clubs to the management of small and large
71
companies; they even describe the internal workings of governments and particularly
the most sensitive workings of government, cabinets. Cabinets are organizations
that govern without any direct appeal to any electorate. Individually, parliamentar-
ians may be elected, but the internal committees of governments and cabinets are
usually appointed.
1. Committee Politics
In structures described as committee politics, all members of the committee have

an equal voice and vote. In many new product development teams this may be
described as the team approach to organizing for development. In practice this equal
voice and equal vote philosophy is rarely attained. Those who have worked exten-
sively on social, church, or school committees or in new product development teams
will recognize this at once. There are always those who have “more equality” because
of their demeanor, personality, training, years of experience (“I remember when we
tried to do that years ago and it didn’t work then.”), rank within the group, or
relationship by blood or marriage to senior management. In an entirely different
context, that of sensory evaluation, Peters (1987) discusses the effect of position
power, interpersonal power, and personal power on group dynamics. So it is in
committee politics.
I worked with one company in which meetings were held around a circular table in
the belief, quite mistaken, that all seated around it were equals — King Arthur and the
Knights of the Round Table style. When the president sat at the meetings we all knew
where the power and authority was.
In small- and medium-sized companies committee politics is often the form of

governance that prevails, but it seldom works successfully because of its inevitable
weakness; it is easily influenced by position power. Committee politics can be found
in large companies at all levels and especially within subdivisions of large compa-
nies. New product development often must try to flourish within it. This structure
is not conducive to either good managerial relationships or team work.
2. Hierarchical Politics
Hierarchical politics describes the highly articulated organization typical of gover-

nance in multiplant, multicompany organizations. It is the big company structure.
Power, it is assumed, is “up the line,” resting in some person with ultimate, absolute
power somewhere at the top of the pyramid. This assumption is seldom accurate.
Snow (1961, p. 60) stated the problem succinctly regarding hierarchical organiza-
tions: “To get anything done … you have got to carry people at all sorts of levels.
It is their decisions, their acquiescence or enthusiasm (above all, the absence of their
passive resistance)” that decides what gets done.
This structure is characteristic of systems used for new product development in
large food companies that try to hide their bigness by breaking up their new product
development teams into groups led by brand or product managers. Authority, despite
Organizing for New Product Development 73
efforts to make the structure appear as a democratic, cooperative team approach, is

usually well defined and linked by solid and dotted lines to some member of senior
management through a brand manager.
3. Court Politics
Snow’s third organizational structure, court politics, is more complex, but at the
same time, is one very familiar to most people in large or small organizations; it
permeates many organizations. There is power — the boss or president has it by
position. There is, however, another kind of power; this power is “under the table”
power, unofficial managerial authority, or an undefined ability or knack for “getting
things done” that is exerted through some person who possesses a concentration of
power, influence, or contacts. This is not necessarily the boss or a person up the line
of authority. This individual can be likened to the l’eminence grise, the unobtrusive
facilitator, a reference to Père Joseph, a Capuchin monk who was the private secretary
to and was very influential with France’s Cardinal Richelieu — the power behind
the throne. Within all organizations there usually exists a person who subtly wields
and exercises more power and influence than either title or position would warrant.
This person manages, somehow, to get things done, often done his or her way.
Such are the organizational closed politics to be encountered within managerial
structures including new product development teams. These are the organizational
structures that exist and the best must be made of them.
B. ORGANIZING FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Although most companies try to organize their staff in some meaningful way for
product development purposes, I have consulted with some companies in which
informality of organization was the rule:
In one company, the quality control manager and the research and development manager
were one and the same person. He had hastily prepared a sample of a new product on
the spur of the moment at the request of a senior manager. The product had been
circulated to key personnel and displayed at an international trade fair where it proved
popular. Orders came for a product whose formulation had not been finalized or
approved, whose raw materials and ingredients had not been sourced for pricing or
characterized for purchase standards, and whose shelf stability had not been established.
Much postdevelopment work was needed when the product proved to be unstable in
the marketplace.
Such informal systems nearly always lead to disaster, frustration, and misunder-
standing.
Two questions emerge in a product development organization: the organization
is meant for what? and meant for whom? There are two goals in organizing for new
product development. The first is to create a system for communication between
responsible parties for delegating responsibility and command (or leadership to keep
the peace, to keep direction focused, to have authority to get things done, etc.). This
system would allow orderly progression from concept to a finished product that has
been “signed off on” to the team’s satisfaction. This can be looked upon as the
physical organization that answers the “what” question posed above.
The second goal is much simpler: to create an environment for creativity, to
facilitate innovation and discovery for those involved in the development process.
“Meaningful for whom” has now been answered.
1. Organizing for “the What”: The Physical Structure
One must separate the organization (that is, the structure) and the modus operandi
of management; structure should facilitate management. Unfortunately it does not
always facilitate but often hampers management. There is no shortage of manage-
ment information replete with charts for the physical organization of research and
development. With their boxes and solid and dotted lines describing lines of either
authority or communication they can be very impressive. A reader wanting these
can refer to several excellent papers that are still pertinent despite their age:
• Mardon et al. (1970) discuss at some length the problems of administrating

technical departments of multiplant companies.
• The role of the technical manager is discussed from a very human per-
spective by Head (1971). Head sees this manager with only two resources:
people and their skills; and material resources (equipment and laboratory
facilities). The manager “inherits a situation, good, bad, or indifferent.”
How to make the best of the good, bad, or indifferent situation is discussed.
• Aram (1973) describes informal networks (the “undergrounds”) that
evolve in companies for research and development and supports their
encouragement rather than making any attempt to control them with
formal management techniques. There is a striking similarity between
Aram’s undergrounds and Snow’s court politics.
Head (1971) shows his disdain toward organizational charts with the following
delightful comment, if one queries all the boxes and lines:
You will probably be submerged in a torrent of peculiar terminology about “line control
finance wise” and “inter- and intra-functional communication channels.” Initially, one
thing only will be clear — the appalling debasement of the English language.
One must get beyond organizational charts for effective product development.
Yet many companies live by these charts and dote on the dotted and solid lines
linking the various boxes. Head would most surely have been a devotee of Aram’s
unstructured underground and Snow’s court politics.
2. Organizing for Whom: The Human Side
The purpose of organization for new product development is to develop a cohesive

team of diverse talents, to motivate this team, and to direct their talents toward the
creation of a specified product required for the company’s business plans. One is
not attempting to organize rivalries.
The future manager will become steadily more active in catalysing the participation
process among his subordinates: equally, he will expect, in increasing measure, to
participate with his own masters (Head, 1971).
Organization is not solely, then, either for lines of command or for lines of
communication, but for lines of participation and facilitation. A strong element in
Aram’s underground research groups is the assemblage of those who can contribute
and participate.
The difficulty for organization is twofold: there must be management of scientists
and technologists on the one hand, and on the other there must be management of
marketing personnel. These parties march to different drum beats. Organization is
necessary to facilitate communication between the multidisciplinary segments that
make up the new product development team, that is, lateral communication between
the pyramidal structures that develop in large corporations but also communication
up and down within these pyramidal structures. Communication implies participa-
tion, and this in turn implies that those who participate also contribute.
Another demand on organization is that it must satisfy the personal needs of
scientists and technologists for credit recognition and esteem and it must foster
creativity, that is, thinking outside the conventional wisdom while keeping them part
of the team and not apart from it.
Hierarchical politics for product development should stop at the product devel-
opment manager (or by whatever name the function might be given). The product
development manager is best situated to motivate the new product development team
in directions the management desires and to provide lateral communication between
the members.
Large companies must control the resources they possess through a formalized
hierarchy of inter- or multidisciplinary management teams (portfolios, as one com-
pany terms them). Small companies have more informally structured organizations
in which, as in large companies, personalities can dominate (i.e., hierarchical systems
controlled by the boss or some member of the boss’s family). The new product
development manager (if indeed there is one in the smaller companies) must be able
to ease the project through the various departments involved and smooth the way
with a strong cohesive team spirit.
Managers of product development have two resources: physical plant and skilled
people (Head, 1971). Managers must harness physical as well as human resources.
The plant is inert and immutable; it can only be used to complement the human
resources. Therefore people are the most promising resource for developing creativity
and innovation. Innovative people will use physical plant facilities effectively and
efficiently whether these be test equipment in-house, at equipment suppliers, or
equipment with copackers. The touch of the manager must be deft: too much control
or too much pressure can stifle creativity and innovation. On the other hand, too little
control provides no certainty that innovative product development will ever result.
Organization is necessary to a degree; otherwise chaos would rule in the company.
3. Organization and Management
Organization is not the equivalent of management: organization cannot manage inno-

vation and creativity. It is here that the subtle difference between organization as most
know it and Snow’s governance systems of closed politics becomes apparent. Man-
agement can foster innovation and creativity; management involves people. Organi-
zation implies planned systems of predictable activities, all of which are coordinated
in a controlled fashion. Ultimately, these systems should be interfaced with the other
systems that, together, make companies function effectively. If the unexpected hap-
pens in this network of systems, the organization of the company should be so
structured that remedial activities swing into action to control the unexpected event.
A company’s organization can be likened to the human body. When the unpre-
dictable happens to the human body, for example, an invasion by a virus, defense
mechanisms as represented by the body’s immune system come into play. An
elaborate system of activities are coordinated to combat the viral invader. That is
the function of organization.
Innovation and creativity are generally recognized as involving activities that
are unpredictable, uncoordinated, uncontrolled, and uncontrollable and are certainly
to some degree unplanned. Managers of, for example, established brand products
cannot be expected to manage product development of those products within their
brand domain; these established business managers work within a system. Those
engaged in new product development generally take extreme risks and often work
within minimal systems.
This being so, does not a paradoxical situation arise whereby if organization is
imposed, creativity and innovativeness are stifled? Actually less coordination, less
control, less planning, and less bureaucracy do not lead to more creativity or inno-
vation but to chaos and randomness (Aram, 1973). If, for example, a development
group cannot be productive, innovative, creative, or inventive within time and budget
constraints imposed by senior management who are responsible for the business
goals of the company, there is no expectation that it will be more effective in these
endeavors if no limits are provided by senior management.
4. Creativity: Thinking Differently
Establishing an environment in which people can be creative and generate new

product ideas is a top priority for any company. There are some key phrases to
attempting to establish this environment: “perceiving in an unhabitual way”; “have
pretty good ideas that do not fit in with policy”; “are eccentric”; and “have less
respect for precedent” or “make associations of dissimilar things.” Land (1963)
latched on to the idea by putting production people into unfamiliar situations where
they might make associations of dissimilar things (their production background and
a research situation) to develop an atmosphere for creativity and innovation. Too
often, one’s own disciplines fetter one’s mind with unwritten or even written stric-
tures on what is proper, accepted, or the correct way to do something. A set of laws,
regulations, orthodoxy, or peer pressure govern one’s thinking and funnel it along
acceptable (proper, orthodox, correct) lines. This direction of thought can stifle
creative and innovative approaches to problems. Land took people out of the hum-
drum and allowed them to develop and become creative.
Children are unencumbered by this rigidity of thinking. It is only acquired as
they grow up, become educated and learn the accepted orthodoxies, encounter peer
pressure, and begin to fear looking the fool or being on the outside. Young children
have a wonderful capacity to put together unrelated ideas in implausible and improb-
able ways, as can be seen in their stories or drawings. There is no embarrassment
in freely associating seemingly bizarre ideas. The undisciplined and childlike mind
has not yet been confined to the path of “correct” thinking. This spirit of free
association of ideas was very apparent when I worked as a YMCA instructor and
youth leader:
I played a story game with my young charges. I started the story, reached an impossible
situation with the characters, and then passed the story on to one of the children. The
rules were simple: the next story teller had to start after a count of five; no magic was
permitted and no violence; new characters could be introduced at any (and usually
most appropriate) times. Children were eliminated when they could not either extricate
the characters from whatever misadventure they were in or start the story on time. Few
children were ever eliminated, but they loved to eliminate, it grieves me to say, their
leader. The inventiveness of these children was mind-boggling.
Creative people — writers, artists, and inventors — seem gifted and inspired to
the ordinary people of this world. What is not fully appreciated by the rest of us is
that creative people are also very hard workers who figuratively fill many a waste
paper receptacle with discarded ideas, outlines, and schematics. Ideas come only
after much study, thought, research, and experimentation, plus plain hard work.
A shout of “Eureka!” followed by the appearance of the scantily clad body of
Archimedes heralded the discovery of a basic physical principle that has found uses
in many branches of science. The idea, so we are told, came as he entered his bath
and noted the displacement of the bath water. It makes an interesting apocryphal
story. If truth be told, the basic concept was probably the result of a vast amount of
thought and experimentation that only clicked together at the last moment.
At the beginning, there must, then, be an atmosphere for idea generation where
strictures imposed by discipline, training, peer pressure, and peer ridicule are
removed. In this atmosphere, the purpose is to glean ideas by appealing to the
childlike qualities in people. This appeal requires that all ideas deserve a respectful
hearing regardless of whether they emanate from the janitor, the technical director,
the sales person restocking shelves, or the boss’s wife (where many of them do come
from in both small and large food companies and a source of which I can speak
from painful experience).
Comments such as “we did that 20 years ago” or “what good or use is that?”
(stock phrases of one vice president of research and development I worked with)
are clearly not going to promote an atmosphere in which creativity or innovation
will flourish. People will hold back their ideas fearing a rebuke — peer pressure —
from their associates. The NIH (not invented here) syndrome must not be allowed
to prevail in the creative atmosphere when a company wants to generate new ideas.
All ideas eventually should be screened, evaluated, and accepted for further devel-
opment or rejected for valid, documented reasons.
Slavish attention to facts, to logic, or to reason (the refuge of technologists) will
stifle, at this early stage, any ideas leading to creativity and innovation. According
to Sinki (1986), such technical snobbism rates high in creating technical myopia.
This myopia he defines variously as the inability to make crucial connections
between ideas and applications, the difficulty in “making the translation from abstract
to concrete terms,” or “why ideas get aborted in their early stages.” This is the
blindfold that one’s training, education, and experience can put on the free associ-
ation of ideas from other disciplines to create something greater. Information is
important; of course, it can assist the generation of ideas, but it can also limit the
capacity for bouncing ideas off people. Too much information can intimidate and
funnel thinking into conventional channels.
There must be good communication between people from the various disciplines
within a company. As a factor in technical myopia whereby there is the separation
of theory and practice, Sinki (1986) cites a lack of communication between scientists
and entrepreneurs, that is, those who make the idea work. Lack of correlation
between unrelated disciplines (“creativeness … ability to make associations of
dissimilar things”), another indication of broken communication, contributes heavily
to technical myopia.
The final contributors to Sinki’s depiction of technical myopia are lack of
perseverance and a failure phobia, that is, not “having the guts” to take ideas on to
innovative products. How much of creativity or innovation is plain, old-fashioned
hard work?
a. Summation
Organizing for new product development seems, then, almost to be a contradiction
in terms. In reality, there is no contradiction here but rather a statement of necessity.
Innovation and creativity cannot flourish in a bureaucracy with all the pejorative
connotations of this word. However, some organization is required to keep the activ-
ities of technologists, engineers, market researchers, and production personnel under
fiscal control, communicating, and provided with support resources to be creative.
New product development managers must create within the systems of closed
politics an atmosphere that fosters creativity. At the same time, these managers must
create an atmosphere that harnesses the skills of creative people while encouraging
them to work cooperatively as a team with a common goal, that is, fulfilling the
company’s objectives.
An examination of the elements of creativity (Stuller, 1982) seems to contradict
all the precepts of good organizational structure and regard organization as an
anathema to creativity, very much to be avoided (Table 3.1). Challenging assump-
tions, for example, especially those held dear by management, can cause manage-
ment to feel its leadership is being questioned. A willingness to take risks can be
frightening for conservative elements within a company such as the financial depart-
ment. A summation of Table 3.1, to use today’s trite jargon, is “thinking outside the
box.” The last element, networking, is strongly reminiscent of Aram’s undergrounds
and Snow’s court politics.
TABLE 3.1
Elements of Creativity in People
Creative people challenge assumptions. They ask “why?”
Creative people recognize similarities in patterns, events, occurrences, and concepts.
Creative people connect arrays of events and note new ways to see the strange as familiar and the familiar
as strange.
Creative people are willing to take risks.
Creative people are opportunistic. They use chance to advantage.
Being wrong neither concerns nor frightens creative people.
Creative people network. They make contacts with other creative people.
Based on Stuller, J., Sky, 11, 37, 1982.
In Chapter 1 creativity and innovation were described by their dictionary defi-

nitions, and explanations of their role in new product development were detailed. A
fuller discussion is necessary here to introduce some of the challenges of managing
for new product development.
Interpretations and definitions of what constitutes creativity and innovation
abound in the literature. For example, H. J. Thamhain (as cited in Dziezak, 1990)
describes innovation as
a process of applying technology in a new way to a specific product, service or process

for the purpose of improving the item or developing something new.
Bradbury and coauthors (1972) put forward a more precise definition of inno-
vation, consequently narrowing its meaning:
the recognition that an opportunity or a threat exists and which is concluded when a
practicable solution to the problem posed by the threat has been adopted or a practical
means of grasping the opportunity has been realized.
Akio Morita, chair of Sony and inventor of the Walkman® (trademark of the
Sony Corporation), was reported as saying that companies place too much emphasis
on basic research to their own detriment (Geake and Coghlan, 1992). Reliance on
basic research prevents companies from being competitive. The Walkman did not
contain any new technology; its secret was new packaging and marketing. Morita
saw certain qualities in various new developments and put these together with the
perception of a consumer need. This is innovation.
Bradbury and colleagues continue with definitions for discovery: “finding or
uncovering new knowledge” and, leading directly from this definition, invention is:
“discovery which is perceived to possess utility.” Bronowski (1987; but see Stent
1987 for comparison) used the terms discovery, invention, and creation in well-
defined ways but added the element of “personalness.” As examples, Bronowski
cites Columbus, the first European to “discover” the West Indies; however, these
islands were already there. If not Columbus, then someone else would have bumped
into them. Likewise, Alexander Bell invented the telephone, but the basic elements
of the telephone were there; if not Bell, then someone else. Neither event can be
called a creation since Bronowski contends they were not personal enough. On the
other hand, Shakespeare’s Othello is a creation despite Shakespeare’s reliance on
sources written by other authors because this work is personal.
Whatever definition or interpretation one wishes to apply, creativity, innovation,
discovery, and invention require harnessing (to direct the skills into desired channels)
and encouragement. Companies interested in new products must organize their staff
in a meaningful way to direct their staff’s activities to the companies’ goals and to
manage their physical resources economically and effectively and at the same time
to foster creativity and innovation within individuals. To foster growth, managers of
new product development must be successful communicators, facilitators, and
humanists and be a “shadowy presence.”
C. DEFINING RESEARCH
Research means different things to different people. For instance, to the person in
the street, the word may conjure up images of complex laboratory setups with white-
lab-coated scientists who are far removed from normal mundane life and activities.
My neighbor once remarked upon the seeming coolness of a couple to neighborhood

activities. I dropped the comment that both were research scientists and probably kept
erratic schedules. My neighbor instantly understood; they were not normal and that
explained their remoteness.
Many lay persons would deny that they ever conduct research. Yet these same
persons will examine brochures about cars, visit several car showrooms, hold discus-
sions with and question numerous car salespersons, and bargain with financial insti-
tutions for the most advantageous payment terms, as well as perform an Internet
search on cars and suppliers and join Web chat sites for comments from owners of
particular vehicles. They would never dream of calling any of these activities research.
1. Classification of Research
There are two broad classifications of research: basic, or fundamental, research,

which may also be called pure research, and applied research. Fundamental research
is very loosely described as research for the sake of knowledge without thought of
commercial exploitation. The descriptive terms for the two categories are by no
means clear-cut. For example, basic research has also been used to describe research
for which there is a possibility of exploitation (Gibbons et al., 1970). Applied
research was referred to by Gibbons and colleagues (1970) as mission-oriented
research, that is, research directed to some specific goal.
The following classification may remove, or perhaps add to, the confusion:
• Interest-for-interest’s-sake research, which can best be described as

research with no foreseeable application. It is the dilettante’s research, just
to satisfy curiosity (Gibbons et al., 1970). Muller (1980), in a very inter-
esting paper decrying bureaucracy’s stifling of innovation by pettifogging

funding policies, might term this seed research, that is, research time and
effort to follow up ideas. There are no time constraints in this research.
• Basic (pure) research, which (no matter how much the academics might
argue contrariwise) is always undertaken with some expectation of an
application in the future — if for no other reason than to get a research
grant. Nevertheless, Muller (1980) quotes Wernher von Braun as having
said, “Basic research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I am
doing.” If time constraints exist, and they usually do, they are measured
in years rather than months.
• Goal-directed research, which is research directed to a specific mission,
the application of which is quite apparent. The application need is at most
a few months. This would be described by Gibbons et al. (1970) as
mission-oriented research.
Readers must accept for themselves the meanings that apply within their new product
development environment and how they apply these terms to what they do.
All new product development falls in the goal-directed category. That goal is to
increase profitability, to gain market share, to exploit a perceived market need, or
to counter the activities of competitors in the marketplace with a new product. Small
companies cannot afford any other type of research save that directed to protect and
expand their profitability. Large companies may separate their research and their
development departments with research confined generally to basic research, that
is, with some expectation of future exploitation. This research is usually directed to
objectives to be accomplished in 3 to 5 years, that is, longer-term research. This
longer-term research is often contracted out to universities or other research insti-
tutes. Developmental programs are focused on goal-directed research aimed at very
specific, short-term, food product objectives.
An interesting recent development is the pooling of research resources. Large
corporations pool their resources with government or university consortia
whereby cooperative ventures dedicated to longer-ranged projects of research can
be undertaken.
Interest-for-interest’s-sake research is rarely knowingly undertaken by food com-
panies. It has never, to my knowledge, been engaged in for new food product
development. Some explanation of that statement is required. Research with no
foreseeable application may be undertaken by food companies to accumulate knowl-
edge or to gain experience in some area of science. While there is no foreseeable
application, nonetheless companies may have ulterior motives (not necessarily based
on the science or its outcome) in doing the work. For example, support of graduate
students in some esoteric field of food science qualifies as interest-for-interest’s-sake
research. If there is a good likelihood that those graduate students may be hired by
the sponsoring companies, then is this research with no foreseeable value? Spon-
soring companies have ample opportunity to evaluate their candidates.
Research with no foreseeable application may be undertaken within a large
company in the manner of “underground research and development” without man-
agement knowing it is being undertaken (Aram, 1973). Aram, in a study of a
company involved in research and coincidentally in innovation, noted that informal

networks developed within the organization. It was through these informal systems
that innovative research occurred. Aram found
the cross-departmental informal organization … had the connotation of an activity that

was disguised, if not almost illicit. Part of its attraction and its effectiveness seemed
not to be managed.
Two individuals from one particular underground group are cited, one from new
product sales and the other from product engineering, whose group was responsible
for ten patent applications.
2. Fluidity as an Organizational Tool in Research
Seeing how the other half lives, walking in another person’s shoes, and bearing
another’s burden are all clichéd adages used to develop understanding between
people. They are all colorfully illustrative of creating cohesiveness within a group,
and many managements have applied the concept to the new product development
team. It is a direct break with the rigid organizational structure.
Many large companies create this understanding by fluidity within their organi-
zations, whereby technical people must be prepared to be transferred with a product
as it matures from the laboratory bench through engineering and production to
marketing. In this manner, language differences soon disappear. All members of the
team begin to talk the same language or at least are understood by the other members
of the team. Since the members of the new product development team come from
different disciplines within the company, they have different sets of work values or
interpretations of company objectives.
Communication laterally between team members and vertically within partici-
pating departments is encouraged with fluidity. This is important. Managers must
have communication skills to sell technology as well as the innovative skills of the
members of the group to others vertically and laterally within the system. The
manager must make this a cohesive group. By moving technologists with products
that they developed, the professionalism of many technical people is meshed with
the professionalism of other members of the team and also with the commercial and
business interests of the company. A greater understanding of the contributions made
by all results. It is a form of technology transfer.
The marrying of research and development personnel with marketing personnel
has been described as the food industry’s rewriting of the television series The Odd
Couple (Hegenbart, 1990). Hegenbart discusses the turmoil that often arises between
these two elements of the team. Research and development personnel are quite used
to resolving problems — it’s their job. What is not so second nature to them is the
resolution of relationships between differently trained people, with a different lan-
guage and understanding. An early paper by Denton (1989) discusses steps to
resolving conflicts between two groups with dissimilar work habits and goals.
Managers must not take sides in disputes but should define the contretemps, limit
its spread among the team members, and get both sides talking about resolving the
conflict together.
Fluidity of movement is essential within any new product development group
since the skills in one group may complement the skills in another group in unex-
pected ways.
D. THE NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TEAM

The new product development team should embody skills necessary to evaluate ideas
that justify further exploratory studies and to screen out all ideas not suitable for
further consideration or development at that particular time. The team’s resources
should include the following:
• Management skills: There must be an authority who can manage disputes,

provide facilities, and be an enabler.
• Engineering skills: In small companies the engineering skill may be
entirely within the production department; they determine processing
feasibility.
• Advice and guidance from the production department: Again an assess-
ment of processing capability and scheduling of processing trials.
• An ability to analyze financial data fairly and critically to monitor
expenses.
• A source of legal advice respecting food legislation, patents and copy-
rights, protection of intellectual property and the company’s interests in
contract negotiations with research institutes and outside laboratories.
• A research and development department with skilled food technologists.
• Marketing and sales data and the skills to obtain customer and consumer
information.
• An ability to research reliable sources of necessary materials, that is, a
competent purchasing department.
• A skilled traffic department for dictating the proper warehousing and
distribution needs.
• A knowledgeable quality control department to provide guidance and
advice respecting safety and quality design for the product and advice on
analytical methodologies to determine hazard levels.
Food companies have some or all of these skills and resources available to them
within the departments housed in their organizational structure. Skills that are lacking
in-house can be readily obtained through private outside companies or individuals.
Development teams in small food companies are smaller and often supported
by outside skills and resources (lawyers, accountants, and market research firms).
In smaller companies plant managers double as plant engineers, quality control
managers frequently are responsible for research and development, and even presi-
dents serve other roles, perhaps as financial officers or purchasing agents. This resort
to outside resources is often the situation in larger companies, but development teams
are seldom smaller.
Communication among a small company’s team members is usually good. The
greatest danger in such a closely knit setting of the small company or in the small
product development team of the large company is that one strong-willed individual
— the company president-owner or the technologist dedicated to a pet project —
will dominate (an example of position power on group dynamics; Peters, 1987). All
attempts at unbiased screening are futile.
In large companies several new product teams may be working independently
of each other on a number of different projects. Each has a product manager who
acts as the recording secretary of the team. These managers report up the line of
communication, which may involve several levels of more and more senior man-
agement. The various teams rarely communicate. As a result, communication can
be more difficult among individuals of different teams both horizontally and verti-
cally. Duplication of effort can occur as a result.
As work proceeds, dominant roles within the team vary, as major activities in
the development process vary. At some phase, chef-food technologists dominate as
they develop recipes and prototype products. At another stage, marketing may be
conducting sensory evaluation sessions on small consumer panels, and other team
members await their results. However, none of the individuals ever stop having an
input into the team.
Development teams usually remain in place until the project has been released
to production as a part of the company’s product line. This movement of the
individual team members with the project gives the members a greater appreciation
of all aspects of product development. They see the whole picture and understand
product development’s complexities.
E. Criteria for Screening

Each person on the development team contributes criteria for screening that are
unique to the skills they bring. The knowledge, experience, and training of the
members can be applied to product concepts, prototypes, and at all stages of devel-
opment to narrow a broad range of product ideas down to a few that seem capable
of success given the reality of the customer and consumer research of the times.
Development is a complex system of screening steps that require some criteria
to ascertain whether ideas should be developed further. Does the project go forward
or not? And if it does proceed, how? Criteria for screening can be summed up by
one word: capability. This is a facile summing up since capability can mean different
things. However, defined criteria can emerge from probing deeper into what is meant
by capability (Table 3.2).
Unforeseen problems inevitably arise over how and by whom the criteria are to
be applied. There is often confrontation; challenging people’s skills and opinions
can frustrate and demoralize the team. In large companies with their multiplicity of
divisions and departments, leaders of new product development teams face chal-
lenges as friction may build between people or departments. Managers must control
TABLE 3.2
General Criteria for Screening New Food Product Development Ideas
Criterion Comments
Marketability Is the product easily (considering promotional costs) marketable within the
company’s umbrella of products or brands?
Does the company have the marketing skills in-house to market the product?
Technical feasibility Can a quality product be developed within reasonable cost and time
constraints?
Does the company have the technical skills in-house to develop a quality
product within time and cost constraints?
Should outside development resources be employed to complement the in-
house development process?
Manufacturing capability Does the plant have the manufacturing capability to make the product at a
cost and quality desired by management?
If the plant is unable to manufacture product would use of a copacker be
justified since increased costs and decreased profitability would result?
Is there justification for entering into a partnership with another company?
Financial capability New product development costs money. Is the company financially healthy
enough to assume the burden? The financial department must monitor
costs, project profits, and keep management aware of the financial risks of
the project.
group dynamics to apply criteria evenly, justly, and without personal prejudices of
the individual resource persons influencing the screening process.
The most frequent source of friction invariably arises between members of the
research and development and marketing groups. Marketing people live in a world
of optimism, chutzpah, hyperbole, and persuasion where sooner rather than later is
more appropriate. Technical people, by contrast, prefer a world of logical method-
ology where organized skepticism is the rule. Technical people live in a world of
verifiable facts. They keep perfecting and testing; they are inveterate tinkerers seek-
ing protection and solace behind irrefutable data, much to the annoyance of mar-
keting personnel. Technologists are devil’s advocates, doubting Thomases. They
never want to let their pet projects go; they become very attached to them.
A common complaint of marketing personnel is that research and development
people are intractable and inflexible and do not, or cannot, respond to the rapidly
changing environment in the marketplace. Marketing personnel see the marketplace
as highly volatile and requiring rapid about-faces. Marketing personnel complain
that technologists cannot keep abreast of changing market conditions and react
negatively to changing ideas. Research and development people, they say, are too
absorbed in their science and not absorbed enough in customers and consumers.
This latter charge deservedly earns the criticism from marketing people that technical
personnel are against everything and lack imagination. Technologists do not under-
stand that the introduction of a new product must be timed precisely and that speed
is essential. So say the marketers.
Technical people complain about time. Marketing does not give them time: time
to research and develop the project, time to test all the variables, and time to retest
and retest. Technical people often view the development process through blinkers,
seeing only a narrow field dominated by the particular scientific disciplines they
serve. They see ideas as opportunities for technological challenge. They fail to
appreciate that ideas must lead to products that satisfy the demands of the customers
and consumers on whom the company depends for its survival. They are frequently
reluctant to accept the ideas of others, calling these impractical or not in agreement
with their own. In particular, ideas from sales and marketing personnel are considered
not only impractical but — sin of sins! — unscientific.
Marketing and technical people speak different languages and use different mea-
suring tools in their trades. Each is skeptical of the merits of the others’ tools of the
trade. The vagueness (“airy-fairyness” as I heard it put) of terms used in quantitative
scaling techniques in consumer research and concept testing disturbs the technical
person used to logical methodology and verified data with statistically significant results.
As French physiologist Claude Bernard has said, “Science repulses the indefinite.”
This language issue can be a very real one. For example:
I used the words rheological properties in a product development review meeting to

describe the flow properties of a sauce I was developing. This engendered hoots of
laughter from the marketing personnel amid pleas to speak English. Yet they felt no
discomfort about dropping such terms as perceptual mapping or nonmetric multidi-
mensional scaling analysis during the same meeting.
Confrontations are not confined to research and development and marketing

personnel. Production personnel and marketing personnel also gripe about whether
new product development is involved. Production personnel live in an ordered world
ruled by scheduling of labor, supplies, and produce. Any disruption to this order
affects their bottom line. New product development, especially the sudden schedul-
ing of plant runs, disrupts their production schedules and this in turn may affect
their year-end bonuses. The importance of new product development, if it is not
properly communicated, can be strongly resented.
Tensions arise and are quite normal during the push for new product develop-
ment. They arise between all segments of the new product development team:
between marketing, production, and technical personnel. What one does not expect,
and does not want, are problems at the interface between each of these groups that
result in the breakdown of communications. As James Humes aptly put it, “The art
of communication is the language of leadership.”
This then, is the environment of problems and constraints in which new product
development must be managed productively and efficiently. Whether the company
is large or small, the same problems exist. They differ only in size.
1. Applying the Criteria
Applying these criteria will involve applying subjective evaluations to the ideas
collected; that is, people will have to evaluate other people’s ideas as fairly as
possible. No matter how objective people try to be, the final decision is essentially
a subjective one. Difficult judgmental decisions are required. No matter how great
individuals think their ideas are, certain bitter facts must be faced; not all ideas will
succeed. Ideas submitted must:
• Satisfy the goals for new product success set by senior management
• Lead to profitable products according to criteria established by management
• Satisfy needs and wants of customers and consumers
• Respect certain financial impositions set by management (i.e., be devel-
oped or developable within certain budgetary constraints)
• Be within the marketability and sales skills of the company
Ideas for new food products have now been gathered from every source imag-
inable (including market research). Some ideas may appear very logical on the basis
of initial marketplace data. At first glance, others may appear to be quite illogical
or bizarre. However, the wildest ideas, if shaped to customer and consumer needs,
have an element of brilliance if shaped by skilled personnel dedicated to the growth
of the company. Screening promotes the advancement of those product ideas most
likely to meet the needs and expectations of customers and consumers and to satisfy
the goals of the company for growth with successful launches of new products.
The sole purpose of screening ideas is to improve the odds of the success of a
concept to be developed into a new product in the marketplace. Screening does not
eliminate ideas. No idea should ever be thrown out. Ideas may be inappropriate for
further development today for any number of reasons. However, in the future, the
reasons for having abandoned those ideas may be no longer valid. Markets change
and develop with time. Problems encountered today become surmountable in the
future. All rejected ideas should be recorded with the reasons for nonpursuance
stated, cross-referenced, and then filed.
Several elements are encompassed in screening new product ideas. First, the
new product development team must have clearly stated company objectives estab-
lishing the goals to be reached within a specific time frame and within stated costs.
These guide the evaluation process through subsequent phases of screening and
development by assessing how closely products in development meet these objec-
tives. The team cannot operate divorced from the financial, strategic, and tactical
planning of the company.
Second, there must be an organization with a leader to coordinate the tasks
involved with development and to manage a team to carry out these tasks. This
leader will have the responsibility of deciding, based on the collective advice of the
team, whether to advance an idea for further exploration.
Finally, the new product development team requires physical facilities, ideally
a laboratory, test kitchen, and pilot plant facilities or access to these. As well, there
must be marketing skills to explore ideas for products that meet the needs and
expectations of consumers. If a small food company has no such in-house capabil-
ities, new product development companies and market research companies are avail-
able who will research markets and develop products for a fee.
Screening is not a one-time incident at the start of the development process.

Development takes time. Six months, a year, five years or more could elapse depend-
ing on the nature of the product under development. During this period the market-
place is changing. If nothing else, the originally targeted consumers are getting older
and being exposed to other market stimuli. Screening proceeds throughout the entire
new product development process.
F. CONSTRAINTS TO INNOVATION
1. The Corporate Entity
The reluctance of food companies, especially large multinational corporations, to

engage heavily in basic research is easily understood. It is expensive. Any corporate
entity would welcome a major technical breakthrough that could enhance its com-
petitive edge. This desire for a breakthrough must be tempered by consideration of
long-range corporate financial goals, of shareholders’ desire to make an annual profit,
and of the need to stay within the financial constraints of an annual budget.
Management, including corporate management in large companies, has a time
horizon rarely fixed more than a year or two ahead. Graduates of most business
schools have had it drilled into them that profit is the name of the game, and profit
is rarely viewed as anything more than short-term profit. The pressure for short-term
gain forces all within the development team to look to quarterly or semiannual
profits. This directs new product goals toward me-too products or products with only
incremental improvements or advances. Short-term profit has no interest in long-
term research. It is regrettable because as Dean (1974) put it succinctly; looking to
short-term profit “is like looking for the leak in the bottom of my canoe as I drift
toward the unseen waterfall.”
Marketing and production departments have time horizons set closely within the
annual budgetary plans of the corporation. As a consequence, these departments are
usually smiled upon by senior management, who are often less tolerant of the longer
time lines of research and development groups. It is easier for senior management
to plan with short time horizons than with long ones. Senior management looking
at bottom lines on a quarterly, semiyearly or at most yearly basis are much more
apt to cut their long-term research projects when it appears that budgets may be
exceeded or predicted return is not what was projected.
Risk capital is expensive. Simply put, why take risks with large expenditures on
innovative and creative research if the rewards cannot be assured to justify the
expenses incurred? Only a very small proportion of research ideas ever lead to the
development of an innovative product. Patents are also unlikely to be financially
rewarding. Indeed, roughly 2% of all patents survive their full lives.
Management’s attitude about its own competitive edge and supremacy of the
technology the company possesses can act as a constraint. Technologically success-
ful organizations do not have a strong incentive to embark on a heavy program of
new product development if their management believes that they have a proven
superiority in technology over their competitors to provide products with a seem-
ingly never-ending global acceptance. There is little impetus to engage in a heavy
program of innovative product development. The philosophy “if it ain’t broke, don’t
fix it” prevails.
The history of many technological developments has shown that there is an
inordinately long lapse of time between the actual discovery or invention and an
innovative application in the form of a profitable new product. One estimate puts
this time interval between invention and a profitable product at roughly 11 years
(Bradbury et al., 1972). Port and Carey (1997) report on a survey that found 15 to
25 years is common for what is called radical innovation. To add insult to injury,
the company reaping the benefits of the new technology frequently was not the
company that made the original discovery. One need only follow the changes in
market leaders of instant coffees. Such observations do not encourage companies to
engage in long-term research.
2. Communication Problems
Communication problems between people, between departments in a company, or
between regional manufacturing plants in a company are difficult to handle at any
time. In new food product development, they can be particularly disruptive. Unfor-
tunately, communication problems frequently represent conflicts of personalities.
Which came first is a moot point: the people problem or the communication problem
between the people, their departments, or their manufacturing plants.
Communication problems are exacerbated in multiplant companies, in which
communication between plants (lateral communication) or even between the tech-
nical staff within these plants can be poor or nonexistent.
I had an assignment to evaluate the in-plant quality control systems of several regional
plants of a large pickle manufacturing company. At one plant a manufacturing problem
affecting quality had been successfully resolved several months previously. This same
problem was unresolved at a sister plant (making the same product!) not 600 miles
distant where I visited a week later.
Lateral communication between the several plants of this corporate giant was non-
existent in passing information to, or even sharing information with, other plants.
The reason: the plant where the problem was solved met and even surpassed their
production quotas, but the other did not; ergo the former was better run. The result
was duplication of research effort at the plant still trying to resolve the problem.
Large multinationals have tended to centralize their research and development
resources. The reasoning is fairly easy to follow. By incorporating all the expensive
research and development equipment in one facility, together with all the pilot plant
equipment and libraries to support the technical staff, there should be great economies
of money, no duplication of facilities, and better communications, yes? No, not
always. This has frequently produced corporate ivory towers of research and devel-
opment divorced from the manufacturing, technical, and developmental problems of
regional plants. Centralization has often exacerbated communication problems.
I have experienced or been informed of the following communication problems
in large multinational, multiplant companies with centralized research departments:
1. I worked in the research and development laboratory of a regional plant

of a large multinational, multibrand company. When the vice president of
research of the international parent company visited, we were routinely
warned not to discuss any projects that we were engaged in with him
should we be asked. We cleared our laboratory work benches of all
working apparatus. The fear was that our projects would be confiscated
by central research and development headquartered in Europe.
2. In another company where the head office research and development
laboratories and technical library rivaled that of many small universities,
enquiries to this center by laboratory personnel situated at regional plants
for journals, books, research reports, or information were discouraged by
the local plant managers for fear that such contacts would result in “them”
meddling in, or taking over, research projects in the branch operations.
In short, central research and development would want to know why
somebody wanted this information.
3. A research scientist with a multinational company told me how her com-
pany had conducted a new product development program at its corporate
research headquarters in Europe on a confectionery product and test
marketed the product there. The product was destined for the North
American market. The product failed when introduced in North America.
No North American input had been asked for.
4. In a similar situation a fruit juice developed and test marketed in Europe
at the international corporate research and development headquarters of
another company was packaged in material neither approved for use nor
available in the North American market. It, too, was meant for manufacture
by the company’s subsidiaries in the North American market.
These are unconscionable and inexcusable breakdowns in communication. They

depict the worst examples of the polarization of effort and lack of communication
between regional plants and large far away corporate ivory tower research centers
that can occur in the management of the research and development.
a. Management and Technology Transfer
Technical communication or technology transfer, that is, the dissemination of useful
technical developments within the company, requires different managerial skills than
does the management of technical people; they are quite distinct activities requiring
very different skills. To manage technology transfer within a company requires
someone with communication skills, not necessarily someone who can prepare a
soundly designed experiment or write a good technical report. To manage technol-
ogists and scientists requires the ability to encourage and inspire people, to protect
them from bureaucratic intervention, and to challenge them. Managing research is
the function of managers of research establishments. Management of the transfer of
technology, a quite different matter, should not be relegated to laboratory managers
(or supervisors or directors of laboratories or project leaders) but to individuals with
skills to communicate technology. This is a vastly different skill.
Not understanding this distinction leads directly to another form of communi-

cations breakdown: the transfer of technology from the research and development
resource to centers within the company that are able to utilize the information often
fails because of the NIH syndrome (variously interpreted as not invented here or
not interested here). When people have not had an opportunity to be part of the
development and have not been encouraged to see how this development might assist
the objectives assigned by management, a sudden attack of NIH may, and usually
does, occur. This syndrome often appears when research is farmed out to external
research and development companies.
Properly communicated to the nontechnical others in a company, technical
information may spark an idea in the nontechnical community and lead to promising
ideas for new products.
3. Personnel Issues
Job security concerns all personnel. One’s personal security within a company
influences one’s productivity. If the innovativeness and creativity of technologists
and engineers are paramount to their security, then their contribution to product
development will suffer or the developer will become a nervous wreck. A failed
product introduction is felt by the technical staff very personally. It reflects on them
and causes them to wonder about their future.
By the odds, any new product development venture is likely on the basis of the
statistics of new product successes to fail. This is the environment that all on the
product development team live in. Production and engineering personnel are the
least vulnerable members of the team when there is a new product failure, but
marketing and, especially, technical personnel stand on the front line facing the odds
of failure. Brand and product managers are apart from the team and, despite product
failures, are often unscathed by the failure and continue to move up the corporate
ladder. The technologists must have great sympathy for a remark attributed to
Churchill, the gist of which is, when England wins the nation shouts, “God save the
queen,” but when England loses they shout, “Down with the prime minister.” In the
event of a new product failure, corporate management must be a just and forgiving
management. Management must allow for failure in such a high risk enterprise.
Product failure must be carefully analyzed to determine what factors were
incorrectly carried out or poorly interpreted. This analysis must be conducted con-
structively: it is not a witch hunt but a learning experience for all to benefit by. On
the other hand, errors must be rooted out and corrected. Weaknesses in the devel-
opment process must be strengthened. Reassignment or retraining of staff may be
necessary, and management must handle this positively to encourage their staff’s
development.
In the same manner, in the event of a successful product launch, just as much
is to be learned by an in-depth analysis of why and how success was attained. A
keen understanding and knowledge of the strengths of the total development process
will be invaluable for future projects. A secondary benefit derives from this analysis
when management can suitably reward the achievement of the team members. This
secondary benefit can do much for fostering innovation by providing a sense of

security and appreciation of one’s effort.
Close on the heels of the preceding is the need for management in their orga-
nizing efforts for innovation to develop and encourage young scientists and engineers
for the future of the company’s growth requirements. The rewarding of achievement
as well as the learning by analysis of new product development successes and failures
will promote the growth of new skills within the company.
Management must accept some blame if innovation has been constrained. If
management is unable to defuse the conflicts between such disparate groups as
marketing, production, and technical personnel and cannot oil the frictions discussed
above, then management is at fault. Personnel will be unable to work productively.
Innovation will die. Morale will suffer. Management must be able to unify the new
product development team and get them to work as a cohesive force.
Another human problem must be introduced here. This is more a feature of the
multiplant, multinational organization. Much product development work, especially
that involved with leading-edge technology, is multidisciplinary work. Specialists
employed by the parent company work at separate locations. Often, consulting
academics at distant universities or research institutes will be employed for a new
product development project to complement the team’s efforts. Members of a team
may never meet except electronically through the exchange of e-mailed reports,
through written reports, or by video conferencing. This remoteness can be a damp-
ener to the team spirit of the product development group.
Companies with such development projects must make sure all the distant
members contributing to the project are assembled together frequently enough to
exchange ideas in person rather than impersonally. Communication among the team
members is improved. An added benefit can be the increased productivity created
as members of the team interact by bouncing ideas off one another.
4 The Strategists: Their
Impact on Screening for
Product Development
You can never plan the future from the past.
Edmund Burke, “Letter to a Member of the National Assembly” (1791)
I. THE STRATEGISTS
Three groups within the company develop the strategy that provides the direction
for new product development and hence the nature of the screening tools. These
groups are:
• Senior management: the boss, the owner in small companies, corporate

management in large companies, or the CEO (chief executive officer) and
COO (chief operating officer) either alone or together with the board.
Senior management provides direction and defines what the company is.
• The head of finance: the chief financial officer (also part of corporate
management), the accountant, cynically the “bean counter” or the book-
keeper who may be either an internal resource or an external resource
such as a chartered accountant. These monitor the progress of development
programs and advise management on the financial health of the company.
• The head of marketing (known, in my experience as a food technologist,
as the “walkers-on-air”): the head of marketing in small companies is often
the sales manager working in consultation with outside marketing research
and public relations companies although sales and marketing are worlds
apart in philosophy. Their function is to research the possible needs or
niches in whatever marketplaces are aimed at and provide information on
targeted customers and consumers in these marketplaces.
The latter two also serve as information gathering elements that contribute to policy
by feeding information to senior management that is the basis for policy making;
senior management always has the final decision-making responsibility. All that
follows from idea gathering to the finished product can reasonably be expected to
satisfy the goals and expectations established by senior management.
93
II. SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND ITS ROLE IN

DEVELOPMENT
A. DEFINING THE COMPANY
The role of senior management is to define the company, to protect and build on
this identity with sound business programs, and to attend to the broad aims and
policies of the company. This definition of what the company is and its communi-
cation and understanding throughout the organization are essential for effective new
product development. It is only by understanding what the company is that true
direction can be given to product development.
For example, many food companies have spent considerable effort exploiting
the use of nutraceuticals (i.e., phytochemicals, prebiotics, probiotics, and functional
foods) in their food products. Some have added mood altering phytochemicals to
foods. Are these companies fogging up their identities? Some companies have had
to wrestle with the dilemma of whether they are a food company, for example, a
snack food company, or a pharmaceutical company dispensing medications for real
or presumed health problems of self-medicating customers. Getting into what has
been called the “wellness market” presents some very definite strategic changes
in direction.
I worked with a company whose products naturally contained phytochemicals that had
been determined to have significant health benefits. I suggested to the president that
we use this feature in promotions. He and his management were adamant that they
were a leisure food company and neither a pharmaceutical nor a health food company.
Consumers used their product because it added pleasure and sophistication to their
food; they did not use their product because it aided in warding off disease. They also
had no desire to wrestle with the legal problems involving health claims.
It is not enough that the definition of the company be in terms of either products
or processing capability (see Levitt, 1975). It is shortsightedness on the part of
management to classify the company as a food canning company, a frozen food
plant, or an ingredient manufacturing company. The company must be defined in
terms of what values, services, or assistance it provides its customers and con-
sumers. It is this knowledge that gives direction to the new product development
program. It also allows marketing to find its way. In short, senior management
must clearly provide an answer to “what business are we in?” Levitt (1975)
provides the now classic example of the railroad industry, which declined because
of a lack of definition although the need for passenger traffic and freight trans-
portation did not decline. This need was filled by other means of transportation
and not by the railroads. The reason for the decline of the railroads according to
Levitt was that the railroads defined themselves as being in the railroad business
exclusively: they should have looked upon themselves as being in the transporta-
tion business. In short, the railroads became product oriented when they should
have been customer oriented.
The Strategists: Their Impact on Screening for Product Development 95
B. AN INVOLVED MANAGEMENT
Management is part of the product development team if for no other reason than to
see and be seen as having a deep interest in, and providing support for, new product
development. In new product development, management performs several functions:
• Management establishes early and clearly its interest in and commitment

to the new development project. Both the interest and commitment play
an important role in encouraging team spirit.
• Management ascertains that the company’s business objectives are strictly
adhered to and that divergent paths of endeavor are not dissipating the
energies of the team.
• Management ensures that ideas selected for development fit the corporate
(or brand) image of the company (i.e., they answer to what business the
company is in).
• Management’s presence can hold in check the rivalries and abrasiveness
that may arise among the disparate members of the development team
as pressures and deadlines take their toll on even the most integrated
venture team.
• Management has an opportunity to assess the strengths and weaknesses
of individuals possessing different skills as they work under pressure with
other members of the team. This allows justly rewarding good work —
in itself a morale booster — and lets management earmark a cadre of
future leaders.
• Management removes obstacles from the development process, thereby
confirming their commitment to the objectives of the development team.
In small companies, senior management (often owner-presidents) are under-

standably very intimately involved with their companies’ growth and especially
with new product development plans. They are often micromanagers.
In one food plant I consulted with, the owner often worked on the line going from one
work station to another assisting wherever he saw a need or an occasion to instruct
workers in how he wanted things done at that particular moment. There were no written
job descriptions, and confusion usually followed in his wake. He alone handled all
aspects of new product development in a seat-of-the-pants manner, informally and
haphazardly. There were no formulations approved and signed off on by either man-
agement or the quality control department. There were no consumer research or market
surveys: if the competition did it, the company followed. I had been called in to correct
an instability occurring in a newly introduced smoked salmon paté. No stability testing
had been done on this product before introduction. Both the formulation and manu-
facturing procedures were secure in the head of the owner and were related to me on
the plant floor. I made suggestions on reformulation based on compositional and
microbiological analyses done by an outside laboratory and data provided by the owner.
My suggested changes were conducted on the line. I also indicated sanitary violations
and violations respecting good manufacturing practice (GMP) that would certainly
contribute to lowering microbial loads and for which I strongly urged written sanitation
and GMP protocols as well as approved and written formulations.
Lack of a clear definition of what the product concept is can cause terrible
friction. This lack of clarity was brought glaringly home to me on one assignment.
I was called in because the president of a small company was not pleased with progress
on the development of a vegetarian spread. When I arrived, the project had gone from
a product spreadable at room temperature to one spreadable at refrigerator temperature,
from one with a smooth buttery texture to one with a coarse egg salad–like texture,
and eventually to one that could be grilled on toast pieces and finally to a REPFED
(refrigerated processed foods of extended durability). There was no written product
description. As test samples were developed, the president-owner would sample them
and usually comment negatively on color, flavor, or texture. The concept was always
changing direction — all to the frustration of the technical director. My final, and
terminal, report to the president placed blame solely at his door for the lack of clarity
and progress in product development and suggested strongly he put in writing a
description of what he wanted the product to be.
I found myself in a somewhat similar situation on my first new product assign-

ment when I was just a greenhorn fresh out of university. This time it was not a
small company where the lack of communication occurred but a large multinational,
multiproduct company. The company headquarters were in New York City, where
the product manager was also stationed, and I worked at a branch plant in upper
New York state.
My assignment was to make a stable icing product — that was it, simply a shelf stable
icing. The product manager visited regularly on Fridays to review what had been done
and taste samples. (I never knew who the other members of the team were, if indeed
there was a team.) After weeks of frustration — my samples were either too sweet,
too sticky, too dry, too runny, too chocolaty, too smooth, were not freeze stable, and
so on — I complained to our plant’s research director, a capable veteran with many
years of experience, that I was going nowhere. The next visit I met with the director
and the product manager. The director said only, “Give us the complete product concept
and its desired quality attributes.” This was done rather reluctantly and the product was
quickly accomplished after I was told it was to be identical to a competitor’s product.
Goldman (1983), in her survey of the product development management habits

of food companies in southern Ontario, found that in just under half of companies
surveyed with 99 or fewer personnel, the president claimed the main responsibility
for product development. In confirmation of Goldman’s findings, from my own
experience, in all the small plants under 200 employees, the president-owner has
had a major impact on the direction, even the specific product, in new product
development. Unfortunately, this was often a negative impact.
As companies increase in size, the presidents’ involvement in product develop-
ment becomes, of necessity, more remote. More junior staff such as product man-
agers take over. Only 12.5% of presidents of companies with more than 500 employ-
ees affirmed they had the main responsibility for product development (Goldman,
Senior
Management
Goodwill Manufacturing
Promotional Future
Activities Direction
FIGURE 4.1 Understanding the company’s corporate identity in new product development.
1983). In large companies, product managers serve this function and maintain a
close liaison with senior management, usually at the vice presidential level.
In these larger companies a more organized approach to product development
was noted by Goldman (1983). In these companies, 37.5% of survey respondents
indicated their job function as product development. On the other hand, no person
from small companies who responded to Goldman’s survey described their job
function solely as product development. In smaller companies, staff wear several hats.
The intensity of the involvement of senior management obviously varies widely
with the size of the company. Usually their greatest involvement is in the initial
screening phases when they decide whether the ideas fit the goals of the company
and fit the brand or the company’s image. Their involvement tapers off until the
time when go or no-go decisions are to be made.
C. SHAPING THE COMPANY’S OBJECTIVES

Objectives should precede direction in new product development. That is, the direc-
tion of new product development requires that companies must first have company
objectives. This, in turn, requires that companies know who they are, what business
they are in, and where they want to go. When senior management are clear on these
issues, then a company’s product development objectives can be stated clearly, be
understood by all, and be seen to focus on attaining these company objectives.
Senior management in many small companies, owners or presidents or both,
often keep this information to themselves. Confusion arises within the marketing
and technical development team members because of this privacy. They do not know
what they are developing or for whom they are developing it.
The importance of understanding who or what the company is and how this
awareness can affect the company are discussed in two excellent papers by Levitt
(1960, 1975). An understanding of what the company is provides direction to the
ultimate course of new product development. Figure 4.1 depicts a broad picture of
the typical company’s identity as composed of several elements:
• The owners have objectives; they have dreams and a desire to provide
direction to their company. They also have altruistic and humanitarian
feelings that lead them to indulge in their favorite charities, to support
artistic endeavors, to become patrons of the arts, or to participate in or
promote sports activities at the professional, amateur, or community level.
These indulgences may be entirely personal or may be well orchestrated
financial moves for the company’s benefit or product promotion. These
activities provide excellent opportunities for networking for senior man-
agement and marketing personnel.
• The quality products or services produced in an environmentally friendly
and socially progressive company plus support of the arts, sports, or
charities lead directly to a goodwill factor that enhances the value of the
company and provides promotional opportunities.
• Both the above have a direct and indirect impact on the company’s future:
its new product or new service development, its acquisition program, or
its geographic expansion plans. A simple example might explain this
better: participation by a community-spirited confectionery company in
local sporting, artistic, or social events might suggest to developers to
work toward a nutritional bar or adult candies with a sophisticated taste
and for marketers to use such events for promotional purposes.
This, then, is the company, with its tangible and intangible assets that influence its
direction within the milieu it and its senior management are themselves influenced
and move.
1. Company Objectives that Shape Product Development
Companies are rarely so single- and bloody-minded as to want only to make more
money. Of course, management decides whether short-term profits are required. This
objective directs the team to product development ideas that will return quick profits,
usually products requiring little development time and effort such as line extensions.
Where management does not feel constrained respecting its financial situation or
where they are looking much further into the future, they opt for pursuing ideas that
require a less restricted time horizon, more effort, and a greater amount of money
to accomplish.
But the objectives driving the development team are usually only partially
financial. Some other objectives are:
• Management’s desire to grow; growth depends heavily on new product

development.
• Management’s need to expand into new geographic marketplaces to lessen
dependence on the vagaries of the economic climate of local or regional
markets that may be dominated by a major industry or a major competitor.
• Management’s need to reduce dependence on commodity-type products
and increase profit margins and competitiveness with more added-value
products; management wants a broader range of added-value products.
• Management’s desire to expand its product base and thereby reduce the
company’s dependency on one or two bell-ringer products for profitability.
• Management’s desire for greater local or regional market penetration with
a broader range of products to maintain and protect a competitive position.
These objectives can be compressed into three broad ambitions:
• Financial objectives such as obtaining a greater return on investment for

the owners, their partners, or their investors.
• Strategic objectives, often defensive in nature, to protect the company’s
market position against inroads by the competition, or offensive to gain
market share from the competition.
• Tactical objectives by which the company charts its path toward its goals.
These are derived from its strategic objectives.
When these aims have been clearly stated and communicated to the product
development team, they are used to develop criteria for screening and selecting one
product idea over another. For example, if the plan of action is to go toe-to-toe
with a competitor either to gain market share or to defend an already established
market being threatened by a competitor, then this objective influences the type of
product screened for, the criteria used in the screening process, and the time
available for development. In such circumstances, the company wants new products
as soon as possible.
2. Sanctioned Espionage or Competitive Intelligence?
Senior management cannot lead or provide direction in a vacuum. They need vast
amounts of information and careful assimilation of this information to provide the
intelligence required to move advantageously in their marketplaces.
A recent cartoon depicted a candidate for a job in his interview with a personnel
manager. The manager says, “Your several convictions for computer hacking will
help you fit into our corporate plans.” Simple humor or cynical sarcasm?
There is a saying, anonymous as far as I know, “Know your enemy.” Knowing
what competitors are doing is important for planning counterstrategies that help a
company survive. For example, answers to such questions as what promotions are
the competition running in the marketplace, what new products are being introduced,
and what market launches into new territories are taking place provide knowledge
by which a probing company can protect its market position. It is best, however, to
know what the competitor is doing before the competitor does it. Knowing that they
have done it is far too late for defensive action. That is the key in competitive
intelligence gathering.
Competitive intelligence is generally the domain of senior management — there
are vice presidents of competitive intelligence — but the function has also been
considered a marketing duty. Companies have used many techniques to spy on their
competitors. Espionage is a dirty word that suggests the unethical collection of
information, a James Bond sort of activity. Competitive intelligence, however, can

be collected in ethical and respectable ways.
Intelligence gathering masquerades under many innocuous names in corporate
directories: corporate intelligence, competitive intelligence, market research, strate-
gic business development, or business planning. Such activities, if carried out by
trade officials assigned to embassies in foreign countries, would be cause for the
officials to be accused of spying and declared persona non grata. Yet it is nothing
more than the systematic gathering of information about the competition from as
many sources as possible and the intelligent interpretation and use of this information
to plan strategy against the competition or to counter the competition’s strategy.
Corporate intelligence gathering has become very professional. Globally the
collecting and analysis of information is expected to become an industry exceeding
U.S. $110 billion (Lewandowski, 1999). Those interested in intelligence gathering
can join the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals in the U.S.A.
The first line of developing a competitive intelligence network involves being
in the marketplace to see what is going on. Traditionally, this information gathering
has been carried on innocuously by sales people, but information found its way back
to management in a haphazard fashion. A company’s sales force has the greatest
advantage for obtaining feedback from the marketplaces the company services. This
includes information such as the following:
• What product facings the competition has, how extensive these are, and
where these products are located in the store.
• What new product introductions the competition is launching, in what
geographical areas these new products are being launched, and who they
are targeting. Additionally, sales people can get a general idea of the
success of the products.
• The extent of the competition’s advertising and promotional materials in
the marketplaces and, again, who these are aimed at.
• How the pricing of similar competitive products compares to the com-
pany’s own products.
• What deals the competition may be making with the outlets carrying their
products.
In short, sales people on site in the marketplaces are able to gather a lot of information
about their competition in these marketplaces.
This information — indeed all information about the competition gleaned from
any source by the company’s staff — is fed back to a central repository, the war
room. The term war room is found in a glossary used by one competitive intelligence
firm (Crone, 1999). The war room is defined as a central location in a company
where competitive intelligence obtained from all sources is sifted and analyzed to
reach strategic and tactical decisions.
An ongoing activity in any food company is the examination and analysis of
competitive products by grading, tasting, and chemical and physical analysis. The
ingredients found and identified are costed, and based on the amounts found a crude
formulation and costing could be established to determine profit margins.
Competitive information gathering requires that this information find its way
back in a very focused manner to those who are able to analyze it and get information
to management in a timely fashion. Many large companies require that their staff
be aware of any actions by their competitors and report such information back to
the war room.
There are other ways of gathering information in an ethical manner (Table 4.1).
Some of these activities are broadly classified as networking, i.e., building up a
broad association of contacts and using these as conduits for information. As such
they are part and parcel of every business person’s activities. Networking can be a
source of critical information that the analytical wizards of the war room can utilize.
All organizations from chambers of commerce to professional associations meet
regularly for business and for pleasure. At these meetings invited speakers may
reveal some of their company’s business activities. During informal sessions, cocktail
hours, or receptions they may discuss or let fall some unguarded words describing
their company’s programs. Companies with active competitive information programs
use such settings to ferret out snippets of information.
The presence of new names or the absence of old names of executives in
company literature hint strongly at a corporate policy change. The management
style and policies of an executive in previous positions indicate how that executive
will operate in a new role. For example, a company’s rival hires a new executive
CEO and this is widely circulated in the news media. A check of the electronic
databases gets information to profile the new executive. Since executives have
established patterns of behavior (their previous record was, after all, why they were
chosen for their new roles) it can be assumed the new CEO will act as profiled.
The company can then revise its plans and prepare itself to counteract the anticipated
actions of the rival company.
The technical and patent literature that is publicly available reveals what
research the competition has supported, in what institutes it has been performed,
and what patents have been granted or are pending. Noting the time lag in such
publications, the war room analysts can prepare time lines of its competitor’s
developmental activities.
More surreptitious activity is arranging to get a seat at a conference dinner beside
a competitor’s director of research or one of its senior technologists. I personally
have always found the conversation around the tables at, for example, the Institute
for Food Technologists’ (IFT) annual and quarterly meetings, to be very useful
opportunities for glimpses of other company’s technical activities. The information
came either from academics to whom the work was contracted, the competitors
themselves in careless, cross-table talk, or suppliers looking for customers (“Didn’t
you know that So and So company were using our …”). One company I worked
with would spread out its technical staff at the luncheons and dinners at conventions
such that at each table where a competitor was recognized one of our staff attempted
to be seated there also. We never sat together as a group.
Companies plan social outings for their suppliers, clients, and potential clients
at trade shows or expositions; these are carefully orchestrated affairs. Seating
arrangements at dinner tables, foursomes for golf, and outings for spouses are
arranged so that maximum benefits to obtaining information are had. My wife has
TABLE 4.1
Commonly Used Sources of Competitive Information Gathering
Source of Information Specific Activity or Information
Print media Executive moves and removals (reported in business newspapers and trade
journals) and mergers suggest policy changes within companies.
Press releases issued by companies describing activities.
Help wanted advertisements, especially those specifying the need for
particular skills or training.
Articles in scientific and technical journals in which researchers indicate
source of funding by companies and hence reveal direction of research
interests of these companies.
Major equipment purchases announced by companies or major equipment
sales contracts made by companies.
Listings of land purchases by companies.
Corporate publications Annual and quarterly reports record personnel changes, policy directions,
and financial status (purchases and sales of properties and assets) of
companies.
Corporate Web sites with product information.
Conferences and trade Exhibition booths at trade shows demonstrate latest equipment and
shows products.
Suppliers often inadvertently or purposely reveal other companies’ buying
activities as a sales ploy.
Speeches or panel presentations made by senior management, especially
in question and answer periods.
Research papers delivered by technical staff or presented by research
groups supported by companies.
Pro bono activities Speeches by senior executives at charity events, chambers of commerce,
fraternal organizations, Young Presidents Associations, etc.
Volunteer participation in activities of professional associations, e.g.,
Institute of Food Technologists.
Participation in alumni association activities.
Access to government Information and forms filed with various government agencies.
information Grant applications requesting cooperative research ventures.
Searches of patent notices and patents granted and pending, which provide
information of a company’s research direction.
Company-sponsored social Receptions or dinners.
events Sports outings such as golf tournaments.
CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2001. With permission.
provided me with many interesting bits of information as she attended spousal

programs at IFT conferences.
Through access to information regulations researchers can explore grant appli-
cations, land rezoning applications, and temporary import permits or any of a mul-
titude of forms their competitors may have filed with their governments. Each piece
of information has significance and may be pieced together to form a bigger picture.
3. Benchmarking
Much of the foregoing may be recognized as a form of benchmarking, a compara-

tively new management technique. Benchmarking is a derivative of intelligence
gathering and as such is a tool wielded by management to attain its goals for the
company. A company practicing benchmarking closely examines its own operations
in all aspects. Then it compares itself with the leaders in the same field, often
successful competitors. The company then applies the techniques it has determined
its competitors to have to its own operations.
The principle of benchmarking is a process of constant improvement of services,
of key quality characteristics of products, and of all areas of operations by compar-
ison with the successful leaders in the industry or product category; it is a form of
imitative strategy to become more like, that is, as successful as, one’s competitor.
Companies must know who their competition is and what the strengths and weak-
nesses of their rivals are. Such knowledge involves researching their own customers
as well as those of their competition. With this knowledge, management strategies
are developed with which companies move quickly in the marketplace to gain
superiority with products and services.
There is a side issue, competitive cost benchmarking. Knowing the competitor’s
costs for a product leads directly to being able to estimate profit margins. Such
knowledge can be used in the marketplace to wreak havoc on the competitor’s
product launch.
III. FINANCE DEPARTMENT: THE CAUTIONARY

HAND IN DEVELOPMENT
The Golden Rule: Whoever has the gold, makes the rules.
Anonymous
A. FINANCE’S NOT SO PASSIVE ROLE IN DEVELOPMENT
A very blunt fact that must be learned by all in any company is that the company
must ultimately be successful. Being successful requires making money for its
survival. A company is certainly not in business to lose money or to keep its
employees happy and busy. Only if the company is making money can it enjoy the
luxury of new product development, and it requires new products to make money.
The financial department’s duties include:
• Monitoring the day-to-day financial affairs of the company

• Alerting management to the financial health of the company and the
financial consequences of any action, precipitate or otherwise, that the
company undertakes
• Advising management of the company’s financial ability to undertake, or
its need for, new product development for its continued health
• Tracking the costs of development and comparing these against predic-

tions of expected benefits, that is, cost/benefit ratio
Another fact of life to be learned by the novice product developer is this: the
finance department often has its own plans for how the company’s objectives can
be met. It views with disdain all ideas that require spending money on uncertain
high-risk projects, which new product development is. Financial people usually are,
by nature, conservative people. They have their own ideas of how to make money
for the company in the financial markets they are familiar with.
As a senior food scientist I attended a food product development meeting with senior
management, marketing, and production personnel to discuss a new product develop-
ment program. That meeting was demolished when the senior vice president (corporate)
of finance bluntly pointed out to the assembled staff that by transferring company funds
into various foreign currencies and by investing in bonds or stocks his department
would make more profit more surely for the company than our food division would!
In many ways, the financial department shapes many of the activities for new
product development. It has the advantage of knowing intimately what the financial
health of the company is and hence how much financial exposure the company can
withstand. It knows how much money is readily available for development, and
hence how much development can be afforded. Its criteria for screening hinge on
many intangibles such as expected profitability, probability of success of any ven-
tures undertaken (i.e., risk assessment); financial stability of the company is the only
tangible. Two out of these three criteria are intangibles, that is, outright guesses.
The financial member of the team monitors the costs of the project. These require
careful tracking to ensure that the project is within budgetary limits, is in keeping
with expected probability of profit generation, and has minimal financial risk expo-
sure. Marketing personnel, with this cost information, can compare the projected
introduction costs with sales predictions. The result, it is hoped, is a reasonably
accurate estimate of the net profits that the new product is expected to earn. As
development progresses and more data are accumulated for more accurate estima-
tions, financial accounting is clarified. Management must assess all inputs to deter-
mine whether company objectives are striven toward in a prudent manner.
B. THE FINANCIAL REALITIES OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

The relationship between developmental progress and costs can be seen in Figure
4.2. In the upper graph, the number of ideas under consideration or in development
is charted against time. The number of ideas decreases during preliminary evalua-
tion and recipe development as screening takes its toll. Sensory testing, further
consumer research, and production scale-up weed out the unpromising ones until
few are left, from which finally one is selected for introduction. The upper graph
continues, but now sales volume of the newly launched product is plotted against
time. The lower graph plots money flow (costs are –$; profit is +$) against the same
timescale as the upper graph.
(a)
Test Market
Development
& Launch
Number Volume
of Ideas of Sales
(b)
+$ Early Pilot Scale Capital
Screening Market Survey Equipment
Purchase
Time
–$
FIGURE 4.2 The relationship between (a) the course of development and (b) the costs of
development.
Costs are minimal in the early phases of screening. It costs little to evaluate
ideas with readily available marketing, production, technical, and financial data.
When preliminary work begins on evaluating and tasting formulations and when
outside marketing, consumer research, and development companies are hired for
more sophisticated studies, then expenses can rapidly mount. Sensory testing even-
tually goes beyond small in-house panels to a larger scale that requires large quan-
tities of product. These are used for home-use tests, mini-tastings at trade fairs or
county fairs, in supermarkets, or free sample distribution with follow-up question-
naires or interviews.
Plant trials are costly in two ways to a company:
• They require labor, and perhaps extra labor, and they use up raw materials,
all for a product that brings in no returns. That is, they produce an
overhead for which there is no recompense except the gathering of con-
sumer information.
• They are disruptive of routine plant production from which the company
makes its money. Disruption of routine plant production can be a great
annoyance to production personnel. Production targets are compromised
and perhaps the financial health of the company will suffer.
An intangible cost, therefore, can cause animosity between production personnel

and the development team.
Costs increase as development proceeds and research techniques become more
sophisticated. New equipment may have to be purchased, specialized equipment
designed de novo, or pilot plant facilities leased from equipment manufacturers. If
new equipment has to be designed and fabricated, a steep increase in costs can be
expected. Costs of having products packaged by a specialty packer or copacked by
another manufacturer will impact on the profit picture. Costs for mini-test markets
and their attendant market research also increase the amount of red ink.
A successful test market justifies a wider initial launch area, but the costs of a
wider introduction can be astronomical. Eventually, sales volume, it is hoped, over-
comes the red ink. Figure 4.2 should be compared to Figures 1.3a and 1.3b.
1. Slotting Fees
Not all new product expenses can be laid at the doorsteps of food companies. Retailers
demand expenses that are major deterrents to product introductions for both large
and small food companies. These expenses are slotting fees or slotting allowances.
Slotting fees are monies that retailers require to be paid by manufacturers in order
that the retailers allow them shelf space, particularly important for new products.
Slotting fees are an impediment to product development for all companies,
especially medium and small manufacturers. Retailers justify these fees as neces-
sary to compensate them for the costs and risks they face by putting new products
on their shelves. If a new product goes on the shelves, the retailers argue, some
established product must be removed or be given reduced facings. This represents
a loss of income for retailers. If the new products should fail, retailers lose in two
ways. They lose good returns because of the newly introduced product’s poor return
and they lose the income that would have been generated by the established products
that were displaced. Manufacturers object to these fees as too expensive, unfair,
and punitive. “Criticism for slotting fees is rooted less in the need to recover the
cost of new product introductions and more in potential abuse” (Hollingsworth,
2000). In-depth discussions of slotting fees are presented by Hollingsworth (2000)
and Stanton (undated).
Large food companies do have some clout that is not available to small compa-
nies, yet even the giants must face giant retailers. Big companies can pay more for
space and squeeze the small manufacturers off the shelves. This is the complaint of
small companies. As a result, smaller companies are forced into smaller markets
(niches) and marketplaces for introductions of their new products. Another tactic of
big companies that I was informed of but have never personally encountered is the
following: Large companies would deliberately short a bell-ringer product from a
retailer who did not allow shelf space for the introduction of a new product. Com-
peting retailers who cooperated with the large companies got the shorted item. When
noncooperating retailers allotted shelf space on the large company’s terms, then the
shortages disappeared and the shelves were filled with the bell-ringer product.
2. Financial Criteria
Financial criteria for screening depend very heavily on what the company’s objec-
tives are and how strongly senior management backs these objectives. Objectives
vary widely with the economic environment a company finds itself in. Here are two
situations with financial criteria that are very different:
1. A food manufacturer is dependent on seasonal processing of locally grown
produce. Management chooses to broaden their product base with the development
of added-value products and thereby reduce dependence on seasonally grown com-
modities. They believe this would allow them to keep a trained work force year-
round with some community goodwill generated, reduce their overheads, and
increase their return on investment. Financial success is measured by:
• Less reliance on seasonal manufacturing and its correlative, developing a

year-round manufacturing operation
• Gaining a foothold in a new business in new marketplaces with added-
value products
Their investment is for the longer term and it is expensive. They can be more patient
in their expectations of a return on their investment.
2. A company is fighting intrusive action by competitors into its marketplace. It
needs to protect its market share or to regain lost market share. This company’s
timeframe is shorter. Its investment will concentrate on aggressive marketing pro-
grams as well as new products such as line extensions or the closely related new,
improved product with reduced risk, less development time, and less costly research.
They require a more aggressive product maintenance program. The company’s
resources will be directed toward projects consistent with the restraint it faces.
The finance departments of both companies need, nevertheless, to monitor
expenses (and rewards) and keep management aware of the financial health of the
company.
The new, improved product is not without some risk. If it is one that is “new,
with reduced fat” or “new, with improved nutrition” there can be a backlash. Cus-
tomers and consumers might wonder why it was not improved before or why it was
not originally put out “improved.” This is a point marketers should consider.
As development progresses, the direct costs of development and the indirect
costs associated with the new product’s impact on the company’s existing infrastruc-
ture become more apparent. Both are factors many companies figure into their costs.
For example, the costs of development are treated as a loan; the current cost of
money, the loan, is added to the development costs. The finance department argues
that this money could have been earning interest for the company. The financial
department argues that this lost interest should be an expense of development. More
reliable forecasting of sales volumes based on consumer research should give clearer
information of when expenses will be recovered. If these projections do not fit the
company’s objectives for both time of financial success and expected rate of returns,
then screening begins. Ideas that do not fit are terminated, and the data and research
work to date are catalogued and filed for future reference.
3. A Cautionary Note
Financial criteria must be applied fairly. Company controllers can, by using accepted
accounting techniques, assess certain expenses as assets (investments) and can reg-
ulate the rate of depreciation. How the accounting is carried out can reflect badly
or well on product development according to the attitude of the financial department
toward the project. Management must recognize any bias that financial people
introduce into their financial statements of the progress of development. Where short-
term financial gain is favored, policies are usually directed to cutting development
budgets, and thus companies risk losing technical skills that could be their salvation
in the future.
Projects lost for financial reasons might be the cause of younger staff being
discouraged to see challenging work terminated. Projects can be a training ground
for younger staff and allow senior management opportunities to evaluate personnel
for those who will be the company’s leaders tomorrow.
C. FINANCIAL TOOLS
A number of rough rules of thumb have been generated to estimate the potential
profitability of projects. They are all crude tools based on the most reliable data the
strategists can get; in short, they are guesses used to estimate a guess. As arbitrary
estimates of the economic viability of a project, they can be useful to counterbalance
the intuition and “gut feeling” that is frequently behind the unwarranted, continued
support of pet projects of questionable probability of success. Nevertheless, these
tools for project cost estimations are themselves based on assumptions (that may
not be true), on estimates (that may be biased by those deeply involved in the
projects), and on faulty interpretation of customer research.
1. Comparing Costs with Anticipated Revenues
The simplest and crudest technique is to compare total projected costs against the
projected gross sales for the period within which the company wants its payback.
Table 4.2 describes projected costs. It rapidly becomes apparent that this index is
based on uncertain costs in combination with equally uncertain income derived from
projections of hypothetical sales figures. The potentially misleading nature of this
criterion highlights its danger if it is wielded to screen out products that are rightfully
worthy of development. (Admittedly, as development progresses some of the cost
figures emerge more clearly.)
The very crudeness of this technique underlines its shortcomings. This measure
focuses only on direct costs associated with new products. The impact new products
have in other business areas is ignored. For example:
TABLE 4.2
An Analysis of Projected Costs of New Product Development and Introduction
Breakdown of Projected Costs
Production costs (?)

Overhead costs: These can be assumed to be the same as those for similar in-house product, but the
novelty of the new product may confound this assumption.
Copacker fees and costs if product cannot be produced in-house.
Capital expenditures for new equipment or other plant facilities (special handling equipment, storage or
warehousing facilities).
Packaging and labeling materials (new containers, packaging and container design, label design).
Raw material and ingredients: Seasonality, quality standard demands, and availability may challenge
financial assumptions.
Process and product quality control (additional impact on facilities, analyses for nutritional labeling).
Development costs (?)

Market research (focus groups, taste testings [mini-market tests, in-home placements, etc.], surveys.
Technical research (laboratory research, pilot plant trials, and test kitchen development).
Consulting fees for outside market or technical research.
Marketing and sales costs

Test market and follow-up.
Advertising materials (brochures, handbills, coupons).
Advertising preparation, promotional costs, and media costs.
Slotting fees and other retail trade promotion practices (Stanton, undated)
Note: (?) indicates costs that cannot be projected accurately.
• Were the production department’s additional costs of added downtime for

line changeovers, extra labor costs, and costs due to regular production
disruptions included?
• What extra costs occurred due to warehousing?
• Were the extra costs for sales calls included, whether calls made by the
company’s own sales force or an agent’s, or the costs of extra sales people?
A broader product line will be more difficult to sell in the few minutes
sales personnel are allotted with the retailer’s purchasing agent.
Comparison of total projected development costs and total projected sales alone
is not a reliable index. Introductory slotting and promotional costs are variable but
are highest when attempting to get market penetration for new products. These costs
may weaken when penetration has been made and retailers welcome the new addition
to their shelves.
In addition, there is no accounting for management’s gratification period. In
short, what is management’s time horizon? Many products fail because management
may have unrealistic expectations of a satisfactory payback period. Most companies
want rewards as soon as possible. No new product is ever introduced to the market
with the implied intention of withdrawing the product within a foreseeable time-
frame. Therefore, management’s time horizon is unreal and introduces a real conflict
within the development team and with retailers.
2. Probability Index
Attempts have been made to improve the predictability of success. One such attempt,
the profitability index (Holmes, 1968), compares the expected return to the total cost:
(return/total cost) ¥ (probability of success) = profitability index
This ignores all indirect costs such as slotting fees. This is hardly a great
improvement since a guess (expected return) is divided by another guess (total cost)
and the answer multiplied by a guess.
The shortcomings of all arbitrary indices to predict success, profitability, or
market penetration are due to the imprecise nature upon which the indices are based.
Predictions of sales by marketing for new products that have no proven sales record
are imprecise. The indices make no allowance for the retaliatory action of compet-
itors such as advertising, promotions, or pricing wars. Estimates of the probability
of success, time for completion, and costs are exactly that: estimates. They are only
as good as the information that went into them. Garbage in, garbage out, as the
saying goes. The indices remain tools to assist decision making, not tools to replace
decision making.
3. Other Tools
Malpas (1977) discussed the use of Boston experience (or learning) curves for what
could be another criterion for determining whether research and development dollars
should be spent. In general, when volume units of a product double, costs usually
fall by approximately 20 to 25%. If this generalization does not hold, then it is time
to seek a new process. Argote and Epple (1990) discuss the value of learning curves
in nonfood manufacturing and cite their value in pricing, marketing, and predicting
competitors’ costs.
The competition’s retaliatory action in the marketplace will confound all these
indices and will have an enormous impact on cost calculations. All predictors fail
to give due concern to what the competition may do or be planning to do. They,
too, are indulging in competitive intelligence gathering.
IV. DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGY FROM

MARKETING’S PERSPECTIVE
Failing to see relevance when it is present is a form of ignorance inadvertently encour-

aged by traditional practice in science.
Gerald Zaltman, Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard

Business School and codirector of the Mind of the Market Laboratory (Zaltman, 2000b)
… one of the more pernicious scientific fallacies: assuming that the absence of evidence
amounted to evidence of absence.
Pearce (1996)
Marketing personnel must tread a fine line in what is as yet an imperfect science
marked with imprecision and inadequate tools that provide more subjective than
objective evidence. Researching people and their likes and dislikes and what moti-
vates them to buy and understanding what influences them is slowly gaining in
improved technology and understanding, but as a science it is, as yet, looked down
upon by true scientists.
Science earns its reputation for objectivity by treating the perils of subjectivity with
the greatest respect.
Cole (1985)
A. MARKETING’S FUNCTIONS
Marketing people have three primary functions:
• To develop marketing strategies based on their research to understand

customer and consumer needs and to be knowledgeable about the mar-
ketplaces in which the customers and consumers they have targeted for
research are to be found.
• To develop sales and promotional materials suitable for use in the mar-
ketplaces where they have found their customers and consumers. “Mar-
keting [focuses] on the needs of the buyer” (Levitt, 1975). Levitt does not
distinguish between customer and consumer as used throughout this book.
He comments further that marketing “ [is preoccupied] with the idea of
satisfying the needs of the customer by means of the product … and finally
consuming it.” These sales and promotional materials must also reflect
the wants of the retailer in the particular marketplace.
• To monitor the customer and the consumer to ensure that both are pleased
with the product at the time of its purchase and with its first use and
remain satisfied and happy about repeat purchases. This is essential for
product maintenance.
The first two functions require extensive customer and consumer research; the latter
requires an active system of product inspection in the marketplace, a vigorous
product integrity program within the food plant, and good relationships with retailers
in the marketplace.
Attendance to these functions results in a marketing plan that is unique to the
nature of the company and the type of products under consideration. The plan is
partly historical, wherein the business situation past, present, and future is described.
Also included are the opportunities and difficulties facing the company, which is by
way of justifying specific, and it is hoped realistic, marketing objectives (with a
selection of product ideas) based on management policies. Marketing strategies and
action programs to accomplish these objectives are detailed and responsibilities for
them outlined. Then the mechanics (time tables, controls, sales projections, budgets,
etc.) of carrying out the strategies are described.
All successful product development starts with the consumer just as all success-
ful selling starts with the customer. Coincidentally, selling must include the needs
of the retailer in the environment in which the customer and consumer are to be
found. Senior management in small companies often make a fatal mistake: they start
with preconceived ideas of what they or the company’s owners think they intuitively
know consumers will want. This is flawed thinking. The misconception (not
unknown in large companies) of what consumers want frequently has its genesis in
a feeling (“a gut feeling”) a member of senior management has for some pet product
idea. “It will sell. I know it. I have this gut feeling.” They may very well be correct
but they also have a very good chance of being wrong.
Marketing strategists have a misconception that is somewhat more prevalent in
technology-dominated food companies: that technologically advanced products will
sell. Technologists have convinced the rest of the development team that gimmickry
in packaging or product disguised as novelty or innovation will draw customers.
Wrong! Customers determine what will sell if and when they and their consumers’
needs are satisfied.
B. MARKET RESEARCH
The difficulty is to find the common denominator that governs the actions of men.
W. Somerset Maugham, A Writer’s Notebook
Market research is an organized and unbiased investigation to:
• Measure qualitatively and quantitatively all factors influencing the

marketplace
• Provide information from the data gathered to guide marketers in decision
making
The subtle oxymoron “organized and unbiased” stands out like a sore thumb;
herein lies the potential weakness in the interpretation of market research data. If
any investigation is organized, a priori, some bias is introduced by the researcher.
It is the market researcher who:
• Selects the populations to be interviewed

• Selects the research techniques used in studying customers and consumers
• Prepares the wording of questionnaires and other survey materials
• Analyzes and decides how the data are to be weighted and interpreted
In the preconscious process of converting primary data of our experience step by step
into structures, information is necessarily lost, because the creation of structures, or
the recognition of patterns, is nothing else than the selective destruction of information
(Stent, 1987).
The decisions made by the market research company necessarily introduce a bias.
Market research companies do not want to antagonize and lose their clients. When
clients show great affection for pet projects, the research company might feel obliged
to shape research methods or to interpret findings to encourage their clients to continue
a liaison with them. This is not a condemnation of market research firms or of
techniques for market research. These latter are becoming very sophisticated and
extremely high tech. However, an objective assessment of the reality of the market-
place is obtained only with a careful and close liaison between the company’s own
marketing and sales personnel and the other members of the development team and
the outside market research company. Interpretation of consumer data is subjective.
A further danger in market research arises when expansion into foreign markets
is considered. Foreign markets are not extensions of the domestic market and cannot
be considered as anything but a new market with new customers and consumers.
The buying habits of customers are different no matter how close the countries may
be geographically, culturally, and linguistically. Countless times my American clients
have plaintively asked me, “But why are Canadian food laws and regulations dif-
ferent from ours?” or “Why is that flavor popular in Canada? It isn’t popular in the
States.” Or more commonly, “Why do Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving at a dif-
ferent time than we do?” (this said in response to discussions on timing of promotions
or arranging visits to their clients). Developers must recognize that food laws and
customer and consumer habits and tastes differ from country to country. A classic
example of these differences was demonstrated when Snapple™ first appeared in
glass in Japan, where most such drinks are dispensed from vending machines for
which cans are more customary for the Japanese. Again, in questionnaires used in
customer research, some cultures are reluctant to offend and may distort answers
and convey the wrong message to survey takers. Telephone surveys may be skewed
when it is found that in some countries there is not a heavy concentration of
telephones and hence fewer telephone users.
C. THE TIME ELEMENT: A FACTOR IN DEVELOPMENT

The days, months, or even years necessary for development may confound devel-
opers in two ways:
• Volatility of those originally surveyed for their preferences: They change

their opinions subject to local or regional happenings.
• Aging of the targeted population: At different ages, people have different
needs, preferences, and opinions.
Suppose an analysis of demographic data predicts that the population in a given

market area will drop by a million people over a period of 4 to 5 years; the
consequences are that a million meals or meal items will be lost each day of each
year in that market area. Such losses are not uncommon as the economies of
communities change. A company has less than 4 years to find new products or
develop new markets to fill the void caused by the gradual loss of those meal items
as people move away. Four or five years is not unusually long for the development
of some types of products nor is it a desirable gestation period for the development
of new markets for which a reengineering of the company may be necessary.
When a new product is introduced, the originally surveyed targeted consumers
are several years, months, or weeks older than when the developer originally conceived
of the product and tested the concept with them. The new replacement consumers,
who have been subjected to a totally different set of stimuli, were never surveyed.
Time is not on the developer’s side. Developers are not aiming for today’s
customers and consumers. They are always developing for some targeted customer
or consumer in the future. For these reasons, when products for development are
conceived, they must not be based on today’s available demographic and psycho-
graphic data, which may itself be a year or more old. Even followers of trends must
be aware that their data may be months old; this is a long time in marketing. The
data, today’s data, must be extrapolated to describe the consumer of the future;
extrapolation does carry an element of guesswork that developers should be aware of.
Market research continues throughout the development process. It must continue
throughout development because product development takes time. During this time
customers’ and consumers’ tastes can change. They age, get married, move, and
have children. Many new trends can emerge during this short period. What were
once considered good ideas for products based on today’s consumers may prove to
have been short-lived fads by tomorrow when they are introduced into the market-
place. Consumers can be very volatile in their likes and dislikes. Information about
such startling consumer changes is best learned early in the development process
through continuing market research feedback before too much time and money are
wasted. Products based on short-lived fads must be identified as such early in the
development process.
The marketplace is replete with change, not all of which can be extrapolated
with certainty to define trends despite all the surveys, for example, the sudden
emergence of nutraceuticals in the health food market and government and medical
concerns over the safety of some of them. At best, the studies merely underline the
volatility of customers, consumers, and the marketplaces in which they are found.
There are very few facts to be found in the marketplace; observations, yes, but
precious few facts. Claude Bernard, a renowned French physiologist, wrote, “Obser-
vation is a passive science, experimentation an active science.”
D. THE NATURE OF MARKET INFORMATION

Chapter 2 includes a discussion of entities such as the average customer or average
consumer. Entities making up groups that are averaged must have homogeneity or
commonality. A casual observation in any of the various food marketplaces reveals
that the customers and consumers have little in common except the fact that they
were there at the time the observation was made. One must look for common traits
before averaging becomes meaningful.
Nevertheless, there are attempts made to categorize consumers, to determine

what traits in purchasing and in usage consumers have, or do not have, in common.
This is a far cry from averaging the consumer and then trying to apply descriptive
terms to this average, for example, “the average consumer is a white female between
23 and 35 years of age, etc.,” which conveys very little useful information for
product developers.
MacNulty (1989) described one such categorization. By classifying people,
particularly those in the Western world, relative to their personal values and moti-
vations, MacNulty arrived at three main groups:
• Inner directeds: These are “highly confident, self-determined individuals.”

They are best described as individualistic and as leaders.
• Outer directeds: According to MacNulty, “they want others to see how
well they are doing.” They need to be seen as having status. They are less
confident and inclined to be followers.
• Sustenance driven: They are more safety and security conscious. They
like the comfort of the traditional and avoid risk taking. They are very
conservative in their buying habits.
New products are, therefore, directed toward the further characterization of the needs
of the inner directeds, which MacNulty describes at length. The inner directeds will
be the pacesetters and “will provide us a picture of what the Outer Directeds will be
doing in the next year or two.” In a little more time the sustenance driven will catch
up to the outer directeds, who will in turn be trying to catch up to the inner directeds.
The British brewer, Bass Taverns, a conglomerate with many holdings in the
food service industry, used a combination of fuzzy logic (analytical procedures used
to interpret data that are approximations, i.e., are neither “yes” or “no” in nature)
and search algorithms to locate their taverns and restaurants (Davidson, 1998). Bass
Taverns’s research distinguished eight consumer classifications:
• First tasters are young, affluent, and adventurous (perhaps identified with
MacNulty’s inner directeds).
• Blue-collar hunters, usually unskilled laborers, prefer a local pub with
arcade games, bright lights, and canned music. Simple tastes run to
draught ciders and ordinary lagers.
• Premium wanderers are singles on the prowl and out for enjoyment. They
usually belong to the bottled beer brigade.
• The pint-and-pension group are an older, limited-income crowd who stick
close to home for a quiet social evening.
• The student crowd, a young pint-and-pension crowd, are on a limited
income and stay close to campus.
• Quality diners have good incomes and a love for good food and are willing
to travel for it.
• The cards and dominoes group want only the quiet sociality of the local pub.
• Nightclubbers have money and want entertainment.
Yankelovitch Partners (2000) described the characterization of U.S. consumers:
• Up and comers: Young, upbeat, and childless “yuppies” (young, urban

professionals), who lead the market and are not led by it. They tell
marketers what to do.
• Young materialists: Single people who cynically equate money with
happiness.
• Stressed by life: As expected these are people, especially parents, with
heavy burdens.
• New traditionalists: Forward-looking, family-oriented upscale people who
“set the agenda for boomers.”
• Family limiteds: Families are central to these individuals.
• Detached introverts: Successful and moneyed but lonely “geeks.”
• Renaissance elders: Wealthy, mature seniors with a zest for life.
• Retired from life: Uninvolved seniors who “hear you knocking but you
can’t come in.”
These breakdowns of consumers reveal a diversity of market niches. Knowledge

of the characteristics of these niches provides the direction for developing ideas and
also for screening out ideas that would be unsuitable for the categories of consumers
that research has found.
Culture is smitten with counting and measuring; it feels out of place and uncomfortable
with the innumerable.
Jean Dubuffet
E. QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE MARKET RESEARCH

INFORMATION
Market research information can be qualitative, quantitative, or both. Qualitative
market information is based on the interpretation of focus groups and interviews.
These tools require subjective interpretation. Quantitative market information is
based on the statistical analysis of data obtained from surveys and questionnaires
and direct measurements of what customers buy, when they buy, where they buy,
and what combinations of purchases are made. Quantitative research techniques aided
by computer-assisted data analyses are the norm. Techniques employed in researching
the market (and there are many) require that the researcher clearly understand what
information is wanted and that users of this knowledge understand its limitations.
1. Focus Groups
Focus groups are a commonly used research tool for developing product statements
or concepts. A focus group is an assemblage of consumers sequestered in a specially
designed and equipped room. Typically between 8 and 12 people, selected as
representative of the target consumer that the new product development company
wishes to reach, participate. Market research companies keep lists of consumers
whose backgrounds are well documented. With little effort they can enlist consumers
with any desired profile that the client wishes to have participate. The samplings of
respondents are not randomly chosen but represent those the market research com-
pany has worked with and has on file.
The group is led by a moderator — a professionally trained discussion leader.
The moderator leads the group through a discussion aided by a prop to stimulate a
more focused discussion. The prop may be a simple description of the client’s
proposed product or descriptive artwork depicting the proposed product, or there
may be a prototype product there for the group to see. The moderator elicits com-
ments from the group about this proposed product, always probing their reactions,
always gently pushing to get more focused attitudes to the prop. Sessions usually
last 2 to 3 hours. Clients can investigate the impact a product concept might have
on several different consumer profiles through these groups.
The rooms are equipped with cameras and voice recorders and are often paneled
with one-way glass, allowing outsiders to note the reactions of the group without
themselves being seen. Proceedings may be audio taped and filmed to enable con-
sumer research companies to carefully analyze the oral and body language for hidden
clues in the responses. Several focus groups (usually no more than three or four)
with different individuals may be required before a clear, concise concept statement
for a new product emerges that embodies what the product is and how it will meet
the needs and expectations of consumers. Often representatives of the client company
are present as observers.
There are as many variants of the focus group as there are market research
companies. The technique masquerades under various, sometimes quite obscure,
esoteric names such as real-time knowledge elicitation groups or simulated test
markets (a form of focus group). They all have in common a trained discussion
leader who focuses the discussion of a group of targeted consumers onto a food
concept embodied in a prop. The leader later collates the reactions of the group
to the prop and reports the findings to the client. Some consumer research com-
panies use the same consumers over a 2-day session of discussions to get the
desired concept statement.
The participants are paid, which introduces a potential danger of bias in the
results. The participants may tend to please or agree with their moderator.
I was a guest lecturer at Concordia University in Montreal for a course in communi-

cation. After a lecture on focus groups a marketing student related that she participated
in focus groups regularly because they provided extra pocket money for her. As for
her comments in these sessions, she said whatever it was obvious the moderator wanted
to be said. It kept her on the recall list. This did not surprise me greatly after my
personal experiences with focus groups conducted by a market research company in
the San Francisco area.
Because of these experiences, I strongly urge companies to use any information

derived from focus groups cautiously.
If done well, focus groups are intended to provide qualitative information
about consumers’ needs and interactions with the product concept. Done poorly,
focus groups can be a waste of both time and money because they are expensive.
The results can be distorted by group-think, with one dominant person swaying
the other participants’ opinions. They can be manipulated and interpreted to jolly
along a client by the market research firm. Marlow (1987) and Cohen (1990a)
discuss the value of focus groups, how best to use them, and the mechanics of
using them in product development. A caution is in order: a food company
interested in using the focus group technique for market research should seek
out a professional market research company with an established reputation. As
Marlow remarks, focus groups have value for suggesting direction for ideas but
they cannot be the basis for business decisions. The main function of the focus
group is to determine consumer reaction to product concepts and from this
reaction to redesign the concept for products to be on target. Interpretation of
the data is highly subjective.
2. Alternatives to Focus Groups
My opinions of the frailty of the focus group in providing reliable customer or

consumer data are probably obvious. There are other techniques for eliciting the
reactions of consumers. One of these is ZMET; another is neuromarketing. Both of
these are described here from literature available from their developers.
a. Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET)
Olson Zaltman Associates (undated) distinguish two types of market research:
In Type I research the data is derived from descriptive research, structured
surveys, and controlled experiments. That is, it is derived from focus groups, mini-
market tests (done with a local social group), or taste test comparisons. This research
attempts to answer questions such as: What variations of purchasing are there among
consumer segments? Has a company’s market share changed? Is a company’s prod-
uct preferred over its competitor’s product regarding its qualitative attributes? Type
I research “require[s] consumers to consciously focus on what researchers think to
ask them.” Therein lies a potential shortcoming of this type of research: the researcher
introduces a bias.
Type II research attempts to understand the customers’ and the consumers’ needs,
desires, and goals. The questions and the responses are more complex. Some typical
questions asked are: What do my customers and consumers want and how and where
do my products answer these desires? What does our brand or product mean to our
customers and consumers? Or this more unusual question: Why do consumers use
our product differently in different situations?
ZMET (a patented process) explores consumers’ relationships with a brand or
product. These complex relationships involve a multitude of constructs that form a
mental model that Zaltman (2000a) refers to as a consensus map. To understand
how consumers value a brand (or a product), this consensus map must be uncovered
by an understanding of these various constructs.
In Type I market research, for example, focus groups, the researcher brings the
stimuli to the subject. In ZMET testing the subjects brings their own stimuli to the
researcher. Consequently, the subjects’ responses are not couched in the nuances of
meaning of the researcher’s language nor in the need to develop such a language
(Bone, 1987).
ZMET methodology is based on several established assumptions (Zaltman,
2000a). In practice, 20 to 30 individuals are first selected. They have expressed an
interest in, intimacy with, knowledge of, or recognition of the product or brand under
test. The participants are told what the subject matter is and are required to bring a
number of pictures or to take photos (at least a dozen; camera supplied) that char-
acterize their good and bad feelings and thinking about the topic.
The participants are given individual appointments for one-on-one interviews
with skilled interviewers backed up by computer imaging specialists. The interview
consists of several steps in which subjects relate their ideas and uncover hidden
thoughts (metaphors) that describe very closely how they relate themselves to the
product or brand. The constructs thus developed are measures of this relationship.
The example in the reference, using data from an actual test, provides greater
understanding of the process (Zaltman, 2000a).
b. Neuromarketing
The BrightHouse Institute for Thought Sciences in Atlanta, Georgia, has developed
a technique they call neuromarketing for analyzing people’s reactions to consumer
products. They have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study
activity regions within the brain to study people’s reactions to products, services,
and advertising (Lovel, 2002). Researchers claim the fMR images reveal brain
activity indicative of how the subject is actually evaluating a product, a service, or
any advertising or promotion when viewing such objects. Thought Sciences research-
ers further claim this knowledge is a more accurate measure of consumer preferences
than focus groups or surveys.
Prior to a test scanning, participants are surveyed to evaluate their responses (likes
and dislikes) to a variety of food products, promotional materials, and other consumer
goods. The subjects are placed under an fMRI scanner and then shown objects on a
screen, whereupon a brain picture is taken. Comparison of the picture displaying
brain activity and the survey results enables researchers to find the preference center
of that participant’s brain. With such data, researchers believe they can help clients
develop better products, services, and marketing campaigns (Brighthouse, 2002).
c. Summary
Both ZMET and fMRI scans are new tools for measuring consumer valuations of
products, brands, or advertising. With no experience of either process, I can describe
neither advantages nor disadvantages for either ZMET or neuromarketing. Both may
have shortcomings.
F. MARKETING’S WAR ROOM

Earlier in this chapter management’s role in competitive intelligence gathering and
its war room were described. It is in this war room that management gathers business
intelligence about the general business climate, and about its competitor’s activities
and policies in particular, and formulates its own policies and counter activities.
TABLE 4.3
Getting to Know Customers and Consumers in the Computer Age
Tools Description and Use
Cookies A note (small text file) on user’s computer dropped by a Web server. It allows third party
advertisers to track the user via any site the third party advertises on. Hence they know
the user’s interests.
Web bugs Invisible surveillance devices used by governments and big business to monitor Internet
activity. They are 1-pixel GIFs (graphic image also referred to as 1-by-1 GIFs and invisible
GIFs) that act like a banner advertisement that “talks” to cookies and reports back. The
privacy concern is that they can track the user, but the user does not know they are present
because the user does not see a banner ad.
Spyware Software that is installed on a surfer’s computer without the surfer’s consent or knowledge.
It is often part of free software downloaded from the Internet. The program reports back
on the surfer’s use of the Internet. Food companies do not use spyware but will possibly
buy market information from companies that do.
From Hunt, J.T., Natl. Post Bus. Mag., 48, Oct., 2000.
Marketing, in addition to its market research, also conducts its own war room
activities, perhaps in a small corner of management’s facilities. It gathers market
intelligence about customers, retailers, and selling locations.
Customer shopping habits have changed due in part to the Internet and computer
age. Selling, buying, advertising, and customer service (product maintenance) have
all been influenced by these tools (Table 4.3).
A cartoon, PC and Pixel, by Thach Bui and Geoff Johnson depicted a customer
reading a sign at the entrance to a supermarket. The sign read, “Here at MegaFood-
Corp, you’re more than just a customer … You’re a completely predictable compi-
lation of spending habits and product data.” Privacy is rapidly becoming a thing of
the past.
A dramatic and personal example of customer profiling or purchase profiling
happened to me:
I received a telephone call from a person with my bank’s credit card fraud department
(I verified name and source). He asked first if I had my credit card (I had it), whether
the night before I had visited a particular sushi bar where I must have been quite a bon
vivant and spent over $700 on a meal, and if I had that morning spent over $300 on
sunglasses. I had not done either. I was told to destroy my card at once and a new one
would be in the mail immediately. The fraud department was alerted by the fact that
neither purchase fit my pattern of card use for purchases. In addition, after the second
purchase my card had been used, unsuccessfully, for a pay telephone call. The latter
action was a sure giveaway that the credit card thief was trying to see if the card was
still active. It was not: my bank had canceled it after two non-pattern-fitting purchases.
Courtesy cards, privilege cards, and client cards (for example, AIR MILES®
cards) provide the card companies with tremendous customer information: what
purchases were made, where they were made, when the purchases were made, as
well as the addresses of purchasers and their credit ratings. All this information is
requested when customers register for the card. One value of these cards is the
discouragement of comparison shopping; customers are often held by their desire
to accumulate points for redemption. With data-mining software a very complete
picture of customers and their purchases can be obtained with very little effort.
Service stations, food chains, and box stores requiring membership all can gain
valuable customer purchasing data.
Web sites are doing this profiling for a profit, to sell a product or to target an
audience. They maintain that this is actually to serve the interests of their customers,
the Web surfers. They can tailor advertisements to suit the interests of their custom-
ers. Thus, they claim they serve the interests of Web surfers at the same time they
better target potential customers for advertisers on the Web. This on-line profiling
is justified as the ability to deliver the right message to the right people. It is no
longer broadcasting a message but narrowcasting one.
Companies also use hotlines (1-800 numbers) and help lines to gain valuable
customer and consumer information. As the last number is dialed, and even before it
rings at the company’s reception area, reverse directories have identified the caller’s
location and name while search engines pull up as much information on the caller as
possible (e.g., previous calls, concerns, etc.). The receptionist is then armed with infor-
mation about the caller to provide any product service, suggest new products, or reroute
the call to others more able to help. Even if the caller routinely calls from an office
telephone, the software can eventually associate that business number with the client.
G. MARKETING AND SALES DEPARTMENTS

The most important responsibility for marketing and sales departments is monitor-
ing the marketplace for changes that might affect the course of development. Their
vigilance in the marketplace alerts the team to new considerations in screening
criteria, to new market opportunities, or to necessary changes in products under
development, and most importantly to the activities of the competition during
development.
Marketing and sales staff develop marketing and advertising strategies for prod-
ucts under development. With cooperation of technologists and the legal department
(or an outside resource), they prepare label statements; print material for promotions;
advertising copy for newspapers, radio, and television; and any product claims as
well as recipe and usage suggestions. They oversee art work for labels and copy for
advertisements and media campaigns that will be used in promotions.
Marketing personnel consider what impact new products may have on a com-
pany’s established branded products. Will there be fragmentation of the market? If
so, is this fragmentation good or bad? Within the larger market, there may be several
smaller markets — niches — that might be profitably exploited, making fragmen-
tation a good thing. The instant coffee market was profitably fragmented, for exam-
ple, with the development and introduction of flavored coffees.
Marketing and, in particular, sales members of the team must evaluate what
impact products may have on the retailer. The following example illustrates this
concern:
A microbrewery (craft brewer) introduced a prestige beer with an old fashioned, wired-
on cork stopper. Mini-tests were conducted in nearby campus pubs. Complaints from
bartenders and waitresses poured in: Opening bottles was inconvenient; service was
delayed; hand injuries resulted. Wires were a hazard underfoot, and the corks made
good missiles. The beer was fine. The container was redesigned.
Much of this chapter has been devoted to getting to know customers, consumers,
and retailers in order to generate ideas for new products that may satisfy the needs
and expectations of all parties involved. Data generates information when inter-
preted. Information, in turn, generates ideas. Quantity of ideas, not quality, is impor-
tant at the initial stage of the process. Critical screening will eliminate bad ideas later.
The generation of product ideas based on needs and desires, that is, the “I want,”
must come first from within either the customers’ or the consumers’ psyches, so to
speak. This requires an intimate knowledge of consumers and their gatekeepers, the
customers. The first cast of the net for ideas is cast wide. As both demographic and
psychographic data about consumers are gathered and converted into information,
the net is pulled tighter. A picture of the needs and expectations of a very specific
group of consumers will emerge.
H. MARKETABILITY AND MARKETING SKILLS

Does the marketing department have the ability to market the product to the targeted
consumer? Will the product require unique marketing skills to reach the intended
consumer? For example, not all companies possess marketing skills to introduce
new products into the food service or into food ingredient markets. They are simply
not familiar with these markets or do not have the contacts for them. Inexperienced
marketing resources within companies may make them unable to cope with new
ventures. Companies should be aware of these dangers in unknown markets and
should recognize their own shortcomings in these markets.
Can a market dominated by a single competitor be challenged? Is the marketing
department able to penetrate a market with few major buyers or even a single buyer?
How big is the market? Is it local? All these considerations should, in competent
marketing departments, be uncovered in market research. Unfortunately, sometimes
companies are not cognizant of their weaknesses. Yet these are very basic marketing
considerations. All have been implicated, with the benefit of hindsight, as causes
for new product failures (Anon., 1971). They are screening criteria that should have
been applied. It may prove more profitable to sell a by-product of manufacture to
an ingredient supplier to manufacture into an ingredient.
Products that lack marketability fall rather loosely into two categories: Either
(1) they are so far ahead of their time they cannot be marketed (perhaps in time they
will be) without an excessive amount of consumer education or marketplace reform
or (2) they possess a difference from existing products that consumers can neither
perceive nor appreciate or they are inferior to products already on the market or cost
appreciably more than superior products already available. These products should
be screened out early in development.
I. SUMMARY
Any of the criteria used to screen (i.e., marketability, technical feasibility, manufac-
turing capability, and financial criteria) could be reason enough to abort development
at any stage. Two of these criteria, marketability and technical feasibility, must be
applied carefully and dispassionately. Probabilities of success in both these areas
are based on subjective assessments. Those responsible for new products can, and
do, get emotionally attached to pet projects and are reluctant to accept the need to
drop the project.
Being objective can be difficult for the product development team. Leadership
must be enlightened and compassionate. They are, after all, in the “people business.”
At the same time, the leadership must be dispassionate in applying criteria in
screening. It is here that leadership must be demonstrated.
5 The Tacticians:
How They Influence
Product Development
I. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION
There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of
conjecture out of a trifling amount of fact.
Mark Twain
Research and development, the engineering department, and the manufacturing

department are the tacticians who carry out the product development strategy of the
company, which as development progresses, becomes a winnowing of product ideas
until only a select few that promise the greatest chance of success remain.
In many small companies, the only technically trained individual usually heads
the quality control group. This person also heads up new product research and
development if there is any such work in progress. The senior mechanic represents
the engineering department, and the plant manager, the manufacturing department.
Small companies usually do not have an active, ongoing new product development
program. Large companies, on the other hand, may have amazingly complex infra-
structures for organizing the tactical groupings of product development.
A. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT: THE CHALLENGES

The development process began on paper when all the ideas were explored for their
appropriateness for the company, their capability to bring in needed revenues, their
marketability, and their technical and manufacturing feasibility. The technical research
and development process really begins when the product concept is known. Food
technologists require only rough concepts of products-to-be before they can provide
basic recipes for them. Their sources are cookbooks, ingredient suppliers, or analyses
of similar products in the marketplace. These basic recipes serve several purposes:
• Food technologists begin to anticipate the problems associated with main-

taining quality and safety of the product that might be encountered during
development and subsequent processing.
125
• These prototype recipes become props used by marketing personnel to

refine concept statements for focus groups and serve as test samples for
in-plant tastings.
• Some rough financial cost figures can be estimated through the purchasing
department’s efforts to find suppliers and cost materials. Engineering
personnel get preliminary data of material properties and possible prob-
lems in handling these.
Nowadays, many large food companies have chef–food technologists on their

development staffs. These combine the skills of chefs with food technologists well-
versed in the sciences as these are applied to food.
Consumer opinions uncovered in market and consumer research, preliminary
cost estimates, and foreseeable engineering difficulties of these prototype products
eliminate some ideas, send others back for recipe tinkering, and cause rethinking of
others. Eventually clear, concise statements of several possible product ideas emerge.
Usually several products reach this stage, as companies often keep several products
in development stages.
1. Recipe Development and Recipe Scale-Up
The first recipes often come from home recipes, cookbooks, analyses of similar
products on the market, or more frequently from a de novo creation of a chef based
on consumers’ preferred tastes. These are used for stovetop samples only. They are
inadequate for use in pilot plant preparation and certainly not suitable for large-scale
plant production. Many owners of small food companies have difficulty understand-
ing that their wife’s spaghetti sauce recipe or Mama’s chicken soup recipe are not
readily adaptable to commercial production techniques without extensive modifica-
tion of the ingredients and the processing steps.
I have experienced two instances of this lack of understanding of problems
associated with scale-up of home recipes:
In the first instance, a president of a medium-sized West Coast food processor insisted
a particular canapé spread made by his wife for home entertaining could be processed
as is — just increase the quantities. Against the advice of all including the plant
manager, a trial was made. Much production time was lost cleaning and chipping out
enamel-like gunk from the walls of the steam-jacketed kettle and getting the pump
functional after the first disastrous trial run.
To commercialize a cherished family recipe and have it meet the needs and expec-
tations of targeted customers and consumers (who are not family) at a price the
customer is willing to pay requires much research and development for scale-up by
food technologists.
In the second instance before the days of chef–food technologists:
A large East Coast food company had hired a prominent TV chef to formulate several
frozen main course items suitable for factory-scale production. The items were impos-
sible to prepare in quantity on commercial equipment with unskilled manpower, with
The Tacticians: How They Influence Product Development 127
TABLE 5.1
Comparison of Difficulties in Using Home Recipes For Commercial
Production Runs
Commercial Recipes Home-Cooked from Family Recipes
Safety and Stability

Products must be safe with respect to all hazards Home-cooked product is cooked and eaten within
of public health significance. minutes of preparation with no, or few, hazards
Products must be stable with respect to their high- associated with packaging, storage, warehousing,
quality attributes from factory to table. distribution, or retailing.
Costs
Commercially prepared product must be kept Home-prepared recipes have flexible budget
within well-defined cost limitations (labor, plant allowances (with the exception of low income
overheads, labels, packaging, advertising, and families).
promotions). Labor is free.
Ingredients
Ingredients must be adaptable to mass production Ingredients and raw materials do not always have
technologies for uniformity of processing uniform characteristics.
characteristics (density, viscosity, particle size, Home-cooked products often have a high degree
thermal properties, etc.) and final product of variability of size (e.g., of cookies), thickness
characteristics. and viscosity of sauces and gravies, and textures.
Volume of Production
Large volume requirements of commerce require Equipment and processing technology used in the
high-speed food processing equipment. home could never produce the volume of product
demanded in commerce.
Expectations
Commercial products must consistently meet the Home-prepared products need only meet the
needs and expectations of a wide cross section of expectations of family members and guests who
customers and consumers. have accepted that Mama’s cooking is the best
and that the family’s way of preparing anything
is the proper, traditional, and correct way.
readily available commercial ingredients, and within the cost parameters laid down for
the products by management.
This failure was not the chef’s fault. On the factory floor one does not have a
multitude of trained sous chefs to assist in the preparation of dishes. Nor can a
company use the quality of ingredients chefs would use in their restaurants. Factory
operations must produce a consistently high-quality product rapidly and repeatedly
at a price customers are willing to pay.
The need to modify family or cookbook recipes arises for several reasons (Table
5.1). Two points in this table deserve the technologist’s attention. First, some man-
ufacturers are beginning to realize that consumers believe products with uniform
quality are synonymous with mass production and therefore are associated with
being highly processed foods:
I worked with a manufacturer of homestyle Italian food products who credited the wide
popularity of their products to their variable, but always high, quality. They did not
want uniformity in their pour-on sauces with its attendant glossy, gloopy smooth
appearance. They cultivated nonuniformity by allowing a degree of syneresis and lack
of gloss in their product.
These imperfections that gave their products the appearance of being homemade
made perfection in their opinion. Lightbody (1990) makes the point that “there is
evidence to indicate that uniformity of appearance, texture and taste within some
manufactured food products can be judged by some consumers as unattractive and,
in some cases, as a sign of ‘excessive’ processing.”
Second, Worsfold and Griffith (1997) and Daniels (1998) have seriously ques-
tioned the safe and experienced hands of home preparers of food. In their studies,
they have noted abysmal home food preparation techniques. It demonstrates the need
for developers to take this consideration of a home hazard potential into their safety
design for new products. Home food preparers might not be as skillful as thought.
If similar products exist in the marketplace, a basic recipe can be obtained by:
• Simple techniques such as sieving, filtering to determine quantities, and

microscopy to identify plant material and perhaps even identify the herbs,
spices, and starches used
• Ingredient lists in conjunction with the above techniques plus cost analyses
of the quantities of ingredient found in the competitor’s product to reveal
much about a competitor’s formulation, costs, and margins
• More sophisticated analytical procedures (mass spectroscopy, chromato-
graphic techniques of separation, particle size enumeration, etc.) — and
there are any number of commercial laboratories who can do these — to
identify more complex constituents
Expert taste panelists as well as commercial flavor houses will supply informa-
tion about flavors and are able to duplicate most flavors presented to them.
B. SPOILAGE AND PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERNS

With recipes based on the product concept in hand, food technologists begin to
experiment with ingredients to get the desired quality attributes required for the final
product. The food technologists also try to anticipate the expected or traditional
avenues of product failure for that type of product. This is needed to determine the
most suitable stabilizing system to be used to obtain a safe product of acceptable
quality throughout the expected shelf life. This is accomplished by searches of the
literature and food databases for data on similar products. Safety and quality must
be designed into the product.
Products must be safe for moral and humanitarian reasons. Products must be
stable, that is, remain unspoiled with their high-quality attribute intact throughout
their shelf life, for economic and esthetic reasons. While spoiled products in the
marketplace are a serious problem, safety with respect to hazards of public health
significance for any food product is a far more important concern than spoilage.
1. Food Spoilage Concerns
Margaret Hungerford’s well-known comment “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”

could very easily be rewritten by food technologists: “Spoilage is in the eye of the
consumer.” The consumer decides whether a product is acceptable or spoiled. For
consumers, spoilage is the failure of products to meet their expectations as promised
by promotional material that convinced the customer to purchase that product.
Spoilage in the consumer’s mind is simply “you promised me this, but the product
I got didn’t fulfill this promise. It.…” The manufacturer can finish the sentence with
“bad smelling,” “bad textured,” “unsightly,” “moldy,” “didn’t function as promised,”
“tasted nothing like …,” “wouldn’t set,” “cooked unevenly,” and so forth to complete
the consumer’s reaction.
Foods are classified into three categories on the basis of their stability (McGinn,
1982):
• Highly perishable foods with a short period of acceptable quality shelf

life that is measured in days. Typical examples are refrigerated fluid and
flavored dairy and soy milks and yogurts; many fresh sausages and deli-
catessen meats; fresh meats (meat, poultry, and seafood), especially
ground meats; fresh peeled and cut-up fruits and vegetables; mixed salad
greens and delicatessen salads (slaws); fresh bread; and specialty cream-
or custard-filled baked goods.
• Semiperishable foods with an acceptable quality shelf life calculated in
weeks. Examples of this category are conserved meat products such as
bacon, hams, some fermented and semidry sausages; some bakery goods
(fruit cakes); dairy products (natural cheeses); potato and tortilla chips;
and other snack foods.
• Highly stable foods with an acceptable shelf life determined in months
or years. Dehydrated foods and food mixes, canned foods, many cereal
products (flour, pastas, breakfast cereals), confectionery products (toffees,
hard candies, and some chocolate products), and jams and jellies typify
this group.
The shelf life of any food product and its safety are compromised in adverse storage
conditions, if the integrity of the product’s container is broken, or if abusive handling
has occurred.
Defective product that is found in the marketplace can be devastating. Bad news
spreads quickly, especially via the Internet, and may increase the awareness of
spoiled or defective product through gripe sites (see Chapter 2).
TABLE 5.2
Categories of Changes in Foods with Examples
The Reaction Mechanism
Physical Chemical Biological
Phase changes Oxidation Respiration

Evaporation Reduction Oxidation
Concentration Hydrolysis Autolysis
Crystallization Condensation Fermentation
Mass migration Decarboxylation Putrefaction
Irradiation Deamination
Browning reaction
(e.g., Maillard reaction)
The Sensible Changes in Foods
Exudation Off-flavors Wilting

Separation Off-odors Softening
Precipitation Discoloration Discoloration
Clumping Browning Slime formation
Clotting Fading Clotting
Textural changes Exudation Exudation
Grittiness Textural changes Off-flavors
Staling Container interactions Off-odors
Toughening Rusting Toxin formation
Discoloration Delamination Senescence
Fading Excessive cfu/gm
Opacity
Note: cfu/gm = colony-forming units per gram.
Spoilage in food products, causing nutritive, textural, visual, and organoleptic

alterations (Table 5.2), is a result of any, or all, of the three following causes:
• Microbiological changes resulting from the growth of microorganisms

native to the particular foods, to the ingredients added to these foods, or
present in the environment in which foods were prepared
• Biological changes caused by enzyme systems naturally occurring within
foods that cause unacceptable quality changes
• Nonbiological causes resulting from chemical and physical reactions
between the various chemical species within a food matrix that are pro-
moted by processing, storage conditions, and packaging materials
Corrosion of aluminum containers by high-salt foods and detinning of metal

containers by high-acid foods are well known to food technologists and easily
avoided. Fluctuations in cold storage or freezer storage temperatures frequently occur

in warehouses and in distribution channels. These changes cause a loss of esthetic
appeal in frozen produce, with large ice crystal formation due to water migration
within the package. Flavors must be carefully screened for their compatibility with
plastic or plastic-lined containers and metal containers where the development of
off-flavors and corrosion can occur.
Not all the changes noted in Table 5.2 are undesirable. For example, desirable
changes occur in the aging of whiskey; fermentation and lipolysis in cheese making;
the maturation of wine; or the fermentation of vegetables (krauts). These reactions
are carefully controlled to allow the product to reach a desired state.
Measures used to control or prevent the changes (Table 5.2) may, in their turn,
cause changes that are considered undesirable in the finished product by marketing
departments or management; for example, homogenization of a pour-over plant-
based sauce may cause undesired color and viscosity changes. Or a control measure
may be considered too costly or inappropriate. The use of some control measures,
such as irradiation, might raise sensitive consumer issues. The use of permitted
chemical additives is also an unacceptable alternative if marketing personnel want
to project a natural image for a product with a “green” label.
Where rigorous stabilizing processes such as application of heat are not appli-
cable, alternative minimal processes may be used. Enzymatic activity is reduced or
controlled by chilling or freezing, substrate removal, or use of substrate antagonists
or specific chemical inhibitors of the enzyme in question. Separation of sauces is
prevented with stabilizing agents if these are acceptable to management or by homog-
enization if this process does not cause unacceptable color and viscosity changes.
Chemical and physical changes that make foods unacceptable are somewhat
more complex to treat. Some processing techniques used to delay or prevent chemical
and physical changes are:
• Lower storage temperatures slow chemical and biological reactions.

• Homogenization prevents separation of oils.
• Agglomeration and crystallization prevents caking of powders and
improves their solubility.
• A judicious choice of ingredients — for example, noncrystallizing sugars
instead of crystallizing sugars — and the use of additives (doctoring
agents) controls staling (e.g., moist cookies) and grittiness in products.
• Encapsulation separates and protects labile components from reacting
during processing stresses and minimizes flavor losses.
Lowering the storage temperature slows the rate of a chemical reaction but
decreases solubilities of dissolved solids, which may crystallize, causing cloudiness
or sedimentation in liquids. As temperature is lowered further, phase changes can
occur. Water becomes ice and oils solidify. Emulsions can be destabilized with
extreme temperature changes.
In general, as the shelf life of products is lengthened the causes of instability
alter from biological (largely microbiological) to physical or chemical. Short shelf
life products spoil primarily from microbiological causes; for example, added-value
products such as spiced, prepared hamburger patties or pasteurized flavored milks
spoil for microbiological reasons, not usually for chemical or physical reasons. How-
ever, ultrahigh temperature processed milk has a long shelf life and is more likely to
fail for flavor and textural (grittiness due to lactose crystallization) reasons. Beef
jerky, a product with a long shelf life, fails due to fat oxidation causing off-flavors.
As the shelf life is increased further, chemical and physical interactions between
ingredients in the food matrix and the package generally overshadow biological
factors as determinants of change. These changes are accelerated by temperature
fluctuations, light, oxygen, and abusive handling throughout storage and retailing
that alter quality unacceptably. Biological factors in spoilage are minimal but always
present. McWeeny (1980) observed that during long-term storage of flour, lipases
and lipoxidases caused losses of “oven spring.”
The expected duration of quality shelf life that is described in the product concept
statement will determine which ingredients, raw materials, and preservative tech-
niques are used to sustain the quality and safety of the product from the factory
floor to the consumers’ tables. Nevertheless, the quality attributes of any food product
will deteriorate with time. Each attribute may deteriorate at a different rate according
to changes in storage environment that occur over time. That is, the spoilage mech-
anisms have different rates of reaction (different Q10 values) (Labuza and Riboh,
1982; Labuza and Schmidl, 1985). At one set of environmental conditions, the color
of a beverage may deteriorate faster than its flavor. At another set of conditions off-
flavors may develop more quickly. Stresses likely to influence rates of deterioration
are temperature changes, light (due to the wavelength and heat of incident light),
vibration, and relative humidity (a major factor in plastic packaging).
Colored glass bottles or opaque plastic/paperboard/foil-laminated containers
protect beverages from light damage but not from the radiant heat such incident
light might cause. Laminated containers provide excellent protection but are regarded
as environmentally unfriendly and even banned in some jurisdictions. Glass bottles
are often part of recycling or reuse programs; however, retailers are not happy since
such programs require a deposit and return-to-retailer system.
Tortilla chips spoil either by losing their crispness or by going rancid. Moisture-
proof packaging will stop the former and elimination of oxygen, the latter.
I worked with a manufacturer of an upscale tortilla chip snack. They had ascertained
that rancidity was the limiting factor in the shelf life of their product, a determination
based on an in-plant, expert tasting panel. Accordingly, the product was packed using
a gas flush of nitrogen to combat oxidation. Rancidity was stopped, but loss of crispness
became the limiting quality factor. Surprisingly, consumer complaints regarding flavor
poured in. Consumers liked the hint of rancidity in the product. With that gone, they
stopped purchases, leaving product sitting longer on the shelves and losing crispness.
2. Microbial Spoilage
Mossel and Ingram (1955) organized the determinants of microbial spoilage of foods
as those due to:
• Intrinsic factors that are a characteristic of the food, its ingredients, its
additives, and its processing, for example, pH, aw , antimicrobial constit-
uents, colloidal state or biological structure of the matrix, etc.
• Extrinsic factors that include all environmental factors such as tempera-
ture, relative humidity, or gases in contact with the food or its package
• Implicit factors that characterize the microorganisms involved, their pop-
ulation dynamics, with all the synergistic and antagonistic pressures they
are affected by, and their nutrition and metabolism
It is the implicit factors that the developer must always be on guard against;
does one know one’s microbial enemies? There is always the danger of the intro-
duction of a “harbinger of change in food safety” (Wachsmuth, 1997). For example,
the emergence of a microorganism, E. coli 0157:H7, has challenged traditional
barriers to food safety. Buchanan and Doyle (1997) discuss virulent strains of E. coli
in detail.
Notwithstanding the above caveat, there are three broad approaches to predicting
which stabilization techniques are suitable. The stabilizing techniques will be iden-
tified from:
• Knowledge of the chemical and biological properties of the food, its

ingredients, the processing system used, and the susceptibility of these to
microbial challenge
• The handling hazards (temperature variations, relative humidity, sensi-
tivity to light, abusive treatment of the packaging material, etc.) that may
be expected throughout casing, palletizing, warehousing, distribution,
and retailing
• Knowledge gained from experience and from the technical literature on
microbial hazards typical of the food and the growth characteristics of
microorganisms implicated with these hazards. The growth characteristics
used to control microorganisms are:
• Optimal growth temperature
• Optimal pH requirement for growth
• Optimal reducing environment (Eh)
• Optimum water activity relationship
• Specific nutrient requirements
• Sensitivity to competitive pressures of other microorganisms (Jay,
1997; Helander et al., 1997)
• Sensitivity to antimicrobial agents (Helander et al., 1997; Roller,
1995), particularly interesting for the new antimicrobials derived from
bacteria
That is, an understanding of the properties of the product under development and
the microorganisms most likely to spoil the food allows one to prescribe the preser-
vative techniques to be applied. Roller (1995), Jay (1997), and Helander (1997)
discuss the role of microorganisms in stabilizing foods.
A simple example illustrates the application of this knowledge. Food technologists

have determined that the expected cause of deterioration of a hypothetical new food
product is an equally hypothetical microorganism that has the following characteristics:
• It grows poorly in pH conditions below 4.8.

• It does not tolerate water activity conditions below 0.9.
• It is a mesophile.
• It grows best in aerobic conditions.
• It is sensitive to sorbate as a preservative.
Food technologists can delay spoilage and increase the shelf life by:
• Acidification of the product to below pH 4.8. This requires reformulation.

• Reformulation with ingredients to lower the water activity of the product
to below 0.9.
• Controlling extrinsic factors by presenting the product as a chilled product
with refrigerated distribution, by vacuum packaging, by increasing the
reducing potential of the food matrix, by considering modified or con-
trolled atmosphere packaging, or by employing either the first two or the
last two options.
• Addition of sorbic acid or its salts as a preservative.
• Heat treatment, irradiation, or ultrahigh pressure plus mild heat techniques
to preserve the product.
If suitable combinations of techniques are used, several multiparameter methods of

preservation are possible.
Not all the methods will be suitable for the product or acceptable to marketing
personnel. For example, acidification may produce an undesirable tartness or may
promote reactions with other ingredients; heating or high-pressure processing may
cause unacceptable changes in the appearance of the product. Certain ingredients or
additives may not be permitted by regulation in the class of food or their use may
contravene a standard of identity for the food. The use of certain processing tech-
niques, additives, or ingredients may contravene the company’s ethical, environmen-
tal, or internal policies.
3. Naturalness: Minimal Processing

Customers and the consumers they buy for are showing a desire for safe, healthy
fresh looking, naturally full-flavored but still convenient food products. This chal-
lenge has been met with minimally processed foods. These foods keep as much of
their natural, fresh characteristics (flavor, nutrition, texture, color, disease-fighting
phytochemicals) as possible. At the same time, they have a safe shelf life exceeding
what consumers would normally expect.
The processes (Table 5.3) associated with minimally processed foods produce
as little damage as possible to the quality attributes of a food, and the product’s
shelf life is extended. Often the techniques for minimal processing are used in
TABLE 5.3
Techniques Associated with the Production and Manufacture of Minimally
Processed Foods
Controlled atmosphere storage
Postharvest treatments
Clean-room technologya
Protective microbiological treatment (Jay, 1997; Helander et al., 1997)
Hurdle technology (see Leistner, 1985, 1986, 1992; Leistner and Rödel, 1976a,b; Leistner et al., 1981)
Nonthermal processing
Mild thermal processing
Packaging
Controlled atmosphere and modified atmosphere packaging
Active packaging
Edible coatings
aClean room technology is not discussed in this book, as it is a somewhat limited, esoteric use and is
mentioned only for reference sake.
From Ohlsson, T. Trends Food Sci. Technol., 5, 341, 1994.
combinations. Ohlsson (1994) has reviewed minimal processing from storage and
postharvest treatments of foods. The challenge for food technologists is stated deftly
by Ohlsson: “Very short shelf-life products require preservation methods that will
prolong their shelf life, while long shelf-life products require methods that reduce
shelf life but improve quality.”
Marechal et al. (1999) reviewed the application of thermal and water potential
stresses mainly with references to the effects of pH lowering, pressure increases,
and temperature decrease on the viability of microorganisms in order to develop
optimal kinetics for minimal processing. Their goal is to optimize minimal processes
to obtain maximum preservation of quality characteristics of foods while maintaining
adequate safety of minimally processed foods.
C. MAINTAINING SAFETY AND PRODUCT INTEGRITY

Both safety and quality are designed into new food products. For simplicity, the
expression “stabilizing system” will be used for processing technologies embodying
mechanisms that ensure safety of foods with respect to hazards of public health sig-
nificance and preserve their quality characteristics throughout their expected shelf life.
1. General Methods and Constraints to Their Use
Technologists use numerous techniques to stabilize foods (Table 5.4). The techniques
can be used singly or in combinations planned for a particular product’s quality
characteristics and based on the food technologists’ knowledge of the spoilage
mechanics typical of the food and on the growth characteristics of the microorgan-
isms of public health significance present.
TABLE 5.4
Traditional Techniques to Stabilize Foods
Stabilizing Stress Possible Mechanisms
Thermal processing
Temperature >100∞C Spore inactivation; vegetative cell destruction
Temperature <100∞C Vegetative cell destruction
Enzyme inactivation
Chilling
Refrigeration Slowing of microbial metabolic pathways
Slowing of chemical and enzyme-mediated reactions
Freezing Immobilization of water (some microbial destruction)
Fermentation Alteration or removal of a substrate
Acidification
Production of antimicrobial agents
Overgrowth by beneficial or benign microorganisms
Control of water (Partial) removal of water
Humectants (control water activity)
Freezing
Acidification Hostile pH for microorganisms
Suboptimal pH for enzymic reactions
Preservative (specific property of acid)
Fermentation
Chemicals Specific preservative action
Modification of a substrate
Enzyme antagonist
Specific chemical action (e.g., antioxidant)
Control metabolic pathway
Control redox potential
Control redox potential Prevent senescence
Prevent growth of some harmful microorganisms
Irradiation Inactivate microorganisms
Inactivate stages in metabolism
Pressure Protein denaturation
Disruption of cell organization
Limits to which techniques can be used were noted in previous sections. There
are nontechnological constraints as well that limit which stabilizing systems are
available to technologists. Freezing, for example, may well be unacceptable as a
procedure for preservation if a company’s manufacturing, marketing, and distribution
capabilities cannot handle a frozen product. The alternative is to have the product
copacked and distributed by reputable refrigerated handlers, but this adds a cost.
There are packaging materials that are restricted for use by legislation because they
are not recyclable; other materials may require a collection system for recycling.
Some packaging materials may simply be unpopular with environmental activists
(Akre, 1991). Customer or consumer resistance to irradiation, chemical preserva-
tives, or genetically modified ingredients may deter the use of these technologies if
marketing personnel or senior management are reluctant to use controversial or

sensitive procedures. This reluctance effectively screens what ideas and products
can be followed up.
Many new developments for stabilizing food products have emerged and tech-
nical advances in older, traditional technologies have improved their usefulness in
making high-quality products. Some of these advances will be reviewed here, not
because they are the newest or most novel but because they show promise in
providing consumers with exciting new products in new market niches and even to
supplant older, established products.
2. Thermal Processing of Foods
Technologists have long known that transferring heat rapidly into food and removing
it rapidly results in less heat damage to the quality attributes of the food during
pasteurization or commercial sterilization. The use of higher temperatures to inac-
tivate heat-resistant microorganisms or spores led to shorter processing times — if
the thermal conductivity of the food and its thermal diffusivity permitted the rapid
movement of heat into and out of the product.
a. Continuous Flow and Swept Surface Heat Exchangers
The use of continuous flow plate or swept surface heat exchangers allows high
temperature short time (HTST) or ultrahigh temperature (UHT) processes to rapidly
heat foods to high temperatures. Rapid cooling in the heat exchangers followed by
aseptic filling into sterile containers completes the process. This can be successfully
used on many foods, except those with a considerable proportion of large particles
in them. The required residence time in the heat exchanger for the more fluid
convection heating part of the food is much less than for the thicker, conduction
heating particles of the food. Large particles do not have a sufficiently long residence
time in the hot portion of the exchanger and may not be adequately heat processed.
b. Agitating Retorts and Thin-Profile Containers
Thermal processes for foods are drastically shortened if heat penetration is speeded
up by agitating the food while it is in its container in the retort. Many commercial
retorts can now agitate cans in an end-over-end fashion, axially or in a rocking
motion. As the container is agitated or rotated in the retort, the headspace as well
as food particles in the container move through the food, mixing the contents and
thereby assisting heat penetration to cold spots. Thus, a shorter thermal process is
obtained with improved product quality. With the faster rate of heat transfer, higher
processing temperatures can be used with still shorter process times.
In general, agitating retorts employing end-over-end can rotation or a rocking
motion are batch-type retorts. Retorts that provide axial rotation to agitate the
container’s contents are usually continuous-type retorts. Production speeds and man-
power requirements depend, therefore, on the type of retort used.
Altering the geometry of the conventional cylindrical can to speed up heat
penetration will also minimize heat damage to the container contents. This altered
geometry is accomplished with thin-profile (or low-profile) containers such as the
(flexible) retort pouch, the semirigid container, or the larger institutional half-steam
table tray. These containers present two broad surfaces separated by a shallow width
for rapid heat penetration and cooling. Consequently, the contents of thin profile
contents are subjected to less heat damage (Chapman and McKernan, 1963; Tung
et al., 1975; Rizvi and Acton, 1982; Brody, 2003). Quality of the product with respect
to color, flavor, nutrition, and integrity of particulates is greatly improved.
The retort pouch first became a very popular container in Japan for thermally
processed sauce-based products such as curries, spaghetti sauces, and stews (Saito,
1983) and is well known in military rations (Mermelstein, 1978; Tuomy and Young,
1982; Lingle, 1989; Brody, 2003). It has not achieved great success in the consumer
market in North America despite its many advantages (Mermelstein, 1978; but see
Brody, 2003).
Developments in thin-profile containers and retorts able to agitate the can con-
tents have given thermal processing a new appeal for the production of added-value,
high-quality gourmet products that are gaining acceptance as main course items,
particularly in the food service industry (Adams et al., 1983; Eisner, 1988).
3. Ohmic Heating
Ohmic heating occurs within an electrically conductive food by passing a low
frequency alternating current through it. This heating depends on the electrical
conductivity of the food. Since neither convection nor conduction heating play major
roles in ohmic heating, there are no large temperature gradients between the more
liquid portion of the food and any large particles in the food; these heat at roughly
the same time. The size or other physical properties (e.g., thermal diffusivity) of
particulate food have less effect on heat penetration (Biss et al., 1989; Halden et al.,
1990; Selman, 1991). Packaging is, of course, done aseptically. Biss and coworkers
describe the development of ohmic heating, and Sastry and Palaniappan (1992)
discuss applications for liquid and particulate mixtures.
Effective ohmic heating requires that the product be an electrical conductor; this
is not a problem since most foods have water contents in the 30 to 40% range, with
dissolved ionic constituents present. Nonionized food components, for example, fats
and oils, sugar syrups, alcohols, and nonconducting solids (bone and cellulosic
material), are heated only indirectly by ohmic heating.
Ohmic heating promises to rival plate heat exchangers as a stabilizing system
for rapidly heating foods containing nonuniform particulate material and liquid.
Ohmic heating overcomes many of the problems (e.g., burn-on) encountered with
continuous flow through plate heat exchangers. There is minimal damage to tem-
perature-sensitive quality characteristics.
Several observations suggest that developers should proceed cautiously in estab-
lishing safe processes for products using ohmic heating (Halden et al., 1990; Parrott,
1992; Sastry and Palaniappan, 1992):
• The electrical conductivity of meats varied only slightly with temperature,

but preheating increased the electrical conductivity of some foods.
• Processes must be designed to sufficiently heat treat the slowest heating,
that is, nonconducting, food component.
• There were very specific plant tissue responses to ohmic heating as Halden
et al. (1990) observed with aubergines and strawberries. These responses
may be considered objectionable.
• Starch gelatinization caused a change in electrical conductivity.
Halden et al. (1990) caution that “electrical conductivity data from sources other
than ohmic heating must thus be treated with care when designing an ohmic process.”
4. Microwave Heating
Microwave heating, like ohmic heating, is an internal heating process, that is, food is
heated from within. They differ in that microwave heating is by both conductive and
dielectric heating, while ohmic heating requires that the food be (electrically) conductive.
There have been suggestions that microwaves have a sterilizing effect quite apart
from their heating power. Mertens and Knorr (1992) and others believe the inacti-
vation of microorganisms is primarily the result of the thermal effects of microwaves.
Nevertheless they state, “If we assume [deleterious cellular effects] are real, it is
difficult to imagine how these sub-lethal and long-term effects can be upgraded to
a useful food preservation method.”
Four very interesting presentations on the use of microwaves for pasteurization
and sterilization were given at IFT’s Food Engineering Division symposium at their
annual meeting in 1992. Schiffman (1992) described the early history of microwave
processing and posed reasons for its less than enthusiastic reception by the food
industry. Harlfinger (1992) and Schlegel (1992), both representing commercial
equipment manufacturers, described the basics of their respective companies’ equip-
ment, but it must be remembered that this describes equipment designed a decade
or more ago. Datta and Hu (1992) review quality characteristics of foods processed
with microwaves. Clark (2002) describes microwave equipment displayed at IFT’s
Food Expo.
5. Stabilizing with High Pressure
The history of, and developments in, the use of high pressures to stabilize food
systems has been reviewed by Farr (1990), Hoover et al. (1989), and Hayashi (1989).
The technique, nearly 100 years old, was first reported by Hite in 1899 for the
preservation of milk (Hoover et al., 1989). The pressures used are in the order of
3,500 to nearly 10,000 atm (1 atm = 14.696 lb/in.2 = 1.033 kg/cm2).
Changes occur in isolated proteins from 1000 atm and up, but Dörnenburg and
Knorr (1998) discuss pressure-induced responses in plant tissue with pressures as
low as 50 and 100 MPa (million Pascals; this range is roughly 500 to 1000 atm).
My experiences using high-pressure processing to stabilize a fresh-pack salsa pro-
duced an undesirable glassy appearance in onion tissue and a faint but distinct flavor
change that my client found undesirable.
Okamoto and coworkers (1990) studied the effect of different pressures using
combinations of temperature and duration of pressure application on egg and soy
protein solutions to produce gels. Softness and adhesiveness of the gels varied with
the amount of pressure applied. As the pressure was increased, the hardness of the
gels increased and their cohesiveness increased, but adhesiveness decreased. Based
on these observations of coagulation of different proteins by heat and pressure,
Okamoto et al. suggested that the mechanisms of gelation caused by the two tech-
niques were different: Pressure-produced gels were softer than heat-produced gels.
Taste and color were unchanged in the pressurized foods.
Messens et al. (1997) reviewed the effect of high pressure on milk, meat, egg,
and soy proteins with process parameters such as pressure, time, temperature, protein
concentration, pH, and the presence of salts to produce new textures and tastes.
Since changes are observed in protein foods, high pressures would be anticipated
to produce alterations in the proteins of microorganisms. Metrick and colleagues
(1989) studied the sensitivity of Salmonella senftenberg and Salmonella typhimurium
to high pressures using two different media. Cell injury and death occurred in this
pressure range and increased with increasing pressure. Inactivation was greater in the
phosphate buffer medium than in the strained chicken baby food medium. The more
heat resistant strain of S. senftenberg was more pressure sensitive than S. typhimurium.
Several caveats emerge for developers using high pressure to develop safe food
products:
• High pressures will affect different proteins differently.

• The properties of the pressure-coagulated protein are different from those
of heated proteins.
• The food matrix influences the survival of microorganisms. High pressures
appear to be more efficient in inactivating cells in acid pH than in neutral
pH (Hoover et al., 1989), but other factors in the food matrix may prevail
(Metrick et al., 1989).
• Different strains of the same bacterium (Metrick et al., 1989) may have
different sensitivities to the same lethal doses of pressure. That is, pressure
lethalities (cf. z values in temperature studies) for different microorgan-
isms vary.
Hayashi (1989) cites that the advantages of high pressure to stabilize foods are
the avoidance of heat damage and the preservation of natural flavor, taste, and
nutrients. Hydrostatic pressure is transmitted instantaneously and uniformly into
food, unlike heat transmission where thermal conducting properties influence the
rate of transfer. It can be used to kill insects as well. High pressure can also be used
in conjunction with other stabilizing methods such as acidification, antimicrobial
agents, or mild heat to stabilize foods.
In Japan, jams, with their high acidity and solids content, are further stabilized, and
surimi from different fish sources is gelled with high hydrostatic pressure (Farr, 1990).
Knorr and colleagues (1998) improved the quality characteristics (flavor, less-
ened amount of thaw loss, color) by using pressure to freeze and thaw products.
They describe the need for much more accurate instrumentation to verify the kinetic
data on crystal formation as well as the effects of pressure freezing and thawing on
the food systems to which it is applied.
In other work, Dörnenburg and Knorr (1998) reviewed the effect of high-pressure
processing on the production of a plant stress responses, e.g., hydrogen peroxide,
the triggering of anthocyanin synthesis, enzymatic browning, the presence of
polyphenol oxidases, cell membrane integrity, and texture as a function of polyga-
lacturonase and pectin methylesterase activation. Their substrates for these model
systems were plant cell cultures of grape, potato, and tomato. This article is part of
a series begun by Knorr (1994) to demonstrate the feasibility of using plant cultures
to study the effects of processing stresses.
Information on an equipment supplier is available in Clark (2002).
6. Control of Water: Water Relationships in Stabilization
Water is necessary for enzymic reactions. It brings chemically reactive components

together, brings nutrients to microorganisms, and permits the movement of motile
bacterial species. Consequently, the control of water in a food is a tool to lengthen
its duration of safe (with respect to hazards of public health significance), high-
quality shelf life. My first experience with water relationships in foods was with
research into the drip loss in poultry with the Department of Poultry Science at the
Ontario Agricultural College (later to become the University of Guelph). At the
Leatherhead Food Research Association (U.K.), I again worked on water relation-
ships, studying water binding with various phosphate salts in meat curing and
sausage manufacture.
Water is controlled by:
• Removing it from the food with dehydration by heat, filtering, pressing,

or reverse osmosis techniques
• Immobilizing it within foods by chilling, freezing, or adding solutes that
bind water
Jezek and Smyrl (1980) describe osmotic dehydration of apple slices using
immersion of the slices in a 65% w/w sucrose solution to remove water, followed
by a further drying by vacuum. Advantages were an increase in apple volatiles and
improved appearance of the slices.
Tregunno and Goff (1996) used apple slices to study changes in the microstruc-
ture of apple tissue in a process they called osmodehydrofreezing. The slices were
dehydrated with different sugar solutions and then rinsed and frozen. The different
sugars used in osmotic dehydration did cause different microstructural changes to
tissues — an effect developers should note.
Silveira et al. (1996) studied the kinetics of osmotic dehydration of pineapple
wedges followed by air or vacuum drying. They claim data derived from their studies
would assist commercial equipment designers.
As awareness grew of how the control of water in foods could stabilize those
foods, the concept of water activity developed, making possible a whole new range
of foods: semimoist foods or intermediate moisture foods (IMF). Early developments
in IMF can be found in Davies et al. (1976), an excellent basic book on the subject.
Roser (1991) reviewed the use of the sugar trehalose in the drying of foods.
Trehalose is found in high concentrations in cryptobiotic organisms. Cryptobionts
have a remarkable ability to survive harsh conditions. Roser cites the cryptobiotic
resurrection plant, which, when fully dry, can withstand heating to 100∞C and
megarad doses of irradiation. The secret appears to be the ability of trehalose (and
other compounds with this ability) to dry as glasses rather than as crystals. Trehalose
shows promise as an aid in producing superior dehydrated products.
MacDonald and Lanier (1991) reviewed the use of low and high molecular
weight materials as cryoprotectants for meats and surimi and the mechanisms by
which protection was obtained. Katz (1997) described innovations and application
technologies of water binding and discussed the roles of minerals and carbohydrates,
as well as plant-derived products such as raisin paste and oat bran.
Water activity and its measurement as a tool is comparatively new to many in
food manufacturing, despite the technology’s availability for two decades or more.
Nevertheless, my requests to outside laboratories for water activity measurements
still get answered negatively. For developers, water activity control is, as Best (1992)
aptly described it a decade ago, a minimal processing concept that is undergoing a
major upheaval; it is still awaiting full acceptance as a tool.
Slade and Levine (1991) revised general thinking on water relationships in foods
when they introduced phase transitions in foods as factors in food quality and
stability. Labuza and Hyman (1998) discuss at length the importance of moisture
content and moisture migration to quality and safety in multidomain (multicompo-
nent) foods. They define multidomain foods by example: at the macromolecular
level examples of these are dry cereals with raisins or a frozen pizza crust with
sauce, and at the micromolecular level these are water in a starch granule or water
in baked goods. Moisture migration (loss of crispness in chips, staling of bread with
loss of crustiness, or crystallization) is a function of the thermodynamics (water
activity equilibrium) and dynamics of mass transfer (rate of diffusion of water) of
the food system. The former is dependent on the water activity of the components
in the multidomain food; the latter is dependent on, among other factors, pore
dimensions within the components of the food.
Suggestions for developers in controlling moisture to improve quality of foods
may be derived from the discussions of Labuza and Hyman (1998):
• The components (domains) should be chosen with water activities as close

as possible to avoid moisture transfer between them.
• Processing techniques are recommended that assure that pore size is as
small as possible and pore size distribution as narrow as possible.
• Viscosity within the components should be increased to inhibit diffusion
and mobility of moisture.
• An edible barrier between components will deter diffusion.
• “Use ingredients with a high monolayer moisture content and high excess
surface binding energy.”
Taylor (1996) describes practical examples of the application of these control mea-
sures to the manufacture and packaging of sandwiches with extended shelf life for
the vending machine and retail trade. Cauvain (1998) provides a practical discussion
of these measures for frozen bakery products.
7. Controlled Atmosphere/Modified Atmosphere Packaging
Gases, used either singly or in precisely defined mixtures, provide a longer fresh
shelf life to many foods both in bulk storage and in unit packages. The gases, usually
mixtures of nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide, control plant metabolic pathways
that lead to deleterious flavor and texture changes within the tissues and slow or
stop the growth of some microorganisms on plant material.
This property has given rise to controlled atmosphere and modified atmosphere
packaging (CA/MAP) to prolong the shelf life of many fruits, vegetables, and
meats. An overview of CA/MAP for fresh produce in western Europe is provided
by Day (1990).
Church (1994) reviews the different gases used in CA/MAP and various
techniques of CA/MAP with their applications. He describes new development in
what has been termed intelligent packaging. The new developments and their
applications that are described are oxygen, water, ethylene, and taint removal;
edible films; oxygen barrier; gas indicator; carbon dioxide release; and time-
temperature indicators.
Despite its many advantages, CA/MAP has not been as popular in North America
as it has been in Europe. Reasons for this were suggested by Day (1990). The reasons
are important, as they highlight a shortcoming of CA/MAP foods and chilled or
frozen foods in general: they are only as successful as the care and control that are
in place in the national and local distribution systems.
Anthony as long ago as 1989 expressed concern about the adequacy of the
available gas packaging technology, the distribution system to maintain proper cool
temperature control, and customer and consumer acceptance of these products.
Anthony also cautioned that product liability due to any abuse in the chilled food
CA/MAP chain could result in serious product losses and the potential for risks of
public health significance. Product developers should be cognizant of these concerns.
Day (1990) echoed these concerns. Day (1990) and Anthony (1989) both stressed
the need to control:
• Implicit factors such as the numbers of microorganisms present

• Extrinsic factors including the gaseous atmosphere and humidity in the
package, storage and distribution temperature, as well as the film
composition
• Intrinsic factors characteristic of the food itself
Geeson and coworkers (1987, 1991) successfully extended the shelf life of some
varieties of apples but were unsuccessful in extending the shelf life of Conference
pears using the same technology. This is another demonstration that developers need
to understand that a preservative system successful for one product cannot, with
certainty, be applied holus-bolus to another. Each product may have its own unique
CA/MAP preservation system.
Fresh, sweet cherries, like many other fruits, would benefit greatly from extended
shelf life both for marketing and for commercial processing. Meheriuk et al. (1995)
studied the storage of Lapins sweet cherries that had been gas flushed with a mixture
of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen. They obtained acceptable quality charac-
teristics for 4 to 6 weeks of storage at 0∞C.
CA/MAP stabilizing systems are generally used in combination with other
preservative techniques, for example, refrigeration. The greatest strength for
CA/MAP might be for premium, added-value products.
8. Irradiation
We cannot control atomic energy to an extent which would be of any value commer-
cially, and I believe we are not likely ever to be able to do so.
That excerpt is from a speech by Rutherford, considered by many as the father of

the study of the atom, delivered to the British Association for the Advancement of
Science in 1933. Rutherford’s remarks notwithstanding, Lieber (1905) had earlier
taken out a patent for the preservation of
canned foods, meat, beef extracts, and other manufactured or prepared foods, milk,
cheese cream, and the compounds thereof, fruits, jams, juices, jellies, and preserves
generally.
He preserved the foods by impregnating them with emanations from “thorium oxid,”
thus rendering the substances radioactive! Irradiation has come a long way since
1905 and 1933.
The mechanism for effectiveness of irradiation (at the levels used in food pro-
cessing) in inactivating enzymes and reducing the counts of microorganisms is
discussed by Robinson (1985). The effect irradiation (for some levels used see Table
5.5) has on plant or animal tissue is dose dependent (Giddings, 1984; Gaunt, 1985;
AIC/CIFST, 1989).
TABLE 5.5
Dose Dependency of Irradiation on Plant and Animal Tissue
Food Product Dose
Sprout inhibition 0.15 kGy to 0.2 kGy

Flour disinfestation Up to 1 kGy
Spice cleaning Up to 5 kGy for 2 to 3 log cycles of count reduction
Parasite elimination Up to 6 kGy
Reduction of bacteria Up to 5 kGy depending on level of reduction desired
Nonsporing pathogens Up to 10 kGy
Collated from Giddings, G.G., Act. Rep. Res. Dev. Assoc., 36, 20, 1984; Gaunt,
I.F., Inst. Food Sci. Technol. Proc., 19, 171, 1985; AIC/CIFST Joint Statement
on Food Irradiation, Ottawa, 1989.
A joint expert committee of the United Nations determined that irradiation of

food at doses up to 10 kGy presents no hazards, toxicologically, nutritionally, or
microbiologically, of public health significance (AIC/CIFST, 1989). A steadily grow-
ing number of countries have accepted irradiation as a food process (Loaharanu,
1989). Developers of irradiated new food products for the export market should be
aware of regulations respecting irradiation in the importing country.
Irradiation, for several years, has replaced fumigation to control infestations in
fruit and vegetables, to prevent sprouting in potatoes, to sterilize sewage sludge for
conversion into fertilizer, and to sterilize surgical equipment (Anon., 1981). Tsuji
(1983) describes the use of low-dose cobalt 60 irradiation to reduce microbial counts
in fish protein concentrate used as flavoring in the formulation of vitamin/mineral
supplements in veterinary products.
The advantages of irradiation for product development have been glowingly
summarized by Josephson (1984) and AIC/CIFST (1989) as follows:
• Irradiation can replace chemicals used for preservation and disinfestation

of fruit, vegetables, and grains (see Giddings, 1989). A greater variety of
improved quality tropical products will become available in the market-
places of more northerly climates. It effectively eliminates parasites such
as trichina in meat products, especially pork products, and cyclospora on
imported raspberries (Strauss, 1998; Lund, 2002; IFST[UK], 2003);
reduces or eliminates salmonella and other pathogenic microorganisms in
poultry; and disinfests agricultural products (plant cuttings, fruit, etc.).
• Irradiation can be used to sanitize sensitive, labile products such as phar-
maceuticals that cannot be sanitized by other techniques.
• Food can be prepackaged prior to irradiation. Neither the shape of the
product nor the form (liquid, solid, frozen, or powder) is a major factor
in irradiation, as these shapes and forms are in thermal processing. Freez-
ing immobilizes ionic species, and chemical changes resulting from irra-
diation are minimized.
• Irradiation is competitive, in respect to cost and energy consumption, with
other conventional techniques for food preservation.
• Irradiated foods provide convenience and versatility to meal components
as well as snacks and reduce preparation and labor in the kitchen.
a. Controversy about Irradiation

Consumer reaction to and acceptance of irradiation in North America has been
ambivalent. For example, irradiated Puerto Rican mangoes were enthusiastically
received by customers in Florida according to press reports (Puzo, 1986; Bruhn and
Schutz, 1989; Loaharanu, 1989). A comparison test of irradiated Hawaiian papayas
and traditionally processed papayas showed that customers had no aversion to
irradiation (Bruhn and Schutz, 1989; Loaharanu, 1989). In January of 1992, irradi-
ated strawberries were sold in Florida (Marcotte, 1992). Despite protesters attempt-
ing to disrupt the market test, customers bought and were in general favorably
impressed by irradiated strawberries.
Deep polarization between proponents and opponents of irradiation is well

documented (see Giddings, 1989 for the pro side and Colby and Savagian, 1989 for
the con side). There is slow acceptance of irradiation; customer resistance is declin-
ing (Pszczola, 1993; Demetrakakes, 1998a). Irradiation trials for test packs have
kept the irradiation facilities busy at Vindicator Inc. (Lingle, 1992).
Bruhn and Schutz suggested as long ago as 1989 that the acceptance of irradi-
ation was conditional on favorable answers to the following questions:
• Do alternative technologies offer greater or less safety for the food supply
than irradiation?
• How does industry weight the costs of failure vs. the potential rewards
of success in the introduction of irradiated foods?
• Will responsible media coverage accompany the introduction of irradiated
foods?
• Have consumers been adequately educated to the value of irradiation for
them?
In 2003 these questions still require favorable answers that food manufacturers,
not just irradiation advocates, have not gone out on a limb to provide. Best (1989a)
claimed customers and consumers do not see irradiation as an advantage to them,
a gratification of their needs satisfied by irradiation. Frenzen et al. (2000) see
irradiation as limited in scope unless consumers see increased value and safety of
irradiated raw meat, poultry, and other products. At present, the opponents of irra-
diation argue that irradiation is an advantage to processors, who can ignore sanitary
control features and zap product for sterility (Coghlan, 1998). Manufacturers fear
that few customers will be willing to buy irradiated foods, despite favorable recep-
tions, and, for fear of reprisals, are reluctant to undertake a public educational
program. Processors and retailers must learn to handle protesters and the bad press
they can bring with sound crisis management techniques. Unfortunately, some jour-
nalists still think themselves quite funny by feeding the public’s reservations with
comments that by eating irradiated food they will “glow in the dark,” as I heard a
journalist report.
b. Irradiation Facilities and Costs: Inseparable Problem?
The very high capital costs can be better understood by a description of an irradiation
facility. The U.S.’s first commercial facility for irradiating foods, Vindicator Inc.,
located in Mulberry, Florida, uses cobalt 60 as its source of gamma rays rather than
x-rays from a machine-made source (Lingle, 1992). It is a wet-cell irradiator, that
is, the cobalt 60 is housed in and shielded by an 18,000-gal pool of deionized water
in a 28-ft deep well. Palletized food enters the chamber; the cobalt 60 is raised out
of the water to activate the irradiation process. When submerged, the source of
gamma rays is thoroughly shielded and workers can enter the chamber safely. Walls
of 6.5-ft-thick steel reinforced concrete provide further shielding. This brief descrip-
tion provides some idea of the complex and expensive structures that are necessary
to house these facilities. Both Demetrakakes (1998a) and Baird (1999) describe other
commercial gamma irradiation plants.
Costs for irradiation vary according to the radiation source used. Comparisons
can be made respecting the costs of irradiation since Tsuji (1983) estimated the cost
of irradiation and associated handling at about 5 cents/lb and estimates made by
Loaharanu (1994) and Frenzen et al. (2000). The latter two articles report costs of
irradiation of meat or poultry of 0.5 to 1.5 cents/lb in a plant with a throughput of
100 million lb using an electron beam system, an enormous drop in cost. Irradiated
food appears to be very price sensitive — a factor of major concern to developers.
Irradiation installations are very capital-intense facilities, and hence, irradiators
will be few and widely scattered geographically. Only added-value, heat-labile
products capable of benefiting from irradiation can bear the added costs. Some pilot
plant–scale irradiation units mounted on trucks are available; they use electron beams
or x-rays.
c. Technological Challenges
Since irradiation doses are restricted to pasteurizing doses (10 kGy or less) irradiation
is used in combination with other stabilizing systems such as refrigeration and
CA/MAP systems.
There are some cautions for developers using irradiation to design safety and
stability into their product. Paster and coworkers (1985) used low-dose irradiation
to pasteurize pomegranate kernels in combination with nitrogen gas flush packaging
and refrigeration to extend their shelf life for industrial use. While spoilage micro-
organisms were greatly reduced, fungi were observed to be more resistant than
bacteria to irradiation. The red flag for developers was the observation that the course
of spoilage was altered. The dominant fungal contaminant common in nonirradiated
kernels was no longer Penicillium frequens. In irradiated kernels Sporothrix cyane-
scens became the dominant fungal contaminant. Thus, one spoilage microorganism
was removed only to be substituted by a different one.
Dempster and colleagues (1985) irradiated raw beef burgers vacuum packed in
Cryovac® bags and stored at 3∞C. The shelf life was extended by up to 7 days.
Counts of microorganisms were significantly reduced, and shelf life was extended
at refrigerator temperatures, but the irradiated burgers lost their redness, showed an
increase in peroxide values in their fat, and developed a distinct, unpleasant odor
during storage. Not only can the microbial path of spoilage be changed, but irradi-
ation can change the chemical path of deterioration.
Grodner and Hinton (1986) noted similar alterations of conventional spoilage
after irradiation. They irradiated sterile and nonsterile crabmeat to study the inter-
relationship of storage duration vs. storage temperature vs. irradiation (up to 1 kGy)
on the viability of Vibrio cholerae. Both sterile and nonsterile samples of crabmeat
were inoculated with V. cholerae. Three interesting findings are discussed in their
work that should demonstrate the complexity of multicomponent stabilizing systems
using irradiation:
• No V. cholerae were found in crabmeat pretreated by sterilization and

then inoculated, or in nonsterile, inoculated crabmeat at dosages of either
0.5 or 1.0 kGy after irradiation. Irradiation at 0.25 kGy reduced the counts
by several log cycles.
• Pretreatment of the crabmeat by sterilization removed competing micro-

flora to V. cholerae’s advantage compared to nonirradiated crabmeat stored
at each of the storage temperatures.
• Survival of V. cholerae was greater in crabmeat that had not been sterilized
prior to inoculation in both irradiated and nonirradiated crabmeat stored
at -8∞C. Irradiation was, however, effective in reducing the counts. Grod-
ner and Hinton suggested that pretreatment of the crabmeat caused the
loss of some protective factor (perhaps a protein) against freezing, which
contributed to the survival of V. cholerae in pretreated crabmeat at the
coldest storage temperature.
In each of the above situations, the stabilizing systems either produced an

unexpected result in the path of spoilage or altered something in the food’s properties.
The interrelationships between the application of the newer stabilizing systems, the
product, and its microflora must be understood to ensure safety. Careless application
of the newer technologies of stabilization may result in an alteration of the traditional
courses of spoilage or of the microorganisms responsible for spoilage as these were
recognized by food technologists. Unless this is understood, developers may find
they have replaced the devil they know with the devil they don’t know.
Irradiation offers great promise for developers of new, minimally processed
foods with desired, added-value features for customers and consumers.
9. Hurdle Technology as a Tool for Product Development
By judiciously combining several stabilization techniques selected on the basis of

a knowledge of the dominant path(s) of spoilage or of pathogenicity for a product,
technologists can stabilize that product. Each of the individual systems selected
inhibits or stops a spoilage vector in the food to which they are applied. They are
by themselves not sufficient to wholly stabilize the food. But each, in combination,
complements the stabilizing activities of other systems employed. In this way the
high-quality shelf life and safety of food products can be maintained.
Leistner and Rödel (1976a) referred to this combining of stabilizing techniques
as Hürdeneffekt (hurdle effect). Leister and Rödel (1976b) provide a further general
discussion of the hurdle technique.
Hurdle technology (multiple stabilizing systems) has been practiced for many
hundreds of years; it is recognized as the preservative technology behind many
traditional foods such as:
• Sauerkraut: acidified through lactic fermentation; spoilable substrate

removed through controlled fermentation; salt addition to control the
course of fermentation and to encourage presence of highly competitive
but benign lactic fermenters; lactic fermenter may also provide natural
antibiotics (bacteriocins).
• Pemmican: sundried meat (lowered water activity); acidified by addition
of high-acid berries.
Plant Formulation Process Distribution

Environment
Number of
Microorganisms
pH aw T Refrigeration
FIGURE 5.1 Pictorial representation of hurdle technology for a hypothetical food product
formulated to have a low pH and low water activity.
• Smoked, fermented, hard sausage: dehydrated by heat of smoking treat-

ment (lowered water activity); stabilization by smoke constituents (chem-
ical preservative); acidified by fermentation (lowered pH and removal of
a labile substrate); preservative action of the lactic fermenters (biological
preservative); meat additives such as salts, spices, and herbs, some of
which have preservative action (Beuchat and Golden, 1989).
• Cheeses (very similar to sausages in their stabilization systems); low water
activity; fermentation to remove labile substrate; the presence of bacteri-
ocins from lactose and other fermenters; competitive microflora; some
traditional cheeses are also smoked.
Application of hurdle technology has been likened to an obstacle race. The

course is set with hurdles of varying heights representing different intensities of
stabilizing factors. The hurdles are designed to slow or stop chemical, physical, and
biological spoilage reactions. Some microorganisms (the racers) fall at the first
hurdle. Those microorganisms that pass that first hurdle are weakened for the next
hurdle, where more runners are felled. Those that survive the first two hurdles are
so further weakened when they face the third hurdle that they are in no condition
to pass it or whatever hurdles may remain.
Hurdles can be synergistic. That is, a hurdle may complement the preservative
action of another hurdle such that the combined preservative effect of the two
systems is greater than the sum of the two separately. The principles of hurdle
technology are pictured in Figure 5.1, where a hypothetical food is shown preserved
by four systems:
• Rigidly adhered to ingredient standards; purchasing from reputable sup-

pliers; effective plant sanitation, maintenance; hazard analysis critical
control point (HACCP) programs; tight process control standards; and
other plant support systems keep microorganisms in the plant environment
and in the product low. These provide the first hurdle.
• Product formulation introduced two built-in hurdles into the product: a
lowered pH and water activity of <0.90 that restricts the growth of spores
of Clostridia and provides a further check on the growth of many other

microorganisms.
• Pasteurization eliminates vegetative microorganisms that can survive the
lowered pH and lowered water activity and stops enzymic activities. The
level of microorganisms is lowered even further.
• Finally, the finished, packaged product is stored, distributed, and retailed
at refrigerator temperatures to slow chemical and physical changes.
The hypothetical product contaminated with the hypothetical microorganism dis-

cussed in “Microbial Spoilage” above, was stabilized with several hurdles: acidifi-
cation, lowered water activity, chilled storage or vacuum packaging or both, use of
a chemical preservative, and heat treatment. If all hurdles were used this would be
overkill respecting stabilization.
The application of the concept of water activity, the enormous interest that
developed for the hurdle concept, and its relation to food stability sparked the
development of intermediate moisture foods. Intermediate moisture foods have mois-
ture contents between those of dried foods and fresh foods, and their water activities
are above those of dehydrated foods but below those of natural foods. They can be
consumed without the addition of water.
Davey and Daughtry (1995) developed a predictive model (a linear Arrhenius
predictive model; see reference for other predictive microbiological models) for
modeling the growth of bacteria using three hurdles: temperature, salt, and pH. The
model was based on a number of published growth curves of Salmonella spp. Cerf
et al. (1996) developed a newer predictive model based on published data on E.
coli spp. also using three hurdles: temperature, pH, and water activity. They suggest
this model has many advantages over previous ones including the property of
additivity; that is, “the effect of environmental factors on bacterial inactivation can
be summed.”
Vega-Mercado and colleagues (1996) demonstrated the use of combinations of
pulsed electric fields, pH, and ionic strength on the inactivation of E. coli in a
simulated milk ultrafiltrate.
Sous vide products, popular in the food service industry, use a multiple preser-
vative system (a series of hurdles) for their shelf life. They undergo a partial cooking,
which both pasteurizes and blanches the product. Vacuum packaging inhibits aerobic
microorganisms and protects the product from further contamination during distri-
bution and retailing. These products are refrigerated or frozen, which checks chem-
ical and physical reactions and retards microbial growth. Product developers should,
however, refer to the comments of Livingston (1990) and Mason and colleagues
(1990) regarding the safety of this food service process.
a. Some Cautions: Altering Traditional Courses of Spoilage
There are cautions to be aware of: Neaves and colleagues (1982), at the British Food
Manufacturing Industries Research Association (now Leatherhead Food Research
Association), used potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, or ethyl p-hydroxy benzoate
and combinations thereof; salt or propylene glycol and combinations thereof; pH;
storage temperature; and pasteurization to inhibit the growth of Clostridium botuli-
num in a pork medium. Some combinations inhibited microbial growth and toxin
production, but a lowered pH or reduced temperature were necessary to complement,
for example, the salt plus sorbate stress. They found botulinal toxin could be present
in a food when there was no obvious spoilage, and they feared inadequate preser-
vation could result in the unwitting ingestion of toxic food by consumers. They
believed the possibility of inadequate preservation was far more dangerous than no
preservation in a food system.
This change in the course of spoilage due to the choice of hurdles was demon-
strated by Webster and coworkers (1985), using a model system to test 72 hurdle
interactions against a microbial cocktail consisting of Staphylococcus aureus, Bacil-
lus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus faecalis, Lactobacillus casei
var. rhamnosus, and Clostridium perfringens. The variables were four levels of water
activity, four pH values, and the presence of sodium citrate and sodium benzoate.
Webster et al. observed that:
• When a lowered aw was the sole hurdle, the predominant microorganism

was S. aureus.
• By adding another hurdle such as citrate and benzoate to that of reduced
water activity, the dominant microorganism became S. faecalis.
Developers must understand that the hurdles that are chosen can alter the
expected course of microbial growth. Therefore, when applying different stabilizing
stresses to foods in the course of improvements or reformulation with cheaper or
newer ingredients, developers must understand the stabilizing system in its entirety
since indiscriminate substitutions may simply alter the course of spoilage and not
necessarily provide the safe, high-quality product the developer wishes.
Carlin et al. (1991) studied the effects of controlled atmospheres (CO2, 0.03 to
40%; oxygen, 21 to 1%) and storage at 10∞C on the spoilage of commercially
prepared, fresh, ready-to-use grated carrots available on the French market. This
temperature is higher than that recommended by the French government for such
products but was the temperature at which such ready-to-use products were fre-
quently sold. The growth of both lactic acid bacteria and yeasts was more rapid as
the CO2 concentration increased from 10 to 20% regardless of the oxygen concen-
tration originally present. The changing composition of the atmosphere in CA/MAP
products influenced the population dynamics of spoilage.
There are other concerns. Although a number of humectants (proteins, protein
hydrolysates, amino acids, sugars, and sugar alcohols) are available to depress a
food’s water activity (see Table 2, in Chirife and Favetto, 1992), their use in many
food products is precluded for flavor considerations because of the concentrations
of humectant necessary to lower a food’s water activity.
In addition to the ability of various solutes and humectants to lower water
activity, Chirife and Favetto found specific solute and humectant effects, for example,
(a) ethanol has an antimicrobial effect that is not due solely to its water activity–low-
ering ability and (b) sodium chloride and sucrose inhibit the growth of S. aureus
around a value of 0.86, but when other solutes such as diols and polyols are used,
growth is inhibited at a much higher water activity. Therefore, developers must be
aware not only of the preservative potential of the hurdle that is imposed by a lowered
water activity but also recognize the influence of the humectant or solute system
that produced that level on the path of spoilage.
Leistner (1985, 1986, 1992) and Leistner and colleagues (1981) emphasize that
the technology of the hurdle effect can be influenced by high microbial loads.
Successful use of hurdle technology requires that high levels of quality control, plant
sanitation, and personnel hygiene be exercised in processing. Good manufacturing
programs and HACCP programs must be in place and exercised scrupulously. The
hurdles established for any product are not designed to protect against high microbial
loads: contamination introduced in the plant environment prior to packaging could
swamp the hurdles.
The application of hurdle technology must, in effect, be preceded by a hazard
analysis of the product prior to formulation with a description of which critical
control points require management and must be built into the product. Developers
must fully understand the properties of the food product under development and
understand the possible destabilization mechanisms that could lead to intoxication
and spoilage. Any stabilizing system is a balance of stresses that is unique for that
product composed of those particular ingredients and processed precisely in the
manner it was.
The final caution is that the developer must understand the purpose and function
of each ingredient or additive in the product and record these in the product descrip-
tion. Each serves a purpose; the safety and quality of the product was determined
based on these materials originally used in its manufacture and their characteristics
and the process controls determined to be necessary. Substitution of any original
raw material, ingredient, or additive with another could seriously alter the safety of
the product. Defining these purposes alerts future developers faced with reformula-
tion of the product to the importance of each ingredient or additive to the safety of
the product.
10. Low-Temperature Stabilization
Chilled, prepared foods (refrigerated processed foods of extended durability

[REPFEDs]) were hinted at in the preceding discussion of hurdle technology and
are discussed further by D. A. A. Mossel (cited in Scott, 1987; Brackett, 1992). Their
growing acceptance by consumers justifies a discussion of their potential for use in
new products. As stated earlier, they are usually preserved using hurdle technology
(Scott, 1987). The major concern with these products is the growth of pathogenic
psychotrophs coupled with weaknesses in the distribution and handling systems, that
is, in transportation to, and conditions at, the retail receiving and display level or
food service outlet. Since many REPFEDs (e.g., sous vide products) may be used in
institutions such as nursing or convalescent homes, controls to maintain their safety
is of paramount importance.
In general, these products have four characteristics:
• A sound HACCP program must be clearly identified to prevent contam-

ination in their preparation and packaging. A high level of quality control
is demanded in their manufacture respecting sanitation and the mainte-

nance of as low a level of microorganisms as possible.
• Packaging is usually done under vacuum (sous vide) or under CA/MAP
conditions.
• A pasteurizing level of heat is applied either during preparation of the
product (partial cooking) or to the product in the packaged state. If the
product is heated during preparation, it is rapidly cooled and packaged as
soon as possible when chilled to prevent any microbial growth.
• The products are stored, distributed, and displayed at refrigerator
temperatures.
The design of stabilizing processes and formulation for chilled food products
must be such that potentially harmful microorganisms are adequately controlled. The
realization that several pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms can survive and
grow at good refrigerator temperatures reveals an inherent hazard in chilled foods.
The shelf life of REPFEDs is, as one would suspect, highly variable. It depends
on the intrinsic properties of the food, the stabilizing systems used in the product’s
design and processing, and extrinsic factors. REPFEDs have anywhere from 12 to
60 days of shelf life, with most in the 20 to 30 day range (Bristol, 1990). Fresh
pasta at 40 days and their accompanying sauces at 60 days are among the most
stable REPFEDs. The Institute of Food Science & Technology (U.K.) (IFST[UK],
1990) classifies chilled foods into three categories:
• Highly susceptible foods to be cooked immediately before consumption:

fresh meat, fish, poultry, comminuted meats, sausage, etc. Recommended
storage temperature is -1 to 2∞C.
• Products often eaten without further heating that may have no preservative
properties (chilling is the primary preservation): pasteurized products,
cured meats, soft cheeses, prepackaged sandwiches, fresh doughs, milk
and soy milk products, etc. Recommended storage temperature is 0 to 5∞C.
• Foods not relying entirely on chilling for stability, which have some
additional stability system: hard cheeses, yogurt, fermented sausages, etc.
Recommended storage is 0 to 8∞C.
Lechowich (1988) reported that low-acid foods (pH >4.6) with mild heat treat-
ment and vacuum packaging or CA/MAP had approximately 14 days of shelf life.
Acidic foods were less of a problem. Sous vide products had, in general, 2 to 3
weeks of shelf life if held at 2 to 4∞C.
The short shelf life of chilled foods goes against their wider acceptance. Neither
vacuum packaging nor CA/MAP alone plus refrigerated storage and distribution
were sufficient to stabilize chilled foods adequately. This inadequacy has led
Lechowich and Day (1989) to recommend that these stabilizing systems be supple-
mented with acidification, use of competitive microflora, addition of preservatives,
or heat processing.
Waite-Wright (1990) recommended a five-point program to ensure safe, high-
quality, chilled products:
• Raw materials of the highest quality. This requires procurement from

reliable and dependable suppliers plus audits of all supplies and suppliers.
This is expensive but necessary.
• A safe controlled process employing all the plant’s internal support sys-
tems. This involves purchasing standards for all raw materials, active
quality control and HACCP programs in place, and close attention to good
manufacturing programs.
• Strict vigilance against cross contamination caused by workers or by poor
separation of cooked and raw materials and their associated equipment.
(This and the following recommendations are echoes of the preceding one.)
• Close adherence to sound plant hygiene and sanitation programs.
• Employee training in sanitation and personal hygiene.
All are necessary for safe chilled foods and all can contribute significantly to cost
overheads. The development of REPFEDs as a new product venture requires a cadre
of skilled, well-trained, and disciplined workers. Peck (1997) reviews concerns about
the safety of REPFEDs with respect to C. botulinum.
a. Distribution and Handling: A Weakness
Weaknesses in the distribution and handling system for REPFEDs are well docu-
mented. As early as 1980, Slight in a study of U.K. storage and transportation
facilities for chilled foods found that the inspection and maintenance of refrigeration
systems for chilled foods were poor and none of the transport refrigeration systems
studied were operating properly. In 1981 Bramsnaes discussed how the high-quality
shelf life of frozen foods was affected by poor storage temperature and poor control
of temperature of retail cabinets. Similarly, while studying the shelf stability of a
newly introduced chilled Mexican burrito in southern California in the mid-1980s,
my colleagues and I found that chilled food display counters in supermarkets would
at times reach temperatures of 9∞C (48∞F) and that they held that poor temperature
for extensive periods of time. Light and coworkers (1987) in the U.K. found tem-
peratures to fluctuate from -1 to 10∞C in chilled food vending machines. They also
noted that some machines could not maintain the desired temperature range of 0 to
5∞C for even 50% of their working cycle. Clarke (1990), for example, found that
multideck display units in retail outlets had day-to-day temperature variations as
high as 15.8∞C and as low as -1.2∞C. The situation has apparently not improved
with time. Audits International, reported in Brody (1997), found temperatures of
delicatessen products in retail display cabinets across the U.S. to range from 14 to
71∞F with a mean of 47.1∞F.
The amorphous glassy state and the importance of the transition temperature at
which a food passes into this state during freezing has been stressed by O’Donnell
(1993) for its effect on the quality of foods (see also “Control of Water: Water
Relationships in Stabilization” and references therein).
11. Other Stabilizing Systems
New nonthermal stabilizing systems include pulsed electric fields, oscillating mag-
netic field pulses, and intense light pulses. These and several other nonthermal
processes are reviewed by Mertens and Knorr (1992), Ohlsson and Bengtsson (2002),
and Leadley (2003).
a. Pulsed Electric Fields

High electric field pulses kill microorganisms by causing dielectric cell membrane
rupture. Mertens and Knorr cite two industrial applications: one to improve fat
recovery from animal slurries from slaughterhouses and the other to stabilize pump-
able foods. Gauri Mittal, at the University of Guelph (The Gazette, Montreal, Feb.
28, 1996) demonstrated the pasteurizing of milk products, fruit juices, and the brine
used in smokehouses to cool cooked meats, which allowed the brine’s reuse to
prevent it becoming an environmental hazard. Vega-Mercado et al. (1997) discuss
developments in pulsed electric field. Products successfully stabilized are orange
juice, milk, yogurt, and pea soup. All are pumpable, fluid foods. Details for the
design and construction of a pulsed electric unit are provided.
b. Oscillating Magnetic Fields

Mertens and Knorr (1992) provide no commercial details about the use of oscillating
magnetic field pulses. They describe the principle of oscillating magnetic field thus:
“When a large number of magnetic dipoles are present in one molecule, enough
energy can be transferred to the molecule to break a covalent bond.” This rupture
of the bond in any essential enzyme, DNA, or protein within microorganisms would
disrupt its metabolism and reproductive capability. Pothakamury et al. (1993) review
in detail the effects of this technique on microorganisms, cell membranes, and
malignant cells. They conclude that (a) there is minimal heat damage to nutritional
and organoleptic properties, (b) energy requirements are low, and (c) product can
be treated already packaged in flexible film packaging.
They caution that very little is known about the death kinetics of oscillating
magnetic fields. Leadley (2003), however, concludes that evidence of oscillating
magnetic fields for microbial inactivation is inconclusive.
c. Intense Light Pulses and Other Systems

Mertens and Knorr (1992) suggest that the inactivation effect of intense light pulses
may be a combination of photochemical and photothermal effects. They also discuss
carbon dioxide treatments; the use of chitosan (deacylated chitin) as an antifungal
agent; antimicrobial enzymes; and biological control systems that could be used in
conjunction with the hurdle concept of food preservation. Roller (1995) also dis-
cusses the use of enzymes, bacteriocins, and microorganisms as preserving systems.
The main advantage of nonthermal techniques is the minimization of undesirable
changes to flavor, color, texture, and nutritive value that thermal processing often
brings about in foods. For a developer seeking information on minimal processing
techniques for a delicate product, reference should be made to Ohlsson and Bengts-
son (2002).
12. A Summary and a Caution
The foregoing review of procedures for stabilizing food products has demonstrated
many opportunities for producing new products, in particular, for minimally processed
food products. In the main, the references have been chosen to make developers, first,
aware of these newer technologies and, second, aware of some cautions to be observed
in choosing which of these techniques to use singly or in combinations. The danger
in their indiscriminate use to produce novel foods is that they may alter generally
recognized spoilage pathways of familiar products or expected (through experience
with similar product formulations) spoilage pathways of new products. Something
has changed in the food. Some hitherto unsuspected microorganism may emerge as
a dominant cause of spoilage (Paster et al., 1985; Webster et al., 1985; Metrick et
al., 1989) or a technique or techniques applied to a product may cause physical
changes that are esthetically unacceptable to developers and consumers (Dempster
et al., 1985; Grodner and Hinton, 1986). Great care must be used in selecting stabi-
lizing systems for new products.
Many countries have introduced food laws regulating the introduction of novel
foods. Their concern is with consumer safety. The observation that some combina-
tions of novel techniques may leave overt and recognizable signs of spoilage (visible
mold growth, loss of color, or an off-odor) unseen by consumers is worrisome. No
obvious signs of spoilage would suggest to consumers that no spoilage has occurred.
Nothing forewarns them of a problem. Rates of spoilage of some quality or safety
attributes or both may proceed at different rates as different sets of stresses applied
to a food are changed. However, unseen and unwelcome changes may have occurred
and be hazardous.
II. THE ROLE OF ENGINEERING IN THE

DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
The time required for completion of any new product development process would
become impossibly long if it were a serial operation, with one step following after
the other. Once some prototype formulations that meet the objectives of the company
and the perceived needs of consumers have been developed, the members of the team
and the skills they represent are interacting. Research and development and engi-
neering (as well as other groups) advise one another on foreseeable problems respect-
ing fragility of raw materials, capabilities and limitations of in-house equipment, and
possible sources of new equipment should these be needed. As soon as prototype
formulations have been obtained, all team members begin to interact in earnest.
A. THE ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

1. General Activities
Engineering personnel serve many functions in new product development. The

nature and complexity of their tasks vary with the product under development. For
me-too products, their input is comparatively simple. For more exciting, novel
products their input may be on a vast scale if they are required to develop and
design equipment for new processes for which standard off-the-shelf food equipment
is not available. Engineers identify whether existing plant equipment can be mod-
ified to handle the new product, design novel equipment for any innovative processes
involved, or investigate equipment suppliers for suitable machinery if new or inno-

vative processes are key to the product’s manufacture. They, with the production
department, identify for the team process requirements on the basis of product
throughput, water usage, and energy requirements.
Besides investigating equipment suppliers, the engineers conduct pilot trials
where possible in the suppliers’ test facilities. They write equipment specifications
for new equipment and bargain for the best delivery dates and prices for needed
equipment. New production equipment costs or delays in delivery dates of equipment
must be communicated to the team early. Marketing plans for launch dates are
determined by all the delays that are encountered.
2. Process Design
Engineers, with production personnel and food technologists, have two pathways
when faced with the need to design a safe process de novo for plant-scale production
of products needed for consumer taste and use studies:
• One is to use theoretical models, that is, mathematical modeling based

on the best available heat and mass transfer data.
• The second option requires a vast amount of experimenting, analyzing
data statistically, and developing a process from this information.
The former is prone to errors because most food processes are complex and cannot
be easily modeled. Food is not uniform; pieces are not always regular in shape,
density, or composition; raw material varies by variety, by season, and by weather
conditions. The second procedure is obviously time consuming, laborious, and hence
expensive. De Vries et al. (1995) describe the design of a computer model for baking
ovens; they were preparing biscuits of the Marie type.
The first step for the engineering department is to produce a flow diagram of
the expected process, identifying as closely as possible the unit operations and
processes along with the materials, services, and energy required at each step. From
this, all members of the team help identify critical points and the processes to control
them. These critical operations can then be studied in isolation for developing design
data. It is apparent that this is a combination of the two pathways above. The
behavior of food material within these critical processes (changes in viscosity, heat
transfer properties, or phases) will be studied in order to describe the process as
closely as possible. This permits mathematical simulation of changes that occur
within the process.
3. Scale-Up
Products prepared on a large scale in these pilot plant trials will not resemble the
kitchen-prepared products on which the original concept trials were conducted. They
do however provide the preliminary data necessary to begin design and optimization
of the process. Each level of product scale-up brings its own need for screening to
get the product as close as possible to that which satisfies the consumer’s need.
Taylor (1969) suggested the following valid problems generally associated with
scale-up and their causes:
1. Much of food technology lacks a sound scientific basis or, as Taylor puts
it, technology is running ahead of the science. There certainly does seem
to be a gap between food technologists’ understanding of the basic
principles underlying many novel processes and their effect on micro-
organisms and food components and the equipment to take advantage
of these with surety. When this occurs, “scale-up is not very soundly
based.” The caveats mentioned in the previous chapter illustrate this; for
example, some of the newer minimal processes such as high pressure
processing and oscillating magnetic fields lack a sound scientific basis.
Although this situation is slowly improving, for many of the newer
processes there is no standard, off-the-shelf equipment, and in some
processes there are no sound scientific principles to assess inactivation
of microorganisms.
2. Raw materials used in food processing are highly variable from one variety
to another of raw produce, from supplier to supplier, from season to
season, and during the season from one geographical area to another. One
thing engineers dislike in designing a scaled-up plant for new products is
variability. Overcoming variability in processes requires operator skills,
which means relying on the judgment of operators.
3. Pressure mounts to cut corners in new product development to meet launch
date targets. “There is regularly pressure by marketing to eliminate any
intermediate scale-up on the grounds of time saving. Such elimination
seldom saves time in the long run” (Taylor, 1969).
4. Engineers and technologists want pilot plant studies to get design data for
scale-up. Product is secondary. Marketing personnel, however, see the need
for product for test market or consumer research studies as paramount and
the technologists’ demand for ever more data as dithering around. These
are the seeds for conflict. If potentially unsafe or unstable product is placed
in the hands of consumers, repercussions could be severe.
5. Engineers tend to specify process designs based on the available data.
Such designs require unique purpose-built equipment, which is expensive.
Over the life cycle of the product, costs may not be recovered fully or
may be a total loss if the development project is a failure. Consequently,
standard, off-the-shelf equipment is used and scale-up efficiencies are
thereby compromised.
6. Echoing Items 1, 5, and to an extent 2, the state of process control in the
food industry is still not highly developed. Off-line controls and batch
operations are the norm in many processing plants. Many have on-line
controls; in-line controls delivering data in real time are only beginning
to be developed to their full potential.
7. “The present food industry is still fairly labor intensive and in some parts
of the country the labor force is unskilled with a high turnover rate”
(Taylor, 1969). The conservatism of the food industry and its lack of
skilled personnel able to cope with new technologies is discussed by
Demetrakakes (1998b).
Taylor’s remarks made nearly four decades ago and intended for the U.K. food
industry apply equally well today in North America and in most major food pro-
cessing areas. However, equipment technology and process control systems are
rapidly improving in sophistication and versatility.
4. In-Process Specifications
Engineers need to know the sensitivity of food products to any treatments to which
they are subjected, for example, heating, freezing, or size reduction. Where thermal
processes required for safe product are required, engineers work with the research
and development group and professional thermal process authorities to develop safe
thermal processes. The process designed by engineers with assistance of the team
must adequately meet all safe process requirements and maintain the final product’s
quality characteristics as defined in the concept statement. All treatments that have
an effect on quality must have tolerance limits specified (i.e., upper and lower
temperature limits, mixer speeds, pump and flow rates), and equipment must be
designed to maintain these conditions. When this has been done, engineers will
finalize their activities by signing off on a product flow document identifying every
unit operation and process, the equipment to be used, and the conditions under which
these will be used. This includes:
• Temperatures of the product at each stage in the product flow; times at

these temperatures, flow rates, and tube diameters in heat exchangers need
to be calculated to maintain this residency time; product viscosity changes
require monitoring to prevent settling and turbulence in pipes, and amount
and size of particulates present, etc.
• Cooling. Rapid cooling to reduce temperatures below critical values is
often a requirement as food is transferred within the plant. Heat balance
studies are required. Recovery of heat as an environmental necessity for
workers and for reuse in preheating the product is important.
• Shearing action on the product as it is transported through the plant. Data
are required for flow rate, pumping action for minimum product damage
and mixer speeds, pipe diameters, energy consumption of motors, etc.
• Pressure changes on the process and the product. This plus rheological
properties are factors in extrusion cooking and supercritical carbon diox-
ide extraction.
Any operation that might have an effect on a product’s character must be described
together with its safe (with respect to hazards of public health significance and
maintenance of quality attributes) operating limits.
III. THE MANUFACTURING PLANT

A. THE MANUFACTURING PLANT: A STUMBLING BLOCK OR
AN ASSET?
The manufacturing plant often appears as a Jeremiah crying in the wilderness; so

often must it take a wet blanket approach to dampen the enthusiasm of the rest of
the development team. Plant personnel see the need for new products, but they must
also keep a plant running to make the money for product development. They must
tell the others of their ability or lack of ability to manufacture the product or inform
them of how disruptive the new operation will be.
1. Concerns: Space, Facilities, Labor, and Disruptiveness
Late recognition of the increased burden self-manufacture of new products will put
on existing processing lines, availability of labor, and the physical plant can be
disruptive of normal plant operations and of the timeliness of the new product’s
introduction. This can be disastrous for the launch of seasonal (warming soups in
the wintertime or leisure foods in the summertime) new products.
As early as possible the production unit must communicate whether they have
the necessary skilled labor and physical plant available to produce the new product
within the cost constraints and quality parameters required by marketing. Together
with engineers they evaluate available processes and determine what modifications
may be necessary for the new process. They identify production costs and estimate
the disruption that a new product introduction will have on normal plant operations;
all these considerations impact the course of development and ultimately the prod-
uct’s launch scheduling. The production department, after all, makes the products
that make the money for the company to be able to undertake research and devel-
opment. New products cannot destroy the goose that is laying the golden eggs and
paying the bills.
New lines mean new equipment and the finding of space to put the new lines
or the juggling and movement of regular lines to accommodate the new production
facilities. It may also mean a new plant.
Production staff work with marketing staff to review their sales volume projec-
tions and to coordinate personnel requirements for the processing lines. Their knowl-
edge of local labor markets and the availability of skilled labor become factors in
determining the new product’s costs and ultimately serve in screening deliberations.
If a high level of technical skills is required for the manufacture of the product, then
outside skills may have to be bought.
2. Copack Partnerships
Inability to manufacture new products is not sufficient reason to reject product ideas.
It is the least consequential of the criteria, but it may have consequences for the
anticipated financial success of the project. Manufacturing and packing capabilities
can always be had through copackers. There is, of course, a price to pay. Copackers
levy a fee per case packed. If new products are price sensitive, companies will not
have as much flexibility in pricing structures because of the added cost per case.
Lower profits result.
A frequently overlooked cost associated with employing copackers is the extra
vigilance required for quality control. Companies will require quality control staff
to be in the copackers’ plants when their products are run to ensure that they are
manufactured according to specification. This is necessary even when the most
amicable and trusting relationships exist between the two parties. Copacked products
require the same vigilance as self-manufactured products.
Copacking costs can be a small price to pay to get products launched. If products
should prove unsuccessful, no capital expenses or extra staff have been acquired. If
products meet or exceed sales forecasts, then plans can be made for either plant
expansion to undertake self-manufacture or acquisition studies to purchase the nec-
essary manufacturing capability.
For many reasons, use of a copacker can be a very attractive route to new product
development. Development costs and time might be telescoped if a copacker skilled
in manufacturing the particular type of product can be found. Copackers with
experience with similar products have a more accurate assessment of their develop-
ment and manufacturing costs and initially may be able to manufacture a product
more efficiently, and copackers have an experienced work force.
B. THE ROLE OF THE PURCHASING DEPARTMENT

Two aspects that impinge heavily on the success of new product development will
be considered under the umbrella of the manufacturing plant: the purchasing depart-
ment and the warehousing and distribution department.
1. The Purchasing Department’s Activities
The purchasing department plays a role in product costs by having the task of
finding inexpensive yet reliable (with respect to availability, delivery schedules,
and consistency of quality) sources of the raw materials, ingredients, and packaging
materials specified by technologists. Obviously, if the purchasing staff can obtain
materials and ingredients meeting specifications cheaply, product costs will be
lower. If purchasing can negotiate delivery cycles from its suppliers and still
maintain favorable terms, then the impact on warehousing will be lessened and
warehousing costs reduced.
The food technologists should have identified and described the necessary char-
acteristics of all raw materials, ingredients, and additives in their written product
standards. Where technologists have insisted on restrictive or unusual specifications,
purchasing departments will require suppliers to submit samples of their products
that most closely fit the requirements of the technologists. They must research several
sources to ensure that continuity of supplies will not become a problem in the future
if the product is a success.
The more exotic and stringent the specifications are, often the higher are the
costs. I have always been bemused, and frustrated, to note how many technologists
establish standards for ingredients. Suppliers send them samples to use in their
formulations. There is nothing wrong with this, but if that ingredient works satis-
factorily, the technologists often use that supplier’s specification sheet as the ingre-
dient standard. This limits the source to one supplier and one cost. There is rarely
an attempt to characterize what unique properties of an ingredient are essential to
the product’s quality; these and only these essential characteristics are required in
the purchasing standard. Better price, availability, delivery, servicing, and quality
may be found with other suppliers.
Here is an example of what I mean:
I worked with a tortilla manufacturer that produced its own masa dough. The lime used
was builder’s grade and not food grade. The company had discovered that builder’s
grade lime met all the specifications of food grade lime (indeed surpassed them) and
was considerably cheaper. For protection, every batch of lime purchased was sampled
and analyzed for a wide range of chemical and microbiological components by the
quality control department and by an outside U.S. government approved consulting
laboratory. It was still cheaper, even after factoring in laboratory expenses, to buy
builder’s grade lime.
Purchasing personnel with the traffic department balance transportation costs

with geographic availability and the reliability of the source with the item’s cost.
This interplay between geography (transportation costs from supplier), availability
and cost (they fluctuate inversely), reliability of supply and supplier, and quality
(adherence to specification of ingredients) for material, ingredients, and additives is
one in which great cooperation and interaction are required between suppliers and
purchasers.
Reliable, quality suppliers often assist in the development process for any appli-
cation the developer wants. This is especially true with flavor houses, which own
their flavor formulations. Developing and maintaining a working relationship with
suppliers is discussed by Williams (2002). Practical advice and cautions are described
(see Chapter 8).
Ingredient, raw material, and packaging costs contribute significantly to any
product’s pricing structure; as such they serve as a deterrent in markets where price
sensitivity is important. For example, for the military market, special packaging that
meets military specifications may be required; for vending machines, a size and
packaging material that is appropriate for machine dispensing is needed; for big box
stores and warehouse clubs, still different forms of packaging are needed. Customers
will reject a high unit cost if quality, novelty of the product, and its added value do
not justify that elevated price in the eyes of the customer and the consumer. Pur-
chasing personnel’s success or failure in obtaining supplies at an economic price is
important to the success or failure of the project.
C. THE IMPACT OF WAREHOUSING AND DISTRIBUTION

Not many in the food industry realize how expensive warehousing is; every square
meter of space can cost several hundreds of dollars per year to maintain. Therefore
warehousing needs for both raw materials and the finished goods can be a factor in
the costing elements for screening. A warehouse can be unheated and subject to the
vagaries of summer and winter temperatures and humidities. It can be a chilled or

frozen food warehouse and maintained at specific temperatures suited to the product
— and expensive — or it can be a controlled atmosphere warehouse for storage of
fresh fruits and vegetables, controlled to inhibit ripening. For example, popping corn
and chipping potatoes require special temperature and humidity storage. Many fruits
and vegetables require controlled atmosphere storage to keep adequate supplies of
fresh produce on hand for processing.
Warehouses can also be leased or held by a contracted third party warehouse-
cum-distributor. Warehousing considerations are usually overlooked, or at best
the structure is considered to be only a buffer between the end of the production
line and the distribution system. If this latter attitude is taken, it will soon be
realized by all that it is a very expensive buffer. Warehousing and its associated
distribution function are major factors in product development. Warehousing and
distribution staff are important in the development process because of the cost
factors they introduce:
• How many days of production are planned to be held in storage?

• Will production have a seasonal peak? Will it be necessary to store excess
production off site?
• Can production and distribution be phased to complement one another?
Is it necessary to ship orders from stock in the warehouse or can it be
shipped from production?
• What are storage requirements for raw material and packaging material?
Are there environmental considerations concerning packaging and con-
tainer materials?
Special warehousing or distribution channels (chilled or frozen foods) or special

environmentally controlled storage may be required for raw materials, ingredients,
and finished products. If these are not available in-house or locally, then additional
storage and delivery costs must be factored into financial planning.
Products with short shelf lives require a returns pick-up system for products
kept beyond their expiry date and a means of destroying or recycling out-of-date
product. Recyclable or reusable returned containers require a pick-up service and a
cleaning operation before reuse.
D. SIMPLIFYING THE WORK: USING COMPUTERS

The tacticians, research and development, engineering and manufacturing (especially
purchasing and warehousing) groups rely heavily on computers to accomplish their
tasks. Computerization of operations usually starts in the company’s accounts depart-
ment, for which there is an abundance of available software applications, then
progresses to warehousing and distribution for use in stock keeping and product
tracing, into the manufacturing plant (Mermelstein, 2000) and eventually finds its
way into technical departments and, at last, into new product development arenas
(Gaisford, 1989). The ready availability of software programs capable of performing
a myriad of tasks gives small companies the same computational ability and power
as larger companies. O’Donnell (1991) describes the use of computers in research

and development programs in the food industry in the following:
• Costing of ingredients in formulations (see also Mermelstein, 2000)

• Nutritional computations for formulations
• Experimental design to reduce the amount of experimentation
Developers, equipped with their computers and appropriate software, are now in
a position to formulate a product to have a given nutritional value, meet a nutritional
standard, and to reach these goals with the least number of experimental tests.
Computers (and the software to use with them) serve three basic functions in
new product development:
• Management (storage and retrieval) of information. Search engines cou-

pled with external databases provide access to technical literature as well
as market information to assist product design.
• A “number crunching” capability that allows the use of sophisticated
statistical analytical programs to reduce experimental trials, analyze sen-
sory and consumer data, and provide least cost formulation techniques
for optimization of ingredient usage.
• Graphics programs that permit manipulation of three-dimensional solids
such as graphs to complement statistical studies, to assist package and
packing designs, or to create and design food labels.
These functions or variants of them provide developers with tools to reduce the
work load, to manipulate data for more efficient information retrieval, to retrieve
and classify data to see trends more clearly, to develop expert systems, and to
communicate data and information more rapidly and efficiently.
1. Number Crunching
Statistical software packages are available that have been a boon to developers in
the manipulation of numerical data in diverse fields from consumer preference
studies to obtaining response surfaces from formulation trials. Software programs
permit rapid analysis of multiple variables to efficiently extract all the information
buried in the data.
The analysis of sensory data has been effectively accomplished with the aid of
appropriate software. McLellan and coworkers (1987) describe an early use of
computers in the collection and analysis of sensory data. They combined a computer
system with software for sensory analysis, an optical card reader, and cards specially
designed for collecting data from a multitude of sensory test procedures: triangle
difference tests, rank analysis, category scaling, hedonic scaling, paired prefer-
ence/difference tests, and magnitude estimation. In about 10 minutes they could
enter a day’s set of data from a sensory laboratory running 4 panels a day, each
panel consisting of 30 judges doing category scaling assessments. A review of this
now very dated paper accentuates the progress that has been made in the analysis
of sensory data in real time.
Thomson (1989) describes software for generalized Procrustes analysis (Pro-
crustes PC©) for sensory methods relying on consumers rather than on trained
panelists. A program called REST© (Repertory Elicitation with Statistical Treatment)
is also described, with an explanatory example, as a structured method of qualitative
market research based partly on the repertory grid method and generalized Procrustes
analysis. A more detailed description of the software used in these studies is given
by Scriven and coworkers (1989), who applied the technique to study the context
(time, manner, place, or circumstances) under which consumers drank a variety of
alcoholic beverages. Gains and Thomson (1990) also used generalized Procrustes
analysis with the repertory grid method to study under what contexts a group of
consumers used a range of canned lagers. Such data is invaluable in defining market
niches for products and opening up new market opportunities. GAP analysis is a
crude and unsophisticated variant of the above.
By far the greatest use of computers is associated with statistically based exper-
imental design software. These software programs allow developers to take calcu-
lated shortcuts in the number of trials dictated by classical statistical experimental
design. For example, using a factorial design, the number of experiments mushroom
rapidly as the number of variables and the levels at which each variable is to be
tested increases. Thus, the number of trials required in a factorial design where v is
the number of variables and L is the number of levels at which each variable is to
be tested, is Lv. Astronomical, and costly, numbers of trials are required to test four
ingredients of a product formulation at three concentrations.
Mullen and Ennis (1979a,b) describe the design for applying a linear equation
process to a computer program to produce a six-ingredient hypothetical product that
got 10% of its calories from protein, 35% from fat (high by today’s standard), and
55% from carbohydrate. Mullen and Ennis (1985) later refined their program to
handle 15 variables but reduced the amount of experimentation by using fractional
replication. The procedure is described in a detail that clarifies the assumptions used
in the shortcuts that underlie many of the statistical software programs available for
experimental design.
Optimization designs are particularly useful, as these permit the developer to
investigate the optimum levels of ingredients needed to maximize a particular quality
feature or to alter a process to get a maximum effect (or a minimal undesired effect).
Two techniques are used: response surface methodology designs and mixture
designs. Henika (1972) used the example of improving the wettability and flavor of
an instant breakfast cereal product to compare and explain classical testing vs. the
response surface methodology approach in getting answers more quickly and cost
effectively. Hsieh and coworkers (1980) developed a synthetic meat flavor using
response surface methodology. Mixture designs treat the unique problem of formu-
lations whose proportions of all ingredients must equal 100%.
The history of experimental design, as well as an explanation of the principles
of experimental design as an aid to product development, are described by Dziezak
(1990). She describes screening and optimization designs using response surface
methodology and techniques based on mixture designs and lists available software
to accomplish these techniques for product development. Statistical software has

proliferated, and sources can be readily found in journals, technical and business
magazines, and computer stores.
Further examples of response surface methodology in the optimization of pro-
cesses can be found in work of Bastos and coworkers (1991), who upgraded offal
processing by extrusion cooking to produce a finished product with good solubility
and emulsifying capacity. King and Zall (1992) used a model system to study low
temperature vacuum drying using a design with three variables and three levels.
Skinner and Debling (1969) describe the application of linear programming
techniques to management decisions in food manufacturing. They describe with
examples three problems in food manufacturing:
• The allocation problem faced when several products use the same com-
modities, which are available only in limited supply in their formulation.
Which product to make? Their example concerned fruit salad vs. fruit
cocktail.
• The blending problem that arises when ingredients of a particular product
can be blended either to meet a quality standard or to achieve a cost
standard (applicable to least cost formulations). Which proportions to
use? A sausage formulation problem was used which is akin to a refor-
mulation situation.
• A simultaneous blending and allocation problem exemplified by a pork
vs. beef sausage example.
The examples are worked through to demonstrate the principles, but as the
authors state, a statistical software package designed for linear programming could
have been used.
2. Graphics
Computer graphics capability has grown immensely as anyone interested in the

subject of virtual reality can attest. Architects now plan a building in their computers
with suitable software. They can figuratively stroll through the building noting the
views from different aspects within the simulated structure. This application has
been a boon to package designers both to create new packages and to minimize
waste in packaging.
Dziezak (1990) describes some of the three-dimensional and contour plots that
can be accomplished to view response surfaces to rapidly assess the most rewarding
avenues of investigation. Rotation of these surfaces reveals information about areas
of optimum and minimum values.
Bishop and coworkers (1981) make the case for three-dimensional graphics in
food science applications. They discuss programs they developed and used in their
applications. Floros and Chinnan (1988), using optimization techniques based on
response surface methodology, demonstrated the application of graphical optimiza-
tion to the alkali peeling of tomatoes. Product quality was improved by studying
response surface plots to select the optimum concentration of alkali and temperature.
Roberts (1990) demonstrated the use of computer generated three-dimensional

graphics in predictive microbial growth modeling. While predictions may not be
precise, he claimed that knowing the trend of growth would be highly important in
designing stabilization systems for new products.
An obvious application of computer graphic techniques is in the design of
packages and labels. Lingle (1991) describes the use by several food companies
of computer-based systems to control package and label design. The advantages
cited are:
• Ability to manipulate designs in any desired fashion for application to

line extensions or redesign packages
• Ability to store designs more easily on disk than as paper art
• Ease with which images can be communicated to others for decision
making
Graphics software allows a company to bring package design in-house, provided

the company has talented graphic artists on the payroll.
IV. TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY

There comes a time in any development process when the tactical unit of the
development team must ask itself, or will be asked by the strategists, what the
chances are for the technical and marketing success of the project.
A. THE LOOP: THE INTERCONNECTIVITY OF QUESTIONS WITH

INDEFINITE ANSWERS
Technical feasibility is measured by the project’s chance of successful development
and introduction, the time needed to reach successful development, and the costs
of that success. The more qualitative attributes demanded in a product, the more
research and development efforts are obviously needed to attain these desired
features. Greater effort in research and development, in turn, lengthens the time
between the start of the development process and the final technical success of
the project. Costs rise as a consequence. The foregoing is straightforward and
uncomplicated.
Marketing personnel need to have firm time commitments so that promotional
material, labels, and associated artwork for advertising are ready for the appropriate
launch date, but before any launch date can be decided, the distribution channels
need to be filled by distribution personnel. Prior to the distribution channels being
filled, manufacturing has to know whether it can produce the product. Even before
this, any special equipment has had to be designed or modified by engineering or
specifications had to be written for new equipment to be purchased. Financial
interests should not be overlooked here. Accountants need to have financial estimates
for the project in order to fund it.
It is much like the children’s nonsense song:
There’s a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza

There’s a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, there’s a hole.
With what shall I mend it? dear Liza, dear Liza,
With what shall I mend it? dear Liza, with what?
Liza gives many suggestions to her companion, each one requiring a subsequent
step until finally the last step requires a pail of water, whereupon the entire song
commences again.
Technical development of new products depends on the probability that the
company’s technologists or those contracted by the company can succeed in match-
ing claims implied in product concept statements with safe, stable products. Devel-
opment teams now enter into the realm of trying to estimate probabilities and produce
guesstimates. Products with little or no creativity, products that are imitations of
existing products, or products that are simple line extensions can usually be brought
on stream with a high probability of success in a comparatively short time. However,
no development project is simple and without hitches.
Each step in product development needs to be analyzed for its chance of success,
its cost contribution to the company, and its time to success. Any one step can present
an insurmountable hurdle if chances of success are impossibly slim, if the time to
success is too long, or if the project is too costly; one step can thus stop a project’s
chance of moving forward.
B. THE ART OF GUESSTIMATING

Determining the probability of certain events happening is familiar to every student
of statistics, to every gambler, and to planners of outdoor events; we live with
probability every day. For example, the probability of getting at least four heads when
tossing seven pennies or the odds of picking a red ace from a deck of cards are
common problems described in textbooks. Also familiar to students of statistics are
problems associated with calculating the probability of a particular event occurring
as the result of a sequence of events when the probability of each step of the sequence
is known (readers unfamiliar with probability statistics should review Bender et al.,
1982 and Parsons, 1978 for a concise readable account of probability statistics).
If going from A to B in some sequence of events has a 9 out of 10 chance of
success (0.9), there is a high probability that B will be reached. If there is a third
stage, C, and the probability of going from B to C is also 0.9, then the probability
of going from A to C is, as any student of statistics knows,
0.9 ¥ 0.9 = 0.8
Therefore, the likelihood that C will be reached from A is still high but somewhat
diminished. If more steps are added, even though each step has a high likelihood of
success, the chance for success becomes less and less from the original starting point
A. Instead of likelihood of success of an event or reaction, one could easily have
substituted processing yields (Malpas, 1977). Thus, if in this simple processing
sequence, a 90% yield was anticipated at each step, the yield of C would be 80%.
a b c d
A B C D P
Probability 0.5 0.8 0.3 0.9
Cost $W $X $Y $Z
Time T1 T2 T3 T4
FIGURE 5.2 Probability, costs, and time as factors for consideration during development
stages for a hypothetical food product.
The a priori probabilities associated with tossing coins or picking cards from a
deck of cards are either readily calculated or are determinable by a long series of
trials. They can be established.
Problems arise when developers attempt to assign probabilities to phases of the
development process. Objective probabilities determined from coin tosses and pick-
ing cards no longer apply. There is no history of observations from which one can
state, on the average, that such and such an event will happen with a specific
probability. The development team must work with situations in which the proba-
bility cannot be calculated. Rather, the developer is forced to assign probabilities
that “are arrived at by considering such objective evidence as is available and, in
addition, incorporating the subjective feelings of the individual” (Parsons, 1978).
Subjective probabilities assigned by developers to the various phases of devel-
opment must be realistically based on the best available information. They must not
be unrealistic probabilities based on an enthusiastic over-assessment of the techno-
logical skills of the development team. There can be no gut feel.
The development process for a hypothetical product has been broken down into
a simple sequence (Figure 5.2). To proceed from a starting raw material, A, to the
final desired product, P, requires three intermediate stages, B, C, and D, and four
intermediate steps, a, b, c, and d. The steps could be key processing steps to provide
a desired characteristic in a product; they could be the likelihood of getting a change
in legislation for a permitted additive; they could be steps to undertake the necessary
change in some product’s standard of identity; or they could be the possibility of
penetrating a particular market. They can be represented as logical steps on the way
to products or decisions or events for which probabilities have been assigned.
Each step can be given a cost figure for its accomplishment. The sum of the
costs, $(w + x + y + z), for each recognized phase in Figure 5.2 represents the
total developmental costs to go from A to the final phase P. It should be noted that
these costs refer only to the costs of the processes involved. The impact of devel-
opment on other areas in the company such as sales or production cannot readily
be factored in.
The time to accomplish this sequence is estimated to be (T1 + T2 + T3 + T4),
the sum of the subjectively assessed time requirements for each step. The probability,
the expected cost, and the time expected to go from A to P can then be assessed. It
must be remembered that they are all subjective estimates in the screening process.
What is the probability of success? The phases (Figure 5.2) range from a more
than moderately difficult one, D, with a probability of 0.3, to the very easy last
phase, D, estimated at 0.9. The overall success of the entire sequence, the probability
of reaching P, is a disappointing 0.1 arrived at in the following fashion:
0.5 ¥ 0.8 ¥ 0.3 ¥ 0.9 = 0.1
This poor probability of success in association with the cost and estimated time
to success may suggest that abandonment of the project is the wisest move. Much
depends on the company’s objectives and its strategy to get to these goals.
If the product, P, is highly desired, the technology team may be tempted to tackle
the difficult d process first. This may be the most economical approach to the problem
for ingredient developers; it avoids the input of time and money in solving the initial
phases if it should be determined that the project is not feasible within the timeframe
of the company at the C to D process (Holmes, 1968). Probability analysis does
serve a useful purpose.
Again, if these were percentage yields in the manufacture of some new food
ingredient and not probabilities of success for processes, one would anticipate only
a 10% yield for the entire process. Such a low yield may be acceptable if, for
example, the product is a highly desirable ingredient for which customers will accept
the high cost.
New and improved products are almost a dead certainty to be successfully
developed. For example, a breakfast cereal can be improved in several different
ways. The probability of better flavor is 0.5, better crispiness is 0.7, higher fiber
content is 0.8, and longer shelf life is 0.6.
To improve this breakfast cereal with respect to one of the above quality char-
acteristics — but without specifying which one — the chance of success is 1
(complete success) less the product of all the probabilities of failure or:
1 – (1 – 0.5)(1 – 0.7)(1 – 0.8)(1 – 0.6)

= 1 – (0.5)(0.3)(0.2)(0.4)
= 1 – (0.01) = 0.99
The product is almost certain to be a new and improved one.
V. SUMMARY
Only in very large companies can there be such a separation of duties as presented
here. As stated previously, in small companies, individuals wear several hats. The
quality control manager is usually also the research and development manager and
consequently has responsibility for design of the HACCP program, formulation of
the product, and preparation of test samples. This person also does the taste testing,
analyses of the product, costing of ingredients, writing of ingredient specifications,
and product specifications.
Trained mechanics (usually one mechanical and one electrical), often with draft-
ing skills, substitute for engineers. They prepare specifications and where necessary
submit their work to professional engineers for signing off on. The trained mechanics
and the plant manager, often one and the same person, combine most of the functions
of the engineer (except where a professional engineer’s input is required).
In the small company then the duties of product development as related here
are not distinct but merge. This gives greater flexibility to the development team but
may also limit the horizons of the team because they have fewer resources for
marketing, technical, and engineering skills.
Because of the scale of a small company, personalities, usually that of the
company president, may dominate, and without the openness and frankness to voice
opinions against the dominant personality, which is more usual in large companies,
development decisions may not be wisely made.
6 The Legal Department:
Protecting the Company,
Its Name, Goodwill,
and Image
I. INTRODUCTION
Two very different departments protect the safety of the company’s customers and
consumers, the company itself, and its real and intellectual properties. I have chosen
to call these the support groups, as they play supportive roles for the other depart-
ments and the development process. They also play a very active role. These groups
are the legal and the quality control departments (or whatever name the latter function
goes under). Areas that require protection are:
• The consuming public must be protected from any injury or intoxication

from preparing, using, and eating the company’s food products.
• The development team must receive assistance in setting standards and
controls to ensure the stability of the high-quality attributes of the new
product and its wholesomeness throughout its shelf life.
• The developers must be advised and monitored to ensure adherence to
customer protection legislation.
• Label nomenclature, advertising statements, and promotional claims must
adhere to government-established norms.
• The company’s rights in contracts, leases, and partnership transactions
must be protected.
• Trademarks must be registered and protected; copyrights or patents must
be protected from illegal use.
• The company and its products must be protected from fraudulent damage
claims.
It very much depends on the size of the company as to how these responsibilities
are divided between quality control and the legal departments. Some are more
obviously one than the other, but there is a murky middle ground. In many smaller
companies it is the quality control manager who advises on label statements and
claims (particularly nutrient claims), and many smaller companies do not have
173
legal departments in-house but resort to legal firms specializing in food legislation.
Advertising is often handled by outside agencies who also have knowledge in the
field of food advertising.
The topics, legal matters and quality control, are different enough, however, to
be treated in separate chapters.
II. THE LAW AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Legislation, government regulation, and food have had a long history of asso-
ciation. The ancient Code of Hammurabi (Hammurabi: 2123–2081 B.C.) contained
legislation regulating food standards and trade; parts of the code are believed to
predate Hammurabi himself. The Emperor Shun in China is reported to have con-
trolled the production and distribution of grain around 2000 B.C. (Spitz, 1979). Food
and government regulation have been intimately entwined:
The role of the state in building up and controlling grain reserves is nowhere better
illustrated than in ancient Morocco, where the same word — mahkzen — was used
for both granary and government (Spitz, 1979).
There are sound political reasons for government intervention in food matters. For
example, governments could use their public treasuries to buy up surplus grain when
grain was abundant and cheap and thereby maintain a stable fair price. Farmers did
not suffer, and customers did not grumble. When grain was scarce and expensive,
the government intervened to prevent starving by doling out grain from its stores,
and the people did not suffer. Farmers were happy, and the urban population was
kept fed and happy also. Most importantly for politicians, nobody became restive
and rebellious.
Government, through its laws and regulations, influences the food microcosm
in many ways (see, e.g., Table 1.4); many of these ways have a direct bearing on
new foods, new food product development, and the expansion of markets into new
geographic areas. In Table 6.1, attention is drawn more closely to legislation that
can be expected to affect foodstuff, its production at the primary source, its subse-
quent manufacture into food, and the product development process itself.
To understand this intervention into and regulation of product and ingredient
development more fully, a quick overview of how food legislation is developed and
influenced is useful as a tool for developers to anticipate possible regulatory devel-
opments that can have an impact on the progress of development (cf., repercussions
from the ban on saccharin). A simple overview of a generalized food legislative
system is shown in Figure 6.1.
Groups that influence the policy-making process and hence indirectly influence
the development process are in the upper half of the figure. They exert their influence,
which can be formidable, by lobbying elected representatives, by presenting briefs
at hearings called by policy makers, with overwhelming attendance of opponents at
such hearings, with organized write-in campaigns to elected representatives, or by
overt disruptive demonstrations. The ultimate result is that any decision of the
The Legal Department 175
TABLE 6.1
An Overview of the Extensive Reach of Legislation and Regulations Pertaining
to Foodstuff
Area of Impact Elements of Foodstuff Regulated and Impact on Food Development
Agriculture and fisheries Siting of farms and fish corrals: restricted land use for industrial, agricultural,
or residential use.
Restricting the use of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, as well as
regulating the use of antibiotics, pharmaceuticals, and feed nutrient
supplements: inspection costs.
Establishing quotas for raw materials: controlling availability and cost of
materials.
Requiring odor abatement at farms in or near municipal areas; demanding
environmental controls at primary production and manufacturing sites.
Restricting or preventing waste water or run-off into lakes, rivers, and
streams; restricting agricultural practices for factory farms and waste
treatment from these: indirect impact on raw material costs.
Processing Establishing zoning requirements restricting site location for plants.
Requiring waste water recycling at plant sites and noise and odor abatement
programs at food plants in municipal areas: costs for environmental control
affect plant overheads.
Specifying design of, and requiring the use of certain construction materials
for, plants: certain product types require specially designed and constructed
facilities.
Requiring adherence to processing codes of good manufacturing practice.
Imposing import and export permit control that affect both sales and
availability of goods: government imposed restrictions on imports limit
material availability and marketing plans for sales abroad.
Imposing traffic regulations on plants situated in or near residential areas.
Local regulations may limit manufacturing hours for plants.
Challenging the safety of many new foods and innovative processing
techniques: onus on manufacturer to establish safety.
Product Establishing commodity grades for raw produce. Grades influence pricing
schedule of produce grade.
Establishing standards of identity for produce and some products. May
restrict use of certain ingredients and additives. Formulation changes for
cost reductions are restricted.
Establishing lists of approved additives or lists of restricted additives.
Package Regulating package sizes. This imposes inflexibility of container sizes and
could have a possible impact on marketing plans.
Restricting composition of packaging materials. Some packaging materials
are prohibited because of environmental concerns.
Imposing weights and measures controls.
Establishing proper nomenclature for products; requiring product.
Information for safe use and nutrition information. Product nomenclature
may have an impact on marketing plans.
TABLE 6.1 (Continued)

An Overview of the Extensive Reach of Legislation and Regulations Pertaining
to Foodstuff
Area of Impact Elements of Foodstuff Regulated and Impact on Food Development
Package (continued) Requiring label declaration for ingredients. These lists could bring possible
consumer backlash concerning ingredients, additives, serving sizes, and
nutrient content (or lack thereof).
Marketing Establishing guidelines for advertising claims respecting nutritional and
health benefits.
Establishing guidelines to prevent misleading promotional tactics respecting
product and claims for it. Severe consumer backlash (bad publicity) and
penalties for misleading claims.
Restricting advertising targeted for children. This restriction applies in many
countries.
Restricting the display of some forms of advertising, particularly the siting
of advertising.
International trade Establishing trade alliances and treaties with foreign nations.
Applying tariffs and nontariff trade barriers.
Proclaiming antidumping regulations that are attempts aimed at supply
management.
Adapted from Fuller, G.W., Food, Consumers, and the Food Industry: Catastrophe or Opportunity?, CRC
Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2001. With permission.
legislative body bears the imprint of these groups. The departments that are influ-
enced occupy the bottom half of the figure.
A. NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (NGOS)

Marketing boards (which shall be considered NGOs but are really quasi-governmen-
tal agencies) regulate the supply and price of food commodities; they limit the
numbers of suppliers and the amount suppliers can produce (i.e., supply manage-
ment). They set the commodity prices to further processors. Through supply licens-
ing arrangements, they control who is allowed to further process the commodities.
They control, for example, the supply of industrial milk to boutique cheese makers
in Quebec; unfortunately, the latter cannot afford the licenses and therefore there is
deep resentment of this board. Boards influence governments to impose quotas on
imports of foreign commodities or on products containing the commodities that the
boards control. Product development with such controlled raw materials results in
more costly added-value products.
Consumer associations and trade associations representing food processors
invariably oppose the higher prices that are forced upon them by the activities of
marketing boards or by supply management policies. These associations have their
own agendas respecting food legislation. Consumer associations have influenced
regulations requiring the uniformity of the size of containers, the provision of
Nongovernmental Geopolitical Expert

Organizations Groups Panels
Advocacy Industrial
Groups Interests
Central Government
Legislative Body
Agriculture Health, Safety, Consumer Food

and Fisheries and Nutrition Protection Standards
Environmental International
Policies Trade
FIGURE 6.1 Generalized overview of a food legislative system with the bodies influencing
it. (Adapted from Fuller, G.W., Food, Consumers, and the Food Industry: Catastrophe or
Opportunity?, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2001. With permission.)
nutritional labeling, and truth in labeling legislation. Trade associations are often
solicited for their opinion on many proposed food legislative issues.
B. ADVOCACY GROUPS
Advocacy groups are often more militant than NGOs and manage to polarize groups
of people: animal rights activists are pitted against farmers using factory farming
techniques; those for food irradiation are opposed to those against food irradiation.
There are groups that demand food laws that restrict the movement and importation
of food products manufactured by socially, ethically, and environmentally irrespon-
sible companies or countries, or laws that restrict the importation or sale of products
that do not meet certain religious laws. The strongest weapon of these groups is
their ability to organize and mobilize vociferous segments of the population to
sometimes violent demonstrative action that gets reported widely or to organize their
supporters to undertake simple letter writing campaigns to their representatives.
C. GEOPOLITICAL GROUPS
These groups are vested interest parties, perhaps united because they have in common
closely defined economies based on their geography or natural resources in their
regions. For example, maritime regions have a fisheries industry as a key economy,
the Prairie Provinces in Canada or the midwestern states in the U.S. have cereal crops
and livestock production as major industries. These groups have specific regional
interests that they defend fiercely. Such partisan activities influence food legislation.
D. EXPERT PANELS
Expert food panels are made up of prominent food scientists, nutritionists, biochem-
ists, and agronomists, indeed all those associated with food, its production, its
manufacture, its retailing, and its consumption. They provide “informed opinion”
on matters of health, safety, nutrition, and agriculture. In this manner, governments
expect to receive a rational basis for any legislation that is dependent on scientific
issues. There is an inherent weakness in this: science cannot prove the absence of
harm, and therefore absolute safety cannot be guaranteed. Food scientists are guided
by risk analysis (an intensive investigation of the risks as they see and interpret
them) and the so-called precautionary principle (a euphemistic term for Murphy’s
Law, i.e., if it can go wrong it will, and is also the underlying principle of the hazard
analysis critical control point program).
Where there are conflicting scientific opinions or disagreement over the inter-
pretation of scientific data, governments have two options:
• They delay enactment of legislation until a clear opinion can be gotten.

This is an option that satisfies no one and certainly intensifies feelings
between the parties concerned. The consuming public is simply left con-
fused by the scientific authorities unleashed by both sides.
• They pass legislation based on the best available information even if it
proves later to be wrong. This option, too, satisfies no one. Those whose
expert opinion it went against are not happy, and laws, once passed, are
difficult to overturn (cf., the Delaney Clause).
Interpreting what is the best available information evokes fierce debate in lobby-
ists and other vested interest groups.
No lesson seems to be so deeply inculcated by experience of life as that you never

should trust experts.
Lord Salisbury
These, then, are the major influences on the legislation and regulation of the
food product development process. The anti-this and anti-thats, the pro-this and pro-
thats, the vested interest groups, all attempt to see their causes espoused and all are
voters. Governments hear and enact on the basis of their own self-interest; they wish
to stay in power. These groups should be recognized for their influence on food and
their potential impact on novel foods and food processes in development. Develop-
ment takes time, and developers should recognize turmoil within the legislative arena
that might raise the ire of some group.
III. FOOD REGULATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT

PROCESS
A. LEGISLATION, REGULATIONS, AND SAFETY: A DILEMMA
At best, legislation and its regulations supply little assurance of a safe and wholesome
food supply. A government publishes regulations that:
• Establish limits on the presence of toxic or proscribed chemicals or agri-

cultural residues in a food. This requires inspection and analytical facilities
with the ability to test for known hazards; new, novel, or unknown hazards
are impossible to predetermine. The latter is a major concern in the
development of new products developed using novel technology. Both
inspection and analysis are an economic burden for governments.
• Set limits on the presence of microbiological hazards in foods. Again
marketplace inspection and subsequent analysis are required, and bureau-
cratic expansion and costs grow.
• Set limits for the presence of extraneous matter in foods. The result is
more growth in bureaucracy for inspection and analysis.
• Define the composition of traditional, standardized foods.
These are end-product standards and have little to do with safety, quality, or
wholesomeness. A consumer eats the contaminated food, becomes ill or hurt, and
then the legal system swings into action, but that consumer was not protected. These
are production standards so to speak; foods that contravene these standards should
not have been produced in the first place. If defects are discovered by food inspectors
in the marketplace, the manufacturer will be fined or its management jailed for
negligence. These faults represent gross incompetence or negligence or mismanage-
ment on the part of the manufacturer. Yet these errors do occur.
To overcome the shortcomings of these standards respecting safety, food law
extends to the regulation of the manufacturing process by creating codes of practice
for the safe handling, manufacture, storage, and sale of food. These laws establish
that foods must be processed in such a manner that they are not contaminated during
processing or ensuing distribution, storage, and retailing. Legislation extends to the
premises where food is prepared or stored. Building codes, processing regulations,
and codes of practice are attempts at ensuring that the environment in which food
is prepared keeps food safe from contamination during production and that the
preparation or processing was designed to assure a safe and wholesome product.
These codes assure that the purveyors of foods (or their distributors) in the many
different marketplaces receive a safe product. Customers and consumers should
receive safe food products if the rules are followed.
Governments also protect the customer and the consumer from fraud through
legislation:
• They provide standards of compositional identity for commonly defined

foods.
• They establish grade standards for commodities and many other processed
foods.
• They regulate weights, measures, and package sizes to eliminate deception
and regulate profusion of container sizes that will make difficult the
calculation of unit costs and eliminate false impressions of contents
through overpackaging.
• They provide product information with proper and standard nomenclature
of foods, itemized lists of ingredients in descending order of magnitude,
and nutritional data.
• They publish advertising and promotional guidelines to prevent misrep-
resentation of products and their properties to customers.
By enforcement of these practices through inspection and analysis, food is

considered to be safe. Or is it? Countries with strict food legislation or with a long
history of such legislation or that employ strict food regulatory and enforcement
agencies do not necessarily have food supplies that are free from problems of public
health significance. Food legislation, no matter how much of it there is or how
strongly it is written or how vigorously it is enforced, cannot guarantee either the
maintenance of quality or the safety of all food manufactured and consumed within
any country’s borders.
For example, in the U.K. in 1997 more Britons suffered food poisoning than
had been recorded since records were first kept (Coghlan, 1998). Britain has a long
history of and an excellent library of food legislation. The U.S. Agriculture Depart-
ment in April 1999 ordered a recall of meat products including hot dogs, luncheon
meats, and sausages made by an Arkansas company; the products were declared
unfit for human consumption. The U.S. probably has the largest government orga-
nization in the world dedicated to food safety and inspection as well as one of the
most comprehensive bodies of food regulations and legislation.
Food legislation can only be developed to answer to known hazards. Knowledge
of food hazards is based solely on processes whose history of maintaining food
safety is known. Nevertheless, the process of making salami, a food with a long
history, is being questioned concerning its safety against new variants of an old
microbiological hazard. Existing regulations cannot safeguard the public:
• Against new hazards that may be associated with novel or innovative

foods or from microorganisms that have mutated into more deadly forms
• Against food processes with an unknown history of safety or that lack an
established theoretical basis for safety
• Against microorganisms that have developed more virulent and more
resistant characteristics
The lack of history of long-term safety of genetically modified foods is one

argument that its opponents have used.
Legislation alone cannot ensure safety, nor can adherence to codes of manufac-
turing practice make food safe; the need for developers to design safety into their
products is paramount.
B. THE ROLE OF LAWYERS

The overt and covert legal implications in new product development, and there are
many, cannot be overlooked by the product development team. Good advice from
a lawyer or a specialized resource familiar with food legislative matters early in the
process concerning the implications that food legislation or pending legislation might
have on the development process will prevent costly surprises later. This resource
can advise the team against wasting time and money pursuing developmental goals
that are not legal, for example, development of a product that is similar to a stan-
dardized product but contravenes the standard. The implications for marketing are
enormous; if the standard for permitted ingredients is not followed, the product may
have to be labeled “imitation product” or have some quirky computer-generated
name found for it. The imitation label may frighten customers off, while the latter
option requires education of customers about the meaning of the new name.
The legal department serves in two essential areas in product development:
• Interpreting the law and its regulations: They review labels and advertising
copy for misleading statements (Anscombe, 2003) and examine ingredient
statements. They investigate the appropriateness of product nomenclature.
They take care of patents and copyright matters and advise on the infringe-
ment of these (Garetto, 2003; Newiss, 1998).
• Overseeing contractual arrangements: Any contracts with copackers, con-
tracts for consulting services, negotiating partnership arrangements, or
licensing arrangements for new products; or sales of technology are best
left to lawyers. They also prepare employment contracts for executives
brought in to manage new divisions, etc.
Another important service provided by lawyers that is not directly related to the
new product development process is the defense of the company against litigation.
C. LEGISLATING QUALITY AND SAFETY

The quality of food cannot be regulated, at least not directly. Regulations providing
grade standards for foods such as meats, fruits, and vegetables and standards of
identity for composite foods identified by a common name are merely statements
that the product meets the stated standards for that product or may be called by the
common name for the standard of identity. This is not quality; it is avoidance of
fraud. Since most new composite products (multicomponent foods) do not have a
grading system or a standard of identity, most foods are not included. Neither
developers nor consumers are protected if novel, innovative food products that adhere
to existing regulations are introduced (European Union, 1997; Huggett and Conzel-
mann, 1997). Most countries do not have regulations for new foods; it is up to
developers through their lawyers to determine what constitutes a new food.
Quality is associated, in both the customer’s and consumer’s minds, with some
characteristic, for example, quality with respect to color, flavor, chunkiness, cream-
iness, or nutritive content, and quite often with respect to a brand. It is the manu-
facturer’s brand that identifies quality in the eyes of customers and consumers.
Labeling regulations permit only statements that the product within the con-
tainer adheres to certain minimum characteristics specified for that product. In
essence they are standards of commerce. Few manufacturers would exceed these
minimal standards because their costs would increase over the costs of their
competitors.
Ingredient and additive usage is often regulated; therefore, such regulations have
an impact on formulations. Since food regulations vary from country to country a
product developed for export markets may have as many formulations as there are
foreign destinations. Meal replacements as a new product category, for example,
must meet nutritional standards of the meal they are replacing in the country they
are destined for. Product formulations must be screened against all legal restrictions
in their destinations. Legal departments can provide such information.
There are legal implications involving patent or copyright infringement as new
equipment is designed or old equipment and processes are adapted during develop-
ment. Conversely, the team must also recognize when equipment or processes they
develop are patentable and file for these patents through their lawyers. Thermal
processes must be verified for safety before being filed with the proper governmental
agencies.
There are a host of packaging regulations. These range from the use of only
environmentally friendly materials to recyclable packaging to the composition of
laminated films and the regulations restricting transfer of the packaging material to
the food it protects. Governments, very sensitive to environmentalists, have legislated
against the use of certain types of packaging. Some governments have decreed that
all packaging be recyclable or require a pick-up program for empty containers.
Marketing departments work closely with their legal departments on label state-
ments, packaging design, and trademarks; on the guidelines for promotions and
advertising; and on the legality of the claims they wish to make. There are unwritten
laws too. Not only can advertising not be misleading, but it must also not be sexist
or racist — this invites protests and cancellation of expensive campaigns. Legal
advice is necessary to walk the thin line and avoid bad publicity during product
introductions. There are laws regulating package sizes.
Names of new food products cannot be misleading. Goldenfield (1977) pre-
sents an excellent example of how the impact of food regulations plus company-
based restraints can influence product development. Goldenfield uses as an exam-
ple a refrigerated whipped fruit-flavored puree that the marketing department
insisted contain only fruit pulp and fruit juice so that advantage could be taken
of declaring all natural ingredients. Naturalness was key to the concept. It was to
be marketed under the product name FRUIT FLUFF. Problems began when the
technical team attempted to keep within cost parameters established by the stra-
tegic development team. The FRUIT FLUFF Orange Dessert Whip underwent a
metamorphosis from FRUIT FLUFF (Natural) Orange Flavored Dessert Whip to
FRUIT FLUFF (Natural) Orange Flavored Dessert Whip With Other Natural
Flavor to finally end up as FRUIT FLUFF Artificially Flavored Orange Dessert
Whip as technical and budgetary considerations played havoc with the original
market concept.
IV. ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS

Environmental legislation affects not only food packaging (e.g., Akre, 1991) but also
the operation of food plants. Food plants are heavy polluters, largely because of the
waste and water produced in cleaning and preparation of fresh produce, the consid-
erable amounts of water and detergents required in plant sanitation, and the odor
and noise produced. They must operate night and day to process seasonal crops,
which can be an annoyance to local residents. Plant and animal waste must be sent
off-site, the animal waste to rendering plants and plant waste to landfill sites. This
is expensive. New products should not contribute unnecessarily to the already heavy
burden plants must pay to remove or treat waste in an environmentally friendly
manner or lead to the company being condemned as a bad corporate citizen.
Legal departments advise companies on available alternatives for environmental
compliance programs. These alternatives are expensive and often shift the onus of
environmental compliance elsewhere, for example:
• Sending the waste away, which involves transportation, handling, and tip
charges. This does not solve the disposal problem, as suitable dump sites
must be found.
• Recycling the waste to recover any valuable by-products or converting
the waste to a marketable product (e.g., mulch or fertilizer). This too
involves an expensive, parallel development process and leads the com-
pany away from its core business.
• Where possible and permitted, using the waste as fuel for heating and
power generation.
• Where possible, preprocessing of produce at the farm level to minimize
processing waste at the plant. This simply moves the disposal problem to
someone else’s backyard.
Boudouropoulos and Arvanitoyannis (1998) discuss at length the impact on food

industries of environmental standards published by the International Standards
Organization (ISO 14000), which have been adopted by many chemical and auto-
mobile industries.
V. SUMMARY
New products present an interesting legal dilemma for developers. New processes
for which there has been no historical establishment of safety will always be chal-
lenged in the law courts by groups who have real or imagined grief with products
made with the new process. New ingredients (e.g., for nutrified foods) will be
challenged. Environmentalists will challenge, indeed are challenging, biotechnolog-
ical applications used in traditional food production systems. Companies urgently
require a legal presence within their development teams to be aware of the legislative
climate as they plan to introduce innovative, never-before-seen products derived
from unconventional sources.
Edible, adj., good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a
snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm.
Ambrose Bierce
Edibility is apparently something for the law to interpret. Somewhere in Bierce’s

chain someone is sure to object.
7 Quality Control:
Protecting the
Consumer, the Product,
and the Company
Look beneath the surface; let not the several quality of a thing or its worth escape thee.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
I. INTRODUCTION
There has been much discussion about, and hence confusion over, the nomenclature
regarding this function within food manufacturing. It was referred to first as quality
control; this was then followed by quality assurance; then it became quality man-
agement; then total quality management, or TQM. Somewhere in between these
terms there was product integrity, a term that I preferred. However, by quality
control, I refer to that function in a company responsible for assuring that all
processing, product, environmental, and worker safety standards are adhered to and
that all reasonable and practicable precautions to protect the product from hazards
of public health significance have been taken. I include sanitation, worker training,
worker hygiene, pest control programs, observance of good manufacturing prac-
tices, and establishment and observance of hazard analysis critical control point
(HACCP) programs.
II. THE EVER-PRESENT WATCHDOG

The quality control department acts much like an internal policing unit satisfying
itself that all the safety precautions designed into the product to protect its whole-
someness, integrity, and quality are adhered to within the specified written limits.
They must, as the above quote says, look beneath the surface. Their role should not
be adversarial either in their day-to-day functions or in their contribution to product
development. They must, on the basis of experience, present the development team
with all their concerns regarding the sensitivity of the process and the product to
hazards and provide guidance in putting in place practical and practicable solutions.
185
Engineers and research technologists prepare flow diagrams of the process and
describe operational standards at critical points; they recognize limitations of plant
equipment and identify modifications that will be required in the plant. With the
cooperation of the production staff, developers must establish specifications for raw
materials and ingredients. It is now up to the quality control department to:
• Select reliable and rapid analytical procedures, preferably usable in-line

and in real time, to monitor the desirable quality attributes designed into
the product and to determine whether safety practices for the product have
been followed.
• Verify the safety of the sterilization processes and determine the shelf life
of the product under anticipated storage conditions.
• Develop a practicable HACCP program based on data supplied by the
engineering and research departments that provides the desired level of
product integrity.
• With the production department, train staff in new analytical procedures
and, if needed, teach new skills to line personnel if the new products
require processing technologies and ingredient handling for which there
is no prior history in the plant.
• Conduct sensory evaluation tests and microbiological analyses throughout
development to monitor organoleptic values and effectiveness of stabili-
zation processes. These tests may be used for off-line control procedures.
A. SENSORY ANALYSIS IN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

One of the major requirements of food products is that they taste nice (i.e., flavorful),
typical of the product, or as advertised. All the sensory characteristics associated
with a particular food must be met. To ascertain these characteristics in a new
product, its sensory appeal must be measured. Herein begin problems in measuring
something as subjective as sensory appeal.
1. Sensory Techniques
Peryam (1990) described the historical development of the understanding and appli-
cation of sensory evaluation to product development. Sensory appeal is difficult to
measure. An excellent review discussing sensory analysis is presented by Piggott et
al. (1998). Sensory testing must be carried out rigorously with proper experimental
design and correctly selected and trained sensory panelists to minimize the errors
that can creep into any scientific trial; this is why technologists knowledgeable in
the techniques should carry these out. Data from organoleptic tests require special
statistical skills for their analysis and interpretation; this is why sensory measure-
ments should not be left to those who have had no training in the field of sensory
analysis. Some populations of tasters, such as children, present unique problems in
assessing sensory appeal; this is why special skills are required in sensory analysis.
It should be apparent that sensory evaluation measurements and their analyses should
be carried out by technologists trained to conduct them properly. At the very least,
Quality Control: Protecting the Consumer, the Product, and the Company 187
a company needs a member of the research and development staff familiar enough
with the technology to be aware of his or her own limitations in conducting the tests
and the limitations of the tests themselves.
There are four superb references, any one or all of which sensory technologists
or any person contemplating undertaking sensory evaluation measurements should
have as a vade mecum for easy reference:
• Laboratory Methods For Sensory Analysis of Food (Poste et al., 1991) is

a compact handbook written in an easy to assimilate style.
• Sensory Evaluation Guide For Testing Food and Beverage Products
(Sensory Evaluation Division, IFT, 1981) is a concisely written guide
describing the tests that can be used and providing references that provide
further details.
• Tasting Tests Carried Out at the Leatherhead Food Research Association
(Williamson, 1981) is a very readable document giving many of the
descriptive terms used in sensory analysis and providing concerns for the
safety aspects of tasting panels (expert panels) and the need to have a
clearly defined statement of policy on the use of tasting panels.
• The Bureau de Normalisation du Quebec (Ministere de l’Industrie, du
Commerce et du Tourisme, Gouvernement du Quebec) (Quebec Bureau
of Standards, Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Tourism, Government of
Quebec) has published an excellent series of documents covering:
Vocabulary (BNQ 8000-500; 84-03-06)
General methodology (BNQ 8000-510; 84-03-06)
Sample preparation (BNQ 8000-512; 84-03-05)
Scaling techniques (BNQ 8000-515; 1982-10-08)
Triangular tests (BNQ 8000-517; 84-03-06)
Paired comparisons (BNQ 8000-519; 84-03-06)
Designing a sensory analysis location (BNQ 8000-525; 1982-08-27)
Determination of taste acuity (BNQ 8000-560; 1982-10-08)
Methods for determining flavor profile (BNQ 8000-570;84-03-05)
There are two types of sensory evaluation:
• Objective sensory evaluations: These are all generally difference methods,

that is, can the tester pick out the odd sample or the difference between
samples?
• Subjective sensory evaluations: These are descriptive tests usually used
with trained panelists. Piggott et al. (1998) identified the flavor profile
method, the texture profile method, quantitative descriptive analysis, and
the spectrum method.
Each serves quite different purposes; they cannot be interchanged. Far too often, the
purposes for which the sensory tests are meant are either misunderstood or are
ignored. Companies will use the results of an objective test as indicating a sensory
preference for one product over another. This is wrong and can lead to incorrect
decisions in product development that can be disastrous.
2. Objective Sensory Testing
Objective sensory evaluation tests are used for just that, to get an objective evaluation
of some sensory appeal. Other names used for objective tests are more descriptive
of their purpose: analytical sensory tests, expert panel tests, and difference tests.
The questions asked of panelists are:
• Does a difference exist between the samples?

• How would you rank the samples on the strength of some sensory
characteristic?
• How would you describe and rank the sensory characteristics you can
identify in a sample (profiling)?
Objective tests are used to determine if there is a difference in some sensory

quality between products or between a reference sample and a test sample. For
example, Jeremiah and coworkers (1992), using a procedure called consensus pro-
filing, followed the changes in chilled pork loin packaged under carbon dioxide and
with vacuum and stored at -1.5∞C for up to 24 weeks. From a pool of 12 highly
trained flavor/texture panelists, at least 6 at any one testing profiled each sample
individually. In subsequent discussions a consensus profile was developed. Details
of their procedure of analysis are in the reference.
Objective testing requires trained panelists. Poste et al. (1991) provide advice on
the selection and training of panelists. Panelists should be trained to recognize different
sensations, to be discriminative, and to quantify these sensations against recognized
standards. Like wine tasters, panelists must develop a common vocabulary with which
to describe sensations. Rutledge (1992) describes what she refers to as an accelerated
program for the training of descriptive flavor analysts. Her program requires up to 9
weeks of training during which novice flavor analysts are coached, guided, and tutored
by established analysts, much like an apprenticeship program. In an earlier paper,
Rutledge and Hudson (1990) describe a general method for the training of descriptive
flavor analysis panels. Powers (1988) describes the use of statistical procedures such
as multivariate analysis for the screening and training of sensory panelists.
Many food companies select their panelists from staff; this practice can have
dangers. Sensory analysis is obviously not the only job of those selected. Indeed,
sensory analysis may intrude upon the panelists’ day-to-day company responsibili-
ties. Sensory specialists must be careful with selecting panelists, keeping them in
top tasting form, and not intruding on their workloads, so that they are not irritated
and do not feel threatened by their supervisors if normal workloads are tardy.
Panelists, on their part, must like what they are doing, be in good health, have no
genetic or psychological sensory biases, and not be harried into taking part in panels.
Williamson (1981) reviews at length the cautions to be observed in selecting panelists.
Sensory technologists should keep a large pool of panelists. This will compensate
for the usual absenteeism and unavailability that occurs. Another reason for having a
large pool is that not all panelists are suitable for testing all sensory characteristics; there
are genetic factors influencing taste acuity. It profits sensory specialists to keep profiles
of each panelist, listing availability, threshold levels of discrimination, and sensory record
in the various testing sessions the panelist has attended (see Powers, 1988).
3. Subjective or Preference Testing
In preference testing, also called subjective or affective testing, panelists are pre-
sented with a choice of samples and must state which sample is preferred. The word
preferred is understood to mean most acceptable, tastes best, looks best, would buy,
or any other expression indicating greater satisfaction.
There are three main variants in the way preference testing can be carried out:
• The focus group

• The central location test
• The in-home test
Focus groups were discussed in Chapter 4. A small number of panelists repre-

sentative of the targeted consumer are asked to test the product and fill in a ques-
tionnaire. This process is repeated several times and always with selected consumers.
For a central location test, the new product development team may take the
product under test to some central location. Here the team will be assured of a broad
cross section of potential testers. Many companies select church groups, veterans’
associations, shopping malls (if the surrounding district is appropriate to the target),
ethnic clubs (with consideration of who the target consumer is), or social organiza-
tions for their testing. These groups can be selected from locations all over the
country. A carefully prepared questionnaire is used by the new product team to
evaluate consumer preferences.
Focus type tests and central location tests provide developers with control over
the product. That is, samples are prepared uniformly and in a controlled fashion.
Qualified personnel carry out the interviews or are at least available for interpretation
of questions on self-administered questionnaires.
In the third variant, the in-home test, preselected consumers (there is some
control of the consumer) are sent coded samples of product that are to be prepared
at home. Developers have no control of the preparation of the samples. Nor is there
control of the environment in which the test is carried out. How well were the
instructions followed, with all the distractions that are possible in the home? Were
the time, place, and other circumstances in the home conducive to a good test? These
are unanswerable questions for the survey takers. Consumers then fill out and return
the accompanying questionnaire or they are interviewed by telephone.
Preference testing techniques are compared in Table 7.1.
4. The Panelists
Choosing who should be panelists is influenced by what kinds of data are wanted
and what the data are to be used for. Trained panelists (including company personnel)
TABLE 7.1
Three Main Variants of Preference Testing
Test Variant Characteristics
Focus groups They require 8 to 12 carefully selected, usually untrained, participants. Tests
are repeated two or three times.
They can be easily repeated, but overrepetition of qualitative data can be
unrewarding.
They require a professional leader to conduct tests.
Control over display and preparation of product is good.
Results are obtained quickly.
Only qualitative data is obtained, and it is not projectable.
Central location tests These tests involve larger numbers of people (i.e., social clubs, church groups,
etc.).
There is poor selectivity of respondents, but the test can be easily repeated and
comparatively large numbers of respondents can be reached.
They are somewhat more expensive to conduct; they require a well-prepared
questionnaire, but testers can explain the questionnaire.
Control over product preparation is excellent.
The results are quickly obtained. Quantitative and qualitative data are obtained,
but data are projectable with caution.
In-home tests These can involve several hundred respondents and there can be good
selectivity of respondents.
They are usually a one-time test (a mini-test market) and they are more
expensive to conduct than either of the other two tests.
They require intensive follow-up with a well-prepared questionnaire; there is
poor control over how product is prepared and over the circumstances under
which the product is used.
Results are slowly obtained (hence intensive follow-up needed); both
quantitative and qualitative data are obtained that are projectable with caution.
should not be used for preference (subjective) testing; they are simply not at all
representative of consumers the company wishes to target.
An example of how an expert panel missed the mark on consumer tastes has
already been described in Chapter 5, where the trained, expert panel of a tortilla
chip manufacturer had determined that an incipient taste of oxidative rancidity was
offensive in an established tortilla chip product. The expert panel was proven wrong:
consumers preferred that flavor.
Unfortunately many companies often use their expert panels, panelists gathered
from among their staff, to get data on the acceptability of a product. This is wrong.
Company employees, whether from the plant floor or from the offices, have too
intimate a knowledge of their products and what they expect their products to taste
like and may be expected to be prejudiced. The preferences of knowledgeable but
untrained panelists have no marketing validity with respect to the population. It has
been my experience that while these people are not trained members of an expert
panel, they do have an expert knowledge of what taste image their company’s
products have or should have; this may bias their opinions. That is, they are tasting
a brand, an image, that they know and are familiar with. They are not typical
consumers. They have a bias related to a pride in their work. They are, in all respects,
experts on that brand image. Comments such as “This isn’t our company’s flavor”
or “I wouldn’t want our company to put out a product like this” will prevail and
confound whatever results are obtained.
These testers know nothing of the company’s objectives in this test. The company
may be working on developing another distinctive taste image in a very different
marketing niche. Where, however, companies have a strong brand image, these same
panelists may have a better idea of what the brand can carry than does management.
The point must be made strongly that company workers, particularly the workers in
the plant handling the product, can bring a very definite brand (image) bias to
preference sensory testing.
MacFie (1990) and Gutteridge (1990) discuss sensory techniques affecting con-
sumers. Macfie describes characteristics affecting consumers’ choices and explains
“free choice profiling” and preference mapping. Gutteridge discusses the technique
of repertory elicitation with statistical treatment (REST®; Mathematical Market
Research, Ltd. Oxford, U.K.; see also Thomson, 1989) for finding the most appro-
priate market niche for products.
5. Other Considerations in Sensory Analysis
Before sensory testing begins, there must be a clear notion of what is required from
the test. Does the development team want to determine whether they have produced
the best formulation of a product with respect to some criterion? What is that
criterion? Or do they want to determine whether this particular company product is
as good as, or better than, the competition’s product? That is, are the results of
technical product development under investigation or are marketing personnel trying
to understand the product in its full marketplace context, where branding may be a
factor? Answers to these questions about product characteristics have a decided
impact on how the tests will be conducted and who will do the testing.
Martin (1990) broke product characteristics into three components:
• Physical characteristics of a product, which are well recognized by the

consumer as poor, acceptable, or high quality; the technologist is trying
to formulate only the high-quality (ideal) attributes into the product.
• Image characteristics. Martin recognizes these as most dominant in per-
fumes, fragrances, and tobacco products. They are not unknown in food
products, for example, liqueurs, liqueur-flavored instant coffees, exotic
gourmet sauces, etc.
• A combination or interaction of physical and image characteristics.
This interaction is interesting since it introduces a problem. Martin (1990) describes

it as follows: when testing similar products “blind” (for example, various brands of
beer) in sensory tests, consumers would place the product ideal (the “best” product)
some distance away from the test product and with other unbranded competitive
products. However, when branded products are evaluated (that is, the test is no longer
conducted blind), all products are ranked closer to the consumer’s ideal product.
Branding is an important factor in sensory testing.
6. To Test Blind or Not?
Should a product be tested branded or unbranded, based on the foregoing? After all,
the product will have to face other similar products in the marketplace eventually,
and these will be branded. Brands have uniqueness: they communicate images, a
product persona. Therein lies a brand’s value. A brand is comfort, known values,
and security to consumers.
There is overwhelming evidence that branding does influence tasters in ranking
similar products and in picking a preferred sample. Martin (1990) provides evidence
of vastly different assessments of various characteristics of ciders, beers, and
chocolate confectionery when the products were tested branded or blind. When one
beer was tested blind Martin found that it was rated higher than when it had been
tasted identified.
Moskowitz and coworkers (1981) describe an interesting analysis of consumer
perception, magnitude estimation scaling, carried out on chocolate bars. They found
that branding encouraged a product’s acceptability; furthermore, for some products,
it could be branding and not a product’s quality that lifted a product’s acceptability.
(One must be aware of a difference here: branding influences acceptability; branding
is the image, a persona, a product has. It does not influence the evaluation of objective
characteristics posed by questions such as “Is product A smoother than product B?
sweeter? sourer?”)
Schutz (1988), Scriven et al. (1989), and Gains and Thomson (1990) describe
sensory techniques used to evaluate consumer attitudes about foods and determine
the circumstances under which consumers would use or serve particular foods
(contextual analysis). Such techniques are excellent tools to guide marketing per-
sonnel in determining market niches for products.
The questions must be repeated: What is the purpose of the sensory test? Does
the company want to know whether it has the best formulated product or does the
company want to know whether it has a product that is preferred over the compe-
tition’s product? This represents a technological capability question vs. a marketing
capability question, technology vs. psychology. As Martin (1990) aptly put it:
It may not be necessary to develop a clearly superior product in sensory terms, if

reputation can sufficiently enhance one which is the equal of the competition.
Hardy (1991) is more adamant and maintains that superior tasting food and beverage
products are no surety of a loyal consumer base.
When faced with unbranded popular products, most tasters cannot distinguish
between the unbranded products or even successfully choose their favorite brand.
For example, Hardy (1991) found that most tasters not only could not distinguish
consistently between competitive products but did not improve with experience
without formal feedback (i.e., training). Sensory testers must decide what the purpose
of the test is and consider whether the biases that branding may introduce will
adversely affect this purpose.
7. Are There Differences among Tasters Affecting

Discrimination?
Through the application of their magnitude estimation scaling technique to the survey
of chocolate candy preference, Moskowitz and colleagues (1981) note — at least
for chocolate candies — that there could be age differences and sex differences in
the response to branding. Age and sex of tasters influence how they perceive a
product. Clearly this suggests that great care is required in the selection of panelists.
Whom are the developers targeting?
There are other factors to be accounted for in tasters. Reaction to the genetic
taste marker, 6-n-propylthiouracil, marks tasters. Some cannot taste it; some have a
slight ability to taste it (medium tasters); some have violent reactions to the taste
(strong tasters). Drewnowski et al. (2000) found a statistically significant relation
between strong and medium tasters who disliked cruciferous and other raw green
vegetables and nontasters who liked them. Duffy and Bartoshuk (2000) found that
women’s liking for sweet and high-fat foods declined as their ability to taste the
genetic marker increased. Men did not have this taste preference.
Ideally, sensory panelists should be representative of those for whom the new
product is targeted. Ideally too, all geographic areas where the target consumer can
be found should be represented in consumer research tests; taste preferences vary
geographically. However, the ideal panel tasters can seldom be gathered without
assistance from specialists.
Consequently, food companies enlist the aid of product testing/consumer
research companies. These groups keep extensive files of potential panelists cate-
gorized by age, sex, ethnic background, economic status, and other characteristics
that may be important to product developers. McDermott (1990) discusses recruiting
for sensory testing, problems encountered with setting specifications on recruitment,
and how these involve cost considerations.
Money limitations may provide constraints on both the number of subjective
tests that can be carried out and the size of the panels used in them. When to test,
how to test, what to test, and how big a test to conduct are decisions companies
undertaking product development must be prepared to make.
8. Using Children
Products designed for young children present unique problems. There is first the
difficulty of working with young children, communicating with them, and determin-
ing how to measure their preferences. Skilled panel leaders are required, and it is
virtually a necessity that the relationship be one leader to one child. Such testing is
expensive; extra skills are required. Then there are decisions concerning the test
itself. How big should the test be? How often can the test be conducted?
Kroll (1990) describes another difficulty with testing children: what scaling
system to use. She tested children using one-on-one interviewing, a self-administered
questionnaire, and three types of rating scales. She found that while all three scales
discriminated at the 10% level, a simple in-house scale used by Peryam and Kroll
(Peryam & Kroll, Chicago) was better than a traditional hedonic scale and (surpris-
ingly) better than a face scale.
B. USING ELECTRONICS: THE PERFECT NOSE?

The advent of gas chromatography to analyze volatile or volatizable materials must
inevitably lead to the use of the “electronic nose” to analyze the components that
make up flavors. Warburton (1996) described one commercial unit and its use in
identifying nut varieties and in distinguishing good from bad walnuts. Several types
of units are described in detail in a review by Schaller et al. (1998). They describe
their use with meats, grains, coffee, beer and other alcoholic beverages, fish, fruit
juices, and soft drinks.
Neugebauer (1998) discusses the electronic nose in detail, comparing it with the
human olfactory system, neuronal networks, and sample recognition. Advantages
and disadvantages of the noses in quality control and sample recognition are dis-
cussed with comparison to classical methods.
C. SHELF LIFE TESTING

Developers often speak in terms of high-quality shelf life, acceptable quality shelf
life, or useful storage life. These terms have meaning to other developers; they have
no meaning to customers and consumers.
A product’s shelf life is a verification of the stabilizing systems designed into
the product. Food companies cannot release new products into a market, especially
a test market, without knowing how stable that product will be. The company must
have some idea of what the product’s shelf life is. This seemingly simple requirement,
to provide a shelf life estimate, is fraught with all sorts of difficulties Curiale (1991)
discusses with particular reference to microbiological shelf life. His and other points
to consider in shelf life determinations follow.
1. Selecting Criteria to Assess Shelf Life
First, some criterion that changes and can be measured perceptibly and that is
appropriate for the product must be selected. This criterion must change gradually
with time so the onset of the change can be measured. One that is sudden or abrupt
without some measurable antecedent or precursor is not satisfactory. The criteria
that may be chosen are:
• Microbiological changes (Curiale, 1991): Where appropriate, total plate

counts, psychrophilic counts, or counts of specific microorganisms of
public health or economic significance may be monitored to estimate
shelf life.
• Nutritional change: The loss of a nutrient such as vitamin C might be
chosen. This nutrient should be one for which the food product is a
significant source.
• Undesirable change: The loss or change of color or the production of

breakdown of color compounds can be followed. Other changes might be
exudation or drip loss, moisture transfer, shrinkage, and malodor production.
• Change in a functional property: The loss of a functional property for
which the product is noted can be used to follow shelf life, for example,
its ability to whip, to color, to flavor, to foam, to leaven, or to set.
• Undesirable textural change: Hardening, softening, staling, loss of crisp-
ness, development of graininess, etc. might all be suitable criteria to follow
the course of shelf life.
Selection of a criterion for stability presents different degrees of complexity for

developers. It is comparatively simple to follow the destruction of a nutrient like
vitamin C in a food. But if the product is not an important or even significant source
of vitamin C, then vitamin C is not, in all likelihood, a useful criterion for monitoring
shelf life. However, if the loss of vitamin C correlates closely to the loss of a major
but difficult to measure quality characteristic of the new food product, then vitamin
C is a good standard.
Rarely is only one quality characteristic of a complex system such as a food the
sole determinant of its shelf life. It is more likely that several characteristics will
break down concomitantly; for example, color, texture, and flavor will all degrade
over time. And frustratingly, they will degrade at different rates. It is also possible
that the breakdown of one characteristic may accelerate the breakdown of another
characteristic; for example, the breakdown of some artificial colors can accelerate
the development of off-flavors in some foods. Therefore, choosing the correct cri-
terion or criteria to follow during the determination of shelf life stability becomes
very important. Figure 7.1 depicts three quality attributes that deteriorate at different
1000
Attribute 1
Acceptable
Quality Life
[Log10(Time)]
100
Attribute 2
10
Attribute 3
(T–5) T (T+5)
FIGURE 7.1 Comparison of different rates of deterioration of quality parameters for a hypo-
thetical food product with increasing temperature.
rates with increasing temperature. The problem is to choose the most apt one (perhaps
the one most characteristic of the product) to follow.
Second, there must be some decision made about how much loss of quality
characteristics can be accepted (and by whom). How much loss of a quality charac-
teristic can be accepted before spoilage is declared? If the criterion is color, then how
much color loss is acceptable? The loss of a nutrient cannot be seen or tasted, but if
a label declaration has been made for that nutrient, unacceptability acquires a new
meaning, that is, a label violation. Losses of color, flavor, and texture are assessed by
consumers. The result can be dissatisfied consumers.
What constitutes an acceptable degree of instability? Is it the loss of 60%, 50%,
or whatever percentage of the vitamin C content or the redness or the crispness of
the product? Or must the total plate counts of microorganisms reach a particular
level? At 105 to 108 microorganisms per gram of product there will be a distinct
malodor for most products and obvious slime production as well.
In jurisdictions where statements such as “best before …” or “best quality
before …” are required by label legislation, a misstated shelf life has serious eco-
nomic implications. A conservatively stated shelf life will cause retailers to return
wholesome product that is past its stated expiry date, believing it to be either
deteriorated or unhealthy. This constitutes a loss to the manufacturer. If an exagger-
atedly long shelf life is projected, a large number of consumer complaints may arise
from failed product.
A rough rule of thumb that is frequently used, although many may deny that
they do, is the two thirds rule. The rule works as follows: shelf life tests show that
a particular packaged product has a good quality shelf life of 90 days at refrigerator
temperature. According to the two thirds rule, the shelf life is stated as 60 days. I
have never found any practical or scientific justification for this, but I have found
that it is used. Since the publication of the first edition of this book in 1994, several
people have commented that they too have used this rule. No one has suggested any
scientific basis for it.
2. Selecting Conditions for the Test
A final decision: under what conditions will the shelf life test be carried out? If ideal
temperature conditions of frozen storage for a frozen new food product or ideal
refrigerator temperature conditions of storage for a refrigerated food product are
used, the resultant shelf life will probably bear no likeness to what will happen in
the real world of consumers. For frozen or chilled foods, this real world may include
the following:
• Temperature changes encountered in factory warehouses that abuse the

product.
• Temperature changes during transport and transfer to a wholesaler’s or a
retail chain’s warehouse, storage in this warehouse, and subsequent trans-
port and transfer to a retail outlet (Slight, 1980) may all contribute to
abuse of products.
• Storage at inadequate temperatures in the retail store abuse the product.

A short period of temporary storage in the retail outlet until shelf stocking
starts follows transport. This storage is often in a refrigerator set at one
temperature that may not be optimal for the great variety of products
held in it. Finally, there may be shelf display in refrigerated cabinets
stocked above their limit line and frequently improperly maintained at
unsuitable temperatures.
• Storage in poorly maintained vending machines can damage frozen or
refrigerated goods (Light et al., 1987).
• Further temperature abuse results from transport and in-house handling
by customers and consumers.
Is the product to be tested under nonabusive conditions, that is, following

recommended conditions of storage throughout, or under abusive conditions such
as those encountered in the distribution chain? This, then, is the dilemma to be faced
in determining the shelf life of a product.
Three factors help developers to determine which test to use for the quality shelf
life of a food product:
• The preservative systems designed into the food product, which are pro-
tected by packaging material selected for this ability
• The physical abuse that food handlers — the people involved in the
warehousing, distribution, retailing, purchasing, and in-home storage of
the food — can give the package of food
• The environmental abuse that the product and its package may encounter
from manufacturing and packaging until it is opened by the consumer and
consumed
A fourth possible factor has been omitted — the microbiological load on the
food after processing and as it is packaged. It is assumed that good manufacturing
practices and a sound HACCP program were in place during manufacturing. How-
ever, for chilled foods and minimally processed foods, such an assumption is not
valid. The initial microbiological load is an important factor in an acceptable shelf
life. A sound HACCP program is critical to these foods.
There can, therefore, be several factors that affect a product’s shelf life adversely
from factory door to consumer’s table:
• Interactions between the chemical components of the food that can alter
the quality and the safety of the product. These were (it is hoped) antic-
ipated during formulation development and developers designed stabiliz-
ing systems to prevent them.
• Interactions between the food and its package that can damage the integ-
rity of the package and alter the quality. These, too, were anticipated.
• Adverse environmental effects (temperature changes, relative humidity
changes, irradiation) to which the package is subjected during these
interactions. Abusive treatment cannot be anticipated and may confound

the integrity of the safeguards.
For example, temperature influences the rate of chemical reactions, as every

secondary school student knows. The familiar Q10 tells us that for every 10∞C increase
in temperature one can anticipate a two- to fourfold increase in the rate of a chemical
reaction. This influence of temperature can be seen in the work of Labuza and Riboh
(1982), who reviewed the influence of abusive temperature treatment on Arrhenius
kinetics with respect to nutrient losses used as the predictor of shelf life of foods.
Temperature changes will cause phase changes in foods. Gels and emulsions
will break down; ice will thaw or ice crystals can grow and damage the structural
integrity of soft foods. Texture or tackiness of foods will alter (Slade and Levine,
1991; Goff, 1992).
Temperature changes affect biological reactions. Such changes can alter growth
rates and growth patterns of microorganisms and the activity of enzymes (Thorne,
1978; Williams, 1978).
Temperature changes in warehouses can be caused by doors being opened and
closed during receiving and shipping. Heaters in warehouses can warm product
stacked near them. Changes occur during transportation in refrigerated vehicles with
improperly set or maintained thermostats. Retail cabinets with their defrost cycles
impose further temperature changes. Humidity changes closely associated with
temperature changes can cause sweating of packages, resulting in rusting of metal
containers or label damage outside the package. Incident light striking exposed
containers on ship decks can cause large temperature changes in foods.
3. Types of Tests
Product development technologists have traditionally used three general approaches

to determine shelf life:
• Static tests in which the product is stored under a given set of environ-
mental conditions selected as most representative of the conditions to
which the product will be subjected
• Accelerated tests in which the product is stored under a range of some
environmental variable (e.g., temperature)
• Use/abuse tests in which the product is cycled through environmental
variables
At intervals during these tests, samples are taken and subjected to sensory,
chemical, and microbiological assessment.
To these there should now be added another. Good estimates can also be made
for the shelf life of foods by examining the technical literature describing the shelf
life dynamics of similar products. An excellent review of shelf life and techniques
for predicting it can be found in Robertson (2000).
a. Static Tests
Static tests have obvious shortcomings. First, it takes too long for the tests to produce
noticeable changes in many foods. Second, because of this fault, the tests are too
costly to undertake given the paucity of information they provide. A static test can
be likened to a one-point viscosity measurement or a one-point moisture sorption
curve: it tells nothing of the behavior of the product under other stresses. It provides
no kinetic data.
Okoli and Ezenweke (1990) used a static test to determine shelf life for a new
product, pawpaw juice, for consumption in Nigeria. Although freshly sliced and
peeled pawpaw was well known and accepted, pawpaw juice was unknown there.
Their storage conditions were 30 ± 2∞C for the test bottles of pawpaw juice and
10∞C for the comparison controls. Samples were subjected to sensory, physical, and
chemical analyses at intervals over 80 weeks. This is much too long a test period
for practical research and development and would certainly frustrate the marketing
program of most companies.
b. Accelerated Tests
Most researchers prefer accelerated tests since they provide much more information
about products and the kinetics of their deterioration. A range of conditions of an
environmental variable (such as temperature) are carefully chosen to cover the range
that could be anticipated in distribution. The packaged product is stored under each
of these temperature conditions and analyzed at intervals for the loss of a particular
quality characteristic. If the variable chosen is temperature, a simple application of
the Arrhenius equation allows researchers to demonstrate graphically the relationship
between temperature and time in days until an undesirable degree of loss of quality
occurs. Then researchers can calculate the number of days of good shelf life to be
expected if one assumes similar storage conditions to prevail. Factors to be consid-
ered in accelerated tests are well documented by Labuza and Schmidl (1985).
Conditions of the accelerated test must be selected with care (Labuza and
Schmidl, 1985). If one considers only temperature as the environmental variable,
one must remember that ice can thaw and water can freeze; fats can melt or solidify;
suspensions (emulsions) can degrade; and rheological properties can change drasti-
cally. These changes can seriously skew data obtained by this sort of kinetic modeling.
Obviously, there is a limit to increasing the storage temperature of frozen foods,
but this limit might be lower than one might expect. Water in a food system can
remain liquid well below the freezing point of pure water. One is no longer studying
the behavior of a frozen product but the behavior of a liquid product.
Ideally the variable chosen for accelerating should not alter the normal or
anticipated path of spoilage, that is, the path of spoilage to be expected in normal
nonabusive conditions. The purpose of an accelerated test is primarily to determine
the shelf life of a packaged new food product under normal marketing conditions,
whatever these may be, and only secondarily to study the reaction kinetics of its
deterioration. (The eternal question in product development: Is the purpose to satisfy
the needs of the research technologist or the marketing needs?)
Labuza and Schmidl (1985) provide a table of recommended storage tempera-

tures for frozen foods (-5 to -40∞C for the control), for dry and intermediate moisture
foods (0 to 45∞C for the control), and for thermally processed foods (5 to 40∞C for
the control).
Some quality characteristics of foods vary widely with temperature. That is, at
temperature T∞C (Figure 6.2), attribute 2 of a hypothetical product is the limiting
quality characteristic. At a higher temperature (T + 5)∞C, quality attribute 1 is the
limiting quality characteristic for a good quality shelf life. At a colder temperature
(T - 5)∞C attribute 3 limits acceptability. Again, reference to Labuza and Schmidl
(1985) will provide guidance in determining both storage times and intervals
between samplings.
Temperature is not the only accelerating factor that can be used, but it is the
usual one. Chuzel and Zakhia (1991) used adsorption isotherms at three temperatures
to derive an equation describing the shelf life of gari. (Gari is a semolina prepared
from cassava that has been fermented, cooked, and dried and is popular in West
Africa and in Brazil, called farinha de mandioca.) The equation considers the shelf
life in terms of:
• Its equilibrium moisture content

• Its safe storage moisture content
• Its initial moisture content when packaged
• The permeability of the package and its surface area
• The fill weight of the package
• The slope of the product isotherm
Their suggestions for further work are to include the initial microorganism load
and quality characteristics such as color, flavor, and crispness.
Hardas et al. (2000) describe accelerated stability studies on encapsulated milk-
fat. They studied peroxide value, hexanal production, fatty acids, and emulsion
droplet size distribution.
c. Use/Abuse Tests
Use/abuse tests are different from either static or accelerated tests. They are included
here because many technologists use them to assess the shelf life of the food and
its package as a unit. They are as varied as an imaginative mind can make them.
Frozen food developers commonly cycle new frozen food through the temper-
ature range of -10 to +20∞F. This range is intended to duplicate the freeze-thaw
cycles of frost-free frozen food cabinets. Cycles are set to correspond to those that
could be anticipated under store conditions. Some developers go so far as to purchase
freezer display cabinets, stack them in the manner seen in most supermarkets (with
a good portion of the product above the recommended fill level) and thus simulate
real supermarket conditions.
In one instance I am aware of, a company’s frozen product was stored in freezer
lockers set to cycle at the temperatures that their experience had taught them would
be encountered from factory warehouse to frozen wholesale warehouse through to
the retailer. In between these stages, product was removed to simulate the transfer
from storage to ambient temperature to frozen transport to dock transfer at the next
stage and so on.
In another example of a use/abuse test, a pallet of cased product was dispatched
on a journey around the country by truck and by train. The rigors of transportation
and the influence of temperature and humidity changes due to weather on both the
condition of the product and the effectiveness of the package could be studied on the
pallet’s return to the plant. Application of this data to shelf life calculations can be
limited, but information on what one can expect of the product and its package in
handling and distribution can be useful in protecting the validity of one’s shelf life
statement. Perhaps this expectation of abuse was the origin of the two thirds rule?!?
Cardoso and Labuza (1983) studied the moisture gain and loss of egg noodles
packaged in paperboard, polypropylene, and polyethylene, typical packaging mate-
rials for this product. The products were cycled under controlled but varying temper-
ature (30 to 45∞C) and relative humidity (11 to 85%). From their data they developed
a kinetic model to predict moisture transfer, an important factor in product stability.
Porter (1981) discusses the unique problems the military has with shelf life
prediction in uncontrolled environments, a predicament the military knows only too
well when shipping food from controlled temperature facilities to Arctic bases or to
arid desert conditions such as in the recent Iraqi conflict. The military also has the
problem of packaging material to survive air drops. However, food manufacturers
face many of these same problems in exporting their products to foreign countries
with vastly different environmental conditions as well as warehousing and shipping
conditions. Temperatures in container shipments can reach levels that can be very
stressful to a good quality shelf life.
Static tests and accelerated tests challenge the first and partially simulate the
last of the three factors that determine the shelf life of a food product, that is:
• Its preservative system and the package protecting it

• Abusive handling within the factory, from factory to consumer, and by
the customer until use
• The environment the food, and its package, encounters throughout its
shelf life
Use/abuse tests cover all three factors. It is difficult to predict any estimation of
shelf life with absolute certainty from such data, and no tests can simulate all the
circumstances that may befall a product from manufacturer to consumer.
Abusive or unusual treatment a food might encounter during storage or trans-
portation cannot be anticipated. No use/abuse test can simulate all the stress that
may be heaped on the food product and its protective packaging:
How can one duplicate the military mind that pinholed film-wrapped food packages
so they would fit better into the ration cartons? Or how can one simulate the damage
done to the package and ultimately to the product by retail stock clerks who slash
food containers as they open cartons or practice basketball shots with packaged
frozen chicken?
The above abuses, which I have personally encountered, can be eliminated only
by educating the food handlers in the safe handling of food products. Food manu-
facturers have relied on retailers to do this, but unfortunately many retailers, with
part-time, temporary help, find no profitability doing so and rarely undertake to train
staff. Nevertheless, abusive treatment of food products can be minimized only by
training and education.
Transport of product can result in abusive treatment. Transport of product in
containers that are exposed to the hot sun during a trans-Atlantic crossing have been
already mentioned. Temperatures inside such containers can exceed 120∞F.
Vibration caused by transport results in product changes. The engines of a ship
produce a gentle vibration that can destabilize some food suspensions. Surface
transport, with its gentle rocking action, has been known to produce subtle, and in
one case unexpected but desirable, changes in a chocolate product.
A chocolate couverture supplier shipped bulk chocolate by tank car from its factory
in the east to a customer on the West Coast. Demand was so good it was considered
advantageous to all parties to produce this product closer to the customer in a new
facility. This step turned into a disaster when the customer complained about the loss
in quality of the product, although the satellite plant rigorously followed the parent
plant’s procedures for making the couverture. Investigations revealed that the extra
conching action caused by rocking of the tank cars developed the better flavor that the
customer preferred. The problem was solved with longer conching times.
4. Guidelines to Determining Shelf Life
Shelf life is an important characteristic of a food product that may be required by

legislation or by contract between a copacker and a buyer or insisted upon by a
retailer. Consumers, at the end of the distribution chain, certainly expect food to have
a good quality life until it is consumed, no matter how long and under what potentially
abusive conditions they may have stored it. At the start of the chain, manufacturers
of sensitive food products, chilled foods for example, are at the mercy of:
• Distribution and warehousing companies: Manufacturers depend on them

to store and handle products under nonabusive conditions.
• Retailers: Retailers need to practice a stock rotation system in their ware-
houses and on their shelves. This is not always the situation.
It is also unfortunate for manufacturers of sensitive products that many retail

food chains misinterpret the product statement that reads that a particular product
has, for example, a 40-day refrigerated shelf life. They assume that a 40-day refrig-
erated shelf life starts when they decide to stock their shelves or to plan a promotion.
A client who was a packer of a fresh-pack salsa had shipped product to a retailer for
a special promotion. The retailer delayed the promotion until the product was beyond
its expiry date. Product was returned. My client was devastated.
Few manufacturers, especially small manufacturers, would dare to refuse to take

back product beyond its expiry date for fear of losing future orders. These are the
facts of life that developers determining shelf life must deal with.
Estimating shelf life is a guessing game. Many scientists who model kinetics of
spoilage reactions may take umbrage at this description of estimating shelf life: it
is, nevertheless, true. The kindest that can be said is that the stated shelf life stamped
on any product has a strong element of guessing in it along with the element of hard
data that food scientists can add. Neither consumers nor retailers know what previous
treatment a product has had when they read the “best before” date. As data on the
deterioration of foods are collected and knowledge of growth mechanisms of micro-
organisms in foods progresses, this guesstimate can be refined.
Let it be clearly understood: no one can say what the shelf life of a particular
product will be. The best that can be done is predict what the shelf life should be
if.... That “if” encompasses all the precautions that should be taken in manufacturing,
distribution, warehousing, retailing, and home storage and preparation. This becomes
a big if.
The following points should be considered. First, there are no tests that can
absolutely be relied upon to predict the shelf life of a given food product. All such
tests can do is provide an approximation. Experience with similar products in the
same product category (e.g., chilled foods) can help provide some initial estimates.
Data in the scientific and technical literature can help refine these initial estimates.
Audits of competitor’s similar products drawn from the retail showcases will provide
more data to complement one’s own findings. Here too, the complaint records of a
company can provide information on a product’s stability that may be applied to
another product in development. This marks another reason for documenting the
complaint files. The development team should not waste their time looking for the
perfect test.
Second, shelf life tests should ideally be carried out only on finished product
manufactured on the line (and equipment) to be used in regular production and
packaged in the container that will be placed on the shelves for consumers. Product
prepared in test kitchens or pilot plants does not simulate the product prepared in a
plant at the height of the packing season with adjacent packing lines running products
capable of being a source of cross contamination. Bailey (1988) discusses these
problems of scale-up from the pilot plant to the production floor and describes
attempts using predictive techniques to minimize the discrepancy between the pilot
plant and the manufacturing plant.
The following examples illustrate the fallacy of relying heavily on test kitchen
samples for reliable shelf life data.
A potato processor wanted to develop a line of chilled prepackaged, prepeeled potatoes.

A shelf life of the product was determined to be an excellent chilled shelf life exceeding
30 days. I had determined this on pilot plant–prepared samples made from potatoes
purchased on the retail market as part of my graduate research studies. In full plant
production trials, a shelf life of 10 to 15 days was the norm. The microbiological load
between the samples prepared in the well-kept, sanitary test pilot plant and those
prepared in the plant factory under full production with field grown produce was
significantly different.
In another case,
the unavailability of the desired canister with metal ends from a supplier and the
pressure exerted by marketing “to get on with it” led researchers in one company to
substitute a canister with plastic ends for a spiced and herbed bread crumb mix for
shelf life trials. The supplier suggested that the plastic substitute would provide a more
rigorous test “since plastic breathed.” Tests were successfully conducted and shelf life
determined. Consumer complaints began to pour in when the final product used the
canisters with the metal ends. Off-flavors were noted and rusting was observed. Con-
stituents (principally citral) in the spice and herb blend reacted with the metal ends to
cause a breakdown of the flavor and initiate detinning.
Factory produced product is different from product prepared in the pilot plant.
Scale-up from the test kitchen to the pilot plant to the factory floor has always
produced changes, subtle and not so subtle, in a product. The manner in which heat
is applied is different; stirring action is different, and therefore heat transfer can be
altered; pumping action may be different, and the distances the product has to be
pumped in the factory may alter its temperature, its rheological properties, and
hence the shear stress the product receives. Two products, one factory-produced and
one pilot plant- or kitchen-produced, should not be expected to have the same storage
properties.
Third, once the shelf life of a product has been determined, any change in the
recipe, in the suppliers of the ingredients, in the water treatment system in the plant
or in the water used in batch preparation occasioned by plant relocation, or any other
change can have a major impact on the acceptable quality shelf life of a food product.
For example, the mineral content of plant waters can have a profound effect on the
flavor of a product, not only immediately but over a period of time.
It was found that the flavor of marinated, fried peppers was adversely affected when
the supplier of the frying oil, a fractionated peanut oil, changed from one antioxidant
for their oil to another. Both the user and the oil supplier were surprised at the flavor
change.
Fourth, extrapolation of data obtained from accelerated storage tests should be

treated warily. Extrapolation of data for chilled foods in particular can be misleading
if due care is not given to the types of microorganisms contributing to the spoilage:
spoilage can be overt with obvious indications of slime, off-odors, loss of color, etc.,
or it can be covert with no obvious outward signs of spoilage but with undesirable
increases of microorganisms of public health significance or even of toxins.
Fifth, lack of acceptance by the customer, the consumer, and even the retailer
is the ultimate determinant of a product’s shelf life. Nevertheless, in basing shelf
life on sensory analysis by consumers — that is, on taste — their interpretation of
spoilage and their ability to detect it varies considerably. Dethmers (1979) discusses
the use of sensory panel evaluation for failure criteria for open-dating. Curiale (1991)
and Beauchamp (1990) both point out some of the shortcomings of the use of sensory
panels for shelf life determinations. Beauchamp, in particular, cites intra-individual
and inter-individual variations that can confound the use of sensory panels as an
evaluation tool. Therefore, the use of taste panelists in determining shelf life poses
health hazards for the panelists and may not produce reliable estimates of shelf life.
A clear understanding of the criteria used to assess the end of acceptable (or high
quality) shelf life must be established.
Finally, determining shelf life involves measuring the differences between con-
trol samples and test samples that are subjected to stress over time. Wolfe (1979)
discusses the advantages and disadvantages of different reference standards, espe-
cially in sensory studies, that are equally valid for shelf life studies. See also Labuza
and Schmidl (1985) for recommended storage temperatures for control samples.
5. Advances in Shelf Life Considerations
There is a need for predictive techniques in microbiology as food manufacturers

provide more added value to food products. Added value, as Williams and coworkers
(1992) see it, alters traditional paths of food spoilage and intoxication. To alleviate
this problem, predictive techniques to properly assess duration of quality and safety
are needed.
Some exciting new thinking is emerging in the study of the kinetics of food
deterioration and in the development of predictive techniques in microbiology.
Instead of observing a food spoil over time under predetermined conditions, could
one, from a knowledge of spoilage mechanics and a product’s composition, accu-
rately predict its expected shelf life? That is, kinetic information about the spoilage
mechanics ought to make it possible to estimate shelf life duration.
The use of predictive models is not new. For example, the botulinum cook
established for the safe thermal processing of low-acid, high-pH foods is an appli-
cation of such a model; it is an inactivation model of the destruction of spores of
Clostridium botulinum by heat (Gould, 1989). The value of predictive models of
microbial spoilage is that they provide a data gathering tool to apply to many types
of food stabilized by various techniques. Based on this data, rapid predictions of
duration of quality and safety are possible with a greatly reduced need for testing
and therefore with reduced costs (Roberts, 1989).
Roberts describes two types of predictive models: the probabilistic model and
the kinetic model. Each serves a different purpose. Probabilistic models, as their
name suggests, predict the probability of an event, for example, probability of toxin
development in a food, however they provide no information about how quickly
the toxin develops or the amount produced. Roberts (1989, 1990) describes a
mathematical model able to predict botulinal toxin production as a function of salt,
nitrite, thermal treatment, storage temperature of the food, and the presence or
absence of preservatives.
Kinetic models predict the rate of growth of microorganisms and therefore are
useful for anticipating time to microbial spoilage or time to growth of critical
numbers of food-intoxicating microorganisms. Roberts (1989) discusses several
examples of kinetic modeling. Figure 7.2 is a hypothetical depiction that shows how
Lag Phase
(Time)
Hurdle 2 Hurdle 1
(0, 0, 0)
FIGURE 7.2 Three-dimensional representation of the influence of concentration of two hypo-

thetical hurdles on the lag phase of a hypothetical microorganism.
the lag phase of microbial growth behaves under the stress of increasing concentra-
tions of two different hurdles. Choosing the conditions that provide the longest lag
phase of microbial growth gives the greater security. This visual presentation is
valuable for technologists designing stabilizing systems for new products. It would
be advantageous to select concentrations of Hurdle 1 and Hurdle 2 that extend the
length of the lag period of microbial growth (vertical axis) if these are consistent
with other quality factors such as taste. Likewise, one could determine which sta-
bilizing system causes the slowest rate of microbial growth, and this would again
contribute to the product’s stability. With the aid of predictive models, technologists
are able to design hurdles into the product or its process, and from this the length
of the lag phase or the rate of growth could be predicted.
The Arrhenius equation has been used for assessing both nutrient losses with
temperature (Labuza and Riboh, 1982) and microbiological growth with temperature
(Gibbs and Williams, 1990). The Ratkowski square root equation has also been used:
r1/2 = b (T - T0)
where
r = growth rate constant
b = regression coefficient
T = storage temperature (K)
T0 = a temperature at which the growth rate is zero
Gibbs and Williams describe the use of this equation for plotting the growth of
Yersinia enterocolitica.
New foods can spoil not only because of temperature variations. The demand
for low-salt, low-acid, nitrite-reduced, sulfite-free, or sugar-free variants of food
products have multiplied the number of deteriorative routes of conventional prod-
ucts (Williams et al., 1992). As multiparameter stabilizing systems are used to
preserve these foods, new risks are introduced. There is an increased need to
understand the mechanisms of these systems and to be able to predict quality
changes as well as microbial activity in a complex matrix of variables (see, e.g.,
Chuzel and Zakhia, 1991).
In his review of predictive food microbiology, Buchanan (1993) attributes the
growing interest in mathematical modeling to three major factors:
• Easy access to powerful, number crunching software programs and com-

puters to process the data.
• A growing desire of consumers for minimally processed, just-like-fresh
foods. This desire usually favors the chilled foods category.
• The need to organize quantitatively and systematically the wealth of
microbiological data on the vast array of foods potentially at risk as either
economic or public health hazards.
Buchanan discusses and describes various classifications of models. Examples

of the use of Arrhenius models and Ratkowski and Gompertzian equations to model
growth are available (Gibbs and Williams, 1990; Buchanan, 1993).
Walker and Jones (1992) explain predictive microbiology in general and describe
the coordinated research program then current in the U.K. This program, under the
direction of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food had a host of partici-
pating scientists at various laboratories. In addition, private food companies were
invited to contribute data. Campden Food and Drink Research Association would
house this U.K. Predictive Food Microbiology Database. This program has had a
rather checkered history. Commercialization was undertaken by Leatherhead Food
International; then the intellectual property rights were sold to the U.K. Food Stan-
dards Agency. In a press release dated June 16, 2003, this agency describes an
international collaboration among itself, the Institute of Food Research, and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture to provide free access to the database: “The new common
database, called ComBase, already contains around 20,000 growth and survival
curves and 8,000 records containing growth rates.”
In the U.S. the database is available at http://wyndmoor.arserrc.gov/combase/
and in the U.K. at http://www.ifr.ac.uk/combase. Such a database resource is useful
to all in product development for predicting food safety and quality.
Kinetic studies and predictive modeling techniques have been applied to mea-
suring the deteriorative rates of food quality or specific food components. Labuza
(1980) used water activity and temperature to measure quality losses in foods and
assess water activity’s effect on reaction rates. Rockland and Nishi (1980) also used
water activity as a variable affecting food product stability. Andrieu and coworkers
(1985) used an Oswin type relation (X = f{aw,T}) to model pasta drying. Norback
(1980) discusses modeling in general for optimization of food processes.
Lund (1983) cited three major reasons for generating models to describe food
processes:
• Models allow developers to optimize processes with the minimum amount

of costly trial and error.
• Models provide better understanding of processes, which leads to better
processes and safer new products.
• Models permit better prediction of shelf life and quality changes in foods.
Descriptions of modeling techniques and applications to food quality deteriora-

tion can be found in Lenz and Lund (1980), Hill and Grieger-Block (1980), and
Saguy and Karel (1980). Heldman and Newsome (2003) review papers on microbial
inactivation kinetic models presented at the Institute of Food Technologists second
Research Summit held in Orlando, Florida, in January 2003. These papers focus on
microbial survival during processing. Erkmen (2000) used high-pressure carbon
dioxide to develop a predictive model for inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes.
III. DESIGNING FOR PRODUCT INTEGRITY
The safety of products with respect to hazards of public health significance as well
as hazards of economic significance is established only by designing safety into the
product from the start of development. This concept has been well established in
instrument manufacturing. Mayo at AT&T (1986) argues that quality by design
applies equally to products and to services. There are four elements to the program:
• Design to the correct requirements of the customer. If the customer’s needs

have not been clearly identified, product design will be faulty.
• Design using the right technology. This influences the cost of the product
and the customer’s satisfaction with the product.
• Design for manufacturability. As Mayo states it, the product and its pro-
cess should be designed “to be insensitive to ‘noise’ such as conditions
of customer use, drift in components, or variations in the manufacturing
environment.”
• Design for reliability.
Coincident with development’s progress, feedback mechanisms should continually

monitor and analyze the quality and safety of the product. This is Mayo’s design
for reliability.
Huizenga and colleagues (1987) at the Perkin-Elmer Corporation put forward
six steps for cooperation and communication in safe product design:
• The needs of both internal and external customers must be identified.

• Quality characteristics must be identified.
• Means to measure these quality characteristics must be obtained.

• Quality goals that satisfy customers and suppliers at reasonable cost need
to be established.
• The process to attain the stated goals must be set in place.
• Processing capability must be verified.
The steps described by both Mayo and Huizenga and colleagues pertain to
instrument design and not specifically to food products. Pearce (1987) appears to
have rewritten Mayo’s and Huizenga and colleagues’ elements to make them food
oriented. Pearce’s rewrite describes six principles that are involved in a design
assurance policy for food products:
• Design work for quality must conform to marketing concepts and regu-
latory needs.
• Design work for quality should conform to properly established proce-
dures and standards.
• All design work should be properly documented for quality with changes
both recorded and regulated.
• Challenges of the design should be carried out at each stage of scale-up
including production trials.
• Third party review of design work for quality is required at critical stages
before advancing to subsequent stages.
• A feedback system must be prepared to collate all activities and planning
that support manufacture of new products.
Pearce (1987) further broke these principles into 12 subsystem requirements and
developed a responsibility matrix for product design assurance with primary respon-
sibility delineated.
Wilhelmi (1988) considers the following requirements to be important in product
design:
• Product composition
• Safety considerations for the product
• Regulatory compliance
• Knowledge of product stability
• Packaging considerations
• Marketplace considerations
A comparison of Wilhelmi’s points and Pearce’s shows some obvious similarities.

Indeed, all the above authors have essentially stressed the same points concerning
designing for quality. That is, they emphasize formulation for quality, stability,
conformance, and safety, based on known spoilage mechanisms and anticipated
abuse and protected by suitable packaging. Such design is a built-in safety net; it is
error prevention in new food product development. Technologists must incorporate
safety and quality design into their products through the judicious use of ingredients,
processing, and packaging technology.
A. SAFETY CONCERNS
Equally important to maintaining desired quality characteristics are control systems
to monitor safety with respect to hazards of public health significance and to maintain
the integrity of these systems throughout processing, storage, distribution, and retail-
ing. Monitoring systems should already exist in the plant’s good manufacturing
practices, quality control/quality assurance systems, and HACCP programs; these
should be in place for the company’s other products.
All these existing systems for maintaining the integrity of existing products
must be reevaluated every time a new product is introduced into a food plant. Each
product needs an HAACP program unique to itself. New products may introduce
unsuspected new hazards through the introduction of new raw materials and ingre-
dients. The result is that the safety of all the company’s products and processes may
be jeopardized.
B. FOOD SAFETY DESIGN CONCERNS

Two major questions need to be answered when prototype recipes or products have
been obtained:
• What hazards of public health significance are, or could be, associated

with these products during manufacture; during warehousing, storage, and
distribution; and with their home use? In short, a complete HACCP
program must be developed.
• What desired quality attributes are to be built into these products that
require stabilizing or maximizing?
This begs other ancillary questions:
• What are the major (probable) spoilage routes of products of this particular
nature and composition, and what health hazards are associated with them?
• What duration of acceptable quality shelf life is desired for these products?
These desired attributes could be organoleptic attributes, specific dietary or nutri-

tional attributes, functional attributes, or convenience of preparation.
An HACCP program begins with product design. Elements of quality and safety
must be designed into products at their inception.
Concern about the safety of any food product centers around all of the following:
1. Possible presence of food-intoxicating microorganisms exceeding recog-

nized norms in the ingredients and raw materials forming part of the
product or in the product itself that, when ingested by susceptible con-
sumers, may cause illness or death.
2. Presence of preformed toxicants from a biological source (enterotoxins,
mycotoxins, or compounds such as domoic acid of algal blooms), which
may have entered with the ingredients or be formed during processing.
3. Presence of chemical hazards (pesticides, herbicides, growth stimulants,

or even fertilizer uptake) resulting from carry-over in the food product or
in any of the ingredients.
4. Development of chemical hazards from processing through intercom-
pound reactions within the food.
5. Presence of miscellaneous extraneous matter such as stones, glass frag-
ments, metal pieces, or wood in the food product, which can cause serious
injury if ingested.
6. Presence of insects and insect parts, an esthetic hazard that often has a
shock effect on consumers, resulting in illness.
Items 3, 5, and 6 should be prevented from entering the food or removed from
the food by a total quality management program (Shapton and Shapton, 1991). Item
4 may be circumvented by a more judicious choice of ingredients and processing
conditions or both.
Many processing steps (trimming, cleaning, and blanching) plus plant support
systems (good manufacturing practices, HACCP programs, cleaning and sanitation)
reduce the numbers of microorganisms that jeopardize the safety and stability of
products (see, e.g., Shapton and Shapton, 1991). For minimally processed products,
extreme attention to HACCP programs is essential.
C. NEW CONCEPTS OF SAFETY

The concept of safety is evolving; its interpretation is broadening and coming under
closer scrutiny from regulatory agencies in all countries. Safety concerns have tra-
ditionally centered on susceptible consumers, that is, the very young and the elderly.
But the concept of the susceptible consumer must be expanded now to include
immuno- or health-compromised individuals. Brackett (1992) describes these as
people with underlying chronic health problems such as cancer, diabetes, or heart
disease; individuals taking certain immunocompromising drugs, such as corticoster-
oids; and individuals with immune deficiency diseases such as acquired immunodefi-
ciency syndrome (AIDS).
The latter group is a growing proportion of the consuming public who are more
susceptible than uninfected individuals to food-intoxicating microorganisms. They
may fall ill after ingesting much smaller numbers of infective microorganisms than
would harm other consumers. Archer (1988) reports that AIDS-infected male patients
are 300 times more susceptible to listeriosis than are AIDS-negative males.
This new susceptible consumer becomes an additional consideration that shapes
technologists’ thinking in designing safe stabilizing systems for new products.
Another consideration is the emerging recognition by food microbiologists of
the ability of some exotic and some well-known microorganisms to grow and
become health hazards in stored chilled foods. One such exotic microorganism of
concern to food microbiologists is Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis,
thought to have a role in Crohn’s disease (Williams, 2003). Indeed, as the limits to
growth and the viability of food-associated microorganisms in multiparameter sta-

bilizing systems (e.g., hurdle technology) are studied, some anomalies of accepted
knowledge of the limits of growth and viability are appearing. Pathogenic psy-
chrotrophs capable of growth around 5∞C are Listeria monocytogenes, Yersinia
enterocolitica, type E Clostridium botulinum, Vibrio parahemolyticus, Vibrio chol-
erae, Bacillus cereus, Aeromonas hydrophila, Staphylococcus aureus, enterotoxi-
genic Escherichia coli, and some Salmonella species (Farber, 1989). Any temper-
ature abuse of susceptible products in the chain from processor to consumer could
be potentially dangerous.
Developers must also consider the origin of contamination. Konuma and col-
leagues (1988) determined that the most likely sources of contamination by B. cereus
in meat products in Japan were meat product additives and not the meat itself.
Beckers (1988), reviewing the incidence of food-borne diseases in the Netherlands
(1979 to 1982), found B. cereus, Salmonella sp., Campylobacter jejuni, S. aureus,
Clostridium perfringens, and Y. enterocolitica to be major causative microorganisms.
Meat and meat products, fish and shellfish, snacks, and foods prepared for immediate
consumption such as in food service outlets, especially those catering to hospitals,
old peoples’ homes, cafeterias, and restaurants, were the primary carriers. Hemor-
rhagic colitis associated with E. coli has been frequently reported in nursing homes
(Stavric and Speirs, 1989). Processed packaged meat products were found by Tiwari
and Aldenrath (1990) to be contaminated by L. monocytogenes. Slade (1992) con-
sidered the presence of listeria to be ubiquitous based on an extensive review of
food processing environments.
Keeping the stabilizing systems designed for food products safe and free from
compromise is not as simple one might think. Interactive packaging and controlled
atmosphere and modified atmosphere packaging (CA/MAP) control the growth of
some spoilage microorganisms but certainly not all microorganisms. For instance,
Brackett (1992) noted that spoilage was retarded in modified atmosphere–packaged
produce, but A. hydrophila and L. monocytogenes were unaffected; visual spoilage
was stopped, but toxic microorganisms were able to grow.
Idziak (1993) noted that many gas mixtures used to extend the shelf life of
MA/CAP chilled products are the very ones used to culture anaerobic pathogens.
Growth of anaerobes (if present) may proceed with no visual indication of microbial
spoilage. Park and coworkers (1988) confirmed this possibility in a study of modified
atmosphere–packaged commercially processed wet pasta stored at good (5∞C) and
poor (16∞C) temperatures (the latter temperature is frequently encountered in open
refrigerated shelves in retail outlets). At the end of the recommended shelf life of
four weeks, sufficient staphylococcal enterotoxin had formed in a significant portion
of those samples held at the poor refrigerated conditions to have caused illness in
sensitive individuals.
Many products, for example, anchovies, unpasteurized acidified foods, and beef
jerkies, are semiconserved. That is, they are safe, stable, wholesome products in
their uncompromised stabilizing system — for anchovies this is their very high salt-
on-water content. By themselves, anchovies can be eaten safely; it is a preserved
product. When, however, they are used as ingredients in another product, for exam-
ple, a pizza, a quiche, or a flan, the stabilizing system of the semiconserve is
compromised; the potential for a food hazard to develop is very real. If the pizza or
quiche or flan is held for a long period of time in a warming oven or in a poorly
maintained refrigerator, the microorganisms in the anchovies, some of which are
spore formers held in bacteriostasis by the high salt content, are no longer in such
inimical conditions. Growth commences and spoilage or intoxication of the multi-
component product can occur.
Another consideration for developers is the unusual behavior of sublethally
injured bacteria during processing reported by Archer (1988) and Rowley (1984).
Sublethal injury to microorganisms, whatever the nature of the injury, evokes an
adaptive response. In some instances injured microorganisms become more resistant
(Archer, 1988). The very action of pretreatment, that is, processing, of foods may
alter the sensitivity of microorganisms to stresses.
This desire on the part of customers and consumers for less processed foods
such as chilled foods opens up a Pandora’s box of new considerations concerning
safety and stability that technologists must deal with. These new safety concerns
must be addressed by development technologists with the quality control and pro-
cessing departments. Quality control individuals screen by detailing process require-
ments that will be necessary if products are to be safe and wholesome.
D. THE COSTS OF QUALITY AND SAFETY DESIGN

Quality in new food products does have costs. These costs (overheads) can be crudely
distinguished (Table 7.2) as indirect and direct costs of quality. Indirect costs are
hidden in the development work of designing new products to minimize hazards
and to design processes to manufacture products with these designed features.
TABLE 7.2
The Costs of Quality in New Food Product Development
Indirect Costs Direct Costs
Quality design of product Increased inspection; more bodies or more equipment are required
Product standards Additional analyses are required for newly introduced product
Ingredient standards Increased costs for:
Processing standards Maintenance
Process design Sanitation
HACCP programs Hygiene
SPC* programs Warehousing
Operator training for Control systems
Maintenance staff In-line instrumentation
Sanitation personnel On-line instrumentation
Hygiene personnel Off-line equipment
Equipment operators Rework costs
Quality control line inspectors
Laboratory analysts
* SPC = statistical process control.

Modifications to plant equipment for the new product involves much costly work.
Training of operators and technicians in the new procedures (sanitation, preventive
maintenance, process and quality control, storage) novel processes and products may
require contributes to indirect costs. Staff must be trained in new inspection routines
to recognize and report hazards associated with something novel to them.
The direct costs include (a) salaries of additional inspectors and analysts to cover
the increased need for grading, collection, and interpretation of data for incoming
materials; (b) development and installation of in-line, on-line, or off-line process
controls; (c) rework of failed (not meeting standards) material; (d) returned goods; and
(e) lost customers. The more time, effort, and money spent on prevention in the design
phase of new product development, the less the losses will be for failed products.
Every food company has a quality control policy. Large companies may have
this in the form of a clear statement about the quality of its products. From this
statement are derived procedures for quality in purchasing, processing, and ware-
housing, indeed, for every aspect of the company’s business. The end result is a
manual of operations documenting all the product and process procedures that affect
quality. Implementation of these procedures is the responsibility of the quality
control department. All new products must conform to the company’s policy.
Not to be forgotten is the impact that all new products may have on safety related
systems. Supporting a plant’s quality control systems and HACCP program are
several interrelated programs that complement the company’s quest for safety and
quality. These are:
• Preventive maintenance
• Pest control
• Plant sanitation
• Statistical quality control procedures
• Worker-related programs
• Worker safety and health (ergonomics)
• Hygiene for food handlers
• Training programs for food handlers
• Grounds maintenance
• Good manufacturing practices
• Environmental safety
• Waste management
• Water reclamation and effluent control
• Odor reduction
Manufacture of new food products that require new raw materials and ingredients
in any food plant introduces new hazards into that plant environment, and each of
the above needs to be reviewed for its adequacy respecting these hazards. New raw
materials bring new microflora into the plant that staff may not be familiar with.
Plant personnel unfamiliar with new ingredients, strange raw materials, unusual
products, or even new plant routines can introduce hazards. For example, purchasing
departments may not have the expertise to purchase wisely on the commodity market,
or the plant may not have the facilities to store the ingredients properly.
My client, a developer of breaded coatings, had a moth infestation that had spread into
other parts of the plant and, more damagingly, into other finished products. The cause
was simply explained. The purchasing department had purchased a quantity of difficult-
to-obtain crumb for a new product they had “bought long.” They bought several months’
supply; they stored these in an area of their warehouse made of porous cinder block.
The crumb was infested; moths had ideal breeding spots in the cracks and crevices of
the cinder blocks; they spread rapidly. A clean-up and disposal of the crumb had
preceded my visit, but the problem had persisted. The plant manager was aghast during
my inspection tour when I insisted an electrical control panel in the main factory be
opened. It was alive with moths. A more thorough clean-up followed.
Anything new or unusual introduced into a controlled environment like a food

plant introduces a new hazard. If the nature of the introduced hazard is not understood
or anticipated, then the hazard cannot be controlled adequately.
E. HAZARD ANALYSIS CRITICAL CONTROL POINT (HACCP)

PROGRAMS
The early history of the development of the concept of HACCP systems is described
by Bauman (1990).
The developers must set out an HACCP program for every food product a
plant produces and before any new product, including line extensions of already
established products, is introduced into a plant for production. HACCP programs
for established products may not be adequate even for line extensions of these
same products. HACCP programs are, or should be, flexible and able to evolve
continually to meet equally flexible, and constantly evolving, hazards of economic
and public health significance. Archer (1990) cites the emerging microbial hazards
such as C. jejuni and L. monocytogenes that can challenge an inflexible HACCP
concept.
Development teams should work closely with their production members to
prepare a flow chart of the processes and equipment to be used for the new products.
It is here that feedback from technologists can help production staff assess the effects
that the rigors of plant processes might have on the product and its sensitive char-
acteristics. They identify points in the process where, if control were to be lost, a
hazard might arise that may jeopardize the new product’s manufacture. The experi-
ence of production people with their knowledge of the past performance of the
process lines assists the other members of the development team. They will know
the limits of process equipment; they can more readily identify hazards.
Once identified, hazards are either eliminated or minimized at that critical point
in the process (or in the plant environment) or the product is protected from the
hazard with remedial action. Combined teams of technologists, production staff, and
quality control personnel can now elaborate how this control for elimination or
reduction of identified hazards is to be carried out. Control limits for the guidance
of production can be established with confidence.
The final step is the determination of process parameters or product-in-process
characteristics to be used to monitor product integrity. A sound statistical process
control program will then warn of deviations from accepted norms. Stevenson (1990)
describes the steps and considerations that should be applied when introducing
HACCP principles to foods.
F. STANDARDS NECESSARY FOR SAFETY

Development teams have the responsibility to establish standards and specifications
for ingredients used in new products; for packaging materials used in protecting the
safety of new products; for the labels, label statements, and the placement of the
labels on packages; and for a detailed description of the entire process with the
various pieces of equipment used and the support systems for the new products
including everything from the analytical procedures to be used to the detergents and
sanitizers necessary to clean equipment.
First, specifications for the ingredients need to be clearly defined so purchasing
and foremost departments have precise descriptions of ingredient characteristics for
obtaining exactly the style, grade, cut, color, flavor, heat level, or whatever other
criteria are required at the lowest cost or at a cost consistent with the product’s
original cost estimate. For this reason, product development teams must define as
closely as possible all the essential characteristics of ingredients used in new products.
Only the essential characteristics of an ingredient in a new product formulation
should be identified. If color is important, it should be so specified and the color
identified; if particle size is important, the range of particle size should be identified.
After the essential and attributes of each ingredient are identified and specified, a
list of suppliers whose products meet these specifications as defined by the product
development team can be prepared for the purchasing department.
A second requirement of specifications is that the quality control laboratory have
analytical or functional tests that permit assessment to determine that ingredients,
when received, meet the attribute standards. Included with this methodology should
be sampling procedures suitable for the nature and form of needed ingredients. If
attributes are specified for any ingredient or raw material, they must be checked
frequently enough to ensure safety and frequently enough to keep suppliers honest.
Even a good customer–supplier relationship needs to be verified; suppliers have been
known to make mistakes, take liberties, or change formulations if vigilance is lax.
It is the wise customer who subjects suppliers to the same degree of quality inspection
rigor that they apply to their own products.
Where applicable for ingredients and more particularly for raw perishable mate-
rials, proper storage conditions need to be specified.
There should, of course, be finished product specifications. These are not the
same as quality standards. Quality was designed into the product. These finished
product specifications identify whether the product has met the specifications
required in the trade of that product.
G. INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS
Ever-expanding markets are a goal for every company introducing a new product.
Ultimately this will mean the exportation of their product. There are no specific
international standards for foods per se but two bodies, Codex Alimentarius and the
International Standards Organization (ISO), provide guidelines for contracting com-
panies, that is, between manufacturers of products and buyers.
Codex Alimentarius publishes such documents as General Principles of Food
Hygiene and Recommended International Code of Hygienic Practices for Canned
Fruit and Vegetable Products. It would be advisable for any company introducing
new products to be guided by the general principles outlined in these documents.
Walston (1992) discusses with reference to Codex Alimentarius many problems in
international food trade. In the Uruguay Round of talks for the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade, the suggestion that Codex be the standard for food safety
sparked controversy. Problems arose because of perceived shortcomings in Codex.
There are three criteria for rejection of food in Codex: quality, safety, and efficacy.
However, many governments, especially those of Muslim countries, and many non-
government organizations believe there should be cause for rejection on religious
or ethical grounds. Such nonquality or nondefect related rejection of product could
have serious implications for exporting companies. The product developer with an
eye to exploring export markets for new product expansion should be aware of
international standards and regulations.
The ISO documents, ISO 9000 to 9004, are much headier material. ISO 9000,
Quality Management and Quality Assurance Standards: Guidelines for Selection
and Use, purports “to clarify the distinctions and interrelationships among the
principal quality concepts.” It also provides guidelines for “the selection and use of
a series of International Standards on quality systems that can be used for internal
quality management purposes and for external quality assurance purposes.” ISO
9001 describes requirements for a quality system in which a contract between two
companies requires proof of the capability of the supplier to produce to the required
level of quality.
ISO 9002 lays out the requirements in a contractual arrangement whereby
the supplier must demonstrate the ability to control the process within specifica-
tions. ISO 9003 describes the necessary quality system requirements for end
product inspection and detection. ISO 9004 is really a guideline for establishing
total quality management (TQM) in a company. It provides the basis for estab-
lishing and maintaining a quality management system. TQM is described by
Shapton and Shapton (1991) and by Taylor and Leith (1991). The latter reference
is accompanied by descriptions of the application of TQM at several food plants
(pp. 21–26).
Direct application of either the Codex Alimentarius or the ISO series of docu-
ments may not be pertinent in the self-manufacture of newly developed added-value
products for domestic consumption. Where exporting is a major objective or where
companies wish to contract out the manufacture of their products to copackers
domestically or in other countries, the ISO documents may be very useful in nego-
tiations. Many companies now require that their suppliers and copackers be ISO-
certified. Possession of such certification may provide a powerful marketing edge.
Ingredient manufacturers should be aware of the ISO documents and their possible
impact on sales.
IV. SUMMARY
The foregoing description of the support roles of members of the development team
shows that there are overlapping areas for the maintenance and confirmation of
product integrity. Lawyers (Chapter 6) ascertain that the product is legally safe and
that the company has the best advice and guidance in any contractual arrangements
associated with the new product and arrangements for its manufacture, distribution,
and sale. Quality control ensures that all the necessary actions in procurement,
manufacture, and warehousing have been taken to maintain safety and quality at
desired levels.
There are gray areas of responsibilities among the roles of engineers, food
technologists, quality control personnel, and production personnel. It is the support
groups’ roles to cover all contingencies in maintaining the integrity of the product
and the safety of the customers and consumers.
The point that is important in the management of the development process is
that no opportunity should be missed to bring all the skills of the team to the process
of screening and producing the best product that meets the needs of customers and
consumers at a price the customer is willing to pay.
8 Going to Market: Success
or Failure?
… with few exceptions, marketers generally stub their toes with new product introduc-
tions …
Gershman (1990)
I. THE FINAL SCREENING

Binkerd (1975) reviewed the variety of tests that typically would have been applied
to the product so far. His list included the following: focus group interviews, concept
screenings, blind product tests, concept tests, mini-market tests, and test markets.
Table 1.5 also provides an overview of activities during development.
However one orders these schemes, the result is that development has progressed
through several stages of screening. Often the product has changed physically and
conceptually from what was initially presented because of technical limitations,
continuing market research of consumers suggesting a need for change, limitations
of production facilities, and requirements for the assurance of product integrity. The
carefully prepared kitchen samples used to test the concept and the final factory run
product are very different, and consumer tests on them are expected to be different.
Data from screening tests between the initial kitchen sample and the final realization
result in a changed product but one that is as close to the concept as possible.
II. THE TEST MARKET: WHAT IT IS

Test markets are introductions of new products into regions carefully selected for
a variety of geographical, marketing, and company reasons. The product is intro-
duced, and after a predetermined period of time for awareness, trial by consumers,
and repeat sales (the so-called ATR period), results of the test are analyzed. These
results dictate whether marketing is either continued for further data collection, or
marketing is extended into other regions, or the product launch is dropped and the
whole project reevaluated.
Test markets take many forms; indeed, it is often difficult to distinguish between
extended use tests or mini-market tests. Lord (2000) describes three classes of
market tests:
219
• Simulated test markets: a concept testing technique similar in many

respects to a focus group.
• Controlled testing: similar to the traditional test market, but the entire test
is farmed out to a market research company that manages the entire test
from distribution through to promotions.
• Traditional sell-in test marketing.
However, as Lord points out, there are many variations of each and they are not
mutually exclusive testing techniques.
A. EXAMPLES
Two examples illustrate the many different test markets that exist. Mazza (1979)
test marketed native fruit jellies in a gourmet gift pack through one retailer’s stores
in two cities in the first year of introduction. In the second year of introduction of
this seasonal product, three retail outlets were chosen and two additional cities
included. Marketing and consumer evaluations were carried out through a question-
naire accompanying each gift pack sold in both introductions. Customers completed
and returned the questionnaires. Response averaged approximately 20%; data
obtained included why the product was purchased, what attracted the purchaser to
the product, whether the purchaser would repeat purchase the product, and how the
purchaser would rate the product. This was not a highly competitive marketing
environment and demonstrates a very simple test market for the cottage trade.
Clausi (1974) describes how the General Foods Corporation moved to a test
market. After making modifications arising from the results of in-home testing, the
product was put into a test market in one or two cities. Then, depending on market
data, a move to a larger section of the country was made to evaluate both consumer
reaction to the product and awareness of the advertising and promotional campaigns.
Test market situations for small companies and large companies are very differ-
ent. Development teams of large companies are much more conservative, cautious,
and concerned with all the ramifications of making a mistake in the introduction.
This awareness of consequences permeates down the chain of development com-
mand throughout large companies; more is at stake should a blooper have been
made. People may have something to lose: their jobs. This is a very real concern of
company personnel.
Small companies have more flexibility in their introductions; they can literally
deliver and sell off the back of their company station wagons to small independent
grocers or independent franchisees. Their introductions are also more hands-on
operations, with all members of the team participating. They use sales at county
fairs or local sporting events to introduce their products or have tasting sessions at
church socials. My first introduction to retort pouch entrees was at a local county
fair where a senior member of the research and development team introducing the
product served me. McWatters et al. (1990) used a mobile kitchen traveling to local
events to evaluate consumer response to akara, a snack product.
Small companies get immediate feedback of consumer reaction to their products’
characteristics. They have the patience, the time, and the intimacy with and proximity
Going to Market: Success or Failure? 221
to their customers to develop a market; this is something the big company does not
have, particularly if they are driven by short-term gains. These smaller markets also
do not require introductory fees (slotting fees) to be paid to smaller retailers.
III. THE TEST MARKET: ITS GOALS
A test market is the first, large-scale, controlled opportunity to evaluate how cus-
tomers, consumers, retailers, and the competition will react to a new product. As
such, it is a phase, the final phase in the development process prior to a more formal
(even national) introduction. Nevertheless, many companies prefer to bypass a test
market and introduce a new product directly into its intended markets. If so, it is
now that the strategists, particularly the financial and marketing departments, assess
the results of the work of the development team.
Advertising and promotional strategies based on the targeted consumer are in
hand. The production department has filled the distribution channels, and the timing
is right for a market launch into a test market. The ball is in the marketing depart-
ment’s court. The next and final stage in development is theirs.
There is a very high cost that can amount to many hundreds of thousands to
millions of dollars involved in a test market, and it is all spent to find out everything
about the new product:
• What are the targeted customers’ and consumers’ reactions to the product
going to be? The test also evaluates the retailers’ reactions to and accep-
tance of the product and the competition’s retaliatory action.
• The technologists’ skills in developing and stabilizing a safe, nutritious,
attractive, and tasty product with a uniformly high-quality shelf life will
be evaluated by the consuming public and the company’s management.
• The production department’s ability to manufacture consistently a uni-
formly high-quality product is being tested. The production capability of
the plant is challenged to maintain regular product availability in a timely
fashion and to produce the new product as well.
• The package designer’s skill in creating a package that sells and protects
the contents is challenged.
• The warehousing and shipping department’s ability to store and distribute
the product in top quality and on time is put to the test.
• The test market verifies (or not) the marketing department’s skills with its
advertising and promotional campaigns designed for the targeted customer.
• The skills of the sales department to use the advertising materials and to
sell the product to retailers are tested.
• Management’s strategic and tactical skills at countering competitive
action, with the support of all the other members of the new product team,
are tested.
Test markets are a significant part of the screening process. They provide unique
opportunities for further study of and experimentation with the product, its package,
and the reaction of customers, consumers, and retailers to the advertising message
put forward. Developers with the support and analysis of market data are concerned
with product maintenance, that is, looking forward to how the product can be
improved, to what variations (line extensions) can be added to support it as its growth
falls off (see life cycle curves, Chapter 1). It is a very complex experiment involving
emotional, intellectual, political, and people issues.
The people element of new product introductions cannot be ignored; the personal
careers of all members of the team, but especially the technical members, are under
scrutiny and are often forfeit. It has been my experience that new products seldom
fail technically in test market, but as Gershman (1990) notes, marketing often “stubs
its toe.” Nevertheless, the technologists face more directly the stigma that somehow
it was their fault, that they could not duplicate the concept, that the concept was
good but the research and development group could not match it. The other members
of the team glide silently off to other positions within the company; the technologists
are stuck in their laboratories and pilot plants.
Consumer research is as active during a test market as it was during earlier
stages of development but is focused rather differently. The test market is used to
answer many questions: How and when does the consumer use the product? Is the
consumer misusing the product? Are preparation instructions clear? Is the product’s
message being misinterpreted? How is the customer reacting to the message? What
is the competition’s reaction? How are retailers reacting? Consumers’ reactions to,
and their usage of, the product may suggest new opportunities for repositioning a
product or indicate possible line extensions. Test markets provide excellent learning
opportunities for companies.
A. SOME CAUTIONS
The nature of test markets varies widely dependent on the type of product to be
tested and the goals of companies doing the testing. (Types of new products and
their characteristics are discussed in Chapter 1.)
Improved (reformulated) or repackaged (established) products for which new
market niches are being explored or for which new marketing strategies are being
tested, present unique test marketing situations to marketing personnel. These prod-
ucts are already established. Marketing departments are using the test markets to
seek answers to such questions as: Will changes incorporated in established products
be accepted by established consumers? Will they attract new consumers? Will new
market niches be opened?
Introduction of line extensions into test markets may backfire on the overall
marketing strategy. If already established products are valuable cash cows to com-
panies, then new line extensions may cannibalize the company’s existing bell-ringer
products. For example, a newly introduced mildly hot sauce may take sales from an
established spicy hot sauce. Rather than opening up a new market, the newly
introduced product may cut into the sales of the established product. In such a
situation, marketing personnel must carefully interpret consumer reaction to the new
product but also to the remainder of the product line. The data from test markets
must clarify what is going on in the marketplace.
TABLE 8.1
Advantages and Disadvantages of Test Markets
Advantages Disadvantages
Information about the effectiveness of product, They can be very costly ventures.
pricing, packaging, and marketing strategies is They are time consuming.
obtained. The sales force is diverted to a new product launch
Information about retail reaction is obtained. possibly to the detriment of regular, bell-ringer
Information about competitive counteraction is products.
seen and protocols can be developed to thwart the Test markets warn competition of company
competition. activity.
Development protocols are justified. A successful test market does not foretell a
successful full-scale launch.
Loss of face occurs if the test fails. This could
result in a possible poor trade reaction for other
products.
In addition, where heavy advertising pushing line extension products to con-

sumers occurs, this gives impetus to competitive me-too products from companies
wanting to capitalize on the promotion. It carries all similar products including those
of the competition.
1. The Costs: A Deterrent
Many companies challenge the value of a test market, although in truth, much of
this may center around how companies define test markets. A successful test market
is not a guarantee of a subsequent successful national or even wider regional launch.
Consequently many companies try to accomplish their new product marketing
research with alternative mini-market tests at a much smaller outlay of money than
a traditional market test (Lord, 2000).
The expense of test markets can be horrendous. Management must weigh the
marketing risks of foregoing a test market and the results it brings against the
financial burden. If the risk of omitting the test is small and if there are existing
financial constraints, it very well may be worth risking dispensing with the test
(Kraushar, 1969). If getting into the market early without alerting the competition
is important, dispensing with this expensive and time consuming exercise is a wise
move. The advantages are that 6 or more months of lead time to build a dominant
market share are gained, and expenses in excess of several hundreds of thousands
or even millions of dollars are saved. Advantages and disadvantages of test markets
are presented in Table 8.1.
B. CONSIDERATIONS FOR A SUCCESSFUL TRADITIONAL TEST MARKET

The where, when, and how of introduction are closely interwoven. Understanding
the principal elements in what Lord (2000) refers to as the traditional test market
enables a better understanding of the characteristics, concerns, shortcomings,
advantages, and pitfalls of simulated market tests and controlled test markets.
Separating these in this manner should be recognized for what it is: an explanatory
device. The nature of the product being introduced will greatly influence the answers
to these questions.
1. Where to Introduce
Marketing personnel want unbiased marketing information for making very impor-
tant economic decisions. Therefore, the location of the test market should not
introduce a bias into the data obtained. There is no area that represents a cross
section of the population with all its ethnic, religious, cultural, and economic diver-
sity. Therefore, any area chosen for the launch introduces a bias that market research-
ers must be aware of.
It is therefore necessary to be aware of what biases may be introduced. Some
issues that require consideration are:
• Is the area chosen for the test market peculiar to the company? Launching
a product into areas where the company and its products are well known
may lead to distorted sales and marketing data. In areas where the com-
pany has not been a good corporate citizen or the company is in a labor
dispute, an introduction may be influenced by the company’s reputation.
• Is the area chosen for the introduction peculiar to a competitor company
and its products? Introducing a new product into marketing areas that are
heavily saturated by a major competitor’s products is foolish unless that
head-to-head confrontation with the competitor is deliberate. This is not
usual practice. A test market is an expensive experiment; it is not the time
or the place to challenge competitors. In addition, a market dominated by
a competitor will be costly to penetrate. Heavy advertising, promotions,
and trade allowances to get shelf space or significant market penetration
will be a burden on profits. Indeed, one can expect the competition to
disrupt the test market with their marketing tactics.
• The area chosen for introduction should be one where there is a competent
sales force in position and a competent distribution system already estab-
lished. The sales and distribution team should be representative of the
company’s skills. It is the strength of the product that is being evaluated,
not a particularly skilled sales force in the chosen test market area.
• If the area chosen for the launch is dominated by large retailers or by a
single large retail chain, it may not be possible to evaluate advertising,
promotions, and sales efforts for the product. Dominance by large retailers
or by a single retailer in the test area restricts the activities of the marketing
personnel in planning promotions and advertising campaigns. Campaigns
may not be conducted as a company may wish, but as retailers want.
• Is the targeted consumer in the chosen test market area? Introduction of
products with a strong ethnic appeal in areas devoid of that ethnic group
is remarkably stupid. Likewise, introducing products aimed at an elderly
population into a growing suburban area dominated by young families

does not make much sense either.
• Does the product have a style, flavor, form, etc. foreign to food peculiarities
in the chosen test area? Some geographic areas have distinct biases for
flavors, colors, forms, or styles of products. For example, there are many
different styles of “authentic” chili: meatless, con carne with ground meat
or with chunk meat, and heat levels from mild to very hot, with each
popular in different areas of the country. Likewise, pizza has many varia-
tions of styles of crust and shapes, for which there are regional preferences.
Each area with its unique style considers that style to be the authentic one.
Strong regional preferences based on the local variant (which is the crite-
rion) will weigh against new products which do not conform.
• Test market areas should not be dominated by mono-economies; that is,
the area should have a mixed economy. The economic health of an area
influences the buying habits of consumers. In economically depressed
areas, consumers may not be willing to try new products that are perceived
as luxury items or may not purchase higher priced products in which the
added value is not appreciated. Nevertheless, marketing departments
should take cognizance of the economic mix of communities where new
products are planned when interpreting market data.
A test market should be viewed as a carefully designed experiment based on a

marketing plan to obtain as much marketing, sales, and consumer research data
about the product as possible. The company must adhere to the plan as closely as
possible. Some flexibility is required because the test market launch will alert
competitors, who can be expected to retaliate in some manner that is planned to
seriously bias the test market results.
Small companies rarely have any geographic area that is peculiar to them. They
usually test market locally within range of their factories to keep costs low and to
avoid stretching their distribution resources to the limit. Usually too, they use their
own sales forces. They are rarely poor corporate citizens, and often their tactics in
test markets, even those dominated by a single competitor, go unchallenged or even
unnoticed. This is not so with large companies.
Small companies are at a distinct disadvantage in trying to introduce products
where a large retailer dominates. The manner in which large retailers conduct their
purchasing does not favor new introductions by unknown or one-product companies
without heavy advertising support. For small companies, introductions are usually
done with little fanfare in small independent grocery stores.
2. When to Introduce
The seasonality of products dictates when test markets are carried out. Promoting a
hot soup in the summertime or promoting ice cream or frozen yogurt when the snow
is flying outdoors are inappropriate times for the introduction of these products. It
is not weather alone that determines seasonality. Products associated with national,
ethnic, or religious holidays should be introduced at their appropriate times.
Promoting seafood products during, for example, the American Thanksgiving period
is inappropriate. The Christmas period presents some interesting anomalies, and the
development team had better be aware of these if their product is Christmas oriented.
There are geographic, ethnic, and traditional variations (perhaps these could all be
classed as traditional). For some communities, fish is traditional fare at Christmas;
my daughter informed me of the scarcity of turkeys at Christmas time in the Hamilton
area around the end of Lake Ontario where ham is the traditional fare. In other areas
goose or turkey is the festive fare. It would be unwise to introduce ham-based
products (ham rolls, smoked ham, etc.) in a fish-fare area or to introduce turkey
rolls, smoked or otherwise, in a ham-preferring area.
The return to school, with the need to pack school lunches, is an ideal time to
introduce nutritional snack products. Summer leisure activities are associated with
foods such as salads, prepared meats, dips and the like, marinades, and barbecue
items designed for outdoor activities or patio living. Winter outdoor activities bring
in an entirely different range of products. The timing for the test market, the food
itself, and the activity associated with it must fit as appropriately, for example, as
hot and hearty soups, cheese fondues, and liqueur-flavored coffees or hot chocolate
drink mixes for the après-ski crowd.
3. The Length of the Test Market Period
When to market is closely related to another question concerning time: how long
should test markets be continued before an evaluation is made? The simple answer
is that the test market should continue until reliable data has been obtained to evaluate
sales volumes, the effectiveness of advertising and promotional strategies, and cus-
tomer, consumer, and retailer response. Test markets must be long enough to measure
the consumers’ reactions to the product. This period must include sell-in to the trade,
promotion, first purchase by consumers, and repeat purchases. Time is necessary to
establish a pattern of purchasing both by the trade and customers. The nature of the
product determines its usage rate and hence determines the frequency of repeat
purchases to be made. Further time is required to analyze data and get information
back to marketing personnel and the other members of the development team for
any refinement of marketing strategy.
Too long in a limited test market without capitalizing on the advantages of early
introduction serves no useful purpose either. Lead time is lost. Copycat products are
introduced in other market areas by the competition; they get market share in these
new areas and make further market penetration and expansion difficult. The team
must remember that timing is very important and lengthy test markets are expensive.
4. Disruptive and Unexpected Elements in Test Markets
The best laid plans, however, can have a monkey wrench tossed in the works. Events
in international trade, world agricultural pricing structures, or other events in the
food industry can produce a short-term alteration in political events, in consumption
patterns, or in the economics of an industry. Shortages can occur, with the resultant
increase in raw material prices. Company management need to have their antennae
out for unusual developments in commodities, government activities, and any unto-
ward activities that could thwart markets in which they are introducing products.
For example,
the introductory test market launch of a precooked (microwaved) bacon product was
seriously disrupted for a subsidiary of Imasco Foods Ltd. when the availability of pork
bellies declined and prices rose. Estimated costs for the finished product went above
a price that marketing felt would discourage purchases.
In a similar occurrence, pricing for a newly introduced blended (sunflower seed oil
with olive oil) salad and cooking oil was sent tumbling when Russia flooded the market
with sunflower seed oil that had previously been high priced; we were left with
expensive sunflower seed oil in stock when the price dropped. Countries can place
trade embargoes on goods or buy up stocks, causing temporary shortages; consequently,
prices rise. Then they flood the markets at the higher prices with the shorted commod-
ities and reap the benefits of the higher prices; then prices are driven down.
Nature can play a role, but how to be prescient about nature is unknown.
Natural disasters and, in less sensational fashion, weather events play a short-term
economic role in raw material shortages. A highly successful hot sauce was seriously
disrupted in its second year of production when rainy weather inundated the pepper-
growing areas in California, and the hot peppers were unavailable.
Many such short-term events greatly influence the timing of test markets and
can be very disruptive of tests already underway. When shortages of raw materials
occur, extensive reformulation is required and pricing schedules are thrown off.
5. How to Introduce
How to get products introduced can be a problem for both small and large companies.
Small and comparatively unknown companies find it difficult to get shelf space,
sometimes difficult even to get an appointment with the purchasing agent of a large
retail food chain.
Stores are becoming much more hard nosed about new product introductions.
New products take away space from products with proven sales records. Stores
want to eliminate slow moving items with poor margins. They are, therefore,
reluctant to take on new products unless they are assured of good margins, rapid
inventory turnover, and advertising and promotional support. A Catch-22 situation
can result: products that stores want can only be developed by market testing, but
stores are reluctant to give manufacturers the shelf space they need for market
testing of new products.
New product introductions by large companies are accompanied by extensive
advertising and promotions. There may be in-store demonstrations; couponing in
magazines, newspapers, and door-to-door fliers; piggyback offers; and special pric-
ing offers. Small companies cannot afford this.
Advertising and promotional activities must be measured for their impact on the
introductions of products in any marketing area. Introductory promotions to con-
sumers (and to the trade) are one-time events. Heavy introductory promotions cannot
be carried out throughout the product’s life cycle.
To interpret the volume of sales of the initial introductory period, the marketing
department must understand the impact of in-store promotions, demonstrations, and
couponing activity on sales; it must be aware of the price differential vis-à-vis the
competition and know what the competition was, or was not, doing during this period.
6. What Product to Market?
First impressions of products and people are always important. It can be very difficult
to change these; this is especially true of first impressions in the marketplace.
All too often, a company will introduce a product in a specially designed package
or even as a specially manufactured product. It is not the normal product consumers
will see in repeat sales. Use of specially packaged product during an introduction
can be a disaster. Consumers have been introduced to, have become accustomed to,
or have come to expect, something specific; customers have been educated to a
particular price, package, and product. Retailers have come to expect certain price
deals and promotional support. A new package or modified product constitutes a
new product. Data obtained on the sales of the product originally introduced may
not be valid for this changed final product.
The test market must be carried out with the same product as the factory will
run. The impact on retailers, consumers, and customers of pricing deals, couponing,
special packaging, and other promotional gimmickry necessary in marketing intro-
ductions, but not permanent features that will continue throughout the life cycle of
the product, must be clearly understood.
IV. EVALUATING THE RESULTS

At some stage during the test market period, there must inexorably come a time of
reckoning, of evaluation while marketing of the product continues. Kraushar (1969)
discusses problems with using test markets as predictive tools and makes apparent
why many companies choose to skip them as too expensive for the information they
provide; these companies may prefer to use other means to get predictive data.
A. THE MARKET: MISINTERPRETED AND MISUNDERSTOOD

The previous sections described many factors that can influence the results of test
markets. Data can be easily misinterpreted. The natural desire to want to see the
product succeed can color judgment. Interpretation is a task not to be taken lightly.
Clausi (1971), detailing errors in interpreting marketing data during the introduction
of a dry cereal with freeze-dried fruit, commented that “the strong initial purchase
pattern coupled with overwhelming consumer acceptance of the concept tended to
obscure the significance of the negative evidence.” In short, they erred. Repeat sales
were flat. Negative signs were misinterpreted.
… wisdom comes to us when it can no longer do any good.
Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
Enthusiasm for the project perhaps carries the team away.
1. Dynamism and Interrelationships in the Marketplace
Why are consumer research and test market data so easily misinterpreted? First, all
the forces at play in the marketplace are difficult to research practically, to measure
quantitatively, and to understand intellectually. There is the behavior of both the
customer and the consumer, the receptiveness of the retailer, the activities of the
manufacturer, the activity of the competition during the test market to determine,
and advances in technology that affect all to understand and counter. All data
obtained must be read against the backdrop of this complex behavior. In Figure 8.1
the major protagonists, the food manufacturer, the retailer, the customer, the con-
sumer, and the all-surrounding competition, interacting within any marketplace and
adding to the complexity of the marketplace (see also Fuller, 2001), are depicted.
Food
Manufacturer
Competition
D C
G
Seller
H I F Consumer
(Retailer)
E
A B
Customer
FIGURE 8.1 The major protagonists and their interactions within the various marketplaces.
(Adapted from Fuller, G.W., Food, Consumers, and the Food Industry: Catastrophe or Oppor-
tunity?, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2001. With permission.)
In Figure 8.1 the complexity surrounding test markets that must be understood
begins to emerge. Very distinct marketing arenas become evident. These are:
• (A) The seller–customer interface: There is direct interaction between the

seller and customer. There can be several types of interactions here
depending on who the seller and customer are and in what marketplace
they are interacting.
• (B) Customer–consumer interrelations: The gatekeeper and user interac-
tions that define usage, desire, cost, and other product characteristics.
• (C) The consumer–manufacturer interaction: This is the dominant inter-
action in new product development.
• (D) The manufacturer–seller interaction: It is here that selling policies are
dictated, pricing and distribution defined, and in general, trade relations
are established. These can be very complex depending on who the man-
ufacturer and the seller are. Sellers, especially the large chain stores, may
have supply chain management or order management policies in place
with manufacturers.
• (E) The customer–consumer–seller interface: Most selling takes place here
as typified by the mother with children in tow shopping in a supermarket.
However, it can be much more complex, for example, the interrelation-
ships between the engineer, his vice president of finance, and the technical
sales representative of a food equipment manufacturer at an exhibition
booth at a trade fair with their goal to negotiate the purchase of equipment
for product development.
• (F) Customer–consumer–manufacturer interrelations: Most marketing
research takes place here; promotional campaigns are developed here also.
• (G) The consumer–manufacturer–seller arena: Media and promotional
campaigns are tested and used.
• (H) The manufacturer–seller–customer arena: Here there are mutual
efforts by the manufacturer and the seller to attract the customer.
• (I) The main selling arena where all interactions are present.
Within this diagram all the interfaces can be seen that influence and hence must be
reckoned with in any new product introduction, whether into a test market or into
a major launch.
Against these interfaces and interfering with them as much as possible is the
competition. How active or inactive (a rare event) is the competitor?
A colleague informed me of a test market conducted by one company when that

company’s competition was suffering through a strike. No competitive product was on
the market; of course, sales were excellent and repeat sales good throughout the lengthy
shutdown. This strike at the competitor’s plant was ignored in the assessment of the
new product launch — a disastrous miscalculation. If there is inactivity on the part of
the competition, then why? Was the competitor shut down for any reason during the
test market period?
Was the competitor buying up product either for chemical analysis, for their
own test purposes (to get their own test information of consumer reaction), or
simply to foul up the sales volume figures and so cause misinterpretation of sales
data? Knowing what consumers are doing and how they are reacting to a new
product is valuable information both to the company doing the test market and to
the competition. It cannot be overemphasized: knowing what the competition is
doing is vitally important.
2. Personal Opinions, Biases, and Self-Deception
Personal feelings and emotions can frequently blind the team to the reality of test
market data. Product managers and marketing personnel, in particular, become
emotionally attached to pet product development projects that perhaps they, or others,
overpromoted to superiors during earlier phases of development. Justification for
past actions may be read into their interpretation of the introductory results. Emotions
must be kept out of the interpretation of data.
Even with all the data from the test market in place, the science of consumer
research is still not precise enough to prevent misinterpretation of the information
obtained from that data. The complexity of the test market, no matter how carefully
designed the test is, is subject to all the interfaces seen in Figure 8.1. This, combined
with the imprecision of consumer research science and the strategic goals of senior
management, confound many test market results. In short, errors in interpreting test
market results arise from a lack of objectivity by the interpreters of the data or from
the highly subjective views and feelings for the project held by the interpreters of
the data, from marketplace interactions that confound the data, and from the tools
that are used to measure that data and their imprecision.
3. Criteria for Evaluation
Criteria for evaluating whether the launch was a success or failure must be estab-
lished. Different criteria will be used according to the objectives of the company
performing the test market launch.
Four measures can be used:
• Payback: When will there be profits? Is the company strong enough

financially to wait for greater returns, or does a short-term payback men-
tality prevail in senior management? An unrealistically short time frame
to achieve a satisfactory rate of return has been the downfall of many new
product ventures. The interpretation of “unrealistically short” rests with
the financial personnel in the company.
• Sales volume: Will sales volume goals or targeted percentage share of
market or even significant market penetration be achieved? Will these
criteria meet the company’s objectives? Case movements must mean profit
for the company and not disappearance in ill-advised promotions.
• Consumer reaction: Did consumers like the product? How can this be
capitalized on (product maintenance)? Can simple strategies be applied
to improve consumer reaction?
• Tactics: Being there in the market is the thing. Did this introduction
preempt action by the competition, increase market share, provide market
penetration, or satisfy the strategic marketing goals of the company?
The first two measures are very similar. One says it in money; the second uses
case volume and share of market. The third is technical and asks whether product
maintenance can initiate a family of products to capitalize on and support a new
product line based on the introduction. The final measure is much harder to assess.
The second measure is perhaps a better measure of trade acceptance than the
first. Nevertheless, it does require some caution in interpretation. If projections
indicate the volume of units sold are related to enthusiastic consumer acceptance
and repeat sales, then appreciable economies of production can be anticipated by
scaling up manufacturing. Usually, on the evidence of learning curves, more units
of a product can be made more economically than fewer units of the same thing
(Malpas, 1977). This, in turn, will influence the rate of return of investment as
manufacturing costs go down.
The volume of sales must be examined very carefully to determine precisely
what it means. If these sales are consumer sales, this is a positive factor in interpreting
the results of the test market. If they are merely case movements between warehouses
or buy-up by the competition, sales volume could be deceptive for interpreting the
results. The following incident describes one such event.
I was on an acquisition study on the west coast. My object was a company that was
test marketing a line of pouch-packed entree items. My company was interested in the
product and the company. The product was being test marketed in three large super-
markets in Vancouver. Prior to my meeting with the principals, I purchased two cases
each of the four flavors for shipment to our laboratory in Montreal. Much to my surprise,
during my meeting the next day with the president of the company, he regaled me with
the tale of more than eight cases of product being sold in one store, so great was the
demand for the product! What chaos would I have made of this company’s sales
statistics had I been a rival!
The third measure is an assessment of consumer reaction to the product. The

test market is a commercial experiment in consumer studies. The reason why the
consumer is buying the product and how the consumer is using the product, that is,
the context of product use, is valuable. Can the context indicate strengths of the
product to be capitalized upon? Are refinements needed or future line extensions
justified? Is promotion and advertising directed properly? Should other market niches
be explored? Weaknesses in the product need to be ferreted out by consumer research
and eliminated before new marketing strategies are undertaken.
The last measure is more in the nature of a business tactic, a strategic tactic
forced on the company. A product may be introduced or positioned to counter the
activity of a competitor or to establish a position in a particular niche. Success would
be measured by whatever small share of market could be gained as a foothold for

strategic or tactical purposes at a later date. The company feels that it cannot
relinquish a position in the marketplace; that is, the company must be seen and heard
in this particular market niche.
4. Applying the Criteria
Small companies are more flexible about how they apply the criteria to measure
success or failure. If each week more units are sold than the week before and the
reports back from the marketplace say consumers like the product, then that product
is usually considered a success. Small companies are generally less concerned with
the element of market share that large companies use to define success; how much
market share was obtained is not a question small companies ask themselves. Small
companies demonstrate more patience and attempt more fine tuning of the product
as sales and development proceed hand in hand.
Consequently, new product development costs in small companies cannot be
determined with accuracy. Presidents of small companies are quite content to pay
their bills and have an increasing bit left over each week. Financial criteria are not
stringently applied because budgets for research and development in small compa-
nies are frequently not separated out as in large companies. These costs are bundled
together with either quality control (usually the seat of research and development)
or production expenses.
B. JUDGMENT DAY: THE EVALUATION

At the conclusion of any test market, all data, both subjective and objective, related
to the product and the marketplace are gathered and analyzed. Questions related to
the product itself, its protective package, the label, preparation or recipe instructions,
pricing, and positioning of the product need to be asked. Salesmen must be inter-
viewed. The need for changes in the product, the process, or the package must be
reviewed to determine what changes, if any, should be made based on customer,
consumer, and retailer reaction.
Whether the test market was a success or a failure and the reasons for its success
or failure need to be examined. If reasons for the success of a product can be clearly
determined, perhaps they could be applied in the future to other products.
If the product is a failure, the same canvassing of information is required. Now
the question is, “Why? What went wrong?” What elements of consumer research,
technical development, and analysis of data led to the failure? It is not a hunt for a
scapegoat. These exercises should not be witch hunts. Too often, unfortunately, this
backward look turns into a witch hunt, with everyone trying to obfuscate the facts,
pointing fingers all too often at the research and development group, with the result
that nothing is learned. The search should be for flawed systems or faulty information
that led to incorrect decision making.
An apologia is required here. Often in a product failure, it is overtly or covertly
suggested that the product could have been better somehow and research and devel-
opment is blamed. The stigma of failure sits with the technologists. Others on the
TABLE 8.2
Elements in the Success or Failure of New Food Product Introductions
According to Some Sources
Best’s 4
plus 1 P’s Gershman’s
Kraushar (1969) (1989) 12 P’s (1990) Morris (1993) Wang (1999)
Product not Product. Perception. Inadequate market Lack of funding for

appropriate. Place. Pitch. research: no market long-term innovative
Product is faddish. Price. Packaging. need or changing research: short-term
Timing is wrong. Promotion. Price. needs. goals.
Pricing is wrong. Perspective. Promotion. Management: no Time pressures in days
Too high or too low Promises. commitment with or weeks rather than
Product is wrong. Piggybacking. budget and resources; months or years:
Does not perform Positioning. no clear strategic emphasis on line
Not significantly Placement. focus. extensions.
different from Premiums. Risk aversion and Career risk in pursuing
competition Publicity. short-term innovation.
Poor communication Perseverance. orientation: me-too Poor recognition of
of suitable image. products; line skills for
Lack of objectivity. extensions. development.
Poor fit with in-house Poor management of
capabilities. development skills.
No formal new Cannibalization of
product development existing products.
process. Wrong research:
established brands
cloud new research
thinking.
development team, who may equally have contributed to the failure of the product,
usually have other avenues to pursue within the extensive framework of the large
company; the failure does not blight their future. Not so the technologists; to pursue
their chosen career paths they must stay within research and development. The stigma
remains until it is washed off with a success; the pressure is on the technologists,
but the reader should note Gershman’s remarks at the start of this chapter.
V. FAILURES IN THE MARKETPLACE

Most frequently, much of the success or failure of a new product hinges on elements
outside research and development. These elements are all in the realm of marketing.
Kraushar (1969), Best (1989a), Gershman (1990), Morris (1993), and Wang (1999)
have each described these (Table 8.2), with both Best and Gershman facetiously
calling them the P’s of marketing. A closer examination of all these authors’ terms
reveals they are all variations on a theme. Best takes the hallowed four P’s (product,
place, price, and promotion) to add perspective. Gershman splits the traditional four
— one can only with difficulty distinguish between promotion, publicity, piggyback-
ing, and premiums. Kraushar’s “lack of objectivity” deserves some further comment.
Simply put, it is the inability to or unpopularity of saying “no.” Saying “no” in the
face of the development team’s enthusiasm is hard, especially if some problems
appear in the research (see earlier Clausi, 1971). Often, as Kraushar comments, these
snags are minimized in the spirit of keenness of the moment.
Wang (1999) weighs in vaguely against management as a dominant factor in
product failures. He provides a murky distinction between placing the blame at
senior management’s doorstep and at the product or brand management’s level (the
vagueness is due to the varied nomenclature of positions within companies).
Hollingsworth (1994) reported on the top four reasons for product failure as
reported by Group EFO Ltd.:
• Strategic direction
• Product did not deliver promise (more P’s)
• Positioning (still more P’s)
• No competitive point of difference
From these opinions gathered from company executives, it would seem that
nothing has changed since 1969 when Kraushar lashed out at these same reasons
for failure. He could not understand how failures could happen in large companies
with money and supposedly sophisticated and experienced marketing teams and
could only lump the reasons together in his lack of objectivity category above (see
“Personal Opinions, Biases, and Self-Deception” above).
Silver (2003a) lists the seven deadly sins of product development in a true biblical
style with “thou shalt not” phrases. Her “laws,” less biblically rephrased, are:
• Management commitment is essential. Proceeding without the full support

of management is a signal of trouble.
• The formulator’s dilemma in attempting to replicate cooking techniques
should not be ignored. Scale-up from kitchen top samples to the pilot
plant to the plant-scale production has difficulties.
• The sophisticated palates of consumers should not be belittled or ignored.
They know quality.
• Cost-cutting methods should not be applied to testing. This is not the time
or place to cut costs and take short cuts with necessary testing.
• Packaging should not be skimped on since it must sell the product. In
addition, with packaging “form should follow function.”
• Marketing should not be skimped on.
• Weak projects should be killed early.
Despite Silver’s light-handed approach her points are not trivial.

Most new food products fail to survive their first year in the marketplace. This
is a staggering loss of the time and effort of skilled personnel; of monies spent in
consumer research, equipment, ingredients, and packaging material; and on monies
spent on advertising and promotion. Careful consumer research, thorough collection
of data and unbiased, detached, and unemotional interpretation of the data, coupled
with sound product development work, should have made failure most unlikely.
Hindsight, unfortunately, provides better vision than foresight. Hindsight allows one
to make generalizations (or speculations) on what went wrong, and these observa-
tions need to be used to improve techniques for future development.
A. CAUSES OF FAILURE
An in-depth study of why a new product succeeded would have been a much more
valuable contribution to an understanding of new food product development. One
would then be equipped with guidelines to follow for future product development:
a series of “if this, then that” conditions would simplify the process of development.
Causes of failure merely provide developers with a series of “don’ts.” However,
predicting the success or failure of any product against the volatility of the consumer
in a changing marketplace is still an art. As Clausi (1971) might have said, reading
all the evidence correctly, including the negative evidence, will lead to success.
It is difficult to classify the reasons for a product’s failure (Table 8.2) and harder
still to pinpoint a particular product’s failure and put these easily and neatly into
pigeon holes, as Clausi (1971) found. Clausi, in describing one particular failure,
could only suggest that the signals from the marketplace were misinterpreted.
Signals are rarely objective and therefore require subjective interpretation with all
the baggage this implies. How does this interpretation of failure fit among those
listed in Table 8.2? An examination of specific product failures provides a very
broad overview of probable causes, from which only generalizations arise. One
cannot apply the generalizations at the start of the development process or at any
other point up to and including the test market and say that this product or that
product will fail because….
Simplistically, the causes for failure are broadly classified as those the company
could not have done anything about and those they might have done something
about. The former are reasons or causes beyond the control of the company and
usually are external to it. (But should not the company have been aware of their
weaknesses and been forewarned?) The latter are causes usually found within the
company. These internal causes for product failure are not always manageable, for
various company reasons.
Many small problems only partly assignable as either external or internal can
trigger the failure of a product. Separating reasons into categories such as external
and internal cannot always be done with clarity. For instance, too small a market
(an external reason) can be a cause for a product’s failure (see next section). That
is a reason beyond the company’s control. But if that were the case, should not
marketing personnel have seen there was too small a market? Were the marketing
capabilities and resources within the company incompetent or inadequate or both
(internal reasons)? How else would marketing research have failed to determine the
magnitude of the market beforehand?
Thus, if one states baldly that one reason is external one must, equally, under-
stand that an internal reason may have contributed directly or indirectly to it.
1. External Reasons for Product Failure
After products have been introduced, marketing personnel may find that markets for
them are too small. Growth potentials would be limited; possibilities of recovering
development costs would be minimal. In certain markets, this knowledge may come
unexpectedly. For example, changes in the purchasing policies of governments with
respect to institutional buying for the military, for government-run correctional
institutions or prisons, or for school meal programs may suddenly and abruptly be
altered and the size of a market may change. Nevertheless, companies servicing
such markets should keep themselves informed of pending government changes by
close liaison (networking) with their government contacts.
Markets controlled by a dominant competitor are difficult to get footholds in.
Companies introducing new products find themselves not just battling for customers
but battling with competitors. For example, a dominant competitor is in a position
to control, influence, or buy retailers so as to limit shelf space exposure for rival
products. Consumer acceptance is too costly if advertising and promotional dollars
have to counteract retaliatory action by the competitor.
Domination of markets by a single customer (e.g., the military, penal institutions,
or large fast food chains) can present severe challenges to companies introducing
new products into those markets. The cooperation of customers (retailers) is always
essential, but when suggestions from customers become directions, then the situation
can be fraught with stumbling blocks. After all, companies, not customers, have
spent the development dollars and will risk most in a failure. But the dominant
customer has the greatest say in pricing and marketing stategies in general. The tail,
that is, the customer, wags the dog, the developer. The food service industry is one
where this problem is apt to arise. The immense buying power of some retail chains
has permitted them to dictate to producers what products and what development
they want and at what price they want this for their marketing purposes.
There are product-related reasons for failure in the marketplace. With the intro-
duction of a me-too product into a market that is saturated with similar products,
consumers will refuse to buy another brand or variation if they cannot see a point
of difference between it and already established products. The problem is perhaps
beyond the control of the developing company; no one could have foretold the
flooding of the market with copycat products, but close observation of the market-
place may have indicated some saturation. Markets do fragment and may provide a
special marketing niche for new me-too type products.
Where technical novelty has been designed into a product and this technology
is the dominant message to the consumer throughout introduction, the consumer can
be forgiven for questioning, “So what?” “What advantages are there for me?” New
forms of a product such as frozen for canned, tablets for powders, aerosols for
liquids, and so on may fail disastrously if the consumer cannot see the advantage
being offered or if the advantage (point of difference) over other similar products
is insignificant. Flavored ketchups have not been successful for this reason, and all
indications that I have received indicate that colored ketchups are not the success
they were touted as, but this may be regional.
Products ahead of their time or for which consumers were not previously pre-
pared have poor chances of getting market acceptance. They meet consumer resis-
tance because consumers have not been adequately educated to their possibilities.
Arguably, one might consider this an internal reason for a market failure, one within
the control of the company; marketing personnel did not promote the product
correctly. On the other hand, educating customers and consumers is costly since
they can be quite quixotic. There is a danger here: why educate customers and
consumers only to have a competitor reap the benefits with me-too products?
2. Internal Reasons for Product Failure
It is too glib to state plainly and simply that the intrinsic reasons a company fails
to launch a new product successfully are a series of bad management decisions with
the addition of a little bad communication. Failure can be said to occur because of
the inability of management to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of their
company. Consequently, management fails to understand what business the company
is in. Hence clear company objectives are not available to direct growth and new
product development — so the logical progression of thinking goes.
Marketing and research and development resources are not adequately developed
unless there are clear company objectives. Obviously, if a company’s marketing
department is incapable of or incompetent at conducting reliable market and con-
sumer research — a subjective evaluation a company must make prior to committing
any research and development efforts to the project — new products are apt to fail.
More damning, the company’s marketing people may be unable to recognize their
own shortcomings. This is unfortunate since many independent market research
companies are available that could assist. However, one must question how much
value would be gained if the internal marketing resources were so incompetent that
they could not appreciate, understand, or communicate with the external resource.
Lack of production capacity can be a cause of product failure. If retailers cannot
get product on time to stock their shelves because the plant cannot produce enough
to satisfy demand, then customers and consumers cannot get product, and the impetus
of the launch has been lost. Buyers, users, and retailers will lose interest. Again,
one must question the lack of foresight in management not to have seen the likelihood
of this and backed up production capacity with production contracted to copackers.
Unnatural adherence to and support for a project (unnatural in the face of negative
evidence for its continuation) is, perhaps, more readily understood than the other
causes for failure because of the human element entangled in it. People, whether in
small or large companies, can become emotionally involved in their projects. It is
their pet project, their baby. Their rather illogical reasoning goes something like this:
too much money has been spent to stop the project now, so spend more monies to
rescue the project. It is like the gambler who gambles more money to recover his
losses. Costs need to be regularly evaluated to prevent their escalation.
A product can fail for technical reasons. It simply does not perform as promised
or does not live up to the standards promised or as the customer and consumer had
expected, that is, contrary to what promotions promised. This is missed communi-
cation. The cause for the poor performance could be inherent in the product itself.
That is, it was poorly designed. Or one of its ingredients was not correctly chosen
or the packaging failed to give the proper protection.
It is an oversimplification to suggest that there are only two reasons for the
failure of a new product. Nevertheless, there can be a great deal of truth in such a
generalization. These two reasons are
Expecting too much

Not being lucky
The first, expecting too much, does not happen to companies whose objectives are
based on a realistic assessment of their companies’ strengths and realistic financial
and marketing objectives. Good luck, or whatever one wishes to call it, comes more
regularly, rather than randomly, to companies that utilize their resources well in
order to research markets, consumers, and their products. At the very least those
companies will reduce their margins of error.
3. Product Maintenance: Salvaging Failure

Kraushar (1969) makes an interesting point that should have been considered in
product design. The growth curve for any product eventually displays a flat, no-
growth phase that is usually followed by a dying away phase when no amount of
promotion can liven up sales. The costs of promotion are prohibitive. He suggests
that before any new product is launched, that is, during development, a product
maintenance program should have been set up. Product maintenance programs are
designed to make improvements in the product and are used, when sales stagnate,
to pep the product up. They suggest new uses for the product, appeal to a new
customer niche, or contribute unique added value. Product maintenance programs
are an integral part of the development process and useful in retooling a failed
product introduction.
9 Going Outside for New
Product Development
Learn from the mistakes of others — you can never live long enough to make them
all yourself.
Anonymous
Joint ventures are almost always bad. At worst, both parents neglect the stepchild in
favour of their own.
R. Townsend, Up the Organisation
The sage in his attempt to distract the mind of the empire seeks urgently to muddle it.
The people all have something to occupy their eyes and ears, and the sage treats them
all like children.
Lao Tzu, Book 2, Tao Te Ching
I. A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE

Each of the above quotes contains advice for and warnings about going outside for
help. It is very difficult to discuss going outside for assistance in development,
however, without clearly understanding the following terms:
• Outsourcing
• Joint ventures
• Partnerships
• Hiring of consultants
They all describe working relationships, some without contractual obligations,

with an outside resource, and all have similar features in practice. Closely allied
with these are customer–supplier relationships (a form of joint venture) and copacker
relationships. These too, have contractual arrangements and frequently play a role
in new product development when the supplier and copacker provide their skill and
expertise to the design and development of the process.
241
A. OUTSOURCING
Outsourcing is a comparatively new term but a very old business practice. Food
companies have outsourced some of their activities for many years. For example, it
has been normal practice to use trucking firms and customs brokers for distribution.
A simple extension of this thinking was to use a third party warehouse (i.e., distri-
bution center). This distribution center supplies much more than simple storage; it
provides inventory control, invoicing of goods, and electronic data tracking of goods
that allow improved distribution efficiencies, reduced capital costs for warehousing
facilities (since these are shared with other companies), reduced staffing costs, and
thereby lower overhead costs. Information technology and with it intelligence gath-
ering are expanding so rapidly that they are commonly outsourced to companies
more skilled in the operation of these technologies. By outsourcing, it is reasoned
that the client has more time and resources to concentrate on its core business while
experts take care of the outsourced work.
Thus, the nub of the argument for outsourcing is revealed. For distribution it
means the task of logistics is left to the logistics professionals; information technol-
ogy and telecommunications are farmed out to experts in these fields. Other services
that are often outsourced are legal matters; accounting; public relations and adver-
tising for radio, television, and newspapers; and more mundane activities such as
general cleaning (grounds maintenance, landscaping, and office cleaning), plant
security, and laundry services. The general area of outsourcing, then, might be
interpreted as the use of expert services for specific tasks (consulting services).
The services that are peripheral to the company’s core activities are contracted
out to others who can do the services more adroitly. The company’s core activities
are defined as servicing its customers. One keeps the practices unique to the business,
that is, those activities that make money for the client. Green (1996) suggests
outsourcing can optimize return on investment capital. He does caution, however,
that this will occur “in the right circumstances.” Patterson and Haas (1999) warn
that only those functions with clearly defined boundaries (they suggest nutrient
analysis, for example) and that need little cooperative participation between the
principles should be outsourced.
1. Cutting to the Core: Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages seen by Green are presented in Table 9.1. It is important to note, though,
that these advantages accrue in the right circumstances. The first three in the table
are simply restatements of cost reductions that result from staff cuts; obviously if a
department devoted to a particular activity is outsourced, there will be a saving
because of reduced staff. The last two suggest that the company outsourcing some
of its activities undergoes a degree of streamlining similar to that of the company
providing the outsourcing activity and that this is advantageous. This is certainly
not a logical extension of thought; it also might indicate an abrogation of managerial
responsibility for those activities that have been outsourced by the company.
I encountered an example of this in a company I consulted for.
Going Outside for New Product Development 243
TABLE 9.1
Advantages of Outsourcing
Outsourced activity is trimmed (streamlined) or improved by experts in the outsourced fields.
There is consolidation of outsourced activities from a multitude of sites to one central location with staff
cuts.
Information technology (for one) is consolidated and integrated onto a single platform (again with staff
cuts).
There is a concomitant reengineering of business and information technology systems to reduce errors,
duplication of work, and “non-value added activities” and to generally streamline tasks to increase speed
and reduce costs.
There is a restructuring of internal support systems in order for them to be similar to those of a supplier
to outsourced activities. That is, the company’s internal support systems are streamlined to resemble
the company to which it has outsourced some of its activities.
From Green, C., Food in Canada, 56, 8, 1996.
They had outsourced plant sanitation and clean-up to a company specializing in this
activity. No check-up on the efficacy of sanitation was performed. “It was in good
hands.” The sanitary cleaning company fell on bad times and cut back on its services,
with the result that my client experienced spoilage problems. It is absolutely necessary
to monitor how well outsourced activities are being carried out. My client was at fault
for not maintaining managerial responsibility over plant sanitation.
The main resource the company has is people; if these are outsourced, what does
the company possess; where do innovation and creativity come from but from people?
Cutting to the core business may have benefits, provided the management knows
what its core business is. A “lean and mean” philosophy can result in an emasculated
structure unable to achieve anything resembling active product development based
on sound customer, consumer, market, and technological research.
B. OUTSOURCING, CONSULTING, PARTNERING, AND JOINT

VENTURES
The similarities between outsourcing and consulting are obvious, so much so that
one may consider one as a variant of the other. In outsourcing, a client depends on
an individual or company to provide a necessary service that meets an agreed upon
standard or level of service, that is, solution of a problem or performance of a service.
Outsourced services are usually contracted for periods of a year or more. In some
outsourced activities such as telecommunications and information technology these
contracts may amount to many millions of dollars and continue for several years;
the contracts can be extremely complex legal documents. For example, it is reported
in The Gazette, Montreal, for December 3, 2003, that Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.
has outsourced its computer and technology section to IBM Canada Ltd. for $200
million in a 7-year contract.
In contrast, a consultant is seldom kept beyond the duration of the task at hand
unless that consultant is paid on a retainer basis to provide a continuing service or
to be available at a moment’s notice. The relationships in outsourcing can take the
form of contracted services, joint ventures, or partnerships. Which they are depends
on the circumstances and the services. The service provider is responsible for
delivering a product (service) of high quality and free from error that is both on
time and within the standards described in the contract. The buyer of the service
rids itself of both responsibility and accountability for performing the function; it
is in the hands of experts.
Partnering is the joining together of two or more companies in a contractual
agreement; the activities of all are complementary, and by working cooperatively
they benefit one another. An example, provided and described by Kuhn (1998b), is
a partnering of a flour milling and bakery operation, a processed meat company, and
a pizza manufacturer with a combined operation centrally located; another example
is a cocoa bean processing plant entering into a partnership to supply a confectioner
with chocolate. Flavor houses often enter into partnerships with their clients in the
development of a particular flavor for a new product the client is developing; supplier
and customer collaborate and develop a trusting business relationship. None are
rivals, and proximity benefits all parties.
Williams (2002) describes partnering between customer and vendor and building
a relationship between customer and supplier, in this instance, between a customer
(client) and a flavor house (consultant) for flavor development. Williams enumerates
in detail the requirements for making such a partnering successful by knowing what
both the client and the supplier want from such a relationship for product develop-
ment. Conditions or situations are elaborated that can undo a working relationship,
such as:
• Breach of trust between client and consultant supplier

• Poor communication
• Lack of benefit for one party (but see Harvey, 1977)
• Mixed messages
• Disincentive to add value
Poor communication and mixed messages stress the importance of clarity in

these relationships. This latter point has consequences in long-term contracts, as the
client’s business goals may change, but the service provider does not deliver services
to satisfy the new requirements necessary to the client. There will obviously be
problems; the principals have not communicated the changed needs.
Joint ventures are somewhat different. They might very well involve rivals. They
are often based on the principle of “let’s stop fighting one another — there’s enough
pie for both of us.” Such agreements rarely remove rivalries and rarely involve equals.
There are always conflicting loyalties that confound joint cooperation. Joint ventures
and partnerships do have some similarities; Townsend’s comment heading this chap-
ter describes the situation for both succinctly. Many managers feel that if a venture
(e.g., construction of a factory for a new product development) is worth embarking
on, it is worth doing alone, lest if it were done cooperatively it might be neglected
for vested, self-interest projects.
Consultants are somewhat more complex entities. Shahin (1995) rather cynically
described the consultant as follows:
When you encounter him, you’ll know him on sight. He’ll glide into your meeting as
radiant as confidence…. If he were a car, he’d be a Lexus. On cruise control.
Scott Adams, through the voice of his Dilbert cartoon character, told a time
management consultant that he had become a consultant because he had been fired
from every job he had ever had for wasting time. To which the consultant replied,
“Welcome to the wonderful world of consulting.” Putting cynicism aside, consultants
are individuals or companies who are experts in unique areas of knowledge hired
for guidance and advisory services in areas in which the company is ignorant.
C. A CLASSIFICATION OF CONSULTANTS
For simplicity in characterizing and classifying consultants and consulting services,
I have classified them as either professional or amateur (Table 9.2) following an
analogy to amateurism and professionalism in sports; that is, the classification is
based indirectly on income (Fuller, 1999). The term amateur is not used in a
pejorative sense as a reflection on the competency or experience of a consultant.
Very simply, the amateurs are consultants whose consultancy practice is not their
main source of income. It is a hobby, a means of keeping busy, of keeping their
hand in the business, of supplementing a pension, or of supplementing a regular
income by moonlighting. It is a means of attracting research grants by universities,
a ploy used by professors at universities to obtain monies for graduate students, or
a stopgap tactic resorted to by many executives or research scientists who find
themselves between jobs (often as the result of downsizing because of outsourcing
by their previous company). They use consulting as a tactic to seek a new position.
The term professional is not a reflection on a consultant’s competency, nor does
it suggest that a consultant meets some standard of professionalism. To my knowledge
there are no standards of professionalism in consulting. Professional consultants,
pure and simple, make a business of consulting; it is their main source of income.
Both the amateurs and the professional consultants are excellent resources to
assist clients in new product development. Nevertheless, the distinction between the
two groups must be clearly understood by the client, as this distinction may have
implications in future client–consultant relationships (see caveats in the next section).
Some university-affiliated consultant organizations (Table 9.3) are described in
more detail by Giese (1999). Universities see a need (and a source for the generation
of income) in making their expertise available to food manufacturers. Consequently,
new centers of assistance and expertise are being formed constantly; the Institute of
Food Technologists’ Food Online Newsletter (August 20, 2003) announced that
Texas A & M University’s Institute of Food Science and Engineering had received
a grant from USDA to establish a National Center for Electron Beam Food Research.
Their November 5, 2003, newsletter described the high-pressure processing
TABLE 9.2
Outside Resources For New Product Development Classified on an
Income Criterion
Class Subclass
Amateurs Executives-between-jobs exist as the result of takeovers, downsizing, and mergers. They
are job hunting.
Retirees: Early retirees often choose to work on aid programs in developing countries
or to supplement incomes with consulting. (They often have restrictions on companies
for whom they can consult.)
Academics are allowed to consult with the prospect in mind that this activity will bring
in industrial projects.
Extension departments of universities provide consulting services for local, regional,
state, or provincial industries.
Student training programs: Students under the guidance of professors consult for small
companies as part of their training.
Research institutes: Groups of academics or departments at a university combine to
form a research institute. This is a quest for financial support.
Professionals Individuals working alone or networking with others to form larger consulting entities.
Independent companies: More formalized than above with a broad range of consulting
services.
Private research institutes and associations are usually contract research groups much
like independent companies. Companies subscribe by paying a membership fee and
are then privy to research activities of the larger group.
Government agencies: Governments have research groups that can be used by local
industries or they provide individuals (often retirees) to guide fledgling companies.
Trade associations often provide consulting services for their members.
Specialized service providers provide unique services, for example, nonroutine
laboratory facilities, information retrieval, forensic accounting, decontamination
processes, retail sampling, and recall programs.
Adapted from Fuller, G.W., Getting the Most Out of Your Consultant: A Guide to Selection Through
Implementation, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1999. With permission.
laboratory established at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Holl-

ingsworth (2001) focuses on U.S. federal research and development programs funded
by agencies or administrations and run cooperatively by university centers.
There are foreign universities and institutes that undertake contract research
projects. Any follower of the Institute of Food Science and Technology’s (U.K.)
journal Food Science and Technology Today (now defunct) and the current Food
Science and Technology will find any number of government, private, and university
research facilities described, as the following arbitrary listing shows:
• Food Refrigeration and Process Engineering Research Centre (University

of Bristol, U.K.) (March 1994, Vol. 8)
• Swedish Institute for Food Research (June 1994, Vol. 8)
TABLE 9.3
Listing of American University-Affiliated Research Centers Available For
Assistance in Product and Process Development
Research Center and Location Professed Specialty
Center for Advanced Food Technology (Rutgers Problem solving for member companies
University) Cooperative venture between industry, Rutgers
University, and government
The New York State Food Venture Center (Cornell Assistance in all aspects of new product
University, New York State Agricultural development and introduction
Experiment Station, Geneva)
The Food Processing Center (University of Technical and business assistance to food industry
Nebraska) in product development
The Northern Crops Institute (North Dakota State Northern crop development and promotion
University)
The Kansas State University Extrusion Center Grain products and extrusion processing
(Kansas State University)
The Spray Systems Technology Center (Carnegie Spray systems and atomization
Mellon University)
The Southeast Dairy Foods Research Center and Integrated approach to product and process
Center for Aseptic Processing and Packaging development from formulation to shelf life
Studies (North Carolina State University, studies to scale-up and market research
Raleigh)
The Food Innovation Center (Oregon State Advice and technology for added-value products
University, Corvallis) for Pacific Rim markets
Lead organization for ValNET (Value Added
Network of Export Technologies)
The Food Industry Institute (Michigan State Research and outreach in food technology;
University, East Lansing) workshops; equipment leasing
The Food Industries Center (Ohio State University, Pilot plant facilities, product development, and
Columbus) scale-up for fruits, vegetables, meat, and dairy
products
The Center for Food Safety and Quality Facilities for sponsored research in food safety and
Enhancement (Griffin, Georgia) quality studies; consumer attitude and perception
of quality studies
Institute for Food Safety and Security (Iowa State Assistance to the food microcosm to combat food-
University, Ames) borne infections, to prevent contamination of
water and food, and to protect animals and plants
from catastrophic diseases
The Institute of Food Science and Engineering Value-added research for processing of agricultural
(University of Arkansas, Fayetteville) products
The Food and Agricultural Products Research and Support and provision for basic research, training,
Technology Center (Oklahoma State University, and advisory services for food and agricultural
Stillwater) processing in Oklahoma
From Giese, J., Food Technology, 53, 98, 1999.

• University of Milan, Department of Food Science and Microbiology

(March 1995, Vol. 9)
• Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association (September 1995,
Vol. 9)
• British Industrial Biological Research Association (March 1997, Vol. 11)
• University of Nottingham, Division of Food Sciences; has four food
groups: Flavour Technology, National Centre for Macromolecular Hydro-
dynamics, Food Microbiology and Safety, and Food Structure Research.
The latter group is described in detail in Food Science and Technology
Vol. 17, June 2003. The Interactif Club sponsored by the division consists
of food companies with interests in the research of the food division.
To avoid confusion throughout this chapter, the company or any authorized

individual within the company who buys, hires, partners with, or enters into a joint
venture with an outside resource will be referred to as the client; all references to
the consultant will describe any outside resource, or in the jargon of the day, any
resource that is outsourced, whether this is an individual, a private research company,
or a government- or university-based research institute hired by the client.
D. WHAT DO CONSULTANTS DO?

Consultants perform numerous tasks for their clients. Specific tasks have already
been mentioned. A tabulation of activities involving consultants, some of which I
have been engaged in, are shown in Table 9.4. Some of these have a bearing on new
product development. The first service, political or tactical use, has a direct connec-
tion with new product development. I have on two occasions been employed to
conduct exploratory research in my own name. In one instance it was for a client
wanting to study the effect of high pressure processing on their products, and the
other was to contact and evaluate research houses for work on super-critical carbon
dioxide extraction and to undertake some initial studies. Problem solving and advi-
sory services are commonplace tasks for most consultants; some involve breakdowns
TABLE 9.4
General Classification of Services Provided by Consultants
Political or tactical use of consultants: The client uses the consultant to undertake some activity that
management or the company prefers not to be seen to perform directly.
Problem solving: The client faces a crisis, for example, new product failure in the field, and requires
crisis management skills.
Investigative research: Long-term basic research projects are placed with academic institutions. Projects
may be contracted to outside resources with specialized pilot plant facilities, for example, extrusion
processing, ultrahigh pressure processing, encapsulation technology, end-over-end can rotation thermal
processing facilities, etc.
Specialized services: Training programs for staff, market research, product audits, forensic accounting,
etc.
Advisory services: Support in application of novel technologies or strategies.
TABLE 9.5
General Reasons Outside Resources Might Be Consulted for New
Product Development
Company lacks necessary skills in-house for customer, consumer, market, or technical research and
development.
The skills are available but are already maximally deployed elsewhere in the company for maintenance
of existing product lines.
An opportunity in a new applied technology or in a line of novel products has become available. The
necessary skills are alien to the company. The company wishes to explore these without committing
physical resources.
Economic factors: After due financial analysis, it may be discovered to be cheaper to contract with outside
resources than to utilize existing manpower and facilities in-house or attempt to develop new skills and
facilities in-house.
Time factor: An extended period of basic research and experimentation is required for the new project.
The company does not want to tie up its own resources for long periods of time.
Secrecy: A company may feel more secure if the research and development is conducted elsewhere than
on its premises.
in newly introduced products. A small food manufacturer asked me to act as liaison

between it and the research institute with which it had placed a research project;
they did not feel comfortable with their ability to discuss, ask questions, and digest
the data and information they were being fed.
II. GOING OUTSIDE FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

A. THE NEED
Companies use outside resources to conduct some or all aspects of market research,
new product development and research, associated engineering research, and mar-
keting. The reasons for doing so are varied; some are shown in Table 9.5. Any one
of these reasons may contribute to the client’s need to use outside resources.
In essence, the client orders a product designed to its specifications based on
its own market research or to specifications based on market research performed
for it. If the client wishes, the work may at this time be passed over entirely to an
external development company. If so, the client and consultant meet regularly
thereafter to review progress and to determine whether the product in progress still
fits the clients business and marketing plans. This regular review of progress is
absolutely necessary because, with the passage of time, the client’s needs may
change or unforeseen difficulties in development arise. Both client and consultant
may wish to avoid extensive research trials and therefore decide jointly to change
direction with the project.
Alternatively, some consultants work closely with the client’s technical staff,
visiting regularly to work on the development of a product. The development work
is done entirely on the client’s premises with the client’s staff under the guidance
of the consultant.
Often a consultant will approach a prospective client with either a product —

the result of new technology the consultant has — or with a product concept and
some prototypical products. Client and consultant come to an agreement respecting
ownership, licensing, patents, and any other legal matters.
The similarity to turnkey construction projects is obvious: the finished product,
a newly constructed factory, is turned over to the client for an agreed upon fee. In
new product development, the finished product is handed over to the client for a fee
or for royalty payments.
B. FINDING AND SELECTING THE APPROPRIATE CONSULTANT

There are several ways to find consultants for product development. There are trade
directories where consultants and their companies can be found along with brief
descriptions of what they describe as their expertise. Consultants also advertise in
trade and technical journals. The magazine Food Technology, published by the
Institute of Food Technologists, has annually published a comprehensive listing of
consultants and their services. The Institute of Food Science and Technology (U.K.)
publishes a list of its members who consult along with a brief description of their
areas of expertise. Consultants pay for listings in these two publications. Many trade
associations will refer clients to members of their organizations who provide con-
sulting or technical assistance service.
A more successful way to find consultants is through networking. Today, most
business people network through the trade, professional, social, and philanthropic
associations that they belong to. From their fellow members in these associations,
clients looking for assistance hear about and get referrals to consultants. Here too,
clients can get word of mouth verification of the caliber of work performed by
these consultants.
Consultants are looking for business; they also network. They are constantly
alert through business magazines and newspapers for situations where their expertise
can be used. They solicit interested parties by postal or electronic mail. They are
more likely to find the client needing their services than the client is to find them.
They are available as speakers for lectures. They teach short courses; they advertise
in-house training seminars for staff. They write articles in trade and technical jour-
nals. They have Web sites advertising their services.
If consultants are found from impersonal sources such as an e-mail contact, from
a directory, or a referral from a professional or trade association, it is strongly
recommended that the client request references and follow these up. Experienced
and reputable consulting experts are wanted. Consultants referred through network-
ing come with the personal comments of those who made the referral. If not, further
enquiries can be made of others in the networking situation.
An interview with, or a presentation by, the consultant is also recommended for
no other reason than for determining the compatibility of client, the development
team, and the consultant and to familiarize the consultant with the client’s require-
ments. After this consultation, the consultant should be required to present a proposal
carefully detailing what work shall be carried out and within what time frames it
will be performed and clearly outlining all the legal implication of the arrangement
(e.g., who owns what intellectual property?). This proposal describing the work
objectives should be clearly written without any hyperbole, jargon, bafflegab, or
obfuscation of terminology; if necessary, the proposal should be reviewed by a
lawyer. Clear communication between the client and the consultant should be such
that both understand the problem and both know clearly what will be done and what
both parties have responsibility for.
However, in over 30 years consulting in several countries, I have been inter-
viewed only once and that by a company that was sold less than 3 weeks after the
interview! They found me in a directory. All my business contacts have been by
word of mouth; I have found this method of making contacts to be common for my
colleagues as well. Thus the real world seems to favor networking to provide referrals
for consultants.
The client’s difficulty is usually not in finding a consultant; it is in finding the
right consultant who can resolve the client’s problems in new product development.
What is important is what help the client wants in whatever phase of the development
process difficulties have been encountered; that is, what is wanted is satisfaction of
the client’s needs, not what the consultant can offer. Clients must choose a consultant
not on what the consultant can offer; what the consultant can offer is neither
important nor even desired. It is the client’s needs that must be resolved.
Both parties, the client and the consultant, need to know each other and respect
each other and be clear on these objectives; the project should be a relationship
based on mutual trust and confidence. This is no different from the relationship with
any supplier.
The elements that are important before selecting a consultant are:
• The client must know what area of new product development it requires
assistance in. What is the relationship for? What does the client want from
a consultant? These needs should be written out by the client in a clear
and concise statement describing what the client wants the consultant to do.
• The client must recognize the limitations (or extent) of its own knowledge
and expertise. What advice, skills, and expertise does the consultant deliver
that are not within the client’s capabilities? Could the client do it alone?
• Closely allied with the above is the question of the consultant’s capabil-
ities. In short, does the client have more knowledge than the consultant?
It is not unknown for consultants with their hyperbole to promise more
than they can deliver; they are hucksters selling themselves. Often they
subcontract work without the client realizing this. Security and confiden-
tiality can be breached in this subcontracting. The circle of people familiar
with the product development work grows larger.
These points can be illustrated by some actual occurrences. As vice president

of technical services of Imasco Foods Ltd., I observed an instance of having more
awareness of the technology than the consultant.
We wanted to measure the water activity of several products prepared in our various
manufacturing plants. I had discussed the project, clearly I thought, in advance with a
representative of a well-known midwestern research company. They had assured me

of their ability to perform water activity measurements. (It was the early days of water
activity studies.) Our plants sent in their products from various locations. In due time
I received the results: the moisture contents of each of the products! An accompanying
letter politely informed me that there was no such thing as water activity and what I
obviously meant was water content. A flurry of telephone calls and faxes ensued until
finally they admitted I meant water activity; they had erred; they could not measure
water activity. Much time, money, and goodwill were lost on a simple development
project. This research company was never consulted again.
An alert member of our research and development group caught an example of

duplicity on the part of a consultant.
We had hired a New York–based consulting company to prepare some pour-over sauces
for pasta. Samples were submitted along with their formulations for our evaluation.
These were submitted to our manager of research and development of our manufac-
turing plant. He noted a strong similarity to formulations he had been working on using
a supplier’s ingredients and the supplier’s accompanying book of demonstration recipes.
We were expected to pay for what was basically public knowledge.
The next example occurred when I was at the Poultry Science Department at
what was then the Ontario Agricultural College. We had quoted for a research project
requested by a local turkey grower and processor.
We did not get the contract for this research project; it went to a large commercial
research and development company. The owner of the growing and processing operation
was a frequent visitor to our department, and during one visit I asked why we lost out.
He told me we lost because he felt a bigger and more prestigious research and devel-
opment company could handle the project better. Little did he know, and I never told
him, that his bigger and better development company subcontracted a large portion of
the work to us.
Buyer beware, indeed!

Giese (2001) discusses guidelines similar to those above for selecting labora-
tories for analytical services. He also provides a brief listing of testing laboratories
and a useful checklist for working with outside laboratories. Of great importance,
as Giese points out, is the need to determine the methodology that laboratories
will use. It has been my personal experience, and my error, to find that very few
outside laboratories use official or standard methods; they often have some in-
house method that they invariably find “more accurate,” “less time-consuming,” or
that “gives just as good results.” Unfortunately, I had wanted comparative analyses
of similar products from widely distant processing plants in the one instance, and
in the other the characteristics of different plant varietals grown in different coun-
tries were being followed over an extended time period. It was necessary to work
with different laboratories. Comparison of results between factories, products, or
plant varieties were useless because despite my injunction to use official methods,
different methodologies were used. It is absolutely necessary to spell out what

methods are to be used, especially if the results are to be used for arbitration in
legal work.
C. CAVEATS IN SELECTING AND WORKING WITH CONSULTANTS

Patterson and Haas (1999) present a strongly reasoned argument for buying outside
expert services to undertake tasks that the client considers to be not their core
competencies. Their outsourcing is a broader interpretation of consulting than that
which is generally understood. Their reasoning for choosing to outsource certain
business activities closely parallels decisions a client must make in selecting a
consultant to undertake new product development (see also Fuller, 1999).
One issue glossed over by Patterson and Haas is the extra cost required to monitor
the outsourced activity. No matter how much the service provider and the buyer or
client trust and respect each other, the client needs to monitor the outsourced activity
with the same diligence they use to monitor their own activities. The client’s pro-
duction systems and products are constantly monitored by process and quality
control activities; their copacked product is subjected to inspection. Therefore,
outsourced activities require monitoring no matter how much confidence is placed
in the consultant. The client has only themselves to blame if something goes wrong
when they were not vigilant.
As in all purchases, the cautionary philosophy is caveat emptor, buyer beware.
Similarly, in partnerships (or partnering) and in joint ventures, warnings still apply.
Perhaps this is why one outsourcing contract was reported in the Wall Street Journal
to be over 27,000 pages long. There are several caveats that clients seeking consult-
ants need to be aware of. Patterson and Haas (1999) provide guidelines for the
selection of partners in outsourcing.
1. Exposure
Exposure of sensitive business plans to outside parties is a very real danger since
during discussions with a consultant, clients reveal the nature of the project, which
in turn, reveals the direction of their research or business goals. Consultants, partic-
ularly those who are executives-between-jobs could very well at some later date be
hired by a competitor. Consulting is an excellent way to job hunt.
Consultants on pensions from other companies understandably have strong ties
of allegiance to their former employers; they have social and business ties with their
old employers. A casual remark or an inadvertent comment can provide a good
listener with hints of another company’s activities. Where companies have in place
an intelligence gathering training program for their employees, there could be serious
leaks of confidential information.
I have been reluctant to place with universities any projects the nature of which
I wished to be kept private largely because of the following:
I experienced an egregious breach of security while on a prearranged consultation visit

with an academic at an American midwestern university. The professor left to give a
lecture, and I was introduced to a doctoral student who conducted me on a tour of the
laboratories during which work on a competitor’s research project was in progress —
openly displayed on the work bench. I had clearly identified myself and my company
affiliation to both the professor and the student.
Many nonacademic people have access to university laboratories: staff and

invited outside taste panelists or test subjects, students and their friends, professional
staff and technicians, and equipment and instrument sales personnel, as well as
representatives of industry. All are normal occupants of such facilities. They have
eyes and ears and can talk.
Borrowing or renting pilot equipment from equipment manufacturers prior to
purchase can have its confidentiality hazards.
One of our companies was interested in a thermally stabilized tray pack but required
a special sealer. We called in the sales representative of a company manufacturing
sealers for a discussion on the possibility of renting a unit for some trial runs. He
gleefully told us we were lucky. A sealer was available across town in the premises of
our competitor, who had just finished their trials with it.
The use of consultants always presents the possibility of a security breach

respecting a client’s research and development programs or business plans.
2. Loss of Client’s Collective Learning Opportunity
By turning a product development project over to a consultant, the client loses

both product and ingredient experience. The client’s research and development
team do not have the opportunity to work with the ingredients or to note the
behavior of the product in different applications. The team loses the “feel” for a
project and the knowledge and pride that accompanies the experience of bringing
the product to fruition.
3. Employee Growth
Concomitant with the above, the client’s technical employees lose an opportunity
to learn “on the job” and grow. It is a lost training opportunity for the client’s
employees. Senior technical staff lose an opportunity to learn or demonstrate their
skill in supervising a large project. Management loses an opportunity to evaluate
staff, to reward them, and to select a cadre of future leaders.
4. Dissension
Both the client’s technical and nontechnical staff often become disenchanted with
the presence and interference of consultants in their (the client’s) routines and their
territories. They are alienated from the project because, having no input into the
product development process, they do not see it as “their baby.” There may be no
interest in it. A deep resentment toward, jealousy of, and subtle uncooperativeness
with the consultant results. An unfortunate example of this happened to me.
I had arranged several weeks in advance with the company president, the plant manager,
and the research manager to run a small trial on plant-scale equipment for a condiment
sauce. The research manager, who was in charge of this particular plant operation in
addition to his research duties, made all the arrangements for raw material, staffing,
and production time. He also helped design the research protocol. On the day of the
test run, I found that the research manager had taken a day’s holiday to attend a bridge
tournament. The trial could not be postponed and Murphy’s Law was fully proven:
what could go wrong did.
The client’s staff may be overcritical of the project in general or of the consult-
ant’s contribution. They certainly will not be overjoyed if their work schedule is
interrupted to assist the consultant. The consultant will earn his fee, but those on
the line may lose their production bonuses.
5. Other Obligations and Responsibilities

The use of academics for consulting has some difficulties. Academics have other
obligations and may not be able to work to the rigid schedules that prevail in industry.
They teach. They advise graduate students in their research programs. They conduct
their own research programs. They travel to present papers at conferences and to be
guest lecturers at other universities. They have departmental business to attend to.
They write up research grants and must network to find sponsors for research dollars.
They are frequently not business savvy. Many lack any business, marketing, mana-
gerial, or practical industrial experience. Two experiences that I have encountered
illustrate this point.
I lost a consulting academic hired to work on a project. He simply disappeared on

sabbatical in the middle of the project without ever informing me. The project had to
be shelved until he returned. He did not think it was important to inform me.
In the second incident:
We wished to improve the shelf life of a processed meat product and thought that
lowering the water activity might provide the stability. We sought the help of an
academic who was well published in this field. He advised the addition of glycerol.
This, I informed him, was illegal. His answer was simply that nevertheless it would
work and nobody could or would think to detect it.
I hasten to add that I have had some excellent assistance and advice from other
academics.
D. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

As in all activities, there are advantages and disadvantages to the use of consultants
in new food product development. Distinguishing between the two is often difficult
since it depends largely on whose standards are used to measure the results and who
stands to gain tangibly and intangibly from the results of the services offered.
1. Utilization of Resources
Some claim that a client’s research and development dollars go further with the use
of consultants (see, e.g., Patterson and Haas, 1999). Costs for consultants are a
bottom line expense, a cost of doing business, and therefore they are deductible
expenses. Where the research monies are placed with a university for long-term
research, there are often taxation benefits and, coincidentally, goodwill is generated.
By farming out research, the client is not saddled with the costs of hiring skilled
staff, investing in expensive research and processing equipment, and devoting much
company time and personnel to explore risky ventures that may not prove successful.
The disagreeable task of ridding itself of the extra staff that were hired for the project
is gone; no sophisticated equipment needs to be gotten rid of. Again, however, the
question must be asked: is the company interested in short-term or long-term benefits
such as growth and development of staff?
2. Flies in the Ointment
I have found that monies given to universities may lose 40 to 80% in value due to
overheads (see Chapter 4 in Fuller, 1999 for an in-depth discussion of consultant
fees). Thus, only 20 to 60 cents of each dollar given for research actually goes for
research. However, I have also been informed by one food science department head
that this overhead fee is highly negotiable.
Harvey (1977) suggests that joint ventures and partnerships may have flaws. One
ought to include outsourcing; outsourcing as a buzz word had yet to be in the business
lexicon in Harvey’s time. In his experience joint ventures and partnerships should be
approached with caution. He is particularly scathing of joint ventures meant to reduce
competition, to share a risk (“risk is hardly divisible …”), or to share costs one
company alone cannot afford. He discusses good and bad reasons for joint ventures.
Cost savings may be realized, it is true. But should there be changes required
in the service as the client’s needs change, the services must grow and develop as
the demands alter. There will naturally be an escalation of costs to the client. There
is a real danger (e.g., in information technology outsourcing or the consolidation of
computer systems where long-term contracts for services have been signed) that the
outside resource providers do not advance their services as the client grows; they
are not pushed to deliver. Technologies change and a client’s shifting business plans
may change respecting product development, brand expansion, and the associated
need for information technology.
Consultants are considered by clients to be both objective and unbiased. How-
ever, it must be realized that they have a self-interest to keep themselves employed.
They want work. In over 8 years as the client hiring and working with consultants,
I have yet to see a report that did not have a conclusion:
• That suggested more work should be done for a more definitive answer
• That suggested a follow-up review should be done to confirm that all
was well
• That suggested the client would be advised to follow up certain “prom-
ising” avenues of research
All are tactics employed for soliciting further work and it will be noted that all
are veiled attempts to put some doubt in the client’s mind.
3. The Need to Monitor
One element that Patterson and Haas (1999) do not fully develop is the need for the
client to monitor the consultant to assure that work is progressing toward the goals
defined by the client. The same care, diligence, and monitoring the client gives to
its own products and services must be applied to all its outsourced activities. Clients
want a consultant who can work successfully, cooperatively, and without upsetting
their internal operations too much; who can advise on improvements; and who can
help interpret the client’s ideas for development into new products. It is the wise
client that maintains a tight rein on consultants.
Consultants with established reputations and experience in esoteric fields of
technology bring distinct advantages to companies wishing to explore these newer
technologies. Clients are not hobbled with struggling within their own companies
to establish a foothold in these areas. They get a head start for product development.
There are some disadvantages to using consultants. Consultants can be disruptive
to the orderly working of a manufacturing plant. The need for consultants to run
trial production runs of samples is understandable, but for production staff who are
perhaps on production quotas these stoppages are annoying.
III. COMMUNICATION: DOES THE CLIENT

UNDERSTAND THE CONSULTANT’S LANGUAGE?
Obscurity is the refuge of incompetence.
Robert A. Heinlein
Another problem that presents a major disadvantage in all consulting activities is

communication. Do both the consultant and the client speak the same language?
This is somewhat tied in with the self-interest of consultants alluded to above.
A. “SPEAK CLEARLY, DAMMIT”

Consultantspeak, bafflegab, doublespeak, gobbledygook, even governmentspeak are
all terms used to describe language that, when heard or read, sounds wonderfully
pregnant with erudition at the moment, but later when one tries to remember what
was said, one is left with a lot of buzz words “full of sound and fury signifying
nothing.” Margaret Thatcher put it succinctly: “You don’t tell deliberate lies, but
sometimes you have to be evasive.”
Evasiveness can be accomplished with words, and words may be chosen to say
much and mean little. I have told the following story before (Fuller, 1999):
My first job upon leaving school was with the Canadian Food and Drug Directorate
and my first assignment was to build a gas liquid chromatograph (there were no
commercial units). This done I proceeded to research food flavors and citrus oils in
particular. A research director of a major food company asked my opinion of the method
and its potential in food flavor work. I wrote favorably about the technique quoting
my own public domain work as well as published work. All mail out of our department
had to go through the department head for approval; he was very much the civil servant.
We were after all THE GOVERNMENT. The department head severely edited my
letter and filled it with government jargon. I was informed that should I be wrong in
my opinions regarding gas liquid chromatography that this would reflect on him, how
his department was run and ultimately on the government. I signed his letter but snitched
a copy and took it home to my wife. Neither of us could tell whether I was for or
against the method as a tool in food analysis.
Doublespeak is not rare. Words begin to have wonderful meanings: for example,
restructure, downsize, destaff, right-size, unassign, all mean someone is going to be
canned, fired, on the street. I have found all these in business and trade articles.
Unfortunately, they seem to proliferate in articles written by consultants. I am not
alone in this observation; some articles against this loose talk are “Professor Singles
Out Double Talk” headlining a newspaper article and “Speak English, Dammit,” a
title for a business magazine article.
The following joke has made the rounds via the Internet. Its very presence is an
indication of the prevalence of such language that is creeping into reports and
communication:
1. Before your next meeting, seminar, or conference call, prepare your Baf-
flegab Bingo card by drawing a square 5 cells across by 5 cells down,
making 25 cells in total.
2. Write one of the following words or phrases in each cell:
synergy benchmark knowledge base

strategic fit value-added at the end of the day
core competencies proactive touch base
out of the box win-win mindset
bottom line think outside the box client focus(ed)
revisit fast track ballpark
take that off-line results-driven game plan
24/7 empower (or empowerment) leverage
out of the loop
3. Check off the appropriate cell when you hear one of those words or phrases
during your meeting.
4. When you get five cells horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, stand up
and shout “Bafflegab!” or “Nonsense!” as some prefer. Other words have
been suggested.
I sent this to my daughter who is in food and nutrition development work with
a strong marketing bent; she had already seen it and played it but without the shout.
It had already made the rounds at her office. The game or ones similar to it are not
new. Hammer (1994), a Food and Agriculture Organization consultant who analyzes
project proposals and recommendations received by this body, produced a lexicon

organized into four columns. By selecting a word from each column one could make
up wonderfully forceful phrases meaning nothing. Prophetically, her paper is entitled
“Why Projects Fail….” A few gems from her article are “centrally motivated orga-
nizational approach,” “radically delegated technical initiative,” and “strategically
balanced development scheme.”
These make perfectly meaningless phrases. My personal favorite for evasive
doublespeak was reported in New Scientist, 1996. It described the Ariane space
rocket, which blew up within 40 seconds of launch. The European Space Agency
described it thus: “The first Ariane 5 flight did not result in validation of Europe’s
new launcher.”
So much for the debasement of the language. Any client who spots bafflegab or
evasive language in the reports, language, or discussions with his or her consultant
should quickly show the consultant the door. Communication in a language that both
the client and the consultant speak and understand is of utmost importance at all
phases of the development process where outside resources are used.
Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!
Lewis Carroll, “Jabberwocky” in Through the Looking Glass
The off-beat approach used in this section should serve to underline the importance
of clarity and understanding in all communications.
IV. SUMMARY
Working with consultants can be very profitable for a company involved in new
product development. When the consultant brings a new skill or knowledge, the
client can be put into a more advanced stage of development, and the client’s staff
can get an opportunity to learn from the advice and guidance provided. There are,
however, some pitfalls, and the client needs to be fully aware of these to ensure a
good working relationship. The consultant is there to assist the client, not to supplant
management’s prerogative to provide sound management decisions. The client knows
the client’s business objectives and goals better than the consultant. All the consultant
contributes are the tools, some arcane knowledge, and some ideas — all of which
can be purchased for a price.
10 New Food Product
Development in the
Food Service Industry
Man does not ingest nutrients, he eats food.
Attributed to R. L. M. Synge
I. UNDERSTANDING THE FOOD SERVICE

INDUSTRY
Two areas, the food service and the food ingredient industries, are major components
of the food microcosm. They are sufficiently different from the mainstream food
retail marketplaces to deserve separate treatments with respect to new product
development.
More and more people are changing their eating habits. Today fewer meals are
prepared from scratch and eaten at home; rarely are meals eaten as a family unit
except for festive occasions. Meals are more likely to be put together from prepared
menu components and eaten by the preparer who is “on the run.” One result is an
increase in meals-away-from-home, with a consequent increase in the number and
variety of food service outlets.
II. THE FOOD SERVICE MARKETPLACES

One of the first challenges for the developer to face is the overwhelming range of
food service establishments for which new products are required (Table 10.1). A
more extensive listing is provided by Bolaffi and Lulay (1989). Each category in
Table 10.1 is subdivisible. Fast food restaurants (now euphemistically referred to as
quick serve restaurants) could be further separated into independent family-owned
businesses, large multiunit chains either all or partly franchisee owned and operated,
restaurants with sit-down service, and those with only counter or take-out service.
Likewise, industrial worksite feeding could be an urban or suburban factory-run
cafeteria offering a hot lunch, a cafeteria serving a 24-hour-a-day work force as in
hospitals, or a food service organized for an isolated oil rig in the North Sea. Each
category of food service establishment has its own peculiar needs to suit the menus,
diners’ needs, and the economic class of its diners.
261
TABLE 10.1
Variety of Outlet Types in the Food Service Marketplaces
Sector Subclassification
Restaurants Fast food (chain) restaurants: chain-owned and franchisee-owned

Fast food family-owned restaurants (diners, cafes, bistros that may also be chain-
owned)
White tablecloth restaurants (stand alone)
Hotel (again white tablecloth restaurants) and motel restaurants
Tourist travel: cruise ship and barge boat meals
Isolated work camps and industrial sites: floating oil rigs, mining camps
Food stores Food stores in shopping malls
In-store delicatessens with eat-in and take-out facilities
Sandwich bars in food stores
Catering services Hospital, convalescent home, and retirement home catering
Visitors and staff
Special diets for patients
Bars, pubs, and nightclubs: foods for noshing (e.g., happy hours, light buffets)
Transportation related: airline and train meals
Charity
Meals-on-wheels programs; soup kitchens
Institutional feeding Penal institutions
Sanatoriums and rehabilitation facilities
School meal programs
Miscellaneous Vending machines: ubiquitously sited (hot and cold food vending, beverages)
Street vendors: finger foods
Mobile canteens servicing urban work sites
Military feeding Officers’ messes
Servicemen’s messes
Combat rations
Field kitchens
Leisure feeding Vacation camps
Roadside eateries
Food service establishments can be partitioned into two sectors with different
characteristics, which adds a further challenge to product development:
• The commercial sector: This sector runs the entire gamut of restaurants
to the ubiquitous vending machine dispensers. When there is a free choice
of food, that is, where consumers have the option of going to a variety of
outlets if choices at one do not appeal to them, this option is characteristic
of the free choice or commercial or noncaptive market sector. The com-
mercial sector is profit motivated. There are commercial eating establish-
ments that are operated marginally, but these are run as a service or a
labor perk, and some person, company, or organization is subsidizing the
operation. Examples of this type of operation that come to mind are a
government- or university-supported hotel/restaurant training school’s
New Food Product Development in the Food Service Industry 263
demonstration restaurants; employee restaurants underwritten by a com-

pany and part of a labor contract; and restaurants, often open to the general
public, at private golf clubs and subsidized in part by members’ fees.
• The noncommercial sector: In the noncommercial market (also called the
institutional market), consumers have no freedom of choice in the menu
or have only a very limited selection, i.e., the familiar “Will that be
chicken or fish, Madam?” that used to be heard on airlines before they
started charging for meals. Consumers in such situations are captive; they
cannot go elsewhere to eat. Only drastic action on the part of paying
travelers avoiding poor service carriers, prisoners rioting over the quality
of food, or tales told by school children to their parents bring about
changes in both service and quality of food (cf., the concern of parents
over obesity in their children and the presence of soft drink vending
machines and fast food franchise meals in school lunch programs). Trav-
elers switching travel plans to more accommodating carriers, riots, hos-
tage-takings, and demonstrations due to poor quality prison meals, and
angry parents complaining to elected school officials about the quality of
food in school lunch programs are powerful incentives for change. It is
not profit driven, but neither is it run at a loss; the operator of the
establishment determines both the level of service and quality of the food
within constraints of budgets established by government, school or hos-
pital boards, etc. Consumers are presented with limited or no-choice
menus in the following situations:
• Hospitals and convalescent homes, social services, institutionalized
patients
• Military feeding for troops on maneuvers (e.g., arctic survival training),
on air and naval patrols, or on active enemy engagement
• School meal programs in public schools as well as food service outlets
on college and university campuses
• Company cafeterias in isolated suburban industrial parks
• Transportation meals served during air, bus, or train travel
• Meals served in prisons and other rehabilitation centers
• Relief feeding during famines and other natural disasters and in refugee
camps
Bolaffi and Lulay (1989) separate out the military food service as a distinct
entity for food developers by virtue of the product standards, labeling, and packaging
requirements and the bidding and tendering requirements demanded by governments.
However, in this discussion, military feeding will be included with the noncommer-
cial sector.
A. CUSTOMERS AND CONSUMERS IN THE FOOD SERVICE INDUSTRY

There are customers whose needs are to be met, and consumers who dictate those
needs to the customers. The food service industry is similar to the consumer food
product retail industry in this respect. The concept of the customer as the gatekeeper
is also valid but requires a stricter examination. There are two distinct customers in
the food service industry:
• The customer is the individual who orders from the menu, or who answers
“Chicken, please” to the steward, grabs a steamer from the street vendor,
points to a steam table tray in a cafeteria lineup, or puts money into a
coin slot at a vending machine. They either eat the products on the
premises where they were purchased, munch on finger food on the street,
dine in cafeterias at their work places, or pick up prepared food to eat at
home. They are customer and consumer combined.
• The master chef of a restaurant, the owner of a restaurant or diner, a
dietician manager of a hospital commissary, the food purchasing agent
for a government institution, a food store owner with a deli bar, a
business person who purchases a franchise of a fast food chain, and a
military quartermaster are also customers. They purchase food ingredi-
ents, prepared meats, sous vide products, and preprepared raw produce
from suppliers. They are also the consumers (users). They or their staff
transform the basic food items into meals either through the artistry of
chefs, by heating and plating sous vide products, by simply assembling
prepared items, or merely displaying or dispensing items prepared by
others. They have characteristics in some instances analogous to that of
the gatekeeper.
This two-tiered customer and consumer element introduces many novel prob-
lems. Developers of products for the food service industry develop prepared or
semiprepared products for highly trained and skilled people (chefs, cooks, etc.) and
for people with rudimentary knowledge of food preparation and handling, nutrition,
sanitation, and hygiene. These developers are preparing products that must directly
satisfy the needs and expectations of their customers and consumers.
How does one screen a product such as a new ingredient when one does not
know specifically how or in what finished product that ingredient will be used by a
chef or cook or in what social setting those finished products will be served? How
does one get market research, conduct a test market, or evaluate a test market?
III. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOOD

SERVICE MARKET
Both the commercial and noncommercial sectors can be discussed as one for the
sake of simplicity, and any distinguishing characteristics of either highlighted.
Some of these characteristics are presented in Table 10.2. Products designed for
the food service sector must accommodate the characteristics of the sector they
are to serve, that is, simple to prepare and present to customers, not conducive to
waste production in a close-quarters working area, and not energy intensive in their
preparation.
TABLE 10.2
Characteristics of Typical Commercial and Noncommercial Food
Service Outlets
There is small-scale preparation of a wide variety of menu items. Some outlets cycle menus every 2 or
3 weeks, while others have fixed menus regulated by the day of the week or regulated by availability
of fresh produce.
Food preparation area and social setting for eating are combined or closely associated.
Uneven periods of food preparation and serving. Staff often required to stand by during lulls in activity.
Rarely are staff or outlet provided with a formal quality control and inspection procedure. Fast food
chains do have procedures.
Cook or chef has full responsibility for products and ingredients. Specification for purchase subject to
cook’s judgment or seasonal availability.
Preparation is labor intensive with variable skill levels required.
Storage of raw and prepared products, food preparation, waste disposal, and utensil clean-up often share
cramped facilities. Often all activities proceed simultaneously and in hot, humid conditions.
A. CLIENTELE
Consumers in high-class restaurants are looking for quality of taste, service, pre-
sentation, atmosphere, and relaxation. They are less likely to be concerned with
price but will demand quality and service for the price. Consumers buying from
street vendors are looking for cheap, good, quick, wholesome (safe) food while
running errands on a lunch break or during breaks in play at a game, or at an
outdoor event. Their only common characteristic is that neither the upscale diner
nor the eater on the run are looking for a healthy nutritious meal; one is seeking
gratification of the senses; the other eats quickly and of necessity to get on with
some activity.
Expectations of consumers in the noncommercial sector are quite different but
just as diverse:
• Safety and nutrition are important in prison feeding, hospital feeding,

military feeding, and school meal programs. Food intoxication running
through these populations can have devastating effects. Presence of aller-
gens in foods are of major concern.
• Quality, at the very least, must be acceptable to the majority and certainly
not so bad as to be rejected. Poor food has been known to cause prison
riots. Transportation meals must not be so unacceptable that they are a
factor in passenger’s choice of carrier.
• Budgetary restrictions limit to a degree both quality and availability of
choices.
Hospital care feeding presents a special case, which will be discussed later.
B. FOOD PREPARATION AND STORAGE FACILITIES

Five-star restaurants, family-style restaurants, ethnic restaurants, hotel kitchens
catering to two or three classes of eating outlets, fast food franchises, mom and
pop diners, or bars serving hot hors d’oeuvres need a wide variety of food prepa-
ration equipment. These range from warming units to steamers to friers to specialty
wood stoves and smokers to tandoors to woks to hot stones to 50-gal steam jacketed
kettles with mounted Lightning mixers to microwave ovens to potato peelers,
grinders and slicers, to walk-in freezers and refrigerators and air conditioners and
fume hoods for odor control. Some are well equipped. Some (street vendors and
snack setups in bars at happy hour) have less equipment than a well-run family
kitchen would have.
Many restaurant kitchens are run at one heating temperature for all menu items
served. Preprepared products and ingredients must be designed or formulated that
can maintain their high-quality attributes during preparation and holding at this
operating temperature stress.
Storage is limited in food service establishments. Full service restaurants have
adequate, but limited, storage facilities for supplies, food materials, and waste, while
street vendors, for example, have minimally adequate storage and must rely largely
on city maintenance facilities for waste disposal. In happy hour setups in bars, there
are basically no storage facilities. Owners must rely on same day deliveries with the
caterer bringing warmers and hot finger food and returning later to remove the dirty
ware and warmers.
Food suppliers must design into their products stabilizing systems to withstand
the challenges that these products might encounter in inadequate conditions of
distribution, storage, preparation, or the vending environment. This concern of safety
is great for products for food service operators supplying convenience stores, vending
machines, and street vendors.
In the vending machine sector of food service, newer machines incorporate
microwave ovens or deep-fat fryers making a wider selection of product offerings
possible; combination plates, sandwich, salad, and fries or soup, and sandwich and
dessert are now regular offerings (Williams, 1991). These new menu items are much
more sensitive to time and temperature abuse.
If storage for food supplies is limited, then storage for waste is even more at
a premium. Products for food service must be designed to produce as little waste
as possible. Prepreparation is a key added-value feature. For take-away hot foods,
fast food outlets face another problem: packaging. It must be environmentally
friendly.
In general, food preparation and storage facilities in noncommercial establish-
ments are better, or more adequate to their tasks, than those of commercial estab-
lishments; they were often built to specifications designed for the traffic. They are
usually run by professionals trained in food service or are catered to by industrial
caterers. While they are on limited budgets, they frequently can purchase in bulk
and obtain the reduced prices that quantity buying permits.
Food preparation systems in use in U.S. hospitals employ one of five common
preparation systems (Matthews, 1982):
• A cook–serve system whereby food is prepared on site, plated, and dis-

tributed on trays to patients.
• A cook–chill system in which the food can be prepared either on- or off-
site ahead of use. After preparation, the food is rapidly cooled, held
refrigerated for not more than a day (but see Mason et al., 1990), plated,
and distributed to patients from specially designed heating carts.
• A cook–freeze system that is similar to the preceding with an additional
step requiring the thawing of menu items.
• A thaw–heat–serve system where the main menu item is precooked and
frozen either on- or off-site. On-site, the product is thawed, heated, and
plated.
• A heat–serve system using thermally processed steam table tray contain-
ers. The main menu item can be heated and held hot before plating.
These systems are not unique to the health care food service industry. They are
also used in military feeding, especially the heat–serve system, and in many com-
missaries servicing a variety of cafeterias and other dining establishments. Awareness
of the rigors that such systems impose on food products and ingredients in them is
necessary to guide developers in the design of products.
Mason and coworkers (1990) and Livingston (1990) discuss commercial food
preparation systems used in hospitals and other food service outlets and evaluate
these with respect to their influence on the quality of the food.
An interesting combination of commercial and noncommercial food service in
one facility is demonstrated by some U.S. hospitals that have rented out part of their
food service facilities to fast food chains and developed a separate source of income
while accommodating all their food service needs.
C. LABOR
Kitchen labor in both the commercial and noncommercial sectors is highly variable
respecting skill and knowledge levels about food handling. To describe any one
sector as characterized by unskilled labor simply invites a barrage of counter exam-
ples. Staff from chefs in upscale restaurants (where they are not owners) to temporary
staff working their way through school are highly mobile or in transitional stages
in their careers, supporting themselves through school, or temporarily unemployed.
(I had no idea until recently that chefs and sous chefs had agents.) Their skills range
from highly skilled and knowledgeable in food preparation and handling to rudi-
mentary. Many of the latter are not careerists in food service; they want out at the
earliest opportunity into other career paths. Training such candidates can be discour-
aging and fruitless for food service employers.
Therefore, design of food components used in preparation of finished products
in many food service establishments:
• Must be kept practical, safe, and simple. Products for food service use
must be as close to “error-proof” as possible in the hectic environment
of a kitchen.
• Require the minimal amount of labor for their preparation. Ideally they
should require only reheating or a finish cook.
• Produce the least amount of waste for handling during preparation, and
their preparation should not contribute unduly to the microbial load in the
kitchen.
• Must be such that storage of unused portions must present no complica-
tions for their safety or quality.
Quality restaurants have the skills of their chefs and sous chefs available. They
can use premixes to prepare and present attractive, added-value products. They have
the ability to take unused portions and reuse these, safely, in other quality dishes.
Yesterday’s unused poached salmon can be today’s salmon mousse or salmon cakes.
Such prowess reduces waste and thereby minimizes cost overruns. Nothing of chance
can be left to personnel in fast food or more downscale fast-casual restaurants.
Unused food or warmed and thawed portions must be disposed of.
The availability of skilled and trained labor is exacerbated by the rising costs
of labor. A rather dated report by Pine and Ball (1987) found that wage bills (as a
percentage of sales minus pretax net profits) ranged between 8 to 38% in the U.K.
food service industry depending on the class of the establishment. Labor-cheap
businesses were largely in the catering-only end of food service where labor con-
sisted of putting together preprepared items or they were businesses lacking a
personal service aspect (transportation catering). These figures were generally appli-
cable in other countries.
The noncommercial sector faces the same labor problems as the commercial
sector. Since many workers are often newly arrived immigrants, there can be com-
munication problems if there are language barriers. In some penal and correctional
institutions, unskilled inmates may serve as help.
There are, however, wide variations in skills in the noncommercial sector. Die-
ticians required in hospitals and nursing care facilities and military chefs are highly
trained; school lunch programs are usually under the supervision of equally skilled
personnel. Nevertheless, wages are at the minimum level for unskilled labor, and at
the bottom end of the wage scale, job security is absent. These are not elements
conducive to attracting skilled people. On-the-job training is difficult in this envi-
ronment. The exception is the military, where training programs have proven very
effective in raising the skill levels of food handlers and cooks.
D. PRICE, QUALITY, CONSISTENCY, AND SAFETY

Price, quality — more importantly consistency of quality — and safety from hazards
of public health significance are equally necessary considerations in both the com-
mercial and noncommercial food service sectors. Price — where it is an element in
the noncommercial sector — is regulated by what the targeted consumer in these
outlets (e.g., seniors’ residences, long-care facilities) are willing to pay.
Price is also regulated by many other factors not determined by the targeted
consumer but that may affect the consumer that the food service establishment wishes
to target:
• Costs of raw materials and ingredients: Ethnic restaurants, upscale res-

taurants, or product-oriented restaurants (vegetarian or seafood) will each
have unique product requirements that command premium prices. Control
of costs is partly obtained by adherence to a strict portion control program.
Plate waste, even if it has been paid for by the consumer, is nevertheless
an indication of prepared product losses that could have served more
customers. Portion control, therefore, becomes an important element of
price and service provided by the supplier.
• Labor-related costs: The type of restaurant determines the skill level; for
example, a Chinese restaurant will require a specialist cook/chef skilled
in Chinese food preparation.
• Site-related costs: These are costs such as real estate taxes, local economy,
and type of customer traffic around the area. The old real estate adage
that “location, location, location” is a contributory factor to success brings
many cost consequences.
Quality must be consistent with the price the consumer is willing to pay for that
quality at each and every sitting, and service must not vary from restaurant to
restaurant within a same chain. This is a problem that has not been mastered in some
doughnut chains. I have found wide variations in the quality of doughnuts from the
same chain in the same city, as well as variations in different states and provinces.
Food poisoning, intoxication, and allergic reactions of consumers (Gowland,
2002) are major hazards in the food service industry (Snyder, 1981; Snyder Jr.,
1986). Protein salad foods presented the greatest safety concerns according to Sol-
berg and colleagues (1990) in a study of meal items and food preparation facilities
at Rutgers University’s campus. These are foods generally associated with “summer
sickness” caused by improperly prepared and stored egg, chicken, or turkey salads.
Suppliers of prepared menu items (e.g., sous vide items) can protect their new
product introductions only by designing a suitable protective constraint to food
poisoning microorganisms and by ensuring that products leave their premises in
excellent and safe condition. Suppliers need to provide clear instructions on the
handling, storage, and any further preparation of sensitive prepared items respecting
time temperature tolerances, proper rotation of stock, and zone isolation for the
preparation of sensitive components to prevent cross-contamination. A close sup-
plier–client relationship can minimize chances of hazards occurring. The attendant
media coverage of food poisoning outbreaks can destroy individual restaurants and
seriously damage the reputation of fast food chains.
Consumers having reactions to potentially allergenic ingredients is a hazard for
developers, especially for suppliers to the food service market (Gowland, 2002). The
suffering and deaths of consumers as a result of allergic reactions to foods eaten in
food service establishments are devastating incidents (Williams, 1992) since menus
rarely have lists of ingredients to warn consumers. Rarely do these incidents get the
same coverage in the news since they affect only an individual, whereas summer
sickness at a company picnic affects many people and gets wide publicity. Allergic
reactions are a major concern for suppliers to school lunch programs. The offending
foods for children appear to be age-related (that is, sometimes children grow out of
them): eggs and egg products, milk and milk-derived products, and nuts (especially
peanuts) are often the source in the younger years. With age, seafood products
frequently become problems. There is no protection for children who in a carefree,
or careless, mood will exchange forbidden treats with classmates. Since only a few
molecules of an allergen can trigger a reaction, developers must exert extreme
caution to avoid allergenic ingredients in their menu components and provide truthful
labeling statements.
Allergy specialists in Canada estimate there is at least one death a month due
to allergic reactions. In the U.S., with a tenfold higher population, this suggests ten
or more deaths a month due to eating prepared foods. Integrity of ingredients
respecting the presence of allergens is a major problem for manufacturers; such
integrity is very difficult to attain in multiproduct manufacturing plants.
To serve their customers (or shift responsibility from themselves), food service
establishments, particularly fast food chains, have taken to posting allergy charts
listing the ingredients they use in their menu items (Anon., 1988b). The conse-
quences of this precaution forces manufacturers supplying food service establish-
ments to ascertain that the composition of all ingredients they use in their products
fit these charts. This requires vigilance on the part of manufacturers as they switch
ingredient suppliers when looking for better sources and more effective ingredient
cost control.
E. NUTRITION
Nutrition in the commercial sector is not a problem for developers. (Nevertheless,
the litigious nature of consumers and the growing problem of obesity and diseases
associated with obesity have caused a welter of class action suits against fast food
chains; claimants accuse the chains of having caused their obesity-related ailments
through the promotion of fatty foods.) People eat out for a social event, for com-
radeship, business (networking), a celebratory event, conversation with good friends,
and pleasure. Nutrition is not high on their priority list; good, tasty, safe food is
their priority.
By contrast, food service facilities within the noncommercial sector have highly
variable requirements for nutrition and quality of taste and flavor that reflect the
type of noncommercial food service outlet.
Meals served on an airliner are one-time occurrences; their nutritional content
poses no risk to the well-being of the passengers, whether the service be a snack, a
cold meal, or a hot meal. The long-term nutritional health and welfare of traveling
passengers are not dependent on the food served; safety of the food, with taste and
satiety close seconds, is always a major consideration.
Nutrition as a quality feature is two faceted. There are both customer needs and
consumer needs, particularly respecting health care feeding. Customers (dieticians)
in the health care field require unique products to satisfy special dietary requirements
of postoperative patients and patients undergoing cancer therapy or drug therapy.
They also require very specific nutritional information for consumers (patients or the
elderly enjoying a meal service) in their care. They need much more detailed, indeed
esoteric, nutritional data than that required by most nutritional labeling regulations.
Developers must be prepared to provide this information in order to assist dieticians

in the preparation of the many different dietary regimens required for patients.
Schmidl and colleagues (1988) provide an extensive review on parenteral and enteral
feeding systems, a rather exotic branch of hospital care feeding.
Is there a problem of nutritional quality with the food service most used by the
consuming public, the fast food sector? Fast foods have not received good publicity
concerning the nutrition they offer consumers. For example, Hibler (1988) reported
the results of a sampling of burgers, fries, and chicken, all of which are highly ranked
favorites among frequenters of these outlets. The calories per gram of
• Burgers ranged from 1.9 to 2.9 cal/g

• Chicken entrees (nuggets or fingers) ranged from 2.4 to 3.1 cal/g
• Fries ranged from 2.7 to 3.5 cal/g
If the weight of entrees were constant (they were not), hamburgers would be
the least calorific choice. The calories from fat were highest in the chicken entrees,
ranging from 39 to 55% (average 49.5%) and almost identical in the burgers (36 to
50%, average 44%) and the fries (37 to 48%, average 42%). A typical burger and
fries or chicken pieces and fries would put the percentage of calories from fat well
over the recommended level of 30%. Ryley (1983) calculated that, even back in
1982, fast foods and snacks contributed over 16% of the daily fat intake per person
in the U.K.
There is concern about nutritional quality in the feeding of the elderly at home.
Turner and Glew (1982) studied the nutrient content (protein, energy, calcium, iron,
and ascorbic acid) of meals delivered in Leeds (U.K.) and provided by six food
service organizations. They found significant weight differences between the meals
supplied by the different organizations as well as between the protein contents of
the meals. Meals supplied between 20 and 48% of the recommended energy intake
for elderly people, which represents under, to grossly over, the energy requirement
for the main daily meal. Of particular importance to geriatric nutrition, it was found
that the calcium content of the meals varied widely from inadequate to ample —
dependent, primarily, on whether the dessert was milk-based or not. Iron content
was found to be just adequate for the elderly, but ascorbic acid contents varied widely
from providing more than 50% to less than 25% of the recommended daily intake.
However, with ascorbic acid, significant losses were noted between the first and last
meal deliveries, as might have been guessed from the lability of this vitamin. Keeping
meals hot during transportation as well as the damage that the duration of hot
transportation itself had on vitamin C were weak links in delivering nutrition to the
elderly. The rigors that the delivery (serving) system imposes on meals must be
considered by designers of products for such institutional feeding systems.
1. Standards
Some detail has been recounted in reviewing these studies on the nutrition of food
service meals to point out a major quality problem for developers of products,
whether they be sous vide, frozen or other chilled food entree items, or dry powder
bases for soups, gravies, or desserts. What are the nutritional standards or guidelines
for these products? There are no nutrient standards or even nutrient specifications
for products meant for institutional or military or school meal programs. There
certainly are no standards for the special diets (What’s soft? How soft? How does
one measure soft? By fiber content?) required by health care establishments. Devel-
opers could create added-value menu items with established nutrient content or
closely defined standards for such vague terms as low ash diets, low calcium diets,
liquid or semisolid diets, or semiprepared foods with fixed soluble/insoluble fiber
content ratios for health care establishments if they knew what the standards were.
These are excellent opportunities for industry to assist these establishments and find
good, and profitable, market niches for their products.
A much greater concern is the natural desire for health professionals and food
manufacturers to provide foods that have been developed with nutraceutical fortifi-
cation to patients in hospitals, nursing homes, and institutionalized care facilities.
Opportunities to provide nutraceutical fortification of foods might be expected that
would complement or substitute for the orthodox or prescription medicines and
mood-altering drugs patients use and thus reduce medical costs and reduce hospital
stays. They would also benefit the general population following preventive diets.
There are hazards. Would nutraceuticals be incompatable or antagonistic with
prescription medicines? There is concern — frankly there is as yet no firm knowledge
— about whether nutraceuticals, if used in food systems, would react synergistically
or antagonistically with other phytochemicals or other components in the food
system. Would the concentrated phytochemical in capsule form prove effective?
Which phytochemical of the many hundreds in natural products might prove effec-
tive? For example, in an extensive review of research work Giovannucci (1999)
found that tomatoes, tomato-based products, and lycopene (a nutraceutical antioxi-
dant in tomatoes) displayed an inhibitory effect on certain cancers. However, Boileau
et al. (2003) found that tomato powder proved effective against prostate cancer in
rats but that lycopene in concentrated form had no more effect on cancer than did
the placebo. Both Giovannucci and Boileau and colleagues stress that tomatoes are
very complex mixtures and attempting to single out one component as having the
beneficial effect could be useless. The concern for all developers is that if varieties
of tomatoes with greatly increased levels of lycopene, a major antioxidant, or
products with added lycopene are developed, it may be found later that perhaps it
was something else in this complex of chemicals called a tomato that was effective.
Food legislators would be only too happy to curb false claims, and antibiotechnology
groups would be quick to damn the plant geneticists. The adverse reactions would
not benefit science, scientists, or developers.
Another hazard is that in the present state of knowledge there is little or no
policing of the claims made about herbs and herbal extracts, particularly in North
America. There is no informed knowledge of effective dosages of nutraceuticals. In
practice, a slurry of the herbal preparation is sprayed onto snack items, but there is
no information on what the dosage level is. Did the slurry contain those parts of the
plant containing the active nutraceutical? Even a cursory glance through any modern
herbal will reveal that leaves, flowers, roots, stems, or bark may contain the active
phytochemical to the exclusion of the other parts. Developers of nutraceutically
fortified foods for the food service sector of health care facilities and other areas of
the food manufacturing sector should proceed with caution with new products,
especially in the fortification of candies, drinks, and snack foods aimed at school
meal programs.
Kuhn (1998a) and Neff (1998) discuss at length some cautionary comments of
health professionals and manufacturers about nutraceuticals and provide a good
overview of products and activities in this market although not directed specifically
at the health care sector. Schwarcz (2002) urges standardization of herbal preparations
and an accurate statement of the dosage in nutraceutical fortified foods, along with
information on which part of the plant has been used in preparing the consumer
products. He describes several interactions of herbal preparations and prescribed
medicines: ginkgo biloba, an anticoagulant, can exaggerate the bloodthinning prop-
erties of aspirin and coumadin; St. John’s wort, a mild antidepressant, is antagonistic
to cyclosporin, an immunosuppressant; and ginseng, ephedra, and valerian can inter-
act with anesthetics. (Severe warnings against the use of ephedra have been issued.)
Kava kava has been banned as a liver toxin in many countries including Canada.
The use of these supplements either as herbs or extracts should be approached
cautiously for development of products intended for children (snack foods) or for
the health care food service sector. A minor caveat for developers is that many herbal
preparations and extracts are not pleasant tasting, and flavor systems need to be
developed to overcome their unpleasant taste.
2. Health Care Sector of the Institutional Market
This sector includes hospital feeding, convalescent care feeding, and feeding of the
elderly in their own homes or in residences for the mobile elderly, or for those
institutionalized in nursing and psychiatric homes. Most health care feeding presents
two situations. It includes both the public cafeteria for hospital staff, students,
outpatients, and visitors on a 24 hour, 7 days a week basis and the institutional sector
where patients require special diets in accordance with their medical conditions as
well as their personal, religious, or ethnic taboos.
Regional health boards frequently control or influence the buying power of
hospitals in their districts. As a result, their purchasing power can vary widely. Meal
items are often purchased from privately run food commissaries. Nevertheless, many
hospitals do still prepare their own meals or prefer to prepare their own special
dietary meals because of the lack of accepted industrial standards (Matthews, 1982;
Burch and Sawyer, 1986).
Hospitals and long-term nursing care facilities, social agencies providing home
delivered meals to the elderly or to the homeless in shelters or other humanitarian
feeding programs, government-supported programs such as school lunches, and the
military have a very special concern for the nutritional content as well as other dietary
considerations (digestability, bulk, fiber content) of their meals. The nature of the
meal and its nutritional adequacy have a direct bearing on the consumer’s health.
Patients recovering from the trauma of an operation, undergoing irradiation treatment,
or who have medical conditions causing malabsorption of nutrients or are undergoing
long-term convalescence require special diets affecting the nutrient content and
texture of foods. Food must be attractive and flavorful in order to entice such patients
to eat since they often have little appetite, and it must be nutrient dense to provide
their nutrient requirements. Many of these consumers have weakened immune sys-
tems, and microbiological loads that would be tolerated with no difficulty by healthy
individuals may fell these patients; safety of the food is paramount.
Confounding all the above is the lack of standards for special dietary foods.
There are no standards for nutritionally designed foods or for any of the special
types of foods dictated by convalescent diets. Consequently, developers wishing to
put products into the special market niches have no guidelines. They must therefore
work closely with dieticians in development.
3. The Military Sector of the Institutional Market
It is important to any country to keep its soldiers healthy and fit. The dictum “an
army marches on its stomach,” attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, was never truer.
Food, good food, keeps an army going and its morale high. This requires good-
quality, flavorful, capably prepared food. In military feeding, food safety is extremely
important. An army cannot come down with a foodborne illness, which in emergency
situations could incapacitate the troops.
Food products must be available and suitable for serving in highly variable
conditions. Extreme conditions such as peacetime maneuvers in humid, tropical
jungles, in dry desert conditions, or in arctic terrain or during hostile enemy activity
in wartime make military feeding situations a difficult challenge for developers.
Products must have a long, stable shelf life, must be easily portable (i.e., light in
weight for it may have to be carried by the individual combatant), flavorful, and
contain all the nutrients for an active stressful lifestyle. Variety of menus and ease
of preparation with minimal equipment are also requirements. Mermelstein (2001)
discusses some of the requirements for the basic combat ration, the Meal Ready-to-
Eat (MRE):
• Shelf stable for a minimum of 3 years at 80ºF and a minimum of 6 months

at 100ºF
• Able to be airdropped by parachute from 1280 ft
• Able to be dropped out of a helicopter from a height of 100 ft without
the aid of a parachute
• Able to withstand environmental conditions of -60 to +120ºF during
storage, distribution, and handling
• Packaged to be resistant to wildlife
In addition, it must be acceptable organoleptically to the soldier. Mermelstein pre-

sents further details regarding requirements for military rations as well as for rations
for relief feeding.
The military market is also highly fragmented. Food service facilities and oper-
ations range from officers’ messes to noncommissioned officer messes to combat field
kitchens to vending machines and snack bars to hospital care facilities. Most of these
facilities must be operated 24 hours a day to accommodate the shift work involved.
When and where this food will be prepared and consumed introduces problems.
Ease of preparation is important because food may be prepared or reconstituted in
less than ideal conditions in combat zones, in cramped conditions in submarines or
airplanes, and often by the unskilled personnel themselves. Packaging must be
lightweight yet protect the food from all environmental conditions (which are unspec-
ified) and from any treatment (including air drops) it might endure. Yet the package
must be easily opened and the packaging readily disposed of lest obvious waste
disposal dumps be seen by enemy aerial observers as a sign of a field kitchen nearby.
As is the case with all government procurement purchases, products must adhere
to rigid standards and specifications for ingredients, processing, and packaging.
These standards and specifications can be quite detailed. Suppliers are advised to
obtain copies of them before attempting to manufacture products.
A possible cause for failure of new products, discussed earlier, could be their
introduction into markets dominated by a single customer; the military represents
such a market. On the other hand, the military market and the food service market
in general do present unique opportunities to introduce new products within a select
portion of the population, which may develop a liking for and a familiarization with
(i.e., it is an educational opportunity) novel food products.
IV. DEVELOPING PRODUCTS FOR THE FOOD

SERVICE SECTOR
Diversity is the key characteristic of this sector (Table 10.3). There is diversity of
facilities and equipment in these outlets: diversity of labor skills and wages, from
chefs in top-of-the-line gourmet restaurants to street vendors in their peddle carts
selling sandwiches, hot dogs, and sausages and chili sauces; and diversity in the
consumers and expectations of consumers.
A. THE PHYSICAL FACILITIES OF THE CUSTOMER

New products for the food service industry must be capable of being finish prepared
with the equipment that the outlets have on their premises. Equipment can be
primitive or very sophisticated, and the food product developer must recognize the
restrictions in product design that the state of the preparation equipment may pose.
While there is a restriction imposed by the available equipment, the finished product
must be platable with the smallware available in the establishment. New product
development must suit the chefs and cooks as well as the kitchen.
Settlemyer (1986) describes this situation perfectly with a description of the
development of a buttermilk biscuit for a chain of restaurants. During development,
it was determined that although ovens suitable to bake the biscuits were available
in individual outlets, warming ovens to hold the biscuits were not. Thus, included
in the development process was the need to research different brands of biscuit
warmers. The needs of the kitchen have to be satisfied.
One fast food multioutlet company solved the problem of compatibility of
products and equipment with a fully operational outlet at its development center,
not merely a mock-up test kitchen. The sole purpose of this outlet was to provide
TABLE 10.3
General Problems in Food Service Establishments That Influence
Product Development
Clientele: Runs the gamut of those seeking gratification of sensuous pleasure with cost no concern to
those eating of necessity in order to get on with something else to those who have to be fed for
humanitarian, military, or medical reasons.
Facilities: From well-equipped to barely adequate preparation equipment. Caterer often has to supply
equipment. Many are “heat and hold” facilities.
Skill levels: Skill levels are highly variable within the commercial and noncommercial sectors of the
food service industry; training levels are high in white tablecloth restaurants down to minimum in fast
food chains.a
Labor and labor costs: In general, labor in the food service arena is mobile or transient or both; chefs
and sous chefs are highly mobile with their skills; summer help is transient. Labor costs are high in
such establishments. Labor in lower quality restaurants is usually lower paid and is often transient. Food
commissaries have labor problems similar to those of any food manufacturing establishment; workers
work in hot, dirty, noisy environments where often little formal education is required and basic language
skills are not necessary (Fuller, 2001, p. 267).
Expensive real estate: Restaurants, company cafeterias, and fast food outlets are sited in high-traffic areas
(downtown areas, office buildings, busy streets, or highways) and this results in high taxation and high
property values. For these reasons, work area to income earning area is kept at a minimum.
Environmental areas of concern: Site locations make odor elimination and waste removal imperative;
elimination and removal is expensive. Removal and elimination can irritate neighboring residents or
establishments. Hours of operation (noise and traffic pollution) can result in local by-law regulations.
Energy costs: Restaurant operations are energy intensive.
Consistency, price, quality, and safety: Quality and price must vary with budget restrictions established
for raw materials and ingredients. Consistency must be constant, and safety is paramount.
a The skill levels in the central commissaries of fast food chains are high, but levels in the actual serving
establishment may be nonexistent and dependent on preparation and serving protocols laid down by the
central commissary.
a one-store test to determine how operationally compatible products were before

any test market was attempted (Peters, 1980). In both Settlemyer’s and Peters’s
examples, the needs of customers (chef, owner, manager) were catered to first.
Dry goods storage space and refrigerater and freezer space is limited; new
products must not require special storage conditions and must be adaptable to
available storage space. Unused product must be easily resealable and capable of
being safely stored.
B. ENERGY REQUIREMENTS
Types of energy used in food service facilities and their costs vary widely within
any country and from country to country. Energy as a cost factor in food service
operations is, as a consequence, highly variable. When prepared foods received from
a central commissary are used, less energy is required for preparation and presen-
tation. De novo preparation from raw ingredients requires more energy for food
preparation and cooking. Energy is, along with labor, a considerable contributor to
overhead expenses. Efforts to reduce the energy used in meal preparation would be
greatly appreciated by food service operators. In military feeding, in particular,
energy conservation would be very welcome since energy sources must be moved
with the marching, sailing, or flying consumers.
To design products that conserve energy in their preparation, developers need
to determine how and where energy is required in food preparation. If only the
prepared food itself is considered, energy is absorbed by:
• The average temperature increases in foods as the masses of foods are

brought to the necessary preparation and serving temperatures
• Phase changes in foods of mixed composition as solids are converted to
liquids (dissolving and melting) or water to steam (concentrating) (Norwig
and Thompson, 1984)
Norwig and Thompson describe the calculation of energy requirements using

the frying of french fry–cut potatoes and the cooking of frozen hamburger patties
as examples.
Snyder (1984) suggests that foods, particularly sauces and gravies, can be for-
mulated with the correct amount of liquid incorporated initially to get the desired
finished consistency. This reduces the need to boil the sauces down to evaporate
water. No concentration step is required, and both time and energy can be saved.
An additional benefit would be the improvement in quality since less heat damage
to sensitive ingredients in the sauce would occur.
Many factors affect the energy absorption (and quality) of food products during
heating: shape, thickness (McProud and Lund, 1983; Ohlsson, 1986), density
(McProud and Lund, 1983), composition (Bengtsson, 1986; McProud and Lund,
1983), and method of heating: by microwaves (Decareau, 1986), by convection or
radiant ovens (Skjöldebrand, 1986), by boiling (Ohlsson, 1986), by frying (Skjölde-
brand, 1986), or by grilling (Bengtsson, 1986).
It should be pointed out that energy usage is not confined to food preparation
in food service establishments. Energy is consumed in lighting, heating, air condi-
tioning, and fans in both the dining and kitchen areas. In addition, refrigerators,
freezers, serving cabinets, and warming ovens, all indirectly associated with food
preparation, consume energy.
Designing products or ingredients to be energy efficient is an important consid-
eration in products for the food service industry. Food service operators need to
reduce their overheads; reducing energy consumption is a good way to do this.
C. LABOR
Labor, its availability, its skill level, and its cost are problems for managers of any
food service outlet. Preparation must be, therefore, simple.
Developers need to provide clear and explicit instructions for:
• Storage of the product and unused portions of the product

• Preparation of the product itself and preparation of any of its recipe
variations (multiple uses of products or ingredients)
• Safe display of the product
• Serving the product
The product must minimize the labor used in preparation; it must be capable of
being prepared in the rushed, hot, steamy, crowded, and temperamental atmosphere
of the kitchen. Preparation may not always be by trained chefs or cooks but by
young, minimally trained, part-time staff working at a job, not in a career as a cook.
In fast food restaurants, preparation must be simple and uncomplicated to pro-
duce products with uniform quality, and preparation time must be short. Periods of
high-volume turnover demand rapidity of preparation. In addition, the outlet must
maintain tight portion control. Pehanich (2003) discusses working relationships in
food chains in particular.
Simplicity of preparation, versatility of usage, as well as rapidity of preparation
are essential features of products for consideration by developers.
D. WASTE HANDLING
Clean-up must be simple, and waste associated with the use or preparation of any
new product must be curtailed. With storage already limited for supplies and food,
storage for waste must be held to a minimum. New products or ingredients must
produce as little waste as possible during preparation. Unused portions must be
easily and safely stored without special storage requirements.
There is another consideration: sanitation. Any product introduced into the food
service establishment must not introduce any unusual hazards or require unusual or
extraordinary handling techniques with respect to hygiene, clean-up, and sanitation.
E. CUSTOMERS AND CONSUMERS

So far only the needs of the customer (i.e., the outlet) have been considered. It can
be seen that some of these needs and wants are very specific. A basic point about
product development in the food service market must be made. It is no longer enough,
if indeed it ever was, for a supplier who makes a conventional retail product to put
that product into an institutional-sized container and believe it is truly serving this
market. That is not product development in this unique market. Products designed
for home use do not become products suited to the needs of food service managers
merely by using larger-sized containers.
Catering is unique in that in addition to providing an eating occasion, with the
emphasis on occasion, there is a sociability aspect attached to that provision:
Catering systems that are centred wholly on the technical aspects and ignore the social
aspects will fail…. production methodology or product formulation and presentation
must recognise the social context within which the final product outcome is to be
consumed (Glew, 1986).
Whether consumers “dine out” or “grab a bite,” developers must recognize that these
meals are being consumed in a social context. Food must please; food must entertain;
food must satisfy; food must comfort. Product designers must fit their products into
the social context of the food.
What does this conjure up for new product developers? Fun foods? Comfort
foods? Entertainment foods? The context of food usage, the occasions on which it
is consumed, must be understood as important factors in both development and
marketing. An entertainment–sociability–warmth factor must be designed into these
foods. Food retailers, for example, attempt to capitalize on this aspect of food with
in-store bakeries wafting the aroma of freshly baked bread throughout their stores.
The smell of freshly baked bread has a warmness to it and evokes memories. It is
a smell that was most missed by soldiers in combat situations.
1. The Consumer: Nutrition

Today’s consumer is concerned with nutrition; at least we are told that today’s
consumer is interested in foods containing nutraceuticals with disease-combating
properties (but how to explain the growing problem of obesity?). How deeply this
concern extends when the context of eating is social, for example, the candlelit
dinner, is very difficult to assess. Nevertheless, customers (food service outlets)
recognizing the consumers’ desire for cutting down excess fat, getting plenty of
good fiber in foods, and wanting minimally processed foods were driven to devise
products that satisfy these needs. They came up with reduced-fat burgers and veggie
burgers and provided vegetarian menu items and described menu items as “heart
friendly.” Yet quietly, reduced-fat burgers have disappeared from the marketplace,
while veggie burgers have quietly gained wide acceptance. Is the entertain-
ment–sociability–warmth factor (comfort foods) associated with eating occasions in
consumers’ minds greater than their nutritional concerns?
Many fast food chains have extended their menus to present healthful variants
of standard products or to present new eating opportunities, for example, breakfast
menus; soup and a variety of salads are being offered as calorically lighter fare.
Extended menus require new ingredients and new food products. Where new prod-
ucts can serve a multitude of uses in a food service outlet to satisfy the consumer
with a variety of tasty products and the customer by reducing the variety of ingre-
dients carried, everybody wins.
Nutrition, price, taste appeal, convenience, and gratification of the gustatory
senses influence acceptance of new products in food service markets. Nutrition is a
factor in acceptance but not the only one, nor in my opinion, the most important
one in eating out. The trend to healthy eating will remain, but this market must be
allowed to develop at its own pace.
V. QUALITY IN THE FOOD SERVICE MARKET

There are two judges of quality: customers (chef/cook/owner) and consumers (din-
ers/eaters/users). Quality is first determined by the management of the food service
outlet, be it a commercial or a noncommercial outlet. If quality is to be understood
as the satisfaction of needs, then product developers must first meet the needs of
the kitchen staff. Here quality attributes must include price, convenience, minimal
labor requirements, short preparation time, consistent quality, individually packed
or portion-controlled items, and, if possible, multiple uses for the product. When
these are satisfied, then perhaps, the product will be put to the consumer for final
judging using the skills of the chef or cook. The ultimate judge of quality is the
consumer. Criteria for assessing this judgment are the trash bin, not ordering, and
loss of sales.
A. SAFETY
Concerns for safety from both hazards of public health significance and hazards of
economic significance are paramount in food service. Programs (e.g., hazard analysis
critical control point programs) used to resolve these concerns do not differ greatly
from those discussed earlier for product development. No hazard of public health
significance must be associated with new products or ingredients.
Extra consideration for the safety and stability of foods and ingredients must be
given because of the special stresses that are normal in the food service industry.
The limited storage area, the frenetic activity in the preparation area, and the need
to display or hold product hot in serving areas present additional challenges to the
quality characteristics of products or ingredients.
A further consideration regarding safety stems from the fact that in health
care feeding, many patients have compromised immune systems, and special care
must be paid to the microbiological safety of ingredients and products intended
for their use.
VI. DEVELOPMENT OF PRODUCTS FOR THE FOOD

SERVICE MARKET
Development for the food service market follows pathways similar to development
for the food retail sector. This holds whether a company is attempting to introduce
new products to operators of food service establishments or whether a food service
company itself wishes to bring new items onto its menu (Peters, 1980; Settlemyer,
1986). Both should have first developed objectives that they wish to attain. From
these there should arise strategies and then tactics to reach these objectives within
the time and financial constraints management desires.
To enhance chances of being successful, product developers should speak to
food service operators, discuss with them who their target market is and what their
requirements for new products are, and be guided by these in new product develop-
ment (Pehanich, 2003). Working closely with the customer permits the developer of
new products or ingredients to better focus research to design products more suited
to the physical and operational needs of customers. Unless food developers know
what the ultimate preparation in the kitchen and presentation to the consumer will
be, they will have difficulties designing suitable new products for this market.
To become successful suppliers to the food service industry, companies must
work closely with food outlet operators or at least be very knowledgeable about the
catering industry. This market is highly fragmented. Each fragment represents a

marketing niche in itself. Development teams require:
• A clear, specific statement of what their new product is going to be part

of, that is, dessert, main course, side dish, etc.
• Identification of which targeted consumer the product is meant for
• Information on which meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack) the product
is intended for
• The budgeted allowance of the product
Prices of menu items stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. On the menu,
price is much more obviously comparable to the other items, soup to salad to entree.
Price becomes a more important factor than in the retail food market. In a grocery
purchase at a supermarket, any one item can be lost among all the others; its price
does not stand out so noticeably as a proportion of the total purchase. On a restaurant
menu items stand out; prices of items on a menu stand out. Prices of new products
for use with menu items must fit into the price structure of a whole meal.
Companies that are serious about developing products for the food service market
no longer rely on food technologists but now rely on chef-technologists. These are
people who not only are skilled food scientists but are fully trained chefs. They
combine those skills to be able to work knowledgeably with the food service outlet
and the laboratory and the manufacturing plant through the routine of consumer
research with focus groups, questionnaires, and interviews to get a clear and com-
prehensive reaction by the targeted consumer to the product concept. They under-
stand the need to design meal occasions and menu items to meet the needs of the
kitchen and the diner. Food service is a highly fragmented market to which devel-
opers must adapt with new products and menu modifications.
If competitive products are on the market, these chef-technologists can audit
these products more competently than food technologists to provide some idea of
the quality levels in the marketplace, the pricing structure, and expected consumer
reaction to them. Criteria in screening are:
• Price and profitability: Do the products provide labor savings in prepara-

tion, rapidity of preparation, and serving time as well as portion control?
• Do the products answer to the constraints imposed by preparation and
display equipment limitations?
• Are menu items of which the products are integral components well
received by the kitchen staff and diners?
• Do the products provide additional or equivalent safety and quality char-
acteristics to products they are components of against the stresses of that
sector of the food service market for which they are intended?
Many products are prepared in a central commissary situated anywhere from

several floors away in a hotel to a few miles away for health care feeding establish-
ments to several hundreds of miles away for fast food chains. An obvious criterion
of screening is whether the product provides better protection for both nutrition and
safety against any abusive mishandling that distribution might impose. West (1994)
reviews the similarity of good manufacturing practices for the food manufacturing
and food service sectors. She emphasizes the need for designers of prepared foods
and food components to know these.
Developers of food service items need to provide a clear list of instructions for
the storage of the product, its preparation, whether it is capable of multiple use,
preparation of all its variants, its display, the method of serving, and storage or
treatment of unused portions. This requirement is less essential in retail food product
development, but most food manufacturers do provide recipes, product information,
and preparation advice on Web sites for good consumer relations.
At this stage of development, a consumer test can begin. This can be a small or
large test of the product involving a few units in a local area to a dozen or more
food service outlets spread widely. Marketing support can vary from simple table
tents to TV, radio, and newspaper advertisements supported by coupons, in-store
displays, and free samples.
VII. CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING A TEST MARKET

Reaction to new food service products can be found the following ways:
• Questionnaires (consumer intercepts) permit the developer to evaluate the

consumers’ reactions, that is, both the food preparer and the diner, to the
new product and, if evaluation warrants, set about refining the product to
better adapt to consumers’ needs. The social context of the meal often
precludes the use of consumer intercepts. The type of intercept depends
largely on the product under study — is it one that only the food preparer
would appreciate the presence or use of?
• Cash register data can provide information on the new product as a percent
of sales. The impact of the new product on improving sales or the impact
of its introduction on the cannibalization of some other menu item can
be determined.
• More dramatically, analysis of the amount of new product found in the
trash containers at test sites provides ample evidence of acceptance. A
careful interpretation of all data will be necessary to provide information
that may herald a successful introduction or prevent a commercial disaster.
There are three potential sources of waste in any food service establishment.
Preparation, or kitchen, waste can broadly be classified as food purchased for kitchen
use but discarded during preparation or spoiled in storage. Kitchen waste will be
higher in establishments doing their own preparation work and not relying on
preprepared foods. The second source of waste, service waste, is prepared food left
in warmers or steam tables and not purchased or accepted by consumers. The amount
of kitchen waste and service waste is largely, although not entirely, a measure of
the management skills of the establishment. Finally, there is consumer waste: food
purchased by the consumer but discarded. This is a measure of rejection.
How waste is to be measured and assessed presents some problems. Banks and
Collison (1981) studied waste in 39 catering establishments in the U.K. and discussed
the factors affecting waste, not the least of which is the size of the meal. Lack of
attention by the establishment to portion control increased waste, but the amount of
convenience food used by the establishment decreased it.
Kirk and Osner (1981) agree that consumer waste can be a sign of poor portion
control:
It may be thought that plate waste does not represent a financial loss to the establishment
since the food has been paid for by the consumer. However, poor portion control can
lead to more food being produced than is required or to a loss of potential sales.
There is another factor contributing to plate waste. People have varied attitudes
toward the edibility of particular food items, for example, potato skins, the skins on
other vegetables such as cucumbers or zucchini, and giblets.
Consumer research requires careful assessment. Do the data represent only the
regional preferences of the test area selected for introduction, or can the data be
extrapolated to wider market areas? Regional dishes that are accepted in one area
of the country may not be equally well accepted in other areas. Impartial answers
to these and other questions are required.
Nevertheless, analysis of consumer waste can be a useful tool in assessing
consumer acceptance of menu items. Its interpretation must be used cautiously. Cash
register receipts provide an indication of purchase, but the garbage bin audit can tell
of the acceptance of the new product.
The introduction of any product, even one so seemingly simple as a different
style of hamburger, into a fast food chain can involve several unexpected, interwoven
variables that need to be assessed. One fast food chain “recently spent $1 million
on thousands of taste tests to develop a better hamburger” (Anon., 1986). This chain
experimented with nine buns, over three dozen sauces, three types of cuts of lettuce,
two sizes of sliced tomato, and ten colors of four different boxes and some several
hundred different names. It was even determined that the order of the condiments
was important to consumers. All in all, this new product introduction represented a
formidable task in market analysis!
11 Product Development
for the Food Ingredient
Industry
Progress in civilization has been accompanied by progress in cookery.
Fanny Farmer (quoted in Robbins, 1983)
I. THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE FOOD

INGREDIENT DEVELOPER
A. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOOD INGREDIENT INDUSTRY
1. The Chain of Customers and Consumers: A Welter of
Identities and Needs
A distinction between customer as one who buys a product to be used and ultimately
consumed by a consumer has relevance in the ingredient industry. Customer and
consumer may be one and the same, for example, the chef or cook in a restaurant
purchases a product and then uses it (adds value to it; is, in effect, a consumer) to
produce a new menu item that is then purchased by another customer (the diner).
In the ingredient industry, the customer and consumer roles are often blurred, and
the needs of each in the chain must be identified for a series of new products to be
developed. The chain can be very long.
For example, in scotch whiskey manufacture, barley is sold to a malting company
(the first customer and user) for soaking, malting, and drying over peat fires; the
malting company then sells malt, smoked and dried to specifications, to a brewer
(the second customer and user), who steeps and ferments the brew. The brewer sells
the spent malt, called draff, to an ingredient manufacturing company or a feed
manufacturer (either of which is the third customer and user). After suitable modi-
fications, this spent malt may be sold to a bakery, where it is used in a baked finished
product, which is sold to consumers, or it may be sold to other food and feed
manufacturers. The chain is clear: each customer and consumer in this chain has
needs that must be identified in order to be satisfied.
As another example, flavor extractors purchase spent seeds and skins expelled
from the finishers from hot pepper sauce manufacturers for extraction of the color
and heat principle for sale to confectionery manufacturers and pharmaceutical
285
companies to be used in their products; this chaff may also be purchased for
enhancing spaghetti sauces or dried and sold as a hot pepper sprinkle-on product.
The lesson for ingredient suppliers is to know who their customers are, what their
needs are, and how they use the product.
The general public seldom notes the ingredient developers’ products. Some
exceptions are diet products containing artificial sweeteners, fat substitutes, or a
specific source of fiber where the ingredient’s brand may be named for the particular
cachet it carries. By-products are usually not identified by the original manufacturer’s
brand or trademark.
Some ingredient manufacturers have, in addition, a profitable retail market niche
for food ingredients, for example baking powders, flavors, food colors, various types
of flour (e.g., stone ground flour), and meat and vegetable hydrolysates. These
markets are subject to all the pressures of the retail marketplace, and their develop-
ment has been treated in the previous chapters.
2. Similarities and Dissimilarities to the Food Service Industry
New product development for the ingredient industry presents some very interesting
differences from, as well as some similarities to, development in the retail food
market and in the food service market. Similarities of product development in the
food ingredient industry to that in the food service industry are very close, indeed
startling. The similarities are threefold:
• Ingredient development tends to be reactive or crisis oriented; the demand

originates primarily with consumer product manufacturers (customers)
who want an ingredient for a certain function in a food. These consumer
product manufacturers believe their customers want, for example, nutrified
products, and they demand the unique ingredients with which to make
these. In effect, ingredient developers are problem solving, reacting as
suppliers to customers’ needs.
• A corollary of the preceding is that product concepts for ingredients are
obtained by a thorough knowledge and awareness on the part of ingredient
suppliers of their customers’ markets. Ingredient concepts originate with
customers with whom the ingredient supplier works closely, often in a
partnership arrangement. The focus group used to determine customers’
needs is replaced by a consumer product manufacturer’s specific require-
ment. Ingredient developers, then, work those requirements into a concept
statement. Food service providers must follow the tastes of their customers
for various cuisines (nouvelle cuisine, ethnic cuisine, fusion cuisine) that
suit these changing styles.
• Ingredient suppliers serve at least two masters: the immediate customer
who purchases ingredients for use in a product and the succeeding cus-
tomers down the chain who use that enhanced product and rely upon its
unique properties. Each customer in the chain puts in added value; each
customer has different needs that have to be catered to.
Product Development for the Food Ingredient Industry 287
There is one difference, a difference of degree perhaps, rather than a difference

of substance. Development of products for the food service market is focused toward
the customer or consumer or both; that is, products must contribute to the overall
aesthetic characteristics of a product without being obtrusive but also must provide
a service, that is, contribute convenience in the work environment of a busy kitchen
at a price the customer is willing to pay.
The situation in food ingredient development is slightly different. Here, the
efforts of manufacturers are still largely concentrated on developing ingredients with
properties of texture, viscosity, mouth feel, spreadability, or flavor delivery to satisfy
the technical demands of the product rather than the aesthetic tastes of the end
consumer. That is, the ingredient supplier is concerned that the ingredient, if a color,
remains stable throughout processing, that a desired texture does not break down
during freezing, or that a flavor is not cooked or baked out until the consumer bites
into it. Important too is that the ingredient not contribute to any undesirable changes
or undue increase in product cost.
Ingredient developers are caught up in technology. For example, they have shown
great skill and versatility in making fat replacements from so many different sub-
stances at such a rapid rate that the casual observer gets the impression that there
is a contest to see how many different substances can be developed into fat replace-
ments. Developers have produced products that substitute for oil and have most of
the characteristics of oil except its nutritive properties.
To use an analogy, a shotgun approach has been used, and the shot used has
produced a wide scatter. They have attempted to hit everything within the target
zone, with the result that nothing has been satisfactorily targeted. A narrow scatter
shot, to continue the analogy, might have been more effective in focusing on fewer
targets but with more telling effect.
3. The Ever-Present Government
The likelihood of government intervention is high in the developmental activities of

ingredient suppliers. This interest takes the form of safety testing and approvals for the
many novel ingredients developed from new nonconventional food sources (e.g., phy-
tochemicals from nonconventional plant sources), from genetically altered animals and
microorganisms, and from chemically modified conventional food sources. Indeed, the
whole question of calling such ingredients natural or even calling them environmentally
friendly will be challenged not only by governments but by consumers as well.
Introduction of novel and imitative products faces hurdles. Righelato (1987) put
this succinctly:
Regulations exist primarily to protect the consumer, but they are necessarily concerned
with existing products and hence serve to maintain the status quo. In doing so they
protect the existing producer, who, in fact, probably helped frame the regulations.
In short, the introduction of novel ingredients faces challenges imposed by legislation

and by the suppliers who provided opinions and hence advised the government on
the formation of the legislation in the first place.
4. The Proliferation of New Ingredients
New ingredients and ingredient technology have grown at an amazing pace. A classic
example of this growth is in the dairy industry; many products can be derived from
milk, each with its own unique flavor or functional property that it contributes to
foods in which it is used. A quarter of a century or so ago, a dairy product tree based
on milk would have numbered only a handful of products:
ice cream evaporated milks cultured milk

market milk cream butter (salted and unsalted)
cheeses dried milks
Today milk constituents have been prepared into a wide variety of ingredients
(Kirkpatrick and Fenwick, 1987):
• Products based on whole milk: pasteurized milk and powdered milk,

sterilized milk and flavored UHT milk as well as milk from other species
(goats and sheep)
• Products derived from compositionally altered milk: fat-reduced milk,
protein-enriched milk, lactose-reduced milk, sweetened milk, reduced-
mineral milk for infant foods
• Milk powder products from modified milk with heat stability properties
or high dispersibility
• Products based on milk fat ranging from the common cream, butter, and
anhydrous milk fat to compositionally modified milk fats with better
spreadability or altered fatty acid composition to fractionated milk fat
with controlled and defined melting ranges
• Products based on the proteins isolated from milk: whole protein copre-
cipitates, components of proteins such as casein rennet, whey protein
derivatives (whey protein concentrates), lactalbumin, milk proteins com-
bined with nonmilk proteins, and modified protein fractions
• Whole cheeses, cheese powders, sprinkle-on cheeses, reduced fat cheeses,
processed cheeses, flavored cheeses, modified cheeses
• Products based on lactose where this sugar’s low sweetness can be utilized
and on the other end of the sweetness scale where its enzymatic conversion
to glucose and galactose can produce sweeter products
• Biologically active materials that can be obtained from milk
These dairy ingredients find uses in dietetic foods (McDermott, 1987), in meat
and poultry products as calcium-reduced binding and emulsifying agents (van den
Hoven, 1987), in confectionery products (Campbell and Pavlasek, 1987), and in
bakery products (Cocup and Sanderson, 1987).
Plant materials such as sea weeds, fruits, herbs, and spices are being similarly
purified, fractionated, and blended to produce functionally important fiber ingredi-
ents, viscosity-adjusting agents, and antioxidants. Underexploited plants and
underutilized fish caught as a by-product are finding uses as new ingredients (fish
protein concentrates) or foods.
B. FOCUSING ON THE CUSTOMER, WHO IS ALSO THE CONSUMER

All product development gets its impetus from the customer or consumer or both;
they have some perceived need that can be profitably satisfied. Ingredient developers
challenge themselves by asking, “How can we convince potential customers that
our products will improve their products?” or “How can my ingredients be modified
to enhance the high-quality characteristics of my customer’s product?” The possi-
bilities for the development of close supplier–client relationships are apparent (which
also contributes to the large numbers and diversity of ingredients).
The technological ability of an ingredient developer to transform a raw material,
be it rice bran or a protein into ingredients by micronization to simulate the properties
of fats, is unimpressive unless the use of these altered products has been fine-tuned
in some desirable added-value product that the consumer product manufacturer can
sell to other consumers. Ingredient suppliers must adapt the properties of their
ingredients to their customers’ food systems and demonstrate the value of their
ingredients to their customers. Ingredients are designed to complement the quality
and stability the customer has designed into their finished product.
1. Customer Research
The ingredient company’s strength is the ability of their technical sales force to
articulate the needs and desires of customers back to technologists in their research
and development department. The technical sales force is also their primary route
to customer and consumer market research.
Focus groups made up of an ingredient company’s clients are clearly out of the
question. These customers are actively competing with one another in the marketplace
and are hardly likely to sit down together to discuss the supplier’s product concepts
or products. Likewise, questionnaires for use in individual, mail, or telephone surveys
to gather information about customers are not likely to be successful. These are
intrusions into business office routines and enquiries into what may be confidential
areas of their clients. Of the various surveying methods, only the Delphi technique
(see Chapter 2) of querying company executives appears to be of any general help
to ingredient developers; it looks ahead too far to be useful for innovation.
Demographic and psychographic data about industrial customers are nonexistent.
There are trade, business, or commodity associations such as the American Associ-
ation of Meat Processors, the American Spice Trade Association, the Chocolate
Manufacturers Association of the USA, the Milk Industry Foundation, and the
International Ice Cream Association where general information of ingredient trends
and needs can be obtained. Ingredient manufacturers have a very high profile in
such organizations. These associations, with their sponsored exhibitions and confer-
ences, are places where excellent contacts can be developed. Prepared Foods as well
as several other national and foreign food trade magazines issue an annual index of
trade associations and exhibits (e.g., Anon., 1991).
After a contact is made, the ingredient supplier’s technical sales personnel will
interview their potential customers’ technical staff to communicate back the prob-
lems encountered by customers. Customer research is very much a hands-on business
in ingredient development. That is, the ingredient supplier works one-on-one with
its client. While an ingredient may serve several clients, each customer’s needs are
different and each customer’s product is a different food matrix. Ingredients must
provide industrial customers with finished products that have distinct points of
difference. Ingredient users cannot always rely on off-the-shelf ingredients to obtain
this desired point of distinction.
a. Partnerships
Often customers will contact ingredient suppliers, and partnerships may develop
as they work together toward a common goal. Each customer of the ingredient
supplier is unique. The distinctiveness of an ingredient must belong to that customer
alone.
Flavor houses have developed this art of focusing on the needs of the customer
to a high degree. They work closely with customers to produce any flavor sensation
their customers want. They can blend from natural flavors, create flavors imitative
of natural ones, or create unique flavors not found in nature. Ingredients and the
technical service supporting the use of the ingredients are designed to satisfy the
customer’s needs.
The ingredient developer’s goal is to provide a quality service with a product
distinctively designed to meet the perceived needs of the added-value manufacturer.
To develop ingredients, the supplier works backward with the customer, so to speak,
saying, “What does this manufacturer need and how can I satisfy that need compet-
itively?” Development is directed to these needs and their gratification. Ingredient
suppliers do sell ingredients but they are just as likely to sell services.
An ingredient developer cannot create a family of ingredients, each with slightly
varying properties, and then approach consumer product manufacturers with these
samples saying, “Try these. One of them should work.” The ingredient supplier must
know the ingredient works before it is passed on to the customer. Perhaps it will
not work to the full satisfaction of the customer, but it must work well enough to
encourage a partnership relationship between supplier and customer. Hence the need
for a close working relationship between supplier and customer through technical
sales personnel.
There is an analogy with the food service industry: suppliers to the food service
industry must adapt their products to conditions in the kitchen, to the skills of the
kitchen’s labor force, and to the style of the food outlet and its clientele. Similarly,
developers of food ingredients must adapt their processes and products to satisfying
the equivalent requirements of their customers.
Development of ingredients for the retail food ingredient business is similar to
development for other retail food products. Standard consumer research techniques
provide the necessary information that permits selected targeting of customers and
consumers or the development of specific niche markets. Heavy promotion through
cooking schools and cooking demonstrations in schools, church basements, carni-
vals, and agricultural fairs, plus recipe booklets and free samplings usually accom-
pany retail sales. Feedback from these promotional tools provides its own consumer
research information.
2. “Consumer” Research: Yes and No Possibilities
Is there an opportunity for consumer research in the food ingredient field? The
answer is an ambiguous “yes and no.” The use of quotation marks around the word
consumer in the heading emphasizes that there are two consumers that the ingredient
manufacturer deals with: first, there is the client customer-consumer with whom the
supplier works to develop an ingredient specific for this client’s needs but with whom
no actual traditional consumer research is done; then there is a general population
that the ingredient manufacturer can survey to see what interests there may be in
low-carbohydrate food, high-energy performance snacks, high-calcium foods, and
so on for which suitable ingredients can be developed.
a. The Yes Side
For the yes side: ingredient developers can make themselves aware of the consumers’
activities in the marketplace. They should know about the health concerns of the
consumer, for example, that low-calorie, low-fat, high-fiber, low- or no cholesterol,
no salt foods are in favor, and develop suitable products for different food systems.
Nutritious and diet foods, once relegated to the slow moving section of the super-
market, are now mainstream and prominently displayed. Green is in, and food
manufacturers are attempting to draw attention to the green changes in their products.
Natural ingredients can be prominently displayed in the list of ingredients for their
image of purity and wholesomeness. The consumers’ desire to self-medicate and a
need for foods to combat disease has caused suppliers to rush to develop nutraceu-
ticals (functional ingredients) for manufacturers of foods. All the foregoing provide
consumer research for ingredient suppliers.
So, yes, ingredient manufacturers can research consumers, determine consumer
trends, and fabricate ingredients that incorporate these desirable characteristics into
their products. In a sense they leapfrog their customers, the consumer product
manufacturers. This leapfrogging can be used for what Lee (1991) describes as “pro-
active product development.” In pro-active product development, ingredient manu-
facturers bring to fruition product concepts that if adopted by consumers as products
in the marketplace would result in heavy usage of the manufacturer’s newly devel-
oped ingredient. The ingredient makes possible products (for which, it is understood,
there was an undiscovered marketplace need) that food manufacturers could neither
produce previously without this ingredient, nor produce at a reasonable cost, nor
produce at an acceptable quality.
Textured vegetable proteins, surimi-based products, and the mycoprotein prod-
uct, Quorn, developed by Rank Hovis McDougall are typical examples of such
ingredients. All find wide use as analogues in various engineered consumer products,
for example, surimi (Duxbury, 1987; Brooker and Nordstrom, 1987) and Quorn
(Godfrey, 1988; Best, 1989b; Bond, 1992; Wilson, 2001). A consumer desire for
new texture is identified, which manufacturers can satiate with new products using
the textures these new ingredients provide.
b. The No Side
For the no side: ingredient developers find it necessary in such pro-active product
development to create or capitalize on a hitherto unrealized ingredient and
develop a need for it by demonstrating new and exciting innovative products;
this is expensive. They must have an accurate and intimate knowledge of the
general population of consumers and their needs; for example, if an ingredient
is “in” for any reason (cf., Oatrim™ for fat replacement), then there is a scurry
to make a variety of fat replacements from a multitude of sources of fiber. Such
products require extensive development resources (surimi, an exception, had a
long history of development and application and was readily adapted; Quorn is
much slower to be adapted) and require the education of consumers to accept
the product or to learn how to adapt it to local food traditions. Then, ingredient
developers must convince food manufacturers of this opportunity by demonstrat-
ing a novel application and rely upon manufacturers to develop, market, and
promote the finished products.
C. THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Development of new ingredients differs from the development processes dis-
cussed previously; it is complicated (a) by the need to establish usage levels for
different types of product and processes and (b) by the possible need to determine
the safety of new ingredients such as concentrated extracts of non-food-source
phytochemicals.
1. The Development Process and Food Legislation
Legislated standards for food products and regulations for permitted usage levels
in products are more significant factors in ingredient development than they are in
the development of products for either retail food outlets or the food service
industry. There is currently no rationalization of food legislation among nations;
consequently, manufacturers are constantly having to reformulate products if ingre-
dients are proscribed or if permitted usage levels differ in an importing country.
There are attempts at rationalizing trade through free trade agreements in several
areas of the world that will eventually harmonize food legislation among all the
signatory countries to these agreements.
Ingredient developers need to stay aware of food legislative activities in their
governments in order to anticipate possible changes that harmonization of legis-
lation may bring. Changes in food legislation have a devastating effect respecting
the acceptability, or not, of ingredients, which foods the ingredients are permitted
in, and at what levels additions are permitted; changes in trade barriers may affect
the costs of ingredients and the availability of the raw materials from which they
are made. Again, time and money in partnership with customers spent problem
solving their product development must not be wasted by experimenting with
ingredients for products that do not conform to local, national, or international
laws or do not meet or respect religious customs.
2. What Criteria for Screening?
Screening in the development process includes safety of the ingredient at the rec-
ommended levels of usage, acceptability in the clients’ products, and functionality,
that is, does the ingredient do what the client wants at a price the client is willing
to pay? Ingredient suppliers need both basic research teams and applied research
teams to do this competently: the basic team to modify and study the physical and
chemical properties of the ingredient modifying the base ingredient and the applied
team to study specific food formulation reactions with the ingredient.
a. Financial Constraints
Financial criteria for new ingredient development have different time horizons.
Return on investment can be accepted over a longer period of time, measured in
years rather than in months; ingredient developers do not expect a payback in 3 to
6 months as might be expected in the retail food market. Standard ingredients are
sold to many diverse clients such that profits are maintained as long as demand
continues. Ingredients do not require the same level of advertising and other pro-
motional gimmickry that consumer food products do.
An ingredient which has been well researched and developed should be filling a market
need and will sell itself to some extent, whereas it is often necessary to create a market
for a new consumer product by intensive advertising (Lee, 1991).
Needless to say, ingredients must be profitable, but there is no easy way to

predict or evaluate potential financial returns for a new ingredient. The financial
criteria used as a screening tool for retail food product development cannot be applied
to assess the financial success of ingredient development. Difficulties arise when
trying to assess financial criteria in a partnership arrangement between the ingredient
supplier and the consumer product manufacturer. Here there is only one customer
since such arrangements often involve exclusivity agreements; the two parties must
enter into a legal agreement.
A novel criterion similar to that encountered in the food service industry is
introduced. Costs of ingredient development must be balanced against the customer’s
financial criteria. After all, the cost of the ingredient in relation to its usage level
must not force users to price their consumer products out of competitive ranges.
High ingredient costs may force exclusive users to seek alternatives. For example,
marketing boards may set artificially high commodity prices in order to establish
good prices for farmers. These prices may compel consumer product manufacturers
using these commodities to find cheaper alternatives. This sharing of costs is a hazard
of partnership agreements that must be worked out.
b. Foreign Market Constraints
Ingredient suppliers are able to distribute their products more widely than consumer
food product manufacturers since ingredients, generally speaking, carry no ethnic,
cultural, or nationalistic biases, although religious concerns do arise regarding
whether ingredients are of animal origin or are kosher, pareve, or halal. Consequently,
ingredient suppliers usually have large export markets since their ingredients carry
no cultural or traditional taboos. Three major criteria for screening are unrelated to
the specific ingredient itself. These are:
• Can ingredient suppliers adequately service foreign markets and provide

the technical sales support, research and development, and marketing
activity required to support these market niches?
• Do ingredient manufacturers understand the foreign market and its local
food customs sufficiently well to identify potential consumer product
manufacturers and to establish a rapport while recognizing the difficulties
that language barriers and different business customs bring?
• Are suppliers aware of national, regional, and local food regulations that
must be observed?
Obvious solutions are the use of local agents familiar with local conditions in
the foreign markets or the establishment of satellite operations in the foreign country.
Both solutions have shortcomings:
• The use of agents interposes one more hierarchical level between cus-
tomer and supplier through which communication must be filtered. That
is, ingredient suppliers must rely on others, their agents, for both
reliable market information and for providing competent technical sup-
port to clients.
• Satellite operations, unless they have all the research facilities of the parent
company, must send samples from the foreign customers back and forth
to the head office for experimentation. Delays and inconveniences for
customers result.
Both avenues represent added costs: agents want fees and satellite facilities are
costly to maintain with the double teaming of technical and marketing staff that they
require.
c. The Ultimate Criterion: Test Market
There is no formal test market for ingredients. Ingredient manufacturers cannot select
a geographic area representative of targeted consumer product manufacturers and
proceed to launch new ingredients supported by advertising and promotions.
What is more likely to happen is that ingredient manufacturers, after extensive
business and customer research, will target potential high-volume users of their
newly developed product. They will conduct carefully rehearsed and well-researched
individual presentations with demonstrations to show each candidate the value of
using their new ingredient.
New ingredient launches are usually heralded by announcements in trade mag-
azines and technical journals or demonstrated in the carnival atmosphere of food
ingredient trade fairs. A common routine for any ingredient supplier at a trade show
is to hand out free samples of the ingredient or demonstrate it in a prepared food
handout in which the new ingredient has been used. Admittedly, this is primarily a
gesture of goodwill, but it is frequently hazardous. Products are presented under less
than ideal conditions and are not examples of “best foot forward” presentations of
what an ingredient can do.
d. Applying the Customer’s Criteria for Screening
Potential customers evaluate ingredients on the basis of advantages that accrue from
their use:
• Does its use reduce ingredient costs?

• Does its use reduce labor costs, simplify production, or increase produc-
tion efficiencies?
• Does its use increase the high-quality shelf life of the product? Is there a
satisfactory quality vs. cost ratio that justifies using the new ingredient?
• Are there added nutritional or safety benefits for products using the ingre-
dient that are valued by the consumer? Will the use permit the manufacture
of more environmentally friendly products or avoid the use of chemical
preservatives? Will its use provide a clean label?
• Can the consumer (ultimate user) perceive the advantages that use of the
ingredient provides?
• Does this ingredient permit the development of products previously
impossible to manufacture?
There must be affirmative answers to some of these questions if the newly

introduced product is to be successful.
D. THE FUTURE OF INGREDIENT DEVELOPMENT

New ingredients and biotechnology appear to go together. Best and O’Donnell
(1992) reviewed a number of future new ingredients, many of which are of a
biotechnological origin:
• Bacteriocins of microbial origin

• Transgenically altered milk production to produce natural preservatives,
pharmaceuticals, and altered milk-fat fatty acid profile or to remove a
milk allergen producing off-flavors in UHT milk
• Genetic manipulation of poultry to improve texture and water-binding
properties of the meat
The authors advise that the promise of the new ingredients be tempered with several
cautions that are just as apt today as they were in 1992. Their first caution, noted
previously, is the certain intervention of government in the safety of and permission
to use genetically (biotechnologically) derived ingredients, especially plants with
enhanced phytochemical concentrations. Certainly, there is disagreement among
nations regarding the need to label transgenic organisms in foods.
The second caution concerns the economic impact such novel techniques may
have upon certain commodity industries, for example, the dairy industry. Already,
this particular industry faces two conflicting government interventionist policies. On
the other hand, in many countries including the U.S., the industry is encouraged to
produce milk with a high milk-fat content (yet children and teenagers are the prime
consumers of milk and milk products), but government health policies exhort con-
sumers to eat less fat. Other industries also have concerns about the new technologies.
Finally, the desire for new ingredients with new functional properties and health
or disease prevention properties will put enormous pressures on ingredient manu-
facturers to produce, separate, and purify the products to the degree that the consumer
products industry will want. This will be expensive for ingredient suppliers.
The desire of consumers for natural products and for products manufactured
using natural ingredients will pressure ingredient suppliers to explore the use of
ingredients derived from natural sources and, concomitantly, the use of novel,
minimally processed (i.e., modified) derivatives from these natural ingredients.
Manufacturers of consumer products will want to present to customers and con-
sumers a label with an ingredient list that appears less chemically and synthetically
derived and more natural appearing.
Natural ingredients will be “in,” but whether this will mean transgenically
modified or biotechnologically derived ingredients will also be considered natural
and therefore “in” by customers and consumers is a moot point. With the consumers’
fears of big science so prevalent, a massive educational program will be required to
allay these anxieties. Ingredient manufacturers must use caution.
This intense interest in naturalness in colors, preservatives, antioxidants, indeed
anything natural that can replace chemicals, is attested to by the abundance of
research papers and reviews of literature in these areas: natural colors (Engel, 1979;
Francis, 1981; Gabriel, 1989; Shi et al., 1992a,b), antimicrobial agents (Shelef et
al., 1980; Zaika and Kissinger, 1981; Baxter et al., 1983; Zaika et al., 1983; Beuchat
and Golden, 1989; Daeschel, 1989; Barnby-Smith, 1992), and antioxidants (Kläui,
1973; Pokorný, 1991).
Ingredient suppliers, and that includes chemical and pharmaceutical companies,
have established intensive research programs for new sources of ingredients from
plants that may be useful as natural ingredients and to identify the active compo-
nents. The need for natural ingredients with functional properties such as preserva-
tion, thickening, emulsifying, coloring, flavoring, taste modifying, etc., which also
might have nutritional and pharmaceutical properties, will drive future new ingre-
dient development.
A major caution to the use of all new ingredients in general, and ingredients of
biotechnological origins in particular, will be their acceptance by customers and
consumers and their legalization by governments. A major requirement for that
acceptance is that the use of ingredients in a food serve a purpose; that is, they
attract and please the customer and consumer. It is not enough that the use of an
ingredient merely satisfy a consumer product manufacturer’s need; it must have the
means of creating something desirable in the product.
E. MEETING THE CHALLENGE: NEW INGREDIENTS

In this text, no clear distinction will be made between an ingredient and an additive
(for a discussion of additives, see Fuller, 2003). Readers should be cautioned,
however, that in the legislation of many countries such a distinction is made. At

present, there is no uniformity from country to country respecting the classification
of substances as being either an ingredient or an additive, as a natural substance or
nature identical, or as organic or nonorganic. In this text, anything deliberately added
to a food will be considered, rather simplistically, as an ingredient.
Regulations respecting the use of ingredients vary from country to country:
acceptance in one country does not guarantee that the ingredient will be accepted
in another. Therefore, mention of ingredients in this text does not imply they are
permitted but merely illustrates their potential applications as ingredients. Even when
the ingredient is permitted, there are restrictions regarding usage levels and types
of foods in which the ingredient may be used. If food products have standards of
identity — in the U.S. more than 300 foods do — the addition or substitution of
ingredients may be restricted.
1. Marketing’s Impact on the Direction of Research and

Development
Marketing personnel have an influence on what kinds of ingredients are developed;

they have promotional plans based on whatever market research they can do, and
this determines the direction of research. Their requirements must be discussed early
in development with the food technologists. If marketing personnel want to pursue
a program of development of ingredients with a health promotional benefit, for
example, lite or low calorie, low or no fat, high fiber, or with anticancer properties,
then the research teams of the ingredient supplier have a direction. Food technolo-
gists must use sources of ingredients that provide the promotional characteristic that
marketing personnel want. Where there is a client–supplier relationship, obviously
the direction is dictated by the client’s needs. Nevertheless, marketing’s research
either directly or indirectly points the direction for development.
If export markets are eventual goals for marketing personnel, they must consider
that labeling laws for nutritional and health claims are different in many countries
(e.g., between Canada and the U.S.). Consumers’ interest in green labels (their desire
for natural ingredients) and marketing personnel’s obvious desire to please consum-
ers will limit the ingredients that technologists can choose in formulations. Devel-
opment teams need to consider early and carefully all the implications that the use
of any ingredient may have for labeling, for promotional claims, for export markets,
and for environmentally concerned consumers.
a. Fat Ingredients
The nutritional guidelines of many countries recommend that their citizens reduce
the amount of calories derived from fat. Thus, today’s consumers are spurred on to
the desirability for reduced-calorie foods with their government’s endorsation, with
their own awareness that obesity is related to many disease conditions, and with the
strong suggestion reported in the media that high-fat diets and breast cancer may
be directly associated. Weight for weight, fat contributes more than twice as many
calories as protein or carbohydrate. The easiest route to lower calories, then, would
be to eliminate or lower the fat content of food. The only techniques are:
• Reduction or removal of the fat by trimming, skimming, pressing, ren-

dering, or solvent extraction
• Reduction or replacement of the fat in the food by substituting, wholly
or in part, some less calorically dense material (fat extender). Fat extenders
still provide calories, but weight for weight they provide fewer calories
than the fat they replace
• Reduction or replacement of the fat with some nonabsorbable substance
(fat mimetic or replacement) with fat-like properties
The first solution is impractical. The resultant food product would be greatly
altered in flavor, palatability, and appearance; fat provides many desirable organo-
leptic properties to food. The second two solutions require a substance, a fat-extender
or mimetic, that provides all the sensory properties of fat and is nontoxic. It is in
this area that developers of new food ingredients have concentrated their efforts.
Fat replacements or mimetics have been derived from a number of products.
They can be roughly grouped into three classifications:
• Replacements based on physically or chemically modifying a poly-

saccharide fraction such as rice bran, pea fiber, oat fiber, corn starch, or
tapioca dextrin.
• Replacements based on altering the physical character of a natural protein.
Simplesse™, a trademark of The NutraSweet Company, was originally
made from milk solids, then from milk and egg solids (Bertin, 1991). It
is a suspension of protein microparticles that has the mouth feel charac-
teristics of an oil.
• Replacements synthesized from natural foods such as sucrose or other
sugars and esterified with fatty acids; these have fat-like properties. Sili-
cones and long-chain members of alkane hydrocarbons with characteris-
tics resembling fats have been used as fat substitutes (LaBarge, 1988) and
can be included in this category.
Synthetic or engineered fats (Singhal et al., 1991) are somewhat different alter-
natives; they are derived from modifications to the basic skeleton of a fat molecule
itself. This is done by:
• Replacement of the glycerol backbone with other polyhydroxy com-

pounds; sucrose, raffinose, and amylose have been esterified with natural
fatty acids. Propylene oxide can serve as the backbone. Sucrose polyester
(Toma et al., 1988), one such fat replacer, is nonabsorbable and also able
to reduce the cholesterol level in the body. Other replacements provide
fewer calories per gram than do fats and qualify more as extenders,
• Substitution of acids, such as branched carboxylic acids (sterically hin-
dered fatty acids), dicarboxylic acids (fumaric, succinic), or shorter-
chained fatty acids for some or all of the long-chain fatty acids of the
triglyceride structure. Medium-chain fatty acid triglycerides are specialty
fats prepared by the hydrolysis of vegetable oils, the subsequent fraction-
ation of the fatty acids, and reesterification of these fatty acids to a glycerol
backbone (Megremis, 1991).
• Substituting a polycarboxylic acid for the glycerol backbone and then
esterifying suitable long-chain alcohols to the acid. (This has been referred
to as reversing the ester linkage.) Common acids used for the backbone
are citric acid or tricarballylic acid, the tricarboxy acid of glycerol.
LaBarge (1988) discusses these and feeding trials using them.
• Reducing the ester linkages of the triglyceride to ether linkages and thus
changing the properties of the fat. LaBarge (1988) describes these ingre-
dients as much more slowly susceptible to hydrolysis than the esters but
more prone to oxidation.
(Food product developers are cautioned that mention of these ingredients here should
not be interpreted as meaning that all, or any, countries have sanctioned the use of
these products. Developers must verify that the ingredients they use are permitted
in the class of foods they want to use them in and in the amounts they wish to use.)
Medium-chain triglycerides have limited value as fat replacements where only
caloric reduction is the major requirement. However, they also serve as processing
aids by acting as flavor carriers and are used in confections, where their low viscosity
can prevent sticking and provide gloss (Megremis, 1991). Medium-chain triglycer-
ides are absorbed and are metabolized in the liver as rapidly as is glucose (LaBarge,
1988). Their biggest value is their usefulness in special diets to provide a rapid and
concentrated source of energy to people with intestinal malabsorption problems
(Crohn’s disease, colitis), a potential niche market (Babayan and Rosenau, 1991;
Kennedy, 1991). Babayan and Rosenau (1991) also describe the use of a medium-
chain triglyceride oil (chiefly caprylic and capric acids for the triglycerides) in
cheddar- and fontinella-type cheeses.
Some long-chain fatty acid triglycerides are needed to meet the essential fatty
acid requirements of the body. Therefore structured lipids (interesterified lipids
formed from medium-chain triglycerides and long-chain triglycerides) provide
unique benefits. Kennedy (1991) summarizes these, in part, as:
• Improving immune function

• Lessening cancer risk
• Lowering cholesterol
Jojoba oil, a natural oil from the seeds of a hardy bush native to the southwestern
U.S. (NAS, 1975), has also been explored as a possible substitute for fat (Hamm,
1984). Its oil is a liquid wax comprised of esters of fatty acids and alcohols, and it
solidifies at refrigerator temperatures, which may limit its use in some foods. It has
been used in such alternate medicines as aromatherapy and as a cosmetic. It is also
believed to be suitable as a diesel fuel.
Gums also serve as aids in fat-reduced foods by stabilizing emulsions and
providing viscosity, thus simulating some properties of oils and permitting the
reduction of oil in the formulation. Dziezak (1991) describes the properties of gums
and reviews their applications in emulsification.
There are problems with the use of fat replacements and extenders in foods.
Product developers should carefully assess the properties of each before using any
in products. Some, like the alkoxy citrates, are not thermally stable (Singhal et al.,
1991); some may reduce the absorption of other macro- and micronutrients
(LaBarge, 1988); and some may result in anal leakage when consumed (LaBarge,
1988). The major problems presented to food technologists are threefold: to deter-
mine which substitute will be stable in the particular food system, which will be
permitted in this system, and which will be most suitable in the system in which it
is to replace fat.
Dziezak (1989) provides a very readable capsule review of some of the properties
of natural fats and oils for technologists unfamiliar with fat chemistry. Her accom-
panying treatment on fat substitutes is now dated. However, as she points out, this
area of ingredient development is undergoing tremendous change.
Product developers rapidly reformulated products containing saturated tropical
oils to remove these ingredients from products. This occurred when the prevailing
wisdom declared that these saturated vegetable fats behaved as saturated animal fats
in the body. Berger (1989) describes concisely the use of tropical oils in the U.S.,
presents a cogent argument for their continued use, and disputes attacks against their
bad nutritional value.
b. Sugars, Sweeteners, and Other Carbohydrate Ingredients
Sherman (1916), in his classic Food Products, describes only the manufacture of
cane sugar, beet sugar, molasses, refiner’s syrup, maple syrup, open kettle cane syrup,
and honey. Wiley (1917) included sorghum syrup. In the past, these were the sugars
in common use; sucrose from sugar cane or sugar beets was, by far, the main sugar
in food processing.
There are many reasons for the popularity of sucrose in manufacturing. It was
readily available and, therefore, comparatively cheap. It served many functions in
foods in addition merely to sweetening them. Along with the advantages, the use of
cane sugar also brought disadvantages. Sucrose is cariogenic. Consumers have
become more concerned with health problems associated with high caloric intake
from the refined sugars typically found in North American diets. This awareness has
led to the search for substitutes.
Alternative sweeteners to reduce or eliminate the need for sucrose in food
products fall into two categories:
• Those that are intense sweeteners in their own right but contribute no or
very few calories to the food. These can totally replace a sugar where
sweetness is the only function demanded of the sugar.
• Sweeteners that are caloric alternatives, that is, on a weight basis they are
more intense sweeteners than sucrose. They also contribute other proper-
ties, including calories, associated with sugars. These are frequently
referred to as the bulk sweeteners (Giese, 1993).
A partial listing of the low-calorie group includes:

cyclamates saccharin
sucralose aspartame and other peptides
glycyrrhizin miraculin
monellin thaumatins
stevioside rebaudiosides
neohesperidin dihydrochalcones
acesulfame K L-sugars
Caution must be taken in choosing intense sweeteners since some alternative

sweeteners are unstable in certain food systems; some produce a slow onset of sweet
sensation that peaks late in the mouth. Others have bitter or undesirable aftertastes.
The sweetener chosen must complement the food system where it will be employed.
The alternative group, by far the more important for developers, comprises
crystalline fructose, high fructose corn syrup, mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol, hydroge-
nated sugars (e.g., maltitol), hydrogenated starch hydrolysates, and isomalt. Mem-
bers of this group possess, in addition to sweetening, many of the functional prop-
erties of sugar:
• They provide mouth feel (viscosity) in some beverages and control texture
in solid foods such as baked goods.
• They are used to regulate a food’s water activity and hence its stability.
They provide humectant properties in jams and jellies.
• They serve as bulking agents in hard candies and other confections and
can be used to control graining in soft-centered candies; they assist along
with pectins in the control of gel texture for jams, jellies, and marmalades.
• They stabilize color in some food systems.
The uniqueness of sugars, sucrose in particular, is best exemplified by a simple

demonstration described by Chinachoti (1993). In what she called her “magic
trick,” she mixed corn starch and water to produce a wet, unpourable powder. Next
she added another dry powder, ground crystalline sucrose. Mixing produced not a
drier mixture but eventually a flowable slurry. The corn starch–water mixture,
despite its dry appearance, has a high water activity (approximately 0.98). With
the addition of the sucrose, the dry appearance disappears after mixing. The
seeming solid becomes a liquid with a water activity that has dropped to 0.93. As
magical as this may appear, Chinachoti went a step further. One would expect the
corn starch–water mixture to spoil faster microbiologically than the corn
starch–water–sucrose mixture if one’s prediction is based solely on the two water
activities. Chinachoti demonstrated that this was not so. The mixture with the lower
water activity spoiled more rapidly. The addition of sucrose had indeed lowered
the water activity, but she demonstrated it had also increased the amount of mobile
water. As Chinachoti explained, “Sucrose undergoes a phase change from crystal-
line to dissolved sucrose upon hydration…. solvation of sucrose promotes mobility
and helps facilitate the spoilage.”
The lesson for product developers and spoilage modelers is this: sucrose and
other crystalloids lower water activity, but stability and predictions of stability
should not be based on water activity. Other factors such as water mobility and
phase transitions may play a more important role than water activity alone in
product stability.
The importance of phase transitions and the physical state of food components,
with some references to carbohydrates, are treated in depth by Slade and Levine
(1991), Roos and Karel (1991a,b), Noel and coworkers (1990), and Best (1992).
Noel et al. (1990) and MacDonald and Lanier (1991) discuss the importance of
phase transitions and the glassy state in the storage of frozen foods and freeze
dehydration and as a cryoprotectant for foods. If the aqueous system of a food can
be formulated to maintain the matrix in the glassy state, then water crystallization
and damage caused by crystal growth is minimized. The drying of pasta products
is greatly improved by close control of humidity, temperature, and drying rate to
control glass transition; this maintains pasta in the glassy state (Noel et al., 1990).
The quality of extrusion-puffed snack products owes much to the control of
phase transitions. Roos and Karel (1991a,b) suggest that glass transition temperatures
may be a factor in browning. Grittiness of lactose in ice cream, caking in milk
powders, and stickiness of hard candies are all related to the behavior of ingredients
in the glassy state (Noel et al., 1990).
c. Fiber Ingredients
Dietary fiber is an all-encompassing term for a group of poorly defined, natural plant
components that includes the unavailable, polymeric carbohydrates, cellulose, hemi-
celluloses, pectins, gums, and a noncarbohydrate component, lignin. None of these
are themselves compounds of fixed composition; hence, fiber often has other plant
materials with it. Historically, dietary fiber has been referred to as roughage or bran,
regardless of the source. This lack of uniformity is a disadvantage that is overcome
by purification, “chopping” of the polymers to desired lengths, and blending to
produce fibers of specific, uniform properties. Cellulose is a linear polymer of
varying lengths of glucose units. Hemicelluloses are a complex mixture of linear
and branched polysaccharides with side chains composed (most often) of xylose,
galactose, and other hexose and pentose sugars. Pectins are equally complex mixtures
of polygalacturonic acid units, as are many of the plant gums and mucilages. The
seed gum of mesquite is a polymeric galactomannan (Figueiredo, 1990). Lignin is
a polymer of units of phenyl-propane.
Dietary fibers come from many different readily available plant sources, often
as by-products of processing the raw plant: prunes; corn; oranges (Hannigan, 1982);
soy beans; peas; oats; rice; spent barley; sugar beets; tofu processing; various veg-
etable gums such as gum arabic, guar gum, locust bean gum, and mesquite
(Figueiredo, 1990); wood; potato peelings; carrageenan; and psyllium grain husks
(Anon., 1990a). Chitin from the shells of crabs and from microbial sources and
chitosan prepared by the deacetylation of chitin are biopolymers with promise as
nonplant sources of fiber (Knorr, 1991).
Each source produces fibers with unique properties, and when used in combi-
nations, many interesting applications in food systems are possible. A particular
fiber can frequently be used synergistically with other fibers or with starches. Arum
root, the source of konnyaku, a vegetable jelly for many centuries a mainstay of
Japanese cuisine, is the source of konjac flour, a glucomannan (Downer, 1986). Tye
(1991) reviews the synergism of konjac flour with kappa carrageenan and starches
in maintaining the structural integrity of shaped foods during thermal processing
and to simulate the texture of fat and connective tissue in sausage-like products.
The use of any particular source of fiber poses technical considerations in
addition to any health benefits to be pondered when choosing a fiber or combination
of fibers to serve some functional purpose in a food. Fiber will affect color, flavor,
oil and water retention (hence the water activity of foods), rheological properties
such as colloidal emulsion stability, texture, gel forming properties, and other
viscometric properties such as thickening and mouth feel of products (Penny, 1992).
They are used to control crystal formation in sugars and to act as cryoprotectants
in freeze–thaw food systems. For example, Ang and Miller (1991) list some of the
many products in which one fiber, cellulose powder, is used:
bread rusks
cakes cookies
pasta cheese
soups and sauces yellow fat spreads
comminuted meats meat and fish pastes
slimming foods dietetic products
Cellulose powder has also been used in stabilizing frozen surimi analogues.
The many applications of fiber in foods are detailed in Ang and Miller (1991) and
Penny (1992).
Heightened awareness of the importance of fiber in the diet dates back to the
mid-1980s when the National Cancer Institute (U.S.) promoted the potential cancer
prevention benefits of a high-fiber diet (NCI, 1984). This campaign alone gave an
estimated 30% boost in sales to one well-known ready-to-eat bran breakfast cereal
(Anon., 1988c). However, the beneficial use of high-fiber diets in aiding bowel
regularity has been promoted for many years, and its laxative effects have been
recognized for many more years. For developers wishing to obtain background
information on fiber as an ingredient in diet, the following articles are pertinent:
Rusoff (1984) and Schneeman (1987) on physiological responses of ingested soluble
vs. insoluble fibers, Wood (1991) on the physicochemical properties of oat beta-
glucan, and Ripsin and Keenan (1992) on oat products and their value in reducing
blood cholesterol levels.
Claims that certain sources of fiber, such as oat, rice (Normand et al., 1987),
pectin (Reiser, 1987), and guar, can clear cholesterol from the circulatory system
suggest there is a role for fiber in lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Furthermore, fiber may play an as-yet-undetermined role in the prevention of some
cancers, particularly colorectal cancer. However, Fuchs et al. (1999) found no evi-
dence of any preventive effect of dietary fiber against adenomas or colorectal cancer
in several thousand women between 34 and 59 years of age over a 16-year period.
Nevertheless, demand for high-fiber products has grown as food companies try
to satisfy this increasing awareness by consumers that food, and in particular certain
constituents in food, and health go together. Fiber is now advertised in a wide variety
of foods from breads, muffins, and cookies to pastas, beverages, and processed meat
products.
The function that fiber is to serve in a food system determines which fiber, with
which desirable characteristics, to select. The two most important characteristics are
particle size and shape for texture considerations and soluble-to-insoluble fiber
content ratio. (See Olson and coworkers, 1987, for a discussion on analytical pro-
cedures for soluble dietary fiber and information on total dietary fiber and insoluble
dietary fiber.) Soluble fiber has excellent water-binding properties and as such has
a pronounced influence on the texture (moistness) of baked goods, on the stability
of products, and on the viscosity of beverages. In general, soluble fiber is highest
in vegetable gums and lowest in cellulosic fractions of plant materials. From the
natural sources available, high to low ratios of soluble to insoluble fiber may be
obtained to suit whatever purposes developers have in mind.
Crude fiber should not be equated with dietary fiber; crude fiber consists largely
of cellulose and lignin remaining after the treatment of a food material with sulfuric
acid, sodium hydroxide, water, alcohol, and ether.
d. Proteins as Ingredients
Proteins as ingredients have suffered from a lack of attention, as most interest has
centered on fats because of their high caloric density and carbohydrates because of
their contribution to sweetness and other functional properties in foods. Substitutes
for both fats and sugars lead to low-calorie products.
Vegetable proteins, textured to simulate the fibrous structure of meat, have been
available for several years. They were popular when meat prices soared in the U.S.
during the late 1970s and textured vegetable proteins were used to extend meat
products. When beef became more readily available, many of these products failed,
partly because they did not meet consumers’ expectations sufficiently to justify a
long acceptance period, and consumer demand proved to be transitory. Quality has
improved considerably, and textured proteins are now widely used in many products,
especially dried soups and vegetarian dishes.
How strong is the growth in the vegetarian food sector is a moot point; suffice
it to say it is there in the marketplace and is gaining prominence. Textured vegetable
proteins have had a reasonable success with main dish items for vegetarians. A
mycoprotein developed by Rank Hovis McDougall has been successfully texturized
and used by the Sainsbury company (J. Sainsbury plc, U.K.) in a series of meat-
flavored products. In test market locations these have been well received (Godfrey,
1988). These products have a dual advantage over meat, which marketing personnel
can promote: they contain no animal fat and they contain fiber. The mycoprotein
has been tested by Sainsbury for vegetarian (i.e., non-look-alike meat) dishes.
Surimi, a textured fish protein, is freshwater-leached fish muscle. It is hardly a
new development — indeed it is a very old technology. Lee (1984) has described
its processing in detail and its application in some products. Lanier (1986) discusses
the functional properties of surimi, particularly its excellent gelling properties.
Surimi has been used successfully with crab meat, shrimp meat, and smoked salmon
in fabricating substitutes for, respectively, crab legs, butterfly shrimp, and lox.
Sausages made with surimi, very popular in Japan, have not been successfully
received in North America.
Soy beans have become a popular ingredient with a wide range of applications
in ethnic cuisine. Their popularity is supported not only by the taste sensation of
umami that they contribute in their various forms but also by their value for the
cancer preventive properties it is claimed that they have. Soy milk has been used
with various flavors as a noncarbonated drink. Tofu has been used as an ingredient
in many vegetarian dishes. Japanese miso and Chinese chiang are both fermented
soy bean curd products used as flavoring. Tempeh, mold-fermented soy beans of
Indonesian origin, has been used as a meat substitute. These products enable devel-
opers to create a wide range of added-value products, especially ethnic dishes, with
unique textures and forms.
II. INGREDIENTS AND THE NEW NUTRITION

A. OPPORTUNITIES PROVIDED BY THE NEW NUTRITION
The nutritional sciences have changed dramatically, and this change has opened up
many opportunities for ingredient developers. Initially, the concern had been with
diseases caused by the lack of certain nutrients, and great efforts had been made to
optimize nutrient intake (fortifying foods and calculating required daily allowances)
to prevent deficiency diseases. Then there came a move to remove things from foods,
for example in low-fat, low-salt, low-sugar, low-calorie foods. Today the major thrust
of ingredient development is to develop new ingredients from food and from the
components they contain: to prevent specific health problems, to improve effects of
stressful situations, to improve physical prowess, even to improve or recover failing
cognitive and memory abilities. The nutritional sciences have become more con-
cerned with how diet and specific food components operate at the physiological and
genetic levels to influence health and disease (Young, 1996).
1. Biologically Active Nonnutrients
Health professionals are still learning (and unlearning) that some foods contain
biologically active nonnutrients that have as yet a poorly understood connection at
a physiological and genetic level to mechanisms of disease prevention. This under-
standing is growing through an accumulation of anecdotal and solidly grounded
scientific evidence. The published data, whether from information on medicinal lore
found in herbal books or research data in technical literature, has provoked food
manufacturers to develop new foods exploiting this disease prevention connection.
a. Functional Foods aka Nutraceuticals
Throughout this text these nonnutrients referred to as nutraceuticals (pharmafoods
and medifoods are terms devised by the media that have also been used). It has been
suggested that the term functional food be used only for foods containing prebiotics
or probiotics that provide a health benefit; the International Food Information Coun-
cil defines functional foods as “foods that provide health benefits beyond basic
nutrition” (Deis, 2003). Nutraceuticals is the popular term found in newspapers and
food trade magazines and is used extensively in Food Technology; the term nutra-
ceutical has been used by many scientists; it is descriptive of the value that a
nutraceutical is purported to have in nutrition without the need of quantifiers or
qualifiers. More on the definition of functional foods and problems with procedural
rules for food producers can be had in Culhane (1999), Eagle (1999), and Deis
(2003). This text uses the most descriptive term, nutraceuticals; functional foods
serve a function in foods as colorants, sweeteners, emulsifiers, enzymes, stabilizers,
preservatives, and so on.
b. Prebiotics and Probiotics
Prebiotics and probiotics are terms used to characterize nutraceuticals. Both are
nonnutritive elements that provide health benefits to consumers of these products,
but here the similarity ends. Prebiotics are an uncharacterizable grouping of chemical
entities found in a wide variety of foods; those of plant origin are often called
phytochemicals, but the reader should note that some prefer that this term be applied
to nonnutrients present in plants in very small amounts, thereby excluding soluble
and insoluble fiber.
Probiotics (Table 11.1) are active microbial cultures or foods containing these,
for example, yogurts and krauts that act on the intestinal microflora in a beneficial
manner (Salminen et al., 1999). Microorganisms suspected of involvement are
described by Hoover (1993), Lee and Salminen (1995), and Knorr (1998).
Prebiotics run the gamut of chemical structures that can be guessed at from the
nomenclature in Table 11.1. The potential of plant parts with curative properties has
been known for centuries. Books on biologically active plants range from ancient
texts to current self-medication books:
• John Gerard, Historie of Plants (1597) [Gerard’s Herbal, edited by Wood-

ward, M., Senate, Twickenham, U.K., 1998].
• N. Culpeper, Culpeper’s Complete Herbal, and English Physician, J.
Gleave and Son, Deansgate, Manchester, 1826 [reproduced from an orig-
inal edition 1981, copyright of Harvey Sales].
• A. Boxer and P. Back, The Herb Book, Octopus Books Ltd., London, 1983.
• V. E. Tyler, The Honest Herbal: A Sensible Guide to the Use of Herbs
and Related Remedies, Pharmaceutical Products Press, Haworth Press,
Inc., New York, 3rd edition, 1993.
• L. Bremness, Herbs, Stoddart Publishing Company, Toronto, 1996.
• And many articles on biologically active nonnutrients: Caragay (1992);
Ramarathnam and Osawa (1996); Kardinaal et al. (1997); Garcia, D. J.
(1998); Katz (1998); Ohshima (1998); Zind (1998; 1999); Anon. (1998);
Sanders (1999); a series of columns in Food Technology by L. M. Ohr,
particularly Ohr (2003) on fats; and Clifford (2003) on dietary phenols.
Even the much abused caffeine has a protective effect against irradiation,
at least for mice (George et al., 1999).
TABLE 11.1
Some Biologically Active Nonnutrient Factors Determined to Have or Believed
to Have Beneficial Effects against Disease Conditions When Consumed
Classification Category and Food Sources
Probiotics Bifidobacteria
• Fermented milks, yogurt
Lactobacillus species
• Fermented milks (acidophilus milk), yogurts
Streptococcus species
• Fermented milks, yogurts
Prebiotics Fatty acids
(phytochemicals) • a-Linoleic acid (canola and flaxseed oils)
• Conjugated linoleic acid (safflower, sunflower, and soybean oils)
• g-Linoleic acid (evening primrose oil)
• w-3 Fatty acids (various unsaturated oils; e.g., salmon and tuna oils)
Lecithins
• Phospholipids (various oils, especially soybean oil), phosphatidyl serine,
phosphatidyl choline
Unsaponifiables of oils
• Phytosterols (canola and soybean oils)
• g-Oryzanol and ferulic acid (rice bran oil)
Organosulfur compounds, especially plants of the Cruciferous family (broccoli,
cabbage, and cauliflower) and Allium (garlic, onion, and leek) family
• Isothiocyanates (mustard oils of Cruciferous vegetables)
• Sulfides (e.g., diallyl disulfide) and oxides (allicin) from garlic and onions
Terpenes
• Monoterpenes (limonene, perillyl alcohol)
• Tetraterpenes (lycopene, b-carotene)
Polyphenols (including flavonoids and catechins)
• Anthocyanins (blueberries, cranberries, tomatoes, red wine, tea, onions, kale)
• Various other phenolic compounds
Nonsteroidal phytoestrogens (isoflavones)
• Genistein, daidzein, biochanin, and formononetin (soy bean, whole grains,
berries, flaxseed, licorice, red clover)
Fiber (and associated material)
• b-Glucans (oats, barley, wheat, rice)
• Lignans (flax)
• Other soluble and insoluble fibers (fructooligosaccharides, e.g., inulin in
Jerusalem artichoke)
Saponins (derivatives of pentacyclic triterpenes)
• Ginseng, soybeans, grains
Herbal components
• See, for example, Tyler, 1993; Anon., 1998d
CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL 2001. With permission.
Archeological and biblical records show that plant materials have long been
used both to flavor foods and to cure various ailments. Each culture has its store of
traditional medicines based on extracts or brews of different parts of plants. The
herbal medicinal practices of native cultures, folk literature and oral traditions
describing the use of plant materials, old herbals, and ancient medical records have
been treasure troves for pharmaceutical, chemical, and ingredient companies for
phytochemicals to use as the basis for new product ideas (Wrick, 2003).
The “self-care shopper,” as Hollingsworth (2003) calls these customers, has
become an obvious target for consumer products containing nutraceutical ingredi-
ents. This target is one that should be aimed at with caution, not only for safety
concerns but also for presenting customers and consumers with a confusing brand
image: food or medicine?
c. Prebiotics and Phytochemicals
Prebiotic and phytochemical are terms that are often kept distinct by some scientists;
they differ in the observation that phytochemicals are found in smaller amounts in
plants than are prebiotics (insoluble and soluble fibers, gums, and mucilages), and
phytochemicals act differently in the body. In this text no distinction will be made.
Prebiotics (Table 11.1) include the plant-derived vitamins and a variety of phy-
tochemicals from flavors, colorants, antioxidants, noncaloric sweeteners, narcotics,
texturizing agents (pectins, starches, and other polysaccharides), and so on — many
of which have beneficial physiological effects in the human body (Zind, 1998). Food
scientists and food manufacturers are interested in those with desirable physiological
effects such as:
• Antioxidants: vitamins C and E have been used as such in foods; b-

carotene, long used as a food colorant, also has antioxidant properties
(Astorg, 1997; Ahmad, 1996; Elliott, 1999). Foods high in antioxidants
are prunes, raisins, blueberries, kale, strawberries, and blackberries.
• g-Oryzanol and tocotrienols: plant sterols found in rice bran oil (McCaskill
and Zhang, 1999); tocotrienols are also good antioxidants.
• Lycopene and carotene: The carotenoids are found in a variety of plant
sources, in particular tomatoes (Astorg, 1997).
• Isoflavones: These are a class of nonsteroidal phytoestrogens; genistein,
daidzein, and glycitein are found in soy-based foods (tofu, soy milk, and
miso) (Zhou and Lee, 1998); genistein, daidzein, biochanin, and for-
mononetin have been extracted from red clover. All have beneficial phys-
iological properties in human beings. Protein extracts containing these
phytoestrogens have been prepared from these sources.
• w-3 fatty acids and the related w-6 type found in the fats and oils of both
plant and animal sources (Ahmad, 1996). Examples are palmitoleic, oleic,
linoleic, and arachidonic acids.
Drug, food ingredient, and consumer product manufacturing companies are very
interested in these products: see Block (1985) and Petesch and Sumiyoshi (1999)
on garlic and onions; Kinsella et al. (1993) on antioxidants in wines and plant foods;
Gehm et al. (1997) on resveratrol in grapes and wine; Katz (1999) on European
trends in nutraceutical products. Potato and corn chips, corn puffs, candies, and other
snack foods have been laced with ginkgo biloba, St. John’s wort, kava kava, and
many other herbs, spices, and essences of flowers in the hopes of relieving tiredness,
calming mood swings, improving memory, and combating depression.
As is ever the situation, contradictory evidence is usually found. Fuchs et al.
(1999) could not find evidence of any protective effect of dietary fiber, a prebiotic,
against colorectal cancers or adenomas in a study of 88,757 women between 34 and
59 years of age over a 16-year period. The safety of kava kava (in Canada the
government has recalled all products with kava kava) and St. John’s wort have both
been questioned, and even has the efficacy of tea and ginkgo biloba. So even with
the nutraceuticals there is confusion about their benefits in the diet. Developers are
warned to proceed with due safety and legislative caution.
d. Prebiotics: Red Flags

The warning cannot be overemphasized: product developers in the consumer prod-
ucts and ingredient industries should use caution in their development programs
with nutraceuticals:
• The safety of all prebiotics, especially as isolated pure compounds, has

not been established, particularly at the doses shown to be efficacious
in vitro.
• There is still no reliable data on effective dose levels for all consumers,
especially the very young and the elderly. Clifford (2003) presents chal-
lenging dietary data for polyphenols.
• Reliable information is lacking on interaction of prebiotics with other
prescribed medication that consumers may be taking.
At present, research is needed for developing methodologies for accurately

detecting and quantifying the presence of prebiotics in foods. Two questions that
need to be answered are where and in what form do the prebiotics go in the body
to produce the preventive effects they have? Proper dosage levels and mechanisms
of action in the body must be understood. Once this is accomplished, then isolated
fractions containing the active components can be used as medicines, their presence
in foods can be enhanced through conventional or unconventional breeding tech-
niques, for example, carrots with more carotene (Zind, 1998), and concentrates of
isolated prebiotics can be used as ingredients in consumer products.
With the availability of nutraceutically enriched foods and concentrated extracts
of phytochemicals, self-medicating consumers run the risk of overmedicating to
harmful levels, an occurrence that may provoke the introduction of strict legislation.
e. Probiotics in Health
Both Fuller (1994) and Knorr (1998) reviewed the history of live microorganisms
used by many cultures in foods, either for the preservative action they confer or their
ability to convert foods into something more desirable. Only fairly recently has it
been learned that there is a beneficial health effect that these added microorganisms
provide for individuals. Probiotics are added adventitiously with the fermented foods
as the vehicle or they are added directly to foods as live or dead cultures.
Typical food sources of probiotics are yogurt and cultured milk products (Speck
et al., 1993), some fermented meat and cheese products, sauerkraut and other fer-
mented vegetables, and selected kimchi, which is considered to have both probiotic
and prebiotic elements (Ryu and West, 2000). A major problem for developers of
consumer products is not so much how to create new products but how to popularize
the enormous number of traditional fermented vegetable, meat, and dairy products
available in other cultures, that is, to adapt these to new products suitable for a wider
variety of cultural traditions, particularly North American traditions.
The extensive product development occurring in Japan since the 1950s is dis-
cussed by Ishibashi and Shimamura (1993). Problems in the design of novel products
for both healthy and sick consumers are discussed by Brassart and Schiffrin (1997).
A growing popular interest in alternative medicines leads to their use by
consumers and to research by consumer product manufacturers into herbal prepa-
rations that are used in folk medicines or leads to the use of extracts, tinctures,
and tisanes prepared from herbs with purported benefits. This will spur the devel-
opment of both nonprescription medicines, food supplements, and ingredients as
well as new foods.
There are now opportunities to develop food products directed to specific health
problems (anticarcinogenic foods, foods to improve cognitive ability) or for use in
particular stressful situations (space flight, athletics). There are already, for example,
sports drinks designed to rehydrate the body rapidly, to provide energy, or to enhance
energy metabolism during strenuous activity (Brouns and Kovacs, 1997).
Prepared Foods (Anon., 1990b) reported that a significant percentage of research
and development executives “expected their companies to increase efforts to refor-
mulate ingredients with ‘additive’ label connotations out of existing product lines.”
This because the so-called unnatural ingredient list on many products has become
a consumer concern, and executives wish to promote their products with as green
an image as possible, that is, as natural or made from natural ingredients.
2. Other Ingredients: Some with and Some without Nutritive

Properties
a. Antioxidants
Historically, food preparers skilled in the arts of cooking and food preparation have
known that certain herbs, spices, and foods could extend the shelf life of foods and
make them taste better. Later, as the science of food preservation grew, scientists
found that some food components that occur naturally have antimicrobial and anti-
oxidant properties. Thus these natural additives in foods gave rise to the hope that
they could be used to give foods an extended shelf life. They can, but as might be
expected, the very strong flavoring that herbs and spices contribute to a food limit
their use.
Kläui (1973) provides the following list of herbs, spices, and other food materials
with antioxidant properties:
oregano rosemary
coffee beans wine
nutmeg mace
tea leaves onions
sage turmeric
citrus fruits buckwheat
allspice cloves
tomatoes carrots
marjoram thyme
beer malt heated gelatin and casein
alfalfa oats
rice bran oil rice germ oil
pea flour
However, the efficacies of these foods or their extracts as antioxidants depend

on the fat system in which a particular material was tested. This is similar to the
findings of Davies et al. (1979). They use:
cocoa butter cocoa powder cocoa shell

oatmeal rosemary defatted cocoa powder
sage
or extracts of them in different fat systems. All have antioxidant activity, but again
Davies et al. conclude that “the antioxidant activity of a particular material and its
extract appears to depend upon the nature of the oil or fat used for testing and the
type of solvent used for extraction of the antioxidant components.” Extraction might
not have extracted all of the active antioxidants.
Pokorný (1991) reviews several sources of natural antioxidants: tocopherols
from sesame oil; phospholipids from olive oil; phenolic compounds from cereals;
flavonoids from herbs, spices, and algae; carotenoids; polysubstituted organic acids;
proteins, peptides, and amino acids; and Maillard products. He suggests in conclu-
sion, however, that the best approach for protecting foods against oxidation is to
avoid antioxidants altogether by removing oxygen from the food, avoiding or elim-
inating the oxygen-sensitive substrate, or decreasing the oxidation rate by low
temperature, low light storage.
In an undated report, the Specialty Food Division of Ingredient Technology
Corporation (Woodbridge, New Jersey) presented evidence of natural antioxidants
in molasses and attempted to characterize them.
In many instances the source of the antioxidant activity has been identified and
incorporated into commercial antioxidants. The active component in cloves is
eugenol. Unfortunately eugenol’s strong clove odor limits its use to baking products.
Its isomer, iso-eugenol, has a more acceptable woody and spicy odor (Heath, 1978)
that is also found naturally in nutmeg, basil, and other oils, according to Kläui
(1973). Gordon (1989) has also reviewed the natural antioxidants and attempted a
brief outline of some of the mechanisms involved that can assist developers’ under-
standing of their use.
A wide variety of natural substances have antioxidant activity, but not all can
be used because of other characteristics that they may bring to the food.
b. Antimicrobial Agents
Some spices and herbs, as well as other natural materials, have been known through
traditional food uses to have antimicrobial activity against a wide spectrum of
microorganisms. Some microorganisms are surprisingly sensitive to these natural
components, as Beuchat (1976) found with Vibrio parahaemolyticus and oregano.
Shelef et al. (1980) screened over 40 microorganisms associated with foods for
sensitivity to sage, rosemary, and allspice; allspice proved the least effective as an
antimicrobial agent, while both rosemary and sage demonstrated antimicrobial activ-
ity. Generally the spices were more effective against Gram positive microorganisms.
They ascribe the antimicrobial action to cyclic terpenes in the spices.
Zaika and Kissinger (1981) demonstrated both inhibitory and stimulatory factors
(which they were able to separate) in the behavior of oregano against Lactobacillus
plantarum and Pediococcus cerevisiae alone and in mixed culture. At low concen-
trations of oregano, there was stimulation for both microorganisms. As the concen-
tration rose, an inhibition of both acid production and viability was observed.
Zaika and coworkers (1983) extended their study to include oregano, rosemary,
sage, and thyme against lactic acid bacteria. Again, microbial growth and acid
production were retarded as concentrations of these herbs were increased. They did
observe one possible hazard for developers. Microbial resistance to a particular spice
could be induced. When microbial resistance to a spice occurred, that microorganism
in which resistance was induced was also resistant to the other herbs. This suggests
that the mechanism that induces resistance in a microorganism is a broad ranging
one. Antimicrobials in foods have been reviewed by Beuchat and Golden (1989)
and the phytoalexins by Mertens and Knorr (1992).
The components in these spices and herbs that explain the antimicrobal activity
are substituted phenols. Oregano and thyme both contain oils high in thymol and
carvacrol; sage and rosemary both contain cineole in large concentrations; allspice
is high in eugenol (Heath, 1978). Sage, rosemary, allspice, oregano, thyme, and
nutmeg seem to be the herbs and spices of greatest applicability as antimicrobial
agents for foods.
The growing popularity of ethnic foods, which are often highly spiced, combined
with the trend toward low-salt foods and vegetarian foods, both of which benefit
from the addition of flavorful ingredients, are making highly flavored foods more
acceptable. The high flavor impact from spices and herbs along with other flavorants
such as vinegar, lemon, onions, shallots, and garlic can mask the lack of salt and the
blandness of many products. Developers can take advantage of the preservative action
of more flavorful natural ingredients to prolong the acceptable shelf life of products.
i. Bacteriocins
Bacteriocins are nitrogen-containing substances with potent antimicrobial activity;
as such they are emerging as a new class of antimicrobial substances for possible
use as natural food preservatives.
Fermentation, particularly lactic and acetic fermentation, has been well estab-
lished as a stabilizing process for foods, as has the addition of acids such as lactic
or acetic acids. The lactobacilli, in addition to producing lactic acid with a resultant
pH change, produce several substances that have antimicrobial activity against var-
ious microorganisms; they produce hydrogen peroxide, which is toxic for some
organisms, as well as diacetyl, which has antimicrobial activity. Daeschel (1989)
reviewed the antimicrobial substances from lactobacilli (nisin is one such substance)
and proprionibacteria. Some show promise against many foodborne pathogens
including Listeria monocytogenes.
Another review (Stiles and Hastings, 1991) published just 2 years later demon-
strates the amount of research taking place in this field to discover new preservatives.
Stiles and Hastings classify the bacteriocins as follows:
• Those produced by Lactococcus spp.

• Those produced by Lactobacillus spp.
• Those produced by Carnobacterium spp.
• Those produced by Leuconostoc spp.
• Those produced by Pediococcus spp.
As Stiles and Hastings point out, bacteriocins have little in common except their
ability to inhibit microorganisms and the fact that they are all proteins. They vary
widely in everything else: the spectrum of microorganisms they are effective against,
their molecular weight, how they perform, as well as their biochemical properties
(see, e.g., Juven and coworkers, 1992; Barnby-Smith, 1992).
c. Colorants
The gradual removal of many synthetic colorants from permitted lists because of
questions about their safety is known to all product developers. Equally well known
is the importance of color to the appeal of foods. The hunt by suppliers for replace-
ments for the labile natural colorants spurred much research to find those that remain
stable under the rigorous conditions frequently found in food manufacture, for
example, in the manufacture of hard-boiled sweets.
Engel (1979) examined factors (heat, light, oxidation, presence of metal ions,
reactions with other food components, pH effects, etc.) that influence the stability
of three classes of natural colorants:
• Anthocyanins and anthocyanidins: Anthocyanins are ionic and their color

is greatly influenced by the pH of food. They are not stable to heat, oxygen,
or in the presence of sugar and sugar browning products. Sulfur dioxide
bleaches them.
• Carotenoids: There are over 300 carotenoids. Many are fat soluble only,
but some, bixin (from annatto, which is used in coloring cheese and baked
goods), astaxanthin, and crocin (from crocus blossoms), are water soluble.
Their highly unsaturated, conjugated double bond structure provides a
range of red to yellow hues; blending increases this range of hues. Their
unsaturated nature, however, makes them susceptible to oxidation and
light sensitivity.
• Betalains are ionic, water-soluble quaternary ammonium compounds and

as such are subject to changes in color with changes in pH. They are
temperature, oxidation, and light sensitive.
Francis (1981) also reviews the anthocyanins, betacyanins (betalains), and the
yellow-orange pigments (carotenoids and turmeric, which contains the colorant
curcumin). Some interesting miscellaneous pigments, Francis notes, are cochineal
and laccainic acid, which are of insect origin; a red colorant produced by the mold
Monascus purpureus, which has a long history of use in the Orient; and chlorophyll,
used in some specialty pasta products.
Gabriel (1989) and Shi and coworkers (1992a) worked on the separation and
identification of anthocyanins from sweet potatoes. Shi and coworkers (1992b)
studied the stability of anthocyanins in model food systems.
A major problem with natural colorants, in addition to their instability in many
food systems, is the question of their safety; this is far from established for all of
them. In their natural, in situ state, safety concerns are perhaps negligible. When
they are extracted from their natural source and concentrated, an assumption of
safety is not justified. Another factor against the use of natural colorants is their
cost; many natural colorants are scarce, and their extraction and concentration is
expensive. As Francis (1981) points out, 75,000 handpicked crocus blossoms are
required to obtain a pound of crocin.
Francis (1992) reviewed a new group of anthocyanins substituted on the B-ring.
Acylated B-ring substituted anthocyanins show promise as a new class of stable
colorants because they have greater pH stability and produce brighter colors. They
are, however, all from nonfood sources and would require extensive safety testing.
3. A Cautionary Note
Ingredients used in the formulation of food products exist in a delicate balance. Each
contributes some characteristic to the product. Great care must be taken in under-
standing what contributions each makes in the product, either singly or in combi-
nations where synergism of actions may play a role. Altering, removing, or substi-
tuting any one component for another upsets the balance in the formulation. There
is a real risk that substitutions with other, perhaps cheaper, ingredients may occur
later. These can have disastrous results on the safety, stability, or quality of a product.
I well remember the terrible taste in fried peppers when our supplier substituted a so-
called new and improved antioxidant into our fractionated peanut frying oil without
informing us. The change had been meant as an improvement.
B. CHALLENGES FOR THE NEW NUTRITION

This new medical nutrition, that is, one directed to disease prevention, opens up a
Pandora’s box of problems. Food products directed to specific health problems
become possible, but questions regarding their safety in concentrated form, dosage
levels for effects, standards of identity, and advertising ethics also have arisen. The
questions that arise from these new opportunities will continue to be a concern for
both food manufacturers and for legislators.
1. Problems Presented by Enriched Foods
A great impetus was given to the food microcosm to capitalize on the public’s quest
for a long and healthy life free from debilitating diseases by developing products
enhanced by or fortified with nutraceuticals. The scientific community and food
manufacturers are interested in identifying these nonnutritive, disease-combating
food entities and in developing products that contain them for the money-making
potential they represent.
Manufacturers will want to inform both the customer and the consumer of the
benefits of their fortified products. Yet labeling and advertising regulations must
protect the customer and the consumer from the hyperbole and misrepresentation
of health claims that may accompany the label statements and advertising claims.
The Institute of Food Technologists’ Web site at one time in the first half of 2000
displayed these announcements: “add more than value to your food and beverages
… add life, with Polyphenols” to describe products put out by Templar Food
Products; and “herbally-active, protein enriched frozen juice bars” contained chro-
mium, manganese, 100% of the daily requirements of vitamins A, C, and E, as well
as protein. These products were from Cold Fusion Foods.
With the wide availability of nutraceutically, phytochemically, or herbally
enhanced products, there also came a warning from health professionals of the
dangers some nutraceuticals might pose for people on prescribed medications and
young children eating enriched candies and snacks.
Manufacturers want to inform the public of the benefits of a new product in a
market niche where, metaphorically, shifting sands prevent the establishment of a
firm product identity. Are these enriched products medicines or snacks? Is the
company a pharmaceutical company or a consumer food product manufacturer?
Management must decide its direction.
a. Delivery Systems
Delivery systems of these nonnutritive substances have taken many forms, and the
ingredient companies have had to be prepared with neutraceutical ingredients
(extracts, concentrates of phytochemicals) that suit these food systems. The most
used vehicles for delivery appear to be candy, snack food, and beverage products.
Zind (1998) reported that one candy manufacturer was adding phytochemicals to the
candies it manufactured, which were purported to prevent cancer, bolster the immune
system, and reduce cholesterol. Fiber and calcium compounds have been added to
fruit juice beverages. Iced tea preparations have been fortified with polyphenols.
Potato chips, corn chips, corn puffs, and other snack foods have had added to
them herbals and plant extracts claimed to have beneficial properties (Abu-nasr,
1998); some examples are ginseng (a long life promoter), St. John’s wort (a depres-
sion preventative), ginkgo biloba (a memory improver), and kava kava (an aid to
relaxation). Each of the claims above should be preceded by “said to be” or “said
to have.”
Baked goods have also served as vehicles, with ingredient suppliers developing
muffin mixes with flax seed and blueberries. Some breads are fortified with w-3
fatty acids such as docosahexenoic acid. Ice cream has also become a vehicle for
supplementation. It has been flavored with phytochemicals from green tea (a source
of catechins), ginger, avocado, sesame, wasabi, and capsaicins (hot pepper principle)
to become nutraceutically fortified as well as flavored.
Old products have been given a new role by making them nutraceuticals with
added calcium to enhance calcium intake, added caffeine to combat drowsiness,
creatinine as an aid for body builders, added fiber to assist in lowering cholesterol,
and so on. Soft drinks with calcium, protein, vitamins, or concentrated herbal
extracts (or all of these) have moved from a refreshment role to a functional one
as a nutrified beverage.
C. SUMMARY
Phytochemicals are biologically active materials. As such, pharmaceutical companies
have pursued them and used them in the preparation of medicines or used the base
molecule to prepare more efficacious medicines. They are being extracted from their
natural sources and concentrated by suppliers and sold as extracts to the general
public and to consumer product manufacturers for addition to prepared foods. Their
safety in prepared foods at higher concentrations than are naturally found in a source
food may not be established for all segments of the populations. Indeed, it is not
apparent that the responsible active component or complex of components that an
extraction produces and that is used to fortify a food is the correct one. Their presence
in a multitude of common nonsource foods, that is, foods in which they are not
normally found but have been added as an enhancement, may be equally as harmful
to some populations who eat a lot of the enhanced foods. For example, snack foods
targeted for children or teenagers who are voracious snack food consumers may not
be appropriate vehicles for supplementation with some phytochemicals.
Kardinaal et al. (1997), Chung et al. (1998), and Hasler (1998) all have expressed
concerns for the safety of consumer foods enhanced with phytochemicals and pro-
claimed a need for further research. These concerns are worth repeating here for
developers:
• How these phytochemicals work in the body to prevent disease is not

clearly understood. Do concentrates in foods have any adverse side
effects? What are the nature of these side effects?
• Does the nature of the diet or the presence of other nutrients in the diet
influence the activity of added phytochemicals? Do phytochemicals in
enhanced concentrations influence the absorption or metabolism of other
nutrients in the diet?
• There is no toxicity data on many of these substances and very little
verifiable medical evidence of their effectiveness. There is a large body
of anecdotal information, evidence based on epidemiological studies (e.g.,
groups eating large quantities of soy products have lesser incidences of
certain cancers), and observations (again unverified) derived from tradi-
tional medicine. The tannins, for example, display hepatotoxic activity,

antinutritional activity by forming complexes with digestive enzymes and
proteins, and from epidemiological studies have demonstrated high levels
of mouth, throat, and oesophageal cancers in people using betel nuts,
drinking the herb tea mate, or in people whose dietary staple is sorghum
(Chung et al., 1998). Chung et al. also report on antimutagenic, anticar-
cinogenic, antimicrobial, and antiviral beneficial effects (e.g., of tea drink-
ing). Information on what acceptable dose levels might be for all segments
of the population is lacking.
• Physiological interactions of phytochemicals with prescribed medications
that consumers might be taking at the same time are a concern. Do they
enhance or depress the activity of these medications?
Hasler, in particular, sees the need to balance benefits and risks of the use of
foods containing physiologically active substances.
For herbs and herbal preparations, a different cautionary note must be sounded.
Their long history in medical folklore as cures for many maladies has gained for
them a veneer of respectability such that they are readily available in both health
food stores and mainstream supermarkets where they are sold as preparations for
teas or tisanes. Tyler (1993) and others have suggested several dangers in the sale
of herbs and herbal preparations that ingredient suppliers (and customers) should
be aware of:
• Are the raw materials what they are claimed to be? Not all parts of herbs
are effective: roots, leaves, seeds, stems, flowers, bark, etc. may contain
no or high concentrations of the phytochemical. Ingredient suppliers need
to be certain of their sources of raw materials.
• Herbal preparations are not standardized with respect to the active ingre-
dient(s) that they contain. Do they contain the active phytochemical in
the concentration claimed, and are these safe concentrations?
Ingredient suppliers must realize they are, or may be, using unstandardized materials
to prepare their ingredients for food products.
Tyler (1993) does not give all the herbal preparations a clean bill of health.
Ginseng has a very low level of risk even with excessive use. St. John’s wort also
is relatively safe but may cause photosensitivity in some people at high dose levels.
Ginkgo biloba extracts do promote vasodilation with improved blood flow, but very
large doses can have unpleasant side effects and may exacerbate the effect of aspirin.
Already warnings have appeared from scientists and the medical profession about
the overuse of products containing nutraceuticals, especially when these are used in
combination with or in place of conventional drug therapies.
The issues about the use of nutraceuticals in new products have been emphasized
rather than the uses of these valuable substances in new products. Many have
thundered onto the market only to be slowly having their efficacy or their safety
questioned not by radicals but by competent medical professionals. Even as recently
as December 2003 it was reported in Journal of the American Medical Association
and elsewhere that echinacea proved of no value in reducing the number of colds
in children up to the age of 11 vs. a control group not given the echinacea. Kava
kava, gingko biloba, St. John’s wort, green tea, fiber, and even ginseng have all
received some negative publicity within the past 2 years suggesting they are not as
efficacious as some of the hype had promised. Caution is the byword for developers
in this new and promising field.
12 What I Have Learned
So Far
Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.
Samuel Butler
I. LOOKING FORWARD AND BACKWARD

A. BEING SURE OF THE CONCEPT
This chapter’s title is adapted from Jacob Cohen’s (1990b) well-known article. His
paper about the application, interpretation, and philosophy of statistics is very much
worth reading, especially if one is not a statistician or is familiar with statistics only
by plugging data into some exotic statistical computer software program that then
whirrs, giggles, and spews out a decision on whether the results are significant or
not. Many industrial food technologists, marketing people, and financial people are
classed in the latter group, the pluggers-in of data. They often do not understand
what assumptions the very competent software designers used in establishing their
programs or what limitations there are to the programs; they just know data in,
results out. Ergo, conclusion!
The path to new product development is being flooded with software programs
that do much the same thing as these statistical software programs; they model the
development process, even the test market. Data is plugged in and decisions come
out often with the pluggers-in not understanding the machinations of the programs
they use; they do not understand what assumptions the software programmers used
in devising the program. They realize only that somehow the laborious calculations
were made much easier and decisions regarding significance or irrelevance were
made for them.
By no means do I decry the use of these new product development programs,
whether they be for statistics or modeling. They serve very useful purposes and
provide great assistance in seeing subtle nuances in the data being digested; they
reduce the amount of work necessary to reach conclusions.
I do decry the blind use of these without some understanding of their pitfalls
and limitations. I decry the unthinking acceptance of the conclusions these reach
without questioning and examining these conclusions and assuring oneself they are
backed up with some sound logical reasoning. The programs and the algorithms
upon which statistical, decision-making, and modeling software are based must be
319
understood for what many of them are: models, pretend playthings to be used to
assist careful thought, not to replace it. Too often, machine- and software-generated
results are accepted as Gospel without a challenge to their validity or to the assump-
tions that were made (by the originators of the software) in reaching these decisions.
The makers of the programs do not know the user’s precise situation: the results
and conclusions reached using them might not be pertinent to the user’s real world
situation. There must therefore be an evaluation of whether the results are valid for
the users situation.
When the blind lead the blind, they will both fall into the water.
Chinese proverb
1. The Value of the Earlier Literature
Despite the age of Cohen’s article — it is more than 10 years old, as are many of
the references in this book — it still presents very sound thinking that extends beyond
the statistics in it. I mention the article’s age because recently a prominent, well-
published academic expounded to me at an Institute of Food Technologists’ annual
meeting and conference how he refused to allow his graduate students to cite any
papers more than 5 years old. Such papers were in error because of newer technology
according to him!
Technology, that is, the bells and whistles of the scientists, may change, but
sound thinking stands on its own merits — plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
I would have had no literature citations with such an attitude toward the older
literature when I worked on capsaicin for my master’s thesis. The only literature
meeting the 5-year limit was a study done by a master’s degree student from our
department and a follow-up research problem worked on by a fourth-year student
who frankly admitted to me that he couldn’t repeat the master’s student’s work!
Beilstein became my bible for information.
This disparagement of the earlier literature cannot be an uncommon attitude. In
a search for material on another subject, I asked a librarian in a technical library
(his official position was designated as information technology officer) for some
books. He informed me that the books I wanted were 10 years old or more and
hence they were in the archives. I asked permission to access these references but
was told such material was kept only a short time and then destroyed! There has
probably been a great loss of much valuable earlier work, and many research workers
have had to “reinvent the wheel” by not looking backward in the literature.
Some clarity is required on sorting out what the early food literature is:
• The early journals contain scientific articles, reviews, and letters. In my

own search for early articles, I have found that many journals have
changed their names, often several times, and that the publishers or soci-
eties that originated the journals do not themselves have copies of their
earlier publications. Indeed, one society asked me for copies of the articles
I had so that they could build up their collection.
What I Have Learned So Far 321
• Cookbooks often provide capsule social histories recording the changes

in the popularity of particular foods, food customs, availability and kinds
of food ingredients, the cooking appliances, and how preparation and
cooking was carried out. A sociologist has recently been awarded a sub-
stantial grant to study cookbooks. When these are read against the back-
drop of the political history of the time and the history of science and
technology, one understands how people used food and how scientific
developments and controversies as well as political and social upheavals
influenced their daily lives. The pamphlets and brochures supplied by
ingredient and appliance manufacturers provide added insights to the food
scene. Parallels to today’s circumstances lead astute developers into excit-
ing ideas.
• Textbooks on food processing and nutritional sciences, dietary guides,
popular commentaries (often written by those now considered quacks but
who at the time were revered authorities) and such are like frozen capsules
of the state of collective food knowledge.
a. Displaying Some Humility

The value to be found in the older scientific literature should not be overlooked.
First, the early literature is an excellent teaching tool; one sees how scientists worked
and planned without all the trappings of the modern laboratory; they were not black
box scientists. One can learn how ideas and technologies developed. We should be
humble enough to realize that the modern equipment in today’s laboratory will be
deemed historic pieces of junk 50 years from now, if indeed they last that long.
Second, we often laugh at the beliefs, customs, and understanding of former
times, but we should realize that similar fallacies (cf. how diets and nutritional
science theories wax and wane) are rampant today, and future generations will laugh
at us for our naiveté.
Cookbooks and nutrition texts show how previous generations applied and coped
with the discoveries and theories of nutrition then being advanced and how they
tried to adapt these. Later developments have shown that sometimes these earlier
theories were wrong. It teaches one humility to read the early literature and see how
wrong scientific experts can be. One advantage I have found in my own collection
of old cookbooks is the assistance they have provided for new product development
in finding recipes for old dishes and cookies with the cachet of “just like grandma’s.”
Third, the literature is much more cogently presented by people with some
knowledge of, and skill in, writing — they were, perhaps, never exposed to technical
or report writing classes.
Finally, many of the earlier scientists and researchers were scientists and
researchers because of an aptitude for and a love of science. Today many choose
science because we are a technology-driven society; there is a demand for scientists
and hence the promise of good jobs. In anticipation of future prospects, many
students finish their education with a graduate degree in business administration —
betraying that they do not plan to remain scientists. Their quest for MBAs always
reminds me of a remark attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte:
Every French soldier carries a marshal’s baton in his knapsack.
The MBA has become a substitute for the marshal’s baton.

Among today’s mass-produced scientists there are many gifted individuals.
Unfortunately, there are many times more individuals of mediocre or even poor
abilities whose ambition is not to make any contribution to science but to climb the
administrative ladder of success and, with their indifferently learned science and
their MBAs, ultimately direct scientists who are more capable than they are.
2. What Customers and Consumers Want or What

Retailers Want?
Is what customers and consumers want different from what retailers want? Or do
customers, consumers, and retailers all want the same thing? And very simply what
is that thing?
Customers want to be able to obtain food items they desire at a price and a
quality they can afford and with the knowledge that these food items are safe.
Consumers want to have the food items they had asked their customers (the gate-
keepers) to get for them. Retailers (or sellers, to use a broader term) want to attract
customers and consumers, make shopping (or dining) a joyful experience to encour-
age more shopping (or return dining experiences) and make a profit on the food
items they sell. No right-minded business person can argue with that.
Retailers want to sell products that are most in demand and that are most
profitable per unit of shelf exposure. Does this mean most customers’ needs have
been met? These most profitable products are given prominent placement by the
retailer — and incidentally their positioning is often paid for by the manufacturers.
Thus they become those products most prominently available and therefore situated
to the advantage of the retailer.
To answer the questions presented at the beginning of this section, I suggest
there has been a subtle, but a very real, discontinuity between customer, consumer,
and retailer needs. They are not necessarily the same. (We are not discussing the
food service arena, where the customer and consumer have choice and dominate the
restaurant owner.)
Market research on consumer buying has shown that customers and consumers
can be broken down into a myriad of market niches. The retailer is now thinking in
terms of profits, that is, stocking those items that sell, and not necessarily in terms
of satisfying all the customers and consumers identified in the many market niches.
Let it be very clear that I do not suggest that the seller stock items that do not sell
or sell only infrequently. I only suggest that data describing which products sell and
therefore that typify customer buying habits may bear a strong bias for retailers and
dominate, or certainly greatly influence, their business operations.
3. The Changing Scene in the Food Microcosm
I have suggested elsewhere (Fuller, 2001) that four major elements exist within the
food microcosm: the primary producer and gatherer, the manufacturer, the retailer
TABLE 12.1
Shifts in the Power and Influence that Drive the Food Microcosm
Past Times Modern Times New Times
No. 1 No. 1 No. 1

Primary producer Customer and consumer Retailer or seller
No. 2 No. 2 No. 2 (tied)
Manufacturer Retailer or seller Manufacturer
No. 3 No. 3 No. 2 (tied)
Retailer or seller Manufacturer Customer and consumer
No. 4 No. 4 No. 3
Customer and consumer Primary producer and gatherer Biotechnology company (seed, feed, and
animal genetics companies)
No. 4
Primary producer and gatherer
or seller, and the customer and consumer. All else in the food microcosm are
derivative of these. All have shifted their positions of dominance with time and
therefore have influenced the driving direction of research and innovation. This
fundamental change in power structure and influence is, I suggest, a contributing
factor bedeviling the interpretation of much market research.
My points are best understood through an examination of Table 12.1. This table
is divided arbitrarily into three time periods: past or historical times, near past and
modern times, and future times. No dates have been committed to these times; in
some geographic areas, these power shifts are not as advanced as in others.
a. Past Times
In historical times the primary producer or gatherer dominated or drove develop-
mental momentum in the food microcosm. The farmer was often all things: manu-
facturer doing slaughtering and butchering; manufacturer of sausages; and miller,
brewer, and baker. Fishermen dried and salted their catches. Olive growers pressed
their olives for oil; grapes and dates were dried or fermented by the producer. These
primary producers often sold their produce and finished goods themselves in their
farm markets. It is true some specialization occurred. Even today many small towns
have throwbacks to the tradition of market days when farmers brought their products
to central marketplaces, but nowadays these are largely organic farmers, boutique
food crafts people, or antique dealers.
With time, specialized crafts developed. Brewing and wine making matured with
specialists appearing; millers and bakers along with confectioners emerged as crafts-
people. These craftspeople were the sellers, selling from their own establishments.
Retailing had not developed into the science it was to become.
The customer and consumer still had roles that duplicated those of the food
manufacturer. They often baked their own bread and brewed their own beers. They
“did down,” that is, they preserved many of their own fruits and vegetables in season
for over the winter months. They did not have wide choices of available fruits and
vegetables, and most were locally available produce; nor were customers and con-
sumers researched to any great degree to determine what they wanted. No efforts
were made to make shopping a pleasure or a convenience.
b. Recent Times and the Present

During the last years of the second millennium, there was a major shift of power
and influence in the food microcosm. The customer and consumer dominated (Table
12.1) as the retailing and selling sectors and the manufacturing sector tried to
understand customer and consumer habits and capitalize on this understanding. It
was the infancy of consumerism.
Food manufacturers responded to demands of customers and consumers; pri-
mary producers and gatherers plugged along as best they could, responding to the
demands of the manufacturers. Primary producers were often also at the mercy of
retailers; for example, a major retailer demanded of a producer with whom they
had contracted that they wanted X number of chickens weighing between 4 and 6
lb for sale at $Y/lb for a promotion, and advertising monies were expected from
the producer. Manufacturers, too, contracted with producers for raw material of the
size, shape, maturity, and condition that producers had to meet, and the manufac-
turers’ field personnel inspected, graded, and set prices on the grade. Food manu-
facturers who were large and powerful enough demanded and got produce on their
terms. Sellers (notably fast food chains) who were big enough often had leverage
to demand both quality and price from manufacturers, or the manufacturers ran the
risk of losing contracts.
Primary producers, it must be remembered, are also at the mercy of seed, feed,
and chemical manufacturers to whom they often owe large sums of money that
cannot be paid until harvest.
c. New or Future Times

I see a new relationship emerging (Table 12.1) that puts the retailer and seller in the
most influential and dominating position within the food microcosm. Their desire
to attain a more commanding position not only by making each running meter of
their store shelves not only profitable but by maximizing profitability this tends to
lead them to avoid unproven products; new products per se are not in their picture
unless their introduction means more guaranteed profits.
Retailers control sales information; they see what combinations of purchases are
made and when these are made. Through information technology programs, this
sector obtains the clearest picture of the customer and consumer. By controlling
information and its communication, this sector in effect controls a major portion of
the food microcosm. Their information is actual; it is real. It is not based on mall
surveys or on focus groups composed of “maybe” customers or consumers. It is
based on real customers and consumers in real time. They control:
• Where and what products are displayed in the stores to maximize sales
• The number of facings that products receive to provide best exposure
• In-store advertising, promotions, and pricing
They are gatekeepers for the introduction of new products (indeed for all prod-
ucts) onto store shelves, and they charge consumer product manufacturers for the
privilege of introducing a product. The retailing sector dictates to manufacturers
through JIT (just in time) delivery systems and ECR (efficient consumer response)
when and what they want delivered and what products they want developed.
I regard this sales data, part of the market research for product development, as
tainted information. Developers should regard such marketplace data as requiring
very careful study and interpretation alongside their own data. It is the seller who
literally and figuratively stacks this data in favor of what is profitable for the seller.
Is such data biased? It reflects what items sold most, brought in the best returns for
the store per unit of shelf space (indirectly what the customer wanted or was willing
to pay for based on availability and display), and is biased by how the seller has
positioned these goods and used the promotional material.
Retailers decide what products are displayed for sale. These decisions are based
on what their sales data tell them, and heaven help the customer (or consumer) who
does not fit what their data tells them. This does have its amusing aspect.
In Quebec, liquor is sold only in government-run outlets. As a confirmed single malt

scotch drinker, I have repeatedly spoken to my local outlet about their poor selection
of malt scotches and so-so selection of blended scotches. My local manager told me
that I lived in, and his store was situated in, a wine, gin, and vodka district and that
to get a better selection of malt scotches I had to drive to a more distant store; this is
hardly a convenience. My problem was solved by shopping on the Internet directly
from the government warehouse; delivery is free and I can specify when I want delivery.
Store managers do preferentially stock their shelves with products that suit the
demands of the major customer group in their district and hence provide products
that are most profitable to the store. They ignore other market niches. The situation
is excellently and cynically put in the cartoon described Chapter 4 and restated here:
Here at MegaFoodCorp, you’re more than just a customer … You’re a completely

predictable compilation of spending habits and product data.
i. The Tied No. 2 Position

The food manufacturing and customer and consumer sectors are tied for the second
position of influence and dominance. The manufacturing sector is beset by pressures
from the retailing sector and both give pressure to and get pressure from the suppliers,
below them in the chain of influence. I have received so many mixed reviews and
analyses regarding the value of programs such as JIT and ECR in the course of my
food work that I cannot judge dispassionately; the systems work for some and have
even been described as an aid in new product development. Distributors and members
of JIT and ECR associations are generally in favor; most manufacturers and their
traffic managers hate them or have serious reservations about them. As a factory-
bred food technologist, my opinion is biased: I suggest that it is naïve to think ECR
works in anyone’s advantage except the retailers. If it assists the customer and
consumer it is only incidental to the interests of the retailer being satisfied. Retailers
exert pressure on manufacturers.
ii. Efficient Consumer Response
ECR is a more advanced version of the QR (quick response) tools describing close
manufacturer and retailer partnerships.
Efficient Consumer Response incorporates the concept of customer-specific marketing

into Quick Response (Morris, 1993).
Morris cites the Food Marketing Institute as defining ECR as “a responsive, con-
sumer-driven system in which distributors and suppliers work together as business
allies to maximize consumer satisfaction and minimize cost.”
It has been suggested that ECR has improved the success rate for new product
introductions by providing an early weeding out of losers. Perhaps this is so, but I
suggest that the weeding process strongly favors directly meeting the needs of the
retailer, and only indirectly meeting the needs of the customer.
iii. The Bottom of The Pile: No. 4 Position
I would classify, temporarily at least, the biotechnology companies and many pri-
mary producers together, especially the very large primary producers, in this bottom
position. Chemical companies (including some pharmaceutical companies) have
moved into the more exciting areas of biotechnology and genomics either by forming
new companies, buying companies already active in these new fields, or merging
through partnerships with other companies. These entities in turn have purchased
many seed companies through which to develop new varieties of plant species
through genetic research, produce them, and sell them. In effect, these companies
have strong influence, if not control, over the primary producer; they supply seed,
feed, and chemicals (e.g., herbicides, fertilizers) to primary producers, who are often
indebted to these companies until harvest time when they can pay back their loans.
In time, this supplying of primary producers will likely include genetically modified
animals, poultry, and marine species.
When and if that time comes, this entity, the complex composing the chemical
industry and primary producers, will exert greater influence — and power — in the
food microcosm. Where this complex might be placed in the hierarchy is anybody’s
guess.
d. A Tentative Observation Resulting from Changing Positions

of Influence
This shuffling of the relative positions of influence in the food microcosm is a
contributing factor in the failures of many new product introductions. Market
researchers do not take full cognizance of the impact retailers might have on the
market researchers’ point of sale data, on their research data, and on their promo-
tional activities during introduction. The techniques used to gather data on the
introduction of a product and the interpretation of the results have often failed to
fully integrate the role of the retailer. These techniques do not factor in the influence
of the retailers and their knowledge of their districts. The data gathered by the
marketing people are colored by the seller’s in-store activities; this data has the
imprint of the outlet.
Retailers have no interest in the introduction itself or empathy for the developer.
Introductions are an intrusion into their routines, and no matter how much may be
paid to them for this intrusion, it remains that, an intrusion. The introduction for the
retailer is an impersonal thing very unlike the feelings of the developer, who has
been intimately involved with the product. It is the developer’s “baby.”
A lack of enthusiasm, perhaps even a lack of cooperation between developer
and retailer, requires that marketing work closely with retailers to get their assistance
or at least to avoid their antipathy. A successful launch requires the active partici-
pation of the retailer.
Two other factors that bear on product failures and involve retailers are:
• Management’s decision to pull an introduction too soon and not allow for
sufficient buy-in time can upset retailers. Management are too greedy to
get their returns; when they fail to get these within their time horizons,
they bail out of the introduction. This can upset retailers, who feel they
have been overlooked in the decision and hence may be very reluctant in
the future to participate in introductory programs or to cooperate with
sales data.
• Activity by the competition using any number of tactics in retail outlets
can upset interpretation of sales data. Marketing personnel must be wary
of data that might not be normal. Introducers of new products must be
alert to unusual sales numbers, competitive me-too product introductions,
and promotional activities of the competition.
“The buzz” is an element for market research personnel to be aware of during

an introduction, indeed to be aware of during any stage of a product’s life cycle.
It is unrelated to any impact the retailing sector may have in the food microcosm.
It may represent competitive activity. The buzz, so I am told, refers to something
akin to rapidity of communication, indeed basically to instant messaging. It is
a tool of activist consumers and some consumer groups. Marketing and adver-
tising people are frightened by the rapidity with which negative reactions to new
product introductions or to newly opened food service establishments can spread.
Bad buzz, instant feedback, can hurt new food products, especially those aimed
at the teens and older groups of consumers who are frequent visitors to chat
rooms.
Serious errors can be anticipated in the interpretation of market research data
that does not include the role of the retailer if new product developers continue to
operate with the social constructs depicted in Table 12.1 within the “modern times”
hierarchy of the food microcosm. That structure is changing rapidly. I have not
been convinced that ECR is a good or even proper vehicle to bring an understanding
of changes to come that will affect developers.
II. WHAT FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

HAVE WROUGHT
A. THE IMPACT OF FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
The old-fashioned housewife’s menus were carefully thought out; the modern house-
wife’s menus are carefully thawed out.
Anonymous
1. How Food Savvy Are the Customer and Consumer?
Kesterton (2003) credits this cynical aphorism to Harry Balzer, vice president of
market research firm NPD Group of Park Ridge, IL, who commented that the
majority of Americans eat dinners that come prepared and need only to be reheated.
Indeed, less than 50% of diners sat down to dinners in which at least one of the
dishes was assembled. The description assembled applied to any food preparation
activity from putting together cheese and crackers or a jam sandwich to baking pies.
For a more extensive discussion of the impact of food science and technology on
society, Pyke provides a startling insight in his essay written in 1971.
This reliance on prepared foods stems from many causes:
• Many people do not know how to plan or prepare a nutritious snack or

meal because they have never learned. They have no need to learn because
they have a multitude of chilled, frozen, canned, or dehydrated prepared
food items available for them.
• The busy lifestyles of many people demand foods requiring minimal
preparation in the home. The family sit-down dinner has become a thing
of fiction except for festive occasions, as family members rush off to
planned activities. The social intercourse of the family meal has gone.
Progress in food technology has been a socially divisive influence on
home life (Pyke, 1971).
• People, women and mothers in particular, no longer feel guilty about not
slaving all day in the kitchen or setting before guests a home-prepared
meal. They now take pride rather in greater participation in family activ-
ities, community affairs, or self-improvement courses.
A personal anecdote — and I fully realize the danger of generalizing from

anecdotal observation — illustrates either the first or last of the above causes:
My wife regularly picked up our own children plus a couple of others after school.
For snacks she invariably prepared carrot sticks by the simple method of cleaning,
peeling, and slicing carrots (this was before the days of the ubiquitous prepackaged
baby-cut carrots). One young boy always devoured these avidly and one day com-
mented to his mother when she arrived to fetch him, “Why can’t we have these?” To
which she, a university lecturer, replied, “I’ve never seen them in the stores” and asked
my wife where she bought them.
Woolf (2000) wrote in an editorial, “Many children have simply no idea that
cereals have to be harvested to produce everything from bread to pasta, so what
chance now has the communication of sophisticated concepts …?” Woolf’s com-
ments were not entirely out of context. He was commenting on how food technol-
ogists expected people to accept genetically modified foods based on how little they
presently knew about the food they ate. Overcoming the ignorance of the general
public about their food and about the food microcosm in general will be a price that
innovators will have to pay.
To provide the convenience consumers want, retailers use several techniques;
they stock a wide selection of ready-to-eat delicatessen items in the chilled foods
section of their stores or they operate a hot deli bar with hot, fully cooked items
for take-out or for eating in-store. They are thus competing with the fast food
chains. In the frozen food sections, easily prepared entrées vie for consumers’
attention. Products are displayed to convey ideas for tasty and nutritious meal
combinations to hurried consumers. Unfortunately, many of the gatekeepers and
consumers do not understand any principles of balanced meal preparation and
basic nutrition; hence nutritious meal combinations have no meaning. The August
20, 2003, IFT Weekly E-Newsletter provides a headline: “Consumers Want
Healthy but Buy Convenience.” This article states that consumers are confused
about health claims and do not recognize which foods are healthy. Governments
are stricken apoplectic at the national obesity problem and the health issues caused
by it, yet they have restricted funding for nutrition and household science edu-
cation in public schools over the years. They now agitate for all kinds of legis-
lation for funds either to educate the public, to (somehow) prevent obesity, or to
apply a tax on fatty foods. An excellent article written by Ceci Connolly (2003)
described this situation; it appeared in the August 10, 2003, issue of the Wash-
ington Post (page A01) and was cross-referenced in IFT’s Weekly E-Newsletter
of August 13, 2003.
Wise development team members looking for product ideas should spend
some time watching and talking to people as they shop in the many marketplaces
that are available. In too many companies, neither senior management nor the
new product development team have ever ventured into these marketplaces and
questioned their sales forces who do talk with customers, consumers, and retailers.
What new food products do they, who see and talk with customers, consumers,
and retailers, want to put on the shelves beside their competition’s products? It
is in these marketplaces that new food product ideas can originate. Developers
would see how retailers influence customers to buy with store design for customer
traffic control, product layout, in-store food sampling, and cooking demonstra-
tions. For example, the perishable fruit and vegetable section is laid out to
resemble a fresh air market designed to channel customers through the displays.
It has salad bars for carry-out foods as well as trimmed, cut, ready-to-eat fresh
fruit and vegetables (e.g., sliced mushrooms, peeled orange segments, celery and
carrot sticks). Bringing an atmosphere of freshness and naturalness to the fore,
in-store bakeries waft the delicious aroma of fresh bread throughout the store to
complete the picture.
2. Impact of Technology
The origins and causes of the latent fear of technology found in many of the
nonscientific community are irrelevant. The nonscientific community is either con-
fused by, frightened of, or suspicious of technology except when this technology is
applied to the pharmaceutical and medical devices fields where they are very thankful
for the advantages science brings. Newspapers, popular science magazines, radio
phone-in shows, and television hosts either quote or interview experts, medical
doctors, scientists, nutritionists, and dieticians on controversial issues of food and
food safety, health and disease, cooking, and nutrition. Each expert argues for his
or her respective position either pro or con; the hosts of the shows or the journalists
garner interest and maximum publicity by stirring up controversy between guests
or interviewees with opposing views. The result for customers and consumers is
often not enlightenment but confusion. No wonder the public harbors a suspicion
of science and technology when the so-called experts cannot agree on what appears
to the public to be simple and clear-cut questions such as “Is it good or is it not
good for me?” This is a question scientists cannot answer, or they waffle on their
answers with abstruse, technical jargon.
a. Big Science: Biotechnology
Biotechnology shows great hope to relieve pain and suffering with its promise of
medical advances. The public is not so welcoming when biotechnological techniques
are applied to the food supply, where this branch of science promises to have value
for farmers, food processors, and the malnourished. Here, suspicion, caution, poli-
tics, greed, big business, big science, government, and consumer advocacy groups
all seem to cloud the issue of what impact biotechnology could have on agriculture
and world food production. Meanwhile consumers are wondering whether they really
want hard, bruise-free, or square tomatoes or straighter bananas, both of which would
be easier to package and ship. They see no perceived advantages for themselves in
such products.
Bovine somatotropin (BST), derived from biotechnology, has been used to
increase milk production in cows, yet the general public reads of gluts of milk on
markets and wonders why prices of milk and milk products are not coming down.
If marketing boards control both the supply of milk and the availability of industrial
milk, where is the need for more milk production from fewer cows? Who benefits?
Consumer advocacy groups are suspicious of the possible effects of BST’s long-
term use on people consuming products derived from milk of treated animals. Small
dairy farmers are concerned that large dairy factories that can afford to use BST to
increase milk production will force them out of business. Their dairy associations
lobby the government for protection.
Leaf culture techniques now permit scientists to grow many plant products, for
example, “natural” vanilla, in vats in factories situated far from the natural geographic
sources of vanilla bean production (see, e.g., Knorr et al., 1990). The impact on the
economies of nations such as Madagascar, the Comoro Islands, the Island of Réunion,
Tahiti, and Mexico, for whom the vanilla bean is an important export commodity, is
a concern both for these countries and those activists against such technologies.
Product development and developers responsible for the technology should be

aware of public reaction to their use of genetically modified foods or ingredients
and should proceed cautiously to overcome fear, suspicion, and politics before
technology, and especially biotechnology, makes a major contribution. Controlling
the gene that controls senescence in a tomato is of little interest to the general public.
Tomatoes are not meant for the salvation of shippers and distributors; they are meant
for consumers. Will there be a perceived advantage for the consumer? That is the
key issue: convincing the customer and consumer with tangible evidence that the
technology will benefit them. So far the biotechnologists have failed to put this
message across successfully; simply proclaiming that the genetically modified prod-
ucts are safe is not enough.
Breeding and gene selection programs for sturdier, more disease-resistant banana
trees that have straighter bananas that pack better and resist transit damage are fine
advantages for growers and distributors. But again, these are not advantages easily
perceived by the consumer. “Will my bananas be different?” laments the consumer.
The introduction of manufactured microorganisms into the environment for
nitrogen fixation or as a cryoprotectant for plants is an issue understood by scientists
but not by the public. Any advantage to the public is seen dimly. And it is grist for
the mills of the environmentalists, who can readily shake the confidence of the public
respecting the hazards, real or imagined, that such an introduction may bring.
Customers and consumers remember the introduction of DDT into the environment;
they also remember the assurances of scientists from the chemical industry who
proclaimed its safety and the attacks on the naysayers. They also remember chlo-
rofluoro hydrocarbons (CFCs) that were touted as harmless, biologically inert, non-
combustible substances. Then the world, including consumers and scientists, dis-
covered the effect CFCs had on the ozone layer. All of a sudden something considered
harmless, when used in large quantities, became dangerous. And it was leading
experts on government appointed committees again who claimed lead in gasoline
was safe until accumulations in the body fluids of children proved otherwise.
Food biotechnologists bear the onus of providing tangible evidence not only of
the safety of their discoveries but also of their advantages to the general public; too
often these advantages are seen as advantages to the scientists and their research
institutes through recognition, patents and royalties, and the private companies they
establish on the basis of their research findings. Product developers must realize that
unproven technologies require careful investigation before they are used in new
products, for if they fail to be approved or accepted by the public, the work and
effort, as well as the good name of their company, may be forfeit.
Harlander (1992) stated the problem succinctly:
If biotechnology is to be used to ensure a safe, abundant and affordable food supply,

it must be accepted by the public; therefore it is critical for us to come to grips with
the scientific, as well as the social, moral and ethical issues that influence our thinking
about the food supply.
For biotechnology to be accepted in new consumer food products, the products must
be perceived as having benefits for the customer and consumer and as being envi-
ronmentally safe or neutral over the long term and not merely as an advantage to
the grower, shipper, distributor, manufacturer, or discoverer. (For a fuller discussion,
see Harlander, 1989.)
b. Consumer Reaction
Molly O’Neill summed up consumer reaction in an article headlined “Geneticists’
Latest Discovery: Public Fear of ‘Frankenfood.’” Frankenfood is, of course, genet-
ically altered food, a name coined by Paul Lewis in a letter to the editor of The New
York Times. The newspaper article featured developments at the exhibition of the
Institute of Food Technologists (1992), in particular, a frost-resistant tomato incor-
porating a fish gene.
This may very well have advantages for a grower, but where is the advantage
for consumers? It requires a bit of a stretch of the imagination for consumers to see
benefits. This difficulty may in part be due to consumers’ lack of knowledge of the
food chain from grower to retailer. If the consumers cannot see how the modification
benefits them or appreciate the advantage the modification gives to them, it is, in
their thinking, an unnecessary alteration of an already accepted and successful
product. No amount of education will convince them to accept this product at this
time. Already many companies have backed away from the application of some of
their genetic research; they do not want the job of educating the consumer for fear
of reprisals.
Some parallels in the early stages of the introduction of irradiation techniques
to those of the introduction of genetically modified foods are apparent. It will be
remembered that irradiation as a food preservation technique was originally touted
as prolonging the shelf life of foods. This benefit was not perceived by customers
and consumers as an advantage for them, but rather as an advantage for the processor
(Best, 1989a) and the distributor. Customers thought they would get staler (i.e.,
older) product because it would last longer on the shelves. Furthermore, they were
convinced that processors would be able to skimp on sanitary procedures because
they could zap the microbial contamination under which the product was handled
or prepared. Is this not logical reasoning on the parts of consumer and customer
alike? Irradiation for food products and the acceptance of genetically modified foods
and food ingredients are both clouded with highly polarized views for or against.
Some of the rhetoric and the extent to which apologists for irradiation will have to
go in educating the consumer is reviewed by Pszczola (1990). It is good reading
for proponents of the use of genetically modified foods.
c. Factory Farming and Agricultural Practices
Factory farming techniques are perceived as cruelty to animals by many in the
general public, by animal ethicists, by vegetarians, and by empathetic meat eaters.
Odors from farms annoy people, and run-off from pig and poultry factory farms
pollutes streams, rivers, and lakes and angers environmentalists. Even a traditional
practice such as force feeding of geese to produce foie gras has been declaimed.
There have been violent demonstrations against both food retailers displaying
factory-farmed poultry and veal and against farmers employing factory farming
techniques. These incidents plus bumper stickers, T-shirts, and placards deploring
certain agricultural practices (often displayed by those lacking any knowledge of

farm animals and their habits) clearly indicate the existence of social constraints to
the technologies and crafts applied to food production and processing. Spokesper-
sons for the food microcosm are needed to teach the public about food, its production,
manufacture, nutrition, and proper kitchen preparation lest many new product ideas
using the promised benefits of biotechnology will be aborning. Developers alert to
the cachet that such novel product introductions carry will have ready an effective
educational campaign to accompany them.
Old food crops are being rediscovered, and developers have created new products
from them to satisfy the consumer, for example, quinoa-based cereals, flaxseed
bread, and amaranth flours. Such crops as millet, quinoa, and amaranth have long
been favored in other cultures. Brücher (1983) gives a brief history and description
of amaranth (“the poor man’s high-protein cereal”), plus information on its cultiva-
tion. Teutonico and Knorr (1985) reviewed the properties, composition, and appli-
cations of both the grain and the vegetable amaranths.
Organic farming and organic products have surpassed the multimillion dollar
level. They occupy expanding sections of the produce and prepared food departments
in supermarkets. Many customers now contract with market gardeners and farmers
for weekly deliveries of organic produce to their doors. Consumer products based
on organic produce will not be far behind; indeed, some major food manufacturers
are now going mainstream with such products.
3. Trends as Social History
Hindsight is a wonderful sense. One should learn from hindsight, but one unfortu-
nately does not always do so. The predictions made many years ago and some made
more recently concerning what we would be eating today have taught me not to
make predictions.
a. The Past and What Can or Cannot Be Learned
Reviewing earlier predictions of what was to have happened in food and agricultural
areas is a sobering, educational exercise. Why have some forecasts come to fruition
rapidly? Why are some still pie-in-the-sky dreams? Why have some been slow to
come? Lawrie and Symons (2001) reviewed predictions made by Dr. J. G. Davis in
a lecture entitled “The Food Industry in AD 2000” given in 1965 to the Royal Society
of Arts when he was president of the IFST (U.K.). Davis’s predictions are presented
in Table 12.2. The right-hand column has Lawrie and Symons’s comments and some
of mine.
Whitehead (1976) wrote enthusiastically of the changes that might be seen in 1999.
Most of the following are technically feasible, albeit the technology for some, for
example, controlling machinery by thought waves, is still very much in its infancy:
• Meals would include algae-fed oysters from sea farms, with an entree of
mock chicken from spun soy protein, accompanied by a mixed vegetable
casserole in a base of single cell protein, topped with a cheese analogue.
Spun protein meat analogues have struggled for acceptance as such but
TABLE 12.2
Then and 35 Years Later According to U.K. Data Based on Excerpts from a
Speech by Dr. J. G. Davis
1965 2000a
Over 25% of personal income is spent on food, and 19% of personal income is spent on food, and the
the food microcosm employs more people than number of people employed in the agricultural
any industry. sector of the food microcosm has declined
sharply.
The most important nutritional problem in 1965 FAO/WHO had recommended the amount of good
and into the future is a sufficient supply of good quality protein to be 70 g daily. This has since
quality protein. been reduced to 53 to 55 g per adult male and
~45 to 47 g per female per day.
The form of malnutrition in developed countries is Obesity is a major health issue (A.O.A., 2002;
overnutrition. Birmingham et al., 1999; Lachance, 1994;
MacAulay, 2003; NCHS, 1999).
It will be necessary for a fourfold increase in the There has been more than a twofold increase in
world’s food supply by 2000. world population. Population growth shows signs
of slowing. Food supplies have increased, but
availability is uneven.
Qualified food technologists will control every There has been a great increase in the numbers of
aspect of food from production to selling. trained personnel within the food microcosm.
Education of the public in nutrition and food
hygiene has lagged (Fuller, 2001).
Protein extracted from green leaves could be used This has never been developed to the potential that
for human and animal nutrition (Pirie, 1987). Pirie and Davis anticipated, partly because of the
Green Revolution; the lack of a convenient,
economical, and acceptable vehicle to use the
protein in; and costs of extraction.
By 2000, waste and food poisoning will be a thing 1965: the innocence of the age of antibiotics!
of the past. (author’s comment). Not only has the number of
cases of food poisoning increased, but the pattern
of pathogens has changed. Waste and
environmental problems still confound the food
industry.
Convenience foods, apartment living, increasing Instead of communal eating, there has been a
numbers of the elderly, and working women will burgeoning growth of convenience foods, a wide
lead to communal feeding. gamut of eating establishments and take-out food.
Home cooking from scratch has declined to be
replaced by so-called speed-scratch cookery.
Freezing as a means of preservation is the “least The availability of frozen foods has grown
objectionable method” of preservation, and most enormously, but so have many other means of
people would own a refrigerator and freezer by food preservation.
2000.
Desalination would be economically feasible by The availability of fresh water is a major world
2000. concern, and cheap power is as elusive as ever.
Africa will become a food-producing country. This has not occurred because of political
instability, disease, and drought.
a Critiqued by Lawrie and Symons (2001), with added comments by the author.
have been popular in the sophistication of canned stews, dried soup prep-
arations, and pet foods. Cake baked using triticale flour would be dessert.
Triticale flour has never been wholeheartedly accepted by the public.
• The superfarm would be laid out in long narrow strips spanned by moving
bridges in which sits the farmer, who from his position on this bridge can
program all activities from cultivation, seeding, irrigation, weeding, and
harvesting of most crops.
• By 1999, atomic energy plants would supply cheap electricity and heat
to farm communities and “farmers wearing cybernetic equipment may be
able to control their machinery by thinking about what they want it to
do.” Most atomic power plants have been shut down or mothballed, and
the public has been particularly resentful of where these have been sited.
Thought control of machinery has a long way to go for commercialization.
• Aquaculture farming, particularly for salmon and catfish, would grow in
importance. Lobster and oyster farming would gain greater prominence.
This has occurred, but this technology has led to serious problems of
water pollution, introduction of diseases to the wild stock, and concern
for the genetic stability of the wild stock.
• The soft drink industry would develop a market for syrups and powders
that are carbonated at home.
• Insects, cattle manure, poultry droppings, and municipal sewage would
provide the basis for protein for animal feed. Animal ethicists frown on
these as sources for animal feed; obviously they have never lived on a
farm and watched the free range chickens peck away at insects or observed
pigs follow hungrily behind cows.
Social, practical, ethical, environmental, and economic reasons have slowed or

stopped the acceptance of many of the above developments.
The American Society of Agricultural Engineers dared to make some very long-
range forecasts of changes in farming practices to the year 2076 (Anon., 1977).
These include the following food predictions:
• By 2076, 75% of meals will be prepared at large food service commis-

saries and not in the home. This is an interesting prediction. Some of
today’s more radical architects have argued that the kitchen in a home is
a wasted space. People eat out, buy take-out food, or buy frozen prepared
foods. Kitchen preparation is minimal, consisting largely of putting
together meal components to thaw or reheat. Putting together components
does not require a separate room dedicated to food preparation with its
built-in appliances for frozen and refrigerated storage, electric and micro-
wave ovens, and cupboards. However, kitchens are still built into houses,
and to this day there still appears to be some appeal for homestyle
prepared foods.
• Fruits and vegetables will be grown in solar-heated greenhouses near, or
in, urban centers. Fresh fruits and vegetables will be delivered to consum-
ers daily.
• Poultry, as well as other livestock, will be raised in environmentally

controlled high-rise buildings as part of urban areas, with feeding and
waste management automatically controlled. Organic wastes will be
extracted for their energy.
• Harvesting and in-field processing of field crops will result in the sepa-
ration of the edible material into protein, carbohydrates, fats, and other
useful food ingredients. Cellulosic and ligninic material in the waste will
be converted into plastics.
These predictions are an interesting hodgepodge of already here, those yet to

come, and those not likely to come. The majority of eating occasions already are
removed from the home; this prediction was fulfilled within the first 20 years, but
will it still be true in 2076 or will communal eating in commissaries be the vogue?
Devotees of sci-fi writings by authors such as Asimov, Clarke, and others read that
these authors frequently view communal eating in commissaries as the way of the
future; that is, eating out will prevail.
On the other hand, the home office has become a reality thanks to improvements
in telecommunications, the personal computer, and networking facilities; this sug-
gests eating in will prevail. What will be its impact on meals away from home? The
home office often has meant more work and less of a distinction between home life
and work life. Therefore, with less time for food preparation, a greater impetus for
home delivery of prepared foods may result. Already many restaurants take part in
meal programs whereby menu items can be ordered by telephone and delivered
home, with each member eating from a different restaurant’s menu. Perhaps this is
where developers should be looking for product development ideas.
Animal rearing in urban settings is simply too expensive to contemplate; land
is too valuable, and objections from social activist groups and ethicists would surely
be disruptive if urban housing was used for animals when housing for the homeless
is desperately needed. The same criticism would be expected of urban space being
used for indoor culture of vegetables. Some hydroponic culture of crops has devel-
oped into major industries but not in urban centers (excepting marijuana growing).
The amount of hydroponic culture of herbs and salad greens by chefs on the roofs
of their hotels or establishments is insignificant and primarily a promotional ploy.
The introduction of fresh herbs and herb blends in the produce department has been
a remarkably successful market development.
Predictions are usually more accurate when the projected time frame over which
the predictions are made is short. The unpredictability of technological break-
throughs, the legislative activity of government in the food microcosm, and the
volatility of both customers and consumers do not distort the data on which these
shorter-term forecasts are based. A study, released by Frost & Sullivan (Anon., 1980)
gave the following predictions for the 1980s:
• The use of analogues, especially for microwave-designed new food prod-

ucts, will expand.
• The use of whey-based ingredients, high fructose corn syrups, encapsu-
lated flavors, and savory flavors will expand.
• Food service menus will broaden their menu selection. Salad bars will be
more prominent in food service establishments.
• Government influence on nutritional labeling and dietary claims will
continue to grow.
• Nutritionally positioned products will displace naturally positioned prod-
ucts. Nutrition will be the “turn-on” for consumers in the future.
• The over-65s is one of the fastest growing segments of the population.
The geriatric food market will present a challenge to food product devel-
opers and marketers in the future.
• Ethnic foods will grow and cause segmentation of the market.
These predictions, covering a shorter forecasting period, describe the 1980s and
early 1990s very well. Fast food restaurants are certainly going upscale with white
tablecloth seating and broader menu selection; expanded deli salad bars are found
in fast food restaurants and even in supermarkets. McDonald’s and Burger King
have both experimented with special dinner menus (The Gazette, Montreal, August
16, 1992).
Nutritional products are prominently positioned now, but one might argue
whether the natural foods (no additives, or organic) or minimally processed foods
have been displaced to any extent. In addition, some believe the bloom is fading
from nutritionally positioned products. Nutraceutical additions or adjuncts to foods,
directed to prevention of disease conditions, are increasingly popular.
Ryval (1981) made the following predictions but wisely put no time frame on them:
• Meat consumption, particularly red meat, will drop and with it animal fat
consumption because meat’s replacement, foods such as lentils, contain
little fat — but there was no suggestion that one contributing cause might
be BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), the public’s aversion to
meat at this time, and health concerns. More fresh fruits and vegetables
will be consumed, as well as more minimally processed foods.
• Food selection will broaden, with a greater acceptance of ethnic foods.
This happened and is continuing on a large scale. The cause has been
massive migrations of peoples caused by political and economic instabil-
ity. Both causes were unpredictable.
• Seafood consumption will rise. There will be a greater reliance on aqua-
culture and fish farming. Underutilized species will receive greater rec-
ognition as food in products such as fish sticks, fish sausage, and surimi.
Again this prediction has come to be, with the result that many wild fish
stocks have been overfished. Fish farming, now a big business, has been
condemned in many areas as a pollutant.
• A more diverse variety of plant protein sources will be used to complement
the traditional sources such as soybean, peanut, and cereal grains. The
variety of plants being utilized has increased partly from people bringing
their traditional foods to new countries and partly because people are
searching for new foods with health benefits. There may also be a backlash
from those opposed to genetic modification of plants and animals who
have raised concerns that biotechnology may lead to monoculture, with

the result that many valuable and diverse food crops will be lost.
• Analogues will continue to gain favor, not necessarily as total meat
replacements but rather as extenders of other products.
• Waste recovery techniques will undergo intensive research to develop new
feed sources by fermentation with microorganisms or to extract valuable
food ingredients from the waste.
• The retort pouch “spells the end of the tin can” because of the energy
savings the pouch offers, plus the opportunity for improved quality.
• Sterilized milk will move milk out of the refrigerator cabinet and onto
the store shelves.
In the two decades since Ryval collated these prognostications from experts, some
have come to pass, while others have sputtered out or continue to arouse yawns in
customers and consumers. What has made the difference?
Aquaculture has proven to be successful but has not proven the panacea it was
once thought it would be in making seafood cheap and readily available. There are
still disease problems to be overcome. There are pollution problems caused by the
aquaculture industry, which are threatening its expansion. Aquaculture has not
quelled the fears that many wild fish stocks have been seriously depleted.
Analogues from various protein sources enjoy some success in many products
where they can be blended in with or incorporated structurally with their natural
counterpart. Single cell protein, particularly yeast protein, has had some success as
a base for food ingredients. Triticale flour has never become popular; I have seen
it only in some health food stores or occasionally in the health food section of
supermarkets.
Insects as food or feed require a great deal more consumer education than most
companies will risk undertaking to overcome cultural taboos. In Western culture
insects are no more than a novelty food, for example, chocolate covered ants; before
consumers eat insects or before consumer activists knowingly allow animals to be
fed insect-derived protein or manure-derived feed, another cultural taboo, much
education of the public is required. Taboos exist; consumers have not fully accepted
atomic power, especially in their backyards, nor are they ready to accept farmyard
droppings or insects as foods and they want only quality cuts of meat ground into
their hot dogs.
b. Barriers to Predicting Food Development Events
There are curbs both to an unlimited or unchecked growth in new food products,
new processes, and to consumers’ acceptance of new food products. The following
observations sum up the situation:
• New food product development is expensive, and technologies leading to

new processing and ultimately to new equipment are all expensive. Local,
national, and world economic conditions dictate the availability of monies
for development. Processors cannot purchase new and untried equipment
technologies unless that technology promises huge benefits. The sciences
related to customer and consumer research are not fully understood, and
food, nutrition, and their relation to health and disease prevention are
undergoing rapid rethinking and reinterpretation. Because of this trial and
error nature of development, it is costly. Yet it is necessary for growth.
• Legislation pertaining to food and its labeling, packaging, advertising,
safety, and manufacturing and to new foods will continue to be a thorn
in the side of new food product developers. Governmental agricultural
policies, international trade agreements and affiliations, and world politics
will influence sources and availability of ingredients. Hence their costs.
• Customers, the gatekeepers, and consumers are fickle. They have not been
educated about, and indeed, may resist, some of the newer technologies
associated with foods, for example, genetically modified foods, irradia-
tion, and scientists as well as food companies have been loath to undertake
this education. Scientists do not consider it their concern, and food man-
ufacturers fear reprisals and hence economic ruin.
All these barriers make the senior management and financial managers of food
businesses nervous.
The sciences and technologies, including the sciences related to consumer stud-
ies, on which food product development is based are unpredictable and are still
undergoing extensive development. Food technology has outstripped the food and
nutritional sciences upon which it should be based. The result is that technology has
had to rely on trial and error and craftsmanship in equipment design, product
formulation, preservative technology, and ingredient technology. Consider, for exam-
ple, the technologies of stabilizing with high pressure, irradiation, water control, and
pulsed electric fields, which still lack a theoretical basis for their effectiveness.
Where, for example, is the mathematical basis for irradiation or high-pressure pro-
cessing, as there is for thermal processing? According to Coppock (1978):
Man had always been concerned with the technology of food, because he needed food
to survive and that his understanding of the basic principles underlying the art, or craft,
had always been slower than its development (see also Taylor, 1969).
Without the science, applying technology for new product development will
always be costly in time and money, and it will be hazardous.
c. Consumer Responses
Consumers paid no heed to the prognostication of some food technologists that
freezing as a process was going to replace canning (thermal processing of food);
products employing both technologies coexist successfully. Glass containers were
to replace metal cans as the container of the future; then thin-profile containers (the
retortable flexible pouch and its cognate, the semirigid container) were to replace
both as the packaging of the future. But again consumers fooled the predictors:
North American consumers have never really adapted to thin-profile containers
despite their huge success in Japan and modest success in Europe. None of these
predictions came to pass. Foods packaged in glass and metal are on the shelves side
by side with plastic-packed and laminated paper board– and cello-wrapped and
metal-packed foods. A variety of packaging materials reigns.
Sloan (1999, 2001, 2003b) has more conservatively opted to follow consumer
trends (or are they more accurately customer trends?). These are presented in Table
12.3. Here the volatility of both customer and consumer responses to happenings in
the food microcosm are highlighted better than with a study of past predictions. The
fulfillment of predictions is always thwarted by unexpected and unpredictable events
TABLE 12.3
Top Ten Trends to Watch for in the Future
Food Technology August 1999 Food Technology April 2001 Food Technology April 2003
“Americanization of flavor”: “Do-it-for-me foods”: the use of “Heat and eat”: tasty, quick-to-
plain American with just a twist premade or take-out meals prepare, no mess, no clean-up
of foreign “Super savory and foods
“Super simple”: simple to sophisticated”: demand for “Retro nutrition”: renewed
prepare foods with taste appeal more upscale and cultivated interest in sugar- and fat-
for busy living taste in foods containing foods but with
“Street foods”: fast, portable, “Balance”: extremism in food reduced amounts of calories
tasty, and accessible selection is vanishing “Casual indulgence”: upscale
“Living foods”: fresh, natural, “Form follows function”: food for casual comfort
organic foods growth of the “minis,” e.g., “Country charisma”: ethnic and
“Deliver me”: carry-out appetizers regional foods with an
purchases and Internet food “A new kind of ‘homespun’”: American twist
shopping developing foods for regional “Table talk”: upscale,
“Eatertainment”: family style, tastes; communal (one-dish) fashionability (more flavor) in
communal “one-plate” eating; meals; homey, comfy living favorite foods
restaurant samplers room style restaurants “Simple solutions”: single serve,
“Freestyle”: grazing, foods for “Kid-influenced”: catering to the combined (multiingredient,
all day, mealtime anytime influence children have on food multinutrient foods); mini-
eating purchases packs
“In-dull-gence”: eating with “Light and lively”: fresher, “Custom catering”: catering to
moderation in all varieties of healthier, and more attractive children as decision makers in
food looking items food purchases
“Self-treatment & trial”: do-it- “Crossover meal patterns”: “Correcting conditions”: foods
yourself health; eating foods to mealtime is grazing time; out to prevent, ward off, or relieve
ward off something with traditional meal patterns unhealthy conditions
“Trusting technology”: “‘Do-it-yourself health”: “Exceptionally pure”: organic,
consumer willingness to try selecting food to improve or natural, pure, no artificial
“genetically modified that prevent a health problem from additives foods
tastes better” (cf. European occurring “Snacks & mini meals”:
attitudes) “Clean, pure, natural, and safe”: snacking, grazing, eat-all-day
all natural, “green,” non- foods
factory-raised, organic foods
From Sloan, E.A., Food Technol., 53, 40, 1999; Sloan, E.A., Food Technol., 55, 38, 2001; Sloan, E.A.,
Food Technol., 57, 30, 2003b.
occurring over the longer time range; trends are short range. Sloan follows and
acknowledges the volatility and unpredictability of the customer by observing what
is occurring in the various marketplaces in much shorter time intervals.
There is, nevertheless, a danger associated with following trends; they, too, are
historical. The buying statistics on which they are calculated are based on the past
month’s or past 6 month’s or even past year’s purchases. When one reflects on the
brevity of life cycles of products, one may be jumping in at the wrong time. At best,
a study of trends emphasizes the volatility of the customer. They change their food
buying habits to jump on the next food fad, shattering the previous market niche
only to introduce new niches. If, indeed, as Sloan claims, the statistics show that
children dominate food choice decision making, who could be more faddish and
volatile in food choices than children, tweenies, or teens?
The family unit with its traditional ways has evolved, and with it many traditional
food habits have changed; the daily family dinner is a rarity. The proportion of
elderly in the population has grown such that it has now become a recognizable
pressure group within society, as have the teens, the tweenies, and other groupings
such as yuppies, baby boomers, home cookers, and so on. Within these groups there
are subdivisions. They all represent separate market niches.
The sciences associated with understanding the buying habits of customers
and what influences consumers choices are still inadequate, but the basis for an
accurate understanding of what motivates both these groups is beginning to be
clarified. Clearer identification of the characteristics of consumers certainly will
help developers formulate new products and help marketers effectively promote
these to customers.
d. Politics and Government

The most recent factors accelerating the intervention of governments into the safety
of the food microcosm within their respective countries are:
• The potential for food bioterrorism directed against crops and animals:
Strict agricultural polities and policies on emerging animal and plant
diseases have emerged.
• Political instability in many food exporting countries: This has increased
border food inspection.
More benign factors are an increasing awareness of the importance of food in

the prevention of many human diseases and consumer demands for minimally
processed foods. The results have been:
• An increasing body of legislation regulating the growing, harvesting,

production, and retailing of food and increasing support for national farm,
agricultural, and seafood policies directed at, as near as is possible, self-
sufficiency. These directly influence regional environmental policies.
• A growing body of safety, health, and nutrition policies. Many such
policies are being and will be used in the future as nontariff trade barriers.
• A new consumer attitude toward foods and nutrition, especially in devel-

oped countries. No longer are consumers eating sensibly for good health,
but are eating to prevent disease. This has alerted governments to the need
to curb overhyped advertising.
• Newer technologies, genetically modified foods for one, have rightly or
wrongly aroused passions in customers and consumers. Despite the best
efforts of governments and scientists to alleviate these fears, many in the
general public fear the heavy involvement of the chemical and biochemical
companies in agribusiness.
All of these arouse a profound interest by government in the food microcosm

and confound prognostication in the food business.
B. FACTORS SHAPING FUTURE NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

1. The Influences
Predicting with certainty which new products will emerge as successes is impossible.
One can, nevertheless, certainly forecast those elements that will influence whatever
new products do successfully emerge. These elements are derived from the factors
listed above that confound prognosticators; they sort themselves into four broad areas:
• Social, cultural, religious, and ethical concerns of customers and consum-

ers, which are hard to overcome through education.
• Customer and consumer skepticism (perhaps even growing apathy) about
scientific and technological advances. Announcement of these advances
excite customers and consumers with the benefits they promise. At the
same time customers and consumers are frightened because of counter
opinions and fears expressed by equally prominent scientists, well-mean-
ing environmentalists opposed to the developments, and other groups with
some axe to grind.
• The lack of good communication between scientists in the food micro-
cosm and the general public. Scientists must learn to communicate con-
cisely and in an attention grabbing manner with the public. Their status
reports, position papers, and information briefs are too often wordy,
pedantic, and dull, appearing to have been written for other scientists and
certainly not for journalists working on a deadline for their newspapers,
radio newscasts, or television shows. Journalists want something eye
catching that will sell newspapers and advertising.
• The changing marketplaces in which customers and consumers shop.
Pervading each of these elements to a degree is government’s reaction to the

new developments and all the pressures on government (see, e.g., Figure 6.1).
a. Social, Cultural, Religious, and Ethical Concerns
The education of customers and consumers in North America was sparked by the
writings of Catherine Parr Traill (1855) describing good household practices; the
beginnings of consumer-oriented magazines such as Good Housekeeping Magazine,

which launched in 1885; the growth of associations such as women’s institutes; and
writings by, for example, the Womens Alliance of the First Church of Deerfield
(Anon., 1897). Perhaps indirectly these also spawned the growth of consumerism.
Today, the Internet plays an increasingly strong role in informing and educating,
for better or worse, customers and consumers. This tool has certainly let customers
and consumers comparison shop for the products they want and shop in a worldwide
variety of electronic food marketplaces without leaving their homes. Information
about food, nutrition, health, and cookery can be found on the Internet. However,
in searching for information, Web surfers often get well-meaning but unsubstantiated
and perhaps dangerous quackery. For a lay person to distinguish truths from half
truths from arrant mistruths is difficult.
The “greening” movement (distinct from the “green revolution” of the 1950s)
means many things to many people. Some issues involved are anti–free trade agree-
ment attitudes to third world nations and the resultant exploitation of cheap labor
in these countries (e.g., fair trade coffee), agricultural practices (actively pro organic
farming, anti factory farming and pro animal rights), and health issues (pure food,
water, and air; additive-, pesticide-, herbicide-free food). Generally, environmental
issues are lumped in with the greening movement; environmental issues are them-
selves a complex mixture of issues and emotions. It has even reached into the
processing industry (Mattson and Soneson, 2003). Greening becomes a mushy
confusion of issues to which, nevertheless, companies had better pay attention.
Perhaps associated with greening, there has developed a growing consumer
mistrust of bigness within the food microcosm, spawned by books such as Rachel
Carson’s Silent Spring and a consumer movement known as Naderism. This antip-
athy toward bigness, whether it be business, science, or government, has its unsettling
effects within the food microcosm.
b. Eating One’s Way to Health: Nutrition and Pharmafoods
Knowledge of the interrelationships between nutrition and disease has progressed
well beyond knowing, as in the 1930s, the need for vitamins in the diet lest scurvy
or rickets or night blindness develop. Today there is a growing awareness that the
foods people eat may play an important role in preventing the onset of certain
diseases (Taylor, 1980; Jenkins, 1980; Maugh, 1982; Ames, 1983; NCI, 1984;
USDHHS, 1984; USDHHS, 1985; Cohen, 1987; Berner et al., 1990). Diet may also
play a role in how people behave (Kolata, 1982; Wurtman, 1989; Barinaga, 1990;
Erickson, 1991).
Most nutrition information available to the general public comes from newspa-
pers, magazines, or the Internet. Very little information comes through recognized
educational sources. Most of the readily available information is not directly con-
cerned with healthy eating habits but is directed at disease avoidance: for example,
fiber and prevention of bowel disorders and cancer; soy protein–containing foods
as a preventive therapy against cancer; saturated fats and trans fatty acids and heart
disease, and so on.
The implications of disease-avoidance foods for governments are powerful
incentives to promote such foods in the diet. If medical expenses and hospital stays
can be cut, absenteeism from work reduced, and if people live healthy, more pro-
ductive lives, the reduced costs of health care and the increased productivity would
benefit the government. These benefits would surely come if consumers could be
encouraged to:
• Eat foods containing the prebiotics and probiotics able to prevent disease
• Eat consumer products enriched with these disease-preventing foods
• Dose themselves with supplements containing the responsible component
extracted from these beneficial foods
• Avoid certain foods considered to be bad for one and thereby reduce one’s
risk of developing certain diseases
The rush has been for consumers to self-medicate with herbal preparations with
purported disease-preventing properties and for consumer product manufacturers to
provide products enhanced with the responsible nutraceuticals. The onus is then on
governments to educate the public and at the same time to verify the efficacy, safety,
and purity of power bars, sports drinks, teas, beverages, and snacks fortified with
various nutraceuticals and other nonnutritive substances. Such foods and verifiable
knowledge about them must be available in addition to support policies to assure
their availability at prices customers can afford.
The result will be an even greater growth in the numbers of the elderly, with
the potential for a healthier, more productive lifestyle and a longer life if they eat
the “right” foods. This has implications for the work force, retirement policies,
pension plans, medical plans, the health care system, agricultural policies, food
policies, and companies wanting to capitalize on people’s health concerns. The key,
of course, is whether all the promises of the nutraceuticals are scientifically true, as
opposed to anecdotally true; scientists are finding much contrary evidence.
Current evidence clearly suggests that certain diets containing foods with these
nonnutritives added can reduce the risks of some diseases:
• Kritchevsky (1991) reviews the effect of garlic on cardiovascular disease

and discusses its hypolipidemic, hypotensive, anticoagulant, and fibrin-
olytic properties. This is certainly a good bet for an enterprising developer
to come up with a pharmafood.
• Mills and coworkers (1992) discuss work on the biochemical interactions
of peptides derived from the breakdown of foods and the possible influ-
ence these may have on food intolerances — work of immense value to
consumers with food allergies. Two possible spin-offs from this work are
the screening of foods for precursors causing intolerance and the possi-
bility for developers to remove such precursors from new foods.
• Bioactive peptides derived from milk proteins, e.g., opioid peptides,
immunopeptides, and mineral-binding peptides, are discussed by Meisel
and Schlimme (1990). These authors speculate on the role of these derived
dietary products as food hormones and “natural” drugs.
• Bifidobacteria have received prominence lately, and bifidus milk is on the
market as a treatment for various intestinal ailments. O’Sullivan et al.
(1992) review the subject of probiotic bacteria, describe some of the

products on the market, and suggest areas for further work. Hughes and
Hoover (1991) discuss bifidobacteria in dairy products and describe prod-
ucts already on the market shelves in various countries.
• Aphrodisiacs is the provocative title of an article by O’Donnell (1992),
who reports on the ability of certain foods to affect human reactions; that
is, they can act on sensory perception (cf. alcohol or hallucinogenic
mushrooms); they can irritate, or they can stimulate. These “mood foods”
offer opportunities for new products.
• The antioxidant hypothesis of cardiovascular disease, in which oxidized
cholesterol and not cholesterol is the risk factor, is reviewed by Duthie
(1991). According to this hypothesis, insufficient antioxidant intake to
prevent the oxidation of cholesterol and associated free radical activity is
the problem. This clearly suggests a tie-in with vitamins E and C, beta-
carotene, and selenium, all food nutrients.
The literature and concerns about the use of nutraceuticals are discussed in Chapter
10 of this volume and in Fuller (2001). As reliable data accumulate, the evidence
for these health benefits will mount and new food product development will be
influenced. People will demand these products. Certainly there should be a large
demand for the “deep-sea protein” food supplement made by a European company
and claimed to banish wrinkles (Cremers, 1993). Developers will want to produce
these products, and governments will have to provide the legislation and inspection
services to protect consumers with respect to the safety of the products and the truth
of the claims made for them.
The findings cited in the list above concerning nutraceuticals and the products
that could be made based on them, coupled with the promotional activities to support
them, would blur the fine line between responsible (“good for you”) and irresponsible
marketing claims (“increases life expectancy”). Most certainly the food industry can
expect, and is currently getting, government intervention in the form of advertising
guidelines. Those developing such products for export need to be cautious, as there
is not unanimity on safety issues, claims, or permitted dosage levels.
The abundance of propaganda for the use of foods for disease avoidance coupled
with reports of contrary evidence on the value of these foods has confused customers
and consumers alike. The confusion has spawned its own black humor, of which
the following e-mail message sent to me is evidence, with apologies to the national
groups mentioned:
“Here’s the final word on nutrition and health. It’s a relief to know the truth
after all those conflicting medical studies.
1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the
British or Americans.
2. The Mexicans do eat fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or
Americans.
3. The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than
the British or Americans.
4. The Italians and French do drink red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks
than the British or Americans.
5. The Germans drink beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer
heart attacks than the British or Americans.
CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what
kills you.”
Such satire shows that many within the general public have developed a skep-
ticism and cynicism toward health claims.
c. Marketplace Influences
The many elements that influence the various marketplaces and the customers and
consumers in them have been discussed in the foregoing chapters. A major point to
be made is this: the introduction of new products onto store shelves cannot be a
continuous and unchecked growth in numbers. There are physical limitations. To
introduce new products, there must be an attrition of older established products if
these do not satisfy the many new market niches that customers and consumers can
be subdivided into. Supermarkets cannot accommodate all the newly introduced prod-
ucts; consequently, old, established products that do not pay the retailer’s expected
return per running foot of shelf space must be culled, or developers must maintain
different versions of them that satisfy customers and consumers in these new niches.
A classic example might be instant coffee, which emerged as a liquid concentrate,
then a powder, then freeze dried, then with versions with and without caffeine, and
now has liqueur-flavored versions and has managed to stay on the shelves.
Without maintenance to satisfy new customers and consumers, old products
will die because the needs, that is, criteria, of the retailer have not been fulfilled.
Likewise new products will succeed if the retailer, the customer, and the consumer
are satisfied.
i. Marketplace Changes
Changes in the marketplace are legion. The warehouse outlet is climbing in popu-
larity as customers buy in bulk to control food costs. Whether such purchasing really
helps customers control costs or not is immaterial if customers believe it does. Which
products could be adapted (and how?) to a bulk market is something developers
must determine.
The field of communication is expanding at an enormous rate, in particular
interactive television. The impact of teleboutique shopping on the food retail mar-
ketplace and ultimately on the introduction of new food products is as yet unknown.
Developers with a heavy expenditure of television advertising monies can initiate a
demand among customers and consumers for new products that retailers may have
to stock. This is costly for developers.
These new communication vehicles present a problem for the introduction of
products to elusive market niches. How does one target an elusive population with
such a broad-based approach? Snow (1992) suggests that “instead of broadcasting
adverts to the old ‘admass’ the new buzz word is ‘narrowcasting.’” Marketers must
learn to find and target customer niches and blitz these niches with their highly
targeted promotions and advertising. How this is to be done on the Internet, for
example, is anyone’s guess.
Conceptually, the supermarket is changing. It is still a marketplace all under one
roof, but now various departments may be privately owned or leased to specialist
tradespeople, that is, the meat department is owned and operated by a professional
butcher, the in-store bakery run by bakers, the fruits and vegetables might be run
by a knowledgeable greengrocer who cares about the produce. There is profession-
alism. One no longer stands bewildered, desperately seeking help from a teenager
stocking shelves. In the new supermarket there are staff knowledgeable about the
breads they sell, the sausages they make, the coffees they are roasting, and the tea
blends available; demonstrations provide customers and consumers an opportunity
to taste products. The whole effect is to produce a carnival-like atmosphere typical
of a marketplace where people can eat, meet, socialize, and shop. This is the
environment within which developers must fit their product introductions.
d. The Impact of Legislation and Other Government
Intervention
Government intervention will become an increasing burden on the food industry and
especially on food companies heavily committed to new product and new process
development. This will be felt in areas as diverse as:
• Patent protection for genetically altered foods

• Toxicological testing of new ingredients and foods derived through bio-
technology and submission of safety data to regulatory authorities for
these and other new products such as degradable and edible films
• Development of a nomenclature for biotechnologically derived products
• Labeling regulations and guidelines to define or clarify such concepts as
natural, nature-identical, organic, or minimally processed
• Advertising claims for the new ingredients and products with health benefits
In a good example of the latter, the consumer protection department of the French
government has recently cracked down on special diet foods for athletes that contain
large amounts of carnitine and for which claims are made that carnitine increases
the amount of energy to cells, enhances athletic performance, and reduces the amount
of fat in cells (Patel, 1993).
Concern for the safety of products derived from biotechnology will be particu-
larly suspect when the microorganisms used in their production are hazardous.
Political and economic factors will influence the growth of new food product
development. The awareness of the influence of food and nutrition on human behav-
ior and disease will force governments to adopt agricultural and food policies that
promote healthy food production and reduce the risk of nutritionally related diseases.
An attempt by the National Cancer Institute of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services (1984) to publish a guide to healthy food choices to reduce the risk
of cancer caused a furor from vested interest groups, mainly meat producers but
also some vegetable growers.
There are new trade patterns emerging that will have an impact on new food
product development. If nothing else, the new markets that these agreements will
create will usher in new competitors with new products to flood new niches in the
various markets. There will be new customers and consumers to market products
to. The impact on the movement of raw materials as well as added-value consumer
goods will be immense, not only within the established zones but also between the
new trading blocs.
However, new economic alliances and free trade zones also bring their own
forms of protectionism and they will most certainly introduce more food legislation.
Agricultural groups in dominant powers within free trade alliances often find ways
to protect their farmers, while farmers in minor powers find markets closed to them.
Vulnerable elements within the agricultural and food manufacturing systems will
always clamor for protection, and governments will have to pay them some lip
service, perhaps with the application of nontariff trade barriers as impediments to
the free flow of products. Free trade zones do open up new markets and present new
opportunities for new products and give new life to old established ones. Agricultural
marketing and farm board subsidization policies will undergo upheavals. Despite
the removal of trade barriers, there will still be impediments to trade that politics
must treat.
There will eventually be a global marketplace; few people would argue with
this. A global marketplace does not mean global food customs and traditions or a
global economy. Food products will have to be styled to satisfy all traditions, habits,
tastes, and customs within this world marketplace. The successful food developer
will adapt products, their shapes, textures, flavors, and colors to the needs and
expectations of consumers in the geographical marketplace the developer wants to
penetrate. The truly innovative developer will know that in established markets, taste
and flavor preferences of consumers are being challenged by the greater varieties of
ethnic foods available.
No single product will be universally successful in all the marketplaces and
market niches of the global community. Even the ubiquitous fast food chains realize
this and cater to local tastes in the many countries they have penetrated. The success
of any product in any given marketplace will always be limited by the social and
political upheavals that plague the world, either in cataclysmic fashion or in more
subtle fashion as styles and eating habits change as populations shift.
e. Economic Facts of Life

If companies are to survive and grow, the sciences and technologies upon which the
development process is based will have to improve. Companies cannot afford to
waste money on new product development if those products prove unsuccessful; the
odds of success are poor. The success ratio must improve with better screening,
forecasting, and consumer research; the management of creativity must be improved.
The costs of development are enormous and will have to be reduced. Even
something as basic as the application of statistically based experimental designs in
testing, such as rotatable designs (Mullen and Ennis, 1979a,b) would reduce work,
reduce the number (and costs) of experimental trials, and assist in the interpretation
of data. There are innumerable statistical software packages available to perform

this design task.
In short, companies have to get smarter about carrying out product development.
Criteria for the success of new products may have to be revised:
• How valid is measuring success by how much market share was obtained
or taken from a competitor?
• Would establishment of a growable market niche of a group of faithful
customers and consumers be an acceptable alternative?
• Could the company accept a longer time frame within which to recover
their development and promotion costs?
These are management decisions, and if management sets its sights only on
short-term gains, then new product development may have to remain a crapshoot
for this ilk of management.
C. NEW FOOD PRODUCTS OF THE FUTURE

What the new food products of the future will be is anybody’s guess. There are far
too many unpredictable factors for any company to make predictions. Equally certain
is that new products drive profitability. The pushes and pulls within the food micro-
cosm continue and will continue to make new food product development a very
risky, but very necessary, business.
New products of the future can perhaps be characterized, without specifying
their exact nature or how successful they will be:
• There will continue to be food products nutritionally designed to satisfy

some dietary or health or lifestyle goal of consumers. However, consumers
will want flavor and convenience, too.
• Foods will be minimally processed, and their final preparation for con-
sumption will be simpler and easier. To do this requires an enormous
amount of technology, and developers will be challenged to design stabi-
lizing systems for such foods.
• Grazing, that is, several eating opportunities per day, will become more
common. For such grazing, finger foods (snack foods) will become more
nutritious and attain a degree of acceptance and sophistication that will
blur the distinction between fine dining and “grabbing a bite.”
• More ethnic foods will become an accepted part of the North American
diet, much as Italian and Chinese cuisine have become adopted by and
adapted to North American taste. Throughout the global marketplace, the
variability and diversity of food will make consumers more adventuresome.
• Vegetarian main courses (not necessarily vegetarianism) will find wider
acceptance. This will be spurred partly through the growth of ethnic foods
and partly for health, religious, and social reasons. Vegetarianism will also
become more pervasive as a food tradition.
• Organically grown foods, and minimally processed added-value foods

based on organic foods, will grow in popularity. Consumers of organic
food, presently a minority of consumers, will grow but probably remain
a minor segment of the consuming public.
• More meals and finger foods will be eaten away from the home as more
leisure time becomes available as the work week decreases in hours and
retirement ages continue to fall. Consequently, the food service industry
will experience rapid growth if it develops new foods to satisfy the
increased demand for meals away from home. Better attention to health
concerns because of the backlash of the problems associated with obesity
will direct development in the food service industry. The impact of work-
ing at home on this is as yet unknown; work-at-homers appear to work
ever longer hours and may require home-delivered meals.
• More fragmentation of markets will be found and more characterization
of customers and consumers into new recognizable niches will occur. New
products will have to be found to fill these niches. Companies will have
to be satisfied with smaller markets and longer payback periods.
The marketplace of the future will change and will inevitably require a change
in food products. Supermarkets are meeting the challenge of the fast food chains by
opening deli counters where customers can purchase prepared lunches, dinners, and
even breakfasts. Street vendors with their pushcart finger foods provide a direct
challenge to the fast food chains and stand-alone restaurants, each of which are
saddled with high real estate costs. Another innovation has been introduced by the
station restaurant in Westport, CT, for commuters. Commuters can place their dinner
orders with the restaurant in the morning and pick the meal up on their way home
at night.
Opportunities for new food products have been opened up by a consumer revolt
against bigness (perhaps a sameness of taste, lack of a uniqueness of taste), the
growing sophistication of consumers’ food tastes, and the more cosmopolitan nature
of consumers. Traditional markets have been fragmented and there is more oppor-
tunity for niche marketing — placing new products in markets that are either too
small for large companies to fill or that provide margins that are too unprofitable
for them to be concerned with. Within these niches are very profitable markets for
the right products.
A prime example of niche marketing can be seen in the brewing industry. For
years bigness was in style and there was a limited number of beers available. Then
small, local breweries started up. These microbreweries, as they are called in Canada,
or craft breweries as they are called in the U.S., kept away from the so-called popular
beer tastes and concentrated more on traditional beers. They have become a huge
success and have caused some fragmentation of the beer market by targeting beer
lovers rather than beer drinkers. The result has been a takeover or attempted takeover
of this market by the big breweries buying microbreweries.
A similar fragmentation has occurred in other markets. Flavored beers, low-
alcohol or alcohol-free beers, alcohol-free wines, wine coolers, carbonated and still
fruit drinks, and flavored natural waters have all snatched part of a market away
from established beverage products and created niches that have matured or are
maturing into very profitable markets. Snow (1992) considers this move to niche
marketing a result of marketing people’s uncertainties regarding consumers and
consumers’ fragmentation of the retail marketplace. In short, the consumers’ vola-
tility has fostered new marketing opportunities that marketers have not quite come
to terms with.
In many instances, these new niche products are easier and cheaper to develop
and introduce into specialty markets. The developer stands a better chance of getting
a return on investment if financial expectations are moderated.
1. On the Future
The statistics presented by Friedman (1990) and Kantor (1991) show that new food
product introductions have been increasing year after year for nearly 30 years, and
during the latter half of the 1980s the increase in introductions was meteoric (see
Chapter 1). If one had extrapolated the data in the mid-1990s to determine the trend,
one could have anticipated something approaching 30,000 new products by 2000. I
stated “A simple extrapolation is not justified” and proceeded to explain why (Fuller,
1994). One obvious reason was that data at that time, if extrapolated, indicated a
phenomenal 25,000 to 30,000 new products each year, which retailers simply could
not handle. Data presented in Figure 1.5 suggests that there has been a slackening
of the rate of introductions. Indeed, since 1976 declines in new product introductions
have outnumbered increases.
The numbers are not of any concern. What does concern companies is what the
new products of the future will be. Any attempt to precisely predict the nature of
new products in the future is doomed to failure because these predictions depend on:
• The next enactment of food legislation that restricts the use of a food
ingredient for whatever reason. For example, Broihier (1999) highlighted
beverage products containing functional foods, among which were prod-
ucts containing kava kava; later there was the announcement in newspa-
pers (Branswell, 2002) and on Health Canada’s Web site (Health Canada,
2002) indicating kava kava could cause liver damage. Still later (2003)
came the announcement that Canada had put a stop sale order on all
products containing kava kava.
• The next scientific or technological breakthrough that alters processing
technology or uncovers, for example, new nutritional knowledge. These
breakthroughs cause a stampede of new products employing that know-
ledge or technology, but one is cautioned to remember irradiation and the
resistance its introduction encountered.
• The next ecological or environmental finding regarding damage to the
environment by a food process or agricultural practice.
These are all unknowns, and combined with customers and consumers who are fickle
and quixotic and whose activities require careful observation and study, they under-
score the pitfalls of development.
About 40 years ago I wrote a paper about what humankind’s foods might be in
the year 2000. It fell laughably short of meeting any of the actual events that did
occur by 2000. It failed for all the reasons expounded in this chapter. The technol-
ogies were all there; all my predictions were possible, but those that have come to
pass have only met with modest economic success.
What went wrong? The major factor in all new food product development, and
in the basic and applied research that leads up to their development, is the ever-
changing profile of the customer, the consumer, and the new marketplaces. My pre-
dictions overlooked the needs of customers and consumers and the reality of the sellers
in the new marketplaces: I satisfied only my needs as a technologist. Food manufac-
turers must satisfy the needs of real people in highly competitive marketplaces.
The predictions in this chapter were made by technocrats or those applying
scientific method to their research and thus they satisfied the needs of technocrats,
not the needs of those they were to serve. They said, “Look what we can do.” The
developers, including the researchers at their laboratory benches working at the so-
called cutting edge of science, must realize that for successful new product devel-
opment, they must satisfy consumers’ needs. Sticking one’s thumb into a Christmas
pie of esoteric research, pulling out some technical plum and saying, “What a good
boy am I” will not satisfy tomorrow’s customers and consumers. The application of
technology per se to create new products will not be any guarantee of product success
in the marketplace. Customers and consumers will not beat a path to products simply
because they are technological marvels. They will beat a path, however, to products
that satisfy their hidden needs and desires.
III. WHAT I HAVE LEARNED SO FAR

What I have learned so far:
• All growth is limited. Management cannot expect growth of their present

product mix to continue upward forever; one need only compare the life
cycles of food products. Eventually one has to stop and go in a different
direction, finding something new; for example, instant coffees, beers, and
wines have been changed several times over to become new liqueur-
flavored coffees, more flavorful beers put out by microbreweries, and wine
coolers, ice wines, and fruit wines. These were abrupt changes in thinking.
Science, and to a degree human progress, does not proceed in an orderly
fashion building on preceding events. They progress by abrupt breaks with
previous dogmas and move in new directions. Senior strategists within
the food microcosm must themselves be innovative and flexible in their
development of strategy and constantly searching for new ways that are
not more of the same old ways to ensure survival in the business world.
• New product development is still an art. It probably will never be more
than what is referred to as a soft science. Like all practitioners of the arts,
product developers must learn the tools of their trade, must learn well the
skills that are required in product development, and be skilled in their
application. Just as the painter must learn the properties of paper, canvas,
and coloring materials; know how to mix paints; master perspective; study
human anatomy; even know how to use a brush for effect; so too must
product developers fully know and understand their tools before they can
even begin to have any success at product development.
• The skills reflected in the soft and hard sciences of product development
must be learned well and used dispassionately. Every available avenue
must be used to gain knowledge of the customer, the consumer, the
competition, and the retailer and the retailing environment. New product
development is no place for gut feel for projects. Bad projects should be
cut quickly.
• Trends should be observed closely and cautiously lest they be short-lived
fads. Following fads is costly and consumes time. Developers need to
think ahead toward what the trends suggest is happening to the customer
and consumer in the longer term.
• Greed for short-term profits is dangerous in new product development.
Management must be patient in developing markets and educating cus-
tomers about the value of their products. Time criteria for judging a
successful introduction must be reasonable.
The final words shall be left to Sir Isaac Newton, who wrote in Mathematical
Principles of Natural Philosophy:
Errors are not in the art but in the artificers.

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Index
A Central location test, 189–190
Centralization, 89
Abuse tests, See Use/abuse tests Cheese, 149
Accelerated tests, for shelf life testing, 199–201 Chef-technologists, 281
Added value, 9–10 Children, for sensory testing, 193–194
Advertising, 227–228 Chilled foods, 153
Advocacy groups, 177 Chlorofluorohydrocarbons, 331
Agitating retorts, 137–138 Chrononutrition, 48
Allergic reactions, 269–270 Closed politics, 71
Amateur consultants, 245–246 Clostridium botulinum, 205
American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 335 Codex Alimentarius Commission, 24, 217
Anthocyanidins, 313 Collective learning, 254
Anthocyanins, 313 Collective memory, 61
Antimicrobial agents, 312–313 Colorants, 313–314
Antioxidants, 308, 310–312, 345 Committee politics, 72
Applied research, 80 Communication
Aquaculture, 338 description of, 82
Arrhenius equation, 206 innovations constrained by problems in,
Atmosphere packaging 89–91
controlled and modified, 7–8, 143–144, 151 new product development influenced by,
Attribute analysis, 57 346–347
Company
defining of, 94
B identity of, 97–98
new product development team in, 83–84
Bacteriocins, 312–313
new product ideas generated by, 57–58
Basic research, 80–81
sales force of, 58
Benchmarking, 62, 103
slotting fees paid by, 106–107
Betalains, 314
Company objectives
Bifidobacteria, 344–345
ambitions associated with, 99
Bioactive peptides, 344
financial criteria and, 107
Biobased materials, 8, 22
for new product development, 27–28
Biotechnology, 330–332
product development shaped by, 98–99
Bovine somatotropin, 330
shaping of, 97–103
Brand, 192
Competitive intelligence, 99–102
Brand extensions, 5
Competitors
Branding, 192
copycat products, 69
Buying habits, 21–22
description of, 22
new product ideas from, 61–62
C test markets affected by, 230–231
Complaints, 59–60
Carotene, 308 Computers
Carotenoids, 313 graphics capabilities of, 166–167
Catering, 278–279 number crunching using, 164–166
Cellulose, 302 research and development use of, 164
Cellulose powder, 303 sensory data analysis using, 164–165
Census data, 37–39 uses of, 163–164
377
Consultants shopping habits of, 120

advantages and disadvantages of, 255–257 skepticism by, 342
amateur, 245–246 telephone contact with, 59
classification of, 245–248 test market targeting of, 224–225
communication with, 257–259 trends in, 340–341
considerations in working with, 253–255 vegetarian, 41–42
convenience wanted by, 329 waste by, 282–283
description of, 244 Consumer associations, 176–177
exposure of business plans to, 253–254 Consumer–manufacturer interface, 230
how to find, 250–253 Consumer–manufacturer–seller arena, 230
interview with, 250–251 Consumer research companies, 193
monitoring of, 257 Contamination, 212
networking of, 250 Continuous flow plate heat exchangers, 137
obligations of, 255 Controlled atmosphere and modified atmosphere
professional, 245–246 packaging, 7–8, 143–144, 151
reasons for using, 249–250 Cookbooks, 321
resource utilization benefits, 256 Cooking, 48
selection of, 250–253 Copackers, 160–161
self-interest of, 256 Copycat products, 69, 226
services provided by, 248–249 Costs
Consulting direct, 214
foreign universities involved in, 246, 248 indirect, 213–214
outsourcing and, 243 irradiation, 146–147
university-affiliated organizations, 245–247 new product development
Consumer(s), See also Customer(s) description of, 104–106
buying habits of, 21–22 overview of, 109
categorizing of, 115–116 plant trials, 105–106
complaints by, 59–60 probability index, 110
customers vs., 10–11, 285 revenues compared with, 108–110
data sources regarding slotting fees, 106–107
census, 37–39 Court politics, 73
Delphi forecasting method, 54 Creative products, 3–4, 9
demographic, 40 Creativity
description of, 39–40 atmosphere of, 77
polling, 48–52 definition of, 79–80
population statistics, 39–40 description of, 67–68
surveys, See Surveys elements of, 78–79
diversity of, 21 environment for, 76–80
elusive populations of, 54–55 management support of, 76, 78
ethical demands of, 45 Cultural diversity, 38
food habits of, 48–50 Customer(s), See also Consumer(s)
food ingredient industry, 291–292 buying habits of, 21–22
food service industry, 263–264 complaints by, 59–60
government protections for, 26 consumers vs., 10–11, 285
lifestyles of, 48 data sources regarding
mistrust by, 47–48 census data, 37–39
needs of, 28, 36–37, 58–59, 322 Delphi forecasting method, 54
new product ideas from, 37–55, 58–59 demographic, 40
obesity among, 42–43 description of, 39–40
observation of, 329 polling, 48–52
organic foods, 46–48 population statistics, 39–40
perceived needs of, 28, 36–37 surveys, See Surveys
profiling of, 120–121 diversity of, 21
reactions and responses of, 332, 339–340 elusive populations of, 54–55
Index 379
food habits of, 48–50 general activities of, 156–157

food ingredient industry in-process specifications by, 159
description of, 285–286, 289 process design by, 157
research regarding, 289–291 scale-up by, 157–159
food service industry, 263–264 Enriched foods, 315–316
as gatekeepers, 11 Environment
lifestyles of, 48 concern for, 44
needs of, 28, 36–37, 58–59, 322 for creativity, 76–80
new product ideas from, 37–55, 58–59 Environmental standards, 183
obesity among, 42–43 Environmentally responsible foods, 43–48
observation of, 329 Ethically responsible foods, 43–48
organic foods, 46–48 Ethics, 45
perceived needs of, 28, 36–37 Ethnic foods, 349
profiling of, 120–121 Etrusion processing technology, 34
skepticism by, 342 Exhibits, 62–63
telephone contact with, 59 Existing products
vegetarian, 41–42 new form of, 3–6
Customer–consumer interface, 230 reformulation of, 3–4, 6
Customer–consumer–manufacturer relationship, repackaging of, 3–4, 6–8
230 repositioned, 3–5
Customer–consumer–seller interface, 230 Experimental design, 165–166
Expert knowledge, 65
Expert panels, 178, 190–191
D
Delphi forecasting method, 54 F
Demographic data, 40
Desalination, 334 Factory farming, 332–333
Descriptive flavor analysts, 188 Failure
Design description of, 18–19, 109–110
assurance policy for, 209 elements involved in, 234, 327
cooperation and communication in, 208–209 marketing’s influence on, 234–235, 238
costs of, 213–215 reasons for
energy conservation considerations, 277 description of, 235–236
hazard analysis critical control point program, external, 237–238
185–186, 197, 210, 215–216 internal, 238–239
program for, 208 product-related, 237
requirements for, 209 technical, 238–239
safety concerns, 210–213 research regarding, 233
Dietary fiber, 302–303 Farmers’ market, 11–12
Direct costs, 214 Farming
Discovery, defined, 79 factory, 332–333
Disease, 343–346 future of, 335–336
Distribution department, 162–163 organic, 333
Distributors, 55–57 Fast foods, 271, 278
Drying of food, 142 Fat ingredients, 297–300
Fat replacements, 298, 300
Fermentation, 313
E Fiber ingredients, 302–304
Finance department
Efficient consumer response, 325–326 duties of, 103–104
Elderly, 271 new product development role of,
Elusive populations, 54–55 103–104
Engineering department Finger foods, 350
description of, 156 Fluidity, 82–83
Focus groups ingredients

food ingredient industry, 289 antimicrobial agents, 312–313
market research information from, 116–118 antioxidants, 310–312
sensory testing using, 189–190 bacteriocins, 312–313
Food challenges associated with, 296–297
allergic reactions to, 269–270 colorants, 313–314
antioxidant, 310–312 customer evaluation of, 295
chilled, 153 description of, 216
contamination of, 212 development of, 292–295
deterioration of, 195–196, 207 fats, 297–300
drying of, 142 fiber, 302–304
enriched, 315–316 financial considerations, 293
environmentally responsible, 43–48 future of, 295–296
ethically responsible, 43–48 legislation effects on, 351
future production of, 335–336 marketing’s impact on, 297–305
highly perishable, 129 naturalness, 296
highly stable, 129 nutraceuticals, 305–306, 317–318
instability of, 196 nutritional considerations, 305–310
intermediate moisture, 141, 150 phytochemicals, 272, 308–309, 316
minimally processed, 134–135 prebiotics, 306–309
naturalness of, 134–135 probiotics, 306–309
new products, 349–351 proliferation of, 288–289
organic, 45–48, 350 protein, 304–305
prepared, 328–329 screening of, 293–295
religiously responsible, 43–48 sugars, 300–302
semiconserved, 212–213 test market of, 294–295
semiperishable, 129 legislation that affects, 292
shelf life of, 131–132 organizations associated with, 289
socially responsible, 43–48 summary of, 316–318
storage of, 196 technology used in, 287
storage temperature for, 131 Food microcosm
thermal processing of, 137–138 description of, 322–323
water relationships in, 142 distrust in, 343
Food conferences, 62–63 in future times, 324–326
Food containers in past times, 323–324
description of, 44 in recent times, 324
thin-profile, 137–138 Food neophobes, 45
Food development, See also New product Food poisoning, 269
development Food service industry
government influences on, 174–175 consumers in, 263–264
legislation that affects, 175–176 customers in, 263–264
Food diary, 48–49 description of, 261
Food habits, 48–50 food ingredient industry and, comparisons
Food ingredient industry, See also Ingredients between, 286–287, 290
characteristics of, 285–289 new product development for
consumer research, 291–292 consumers, 278–279
customers of customers, 278–279
description of, 285–286, 289 description of, 280–282
partnerships, 290–291 energy requirements, 276–277
research regarding, 289–291 labor requirements, 277–278
enriched foods, 315–316 nutrition, 279
food service industry and, comparisons overview of, 276
between, 286–287, 290 physical facilities, 275–276
foreign market constraints, 293–294 test market, 282–283
government involvement in, 287 waste handling, 278
Index 381
Food service marketplaces Gas packaging, 143, 212

characteristics of, 264–275 Gatekeepers, 11
clientele of, 265 Geopolitical groups, 177–178
commercial Ginkgo biloba, 317
characteristics of, 265 Ginseng, 317
description of, 262–263 Goal-directed research, 81
health care sector, 273–274 Government
labor in, 267–268 description of, 174
description of, 261–263 experts used by, 178
food preparation facilities, 266–267 food ingredient industry regulation by, 287
food storage facilities, 266–267 food legislation, 23–24
health care sector, 273–274 legislation produced by, 179–180
labor in, 267–268 new product development influenced by,
military, 263, 274–275 23–26, 174–175, 341–342, 347–348
noncommercial product safety by, 26
characteristics of, 265 Graphics, 166–167
description of, 263 Grazing, 48, 349
food preparation and storage facilities in, “Greening” movement, 343
266–267 Gripe sites, 60
labor in, 267–268 Guesstimating, 168–170
nutrition Gums, 299
description of, 270–271
for elderly, 271
standards for, 271–273 H
price considerations, 268–269
quality in, 269, 279–280 Hazard analysis critical control point, 185–186,
safety in, 269, 280 197, 210, 215–216
types of, 262 Health care food service markets, 273–274
waste in, 282–283 Heating
Food stabilization microwave, 139
controlled atmosphere and modified ohmic, 138–139
atmosphere packaging for, 7–8, Herbal products, 272–273, 315, 317, 344
143–144, 151 Hierarchical politics, 72–73, 75
high pressure used for, 139–141 High pressure, for food stabilization, 139–141
hurdle technology, 148–152 Highly perishable foods, 129
intense light pulses for, 155 Highly stable foods, 129
irradiation for, See Irradiation Home recipes, 126–128
low-pressure, 152–154 Hurdle technology
microwave heating for, 139 applications of, 148–149
ohmic heating for, 138–139 cautions associated with, 150–152
oscillating magnetic fields for, 155 microbial load’s effect on, 152
pulsed electric fields for, 155 principles of, 149–150
techniques for, 133, 135–137 spoilage concerns, 150–151
thermal processing for, 137–138
water control for, 141–143
Foreign markets, 113
I
Fraud, 179–180 Ideas, See New product ideas
Free trade zones, 348 Immigration, 38
Freezing, 136, 334 Indirect costs, 213–214
Frozen foods, 200 Ingredients
Functional foods, 305–306 antimicrobial agents, 312–313
antioxidants, 310–312
G bacteriocins, 312–313
challenges associated with, 296–297
GAP analysis, 56–57 colorants, 313–314
customer evaluation of, 295 Invention, defined, 79

description of, 216 Irradiation
development of, 292–295 advantages of, 145
fats, 297–300 controversy regarding, 145–146
fiber, 302–304 costs of, 146–147
financial considerations, 293 description of, 144–145, 332
future of, 295–296 dose dependency of, 144
legislation effects on, 351 facilities for, 146–147
marketing’s impact on, 297–305 technological challenges associated with,
naturalness, 296 147–148
nutraceuticals, 305–306, 317–318 uses of, 145
nutritional considerations, 305–310 Vibrio cholerae eradication by, 147–148
phytochemicals, 272, 308–309, 316 ISO, See International Standards Organization
prebiotics, 306–309 ISO 9000, 217
probiotics, 306–309 ISO 9002, 217
proliferation of, 288–289 ISO 9004, 217
protein, 304–305 Isoflavones, 308
screening of, 293–295
sugars, 300–302
sweeteners, 300–302 J
test market of, 294–295
Joint ventures, 244–245
In-home test, 189–190
Jojoba oil, 299
Innovation
Just in time delivery systems, 325
constraints to, 88–92
corporate entity effects on, 88–89
definition of, 79–80 K
description of, 3–4, 8–9
management and, 76 Kinetic models, 205–207
management’s effect on, 88–89, 92
prerequisites for success of, 34
Insects, 338 L
Institute for Scientific Information, 64
Institute of Food Technologists, 47, 101 Labeling regulations, 182
Intelligence gathering, 99–102 Labor, in food service marketplaces
Intense light pulses, for food stabilization, 155 description of, 267–268
Interest-for-interest’s-sake research, 80–81 new product development considerations,
Intermediate moisture foods, 141, 150 277–278
International standards, 216–217 Lawyers, 181
International Standards Organization, 24, 217 Leaf culture techniques, 330
Internet, 343 Legal department
Interviews environmental standards reviewed by, 183
data obtained from, 52 lawyers, 181
structured, 51 marketing department and, 182
for surveys, 50–51 overview of, 173–174
unstructured, 51 product development role of, 181
Introduction of new products Legislation
advertising associated with, 227–228 food ingredient industry, 292
customer reaction to, 232 fraud protection, 179–180
description of, 224–226 hazards addressed by, 180
evaluative criteria for, 231–233 industries affected by, 175–176
facts regarding, 235–236 new product development influenced by,
failure of, See Failure 341–342, 347–348
how to introduce, 227–228 purpose of, 23–24
promotions associated with, 227–228 for quality, 181–182
seasonal considerations, 225–226 for safety, 181–182
Index 383
Libraries legislation that affects, 176

databases at, 63–64 niche, 350
new product ideas from, 63–66 personnel in, 85, 121–122, 167, 224, 327
public, 63 skills in, 122
specialized, 63–66 war room, 100, 119–121
technical, 65–66 Marketing boards, 176–177
Line extensions, 3–5, 222 Marketing department
Linear programming, 166 description of, 121–122
Literature legal department and, 182
early, 320–322 skills of, 122
trade, 66–67 Marketing plan, 111
Long-chain fatty acid triglycerides, 299 Marketplaces
Low-pressure stabilization of foods, 152–154 analysis of, 56–57
Lycopene, 308 artisan-based, 36
characteristics of, 11–12
classification of, 36
M competition in, 22
convenience store, 36
Mail surveys, 52–54 dynamism in, 229–231
Management, See also Senior management electronic and postal services, 36
innovations constrained by, 88–89, 92 food service, See Food service marketplaces
involvement by, 95–97 foreign, 113
linear programming use by, 166 global, 348
new product development role of, 94–103 grocery store, 36
organization and, 76 industrial arena, 36
Management transfer, 90–91 new product development affected by,
Managers 346–347
creativity promoted by, 78 new product ideas from, 35–37
description of, 75 technology influences on, 23
Manufacturer–seller–customer arena, 230 Meal patterns, 50
Manufacturing, 179 Meat
Manufacturing plant consumption patterns for, 337
concerns regarding, 160 cryoprotectants for, 142
copack partnerships, 160–161 irradiation of, 147
labor considerations, 160 Medium-chain triglycerides, 299
Market Microbial spoilage, 132–134, 207
definition of, 11 Microbiology, 207
domination of, 237 Microbreweries, 350
farmers’, 11–12 Micromanagers, 95
Market research information Microorganisms
consumer classification using, 114–116 description of, 211–212
description of, 112–114, 322 manufactured types of, 331
focus groups for, 116–118 Microwave heating, 139
neuromarketing, 119 Military food service, 263, 274–275
qualitative, 116–119 Minimally processed foods, 134–135
quantitative, 116–119 Moisture
Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique, control of, 142
118–119 intermediate moisture foods, 141, 150
Market tests, 219–220
Marketing
characteristics, 12–16 N
description of, 110–111
failure of product caused by, 234–235, 238 National Center for Health Statistics, 42–43
functions of, 111–112 Naturalness, 134–135
head of, 93 Neuromarketing, 119
New product(s) description of, 280–282

added value of, 9–10 energy requirements, 276–277
advantages and disadvantages of, 1 labor requirements, 277–278
branding of, 192–193 nutrition, 279
characteristics of, 2–4, 191 overview of, 276
creative products as, 3–4, 9 physical facilities, 275–276
decline in, 18 test market, 282–283
definition of, 2 waste handling, 278
description of, 1 hurdle technology for, 148–152
design of, See Product design incentives for, 25
development of, See New product influences on
development communication technologies, 346–347
existing products description of, 342–343
new form of, 3–6 economics, 348–349
reformulation of, 3–4, 6 government, 23–26, 341–342, 347–348
repackaging of, 3–4, 6–8 legislation, 347–348
repositioned, 3–5 marketplace, 346–347
failure of, See Failure social, 342–343
future of, 351–352 legal department’s role in, 181
innovative products as, 3–4, 8–9 managers of, 75
introduction of, See Introduction of new marketplace reasons for, 21–22
products organizing for
life cycles of, 14–16 overview of, 73–74
line extensions, 3–5 purpose of, 74–75
marketing characteristics of, 12–16 structure involved in, 74
name of, 182 outsourcing of, See Outsourcing
pricing of, 162 phases in, 26–31
probability index for, 110 political influences, 341–342
profits of, 16 predicting of, 338–339
revenues from, 108–110 quality in, 213
seasonality of, 225–226 reasons for, 19–26
sensory testing of, See Sensory testing screening and, 30–31
statistics regarding, 16, 18 senior management’s role in, 94–103
types of, 349–351 stages of, 26
New product development, See also Food summary of, 352–353
development team for, 83–84, 329
barriers to predicting, 338–339 technical feasibility of, 167–170
company objectives for, 27–28, 98–99 technological pressures that force, 22–23
consumer responses to, 339–341 time requirements, 113–114
corporate reasons for, 20–21 New product ideas
costs of, 105, 109, 348–349 creativity of, 67–68
description of, 16–19, 319–320 criteria for, 34, 84–88
expenses associated with, 20–21 examples of, 33
finance department’s role in, 103–104 guidelines for, 33–34
financial costs of screening of, 84–88
description of, 104–106 sources of
overview of, 109 competitors, 61–62
plant trials, 105–106 consumers, 37–55, 58–59
probability index, 110 customers, 37–55, 58–59
revenues compared with, 108–110 description of, 68–69
slotting fees, 106–107 distributor, 55–57
food service industry-related considerations exhibits, 62–63
for external environment, 61–67
consumers, 278–279 food conferences, 62–63
customers, 278–279 food habits, 48
Index 385
government publications, 67–68 purpose of, 74–75

in-house product and process research and types of, 71–73
development, 60–61 Organizational charts, 74
internally generated from company, 57–58 Organoleptic tests, 186
libraries, 63–66 g-Oryzanol, 308
lifestyles, 48 Oscillating magnetic fields, for food stabilization,
marketplaces, 35–37 155
overview of, 33–35 Outsourcing
public libraries, 63 advantages and disadvantages of, 242–243,
research symposia, 62–63 256
seller/retailer, 55–57 consultants, See Consultants
trade literature, 66–67 consulting and, 243
trade shows, 62–63 definition of, 242
Niche marketing, 350 need for, 249–250
NIH syndrome, 90 prevalence of, 242
No-name brands, 2
Nongovernmental organizations, 176–177
Nonnutritives, 344–345 P
Novel Foods Regulation, 24
Novel ingredients, 287 Packaging
Nutraceuticals, 272–273, 305–306, 317–318, 337, advances in, 22
345 controlled atmosphere and modified
Nutrition atmosphere, 7–8, 143–144, 151
advances in, 23 customer complaints about, 59
customer focus on, 49 degradable materials used for, 45
disease and, 343–346 gas-based, 143
for elderly, 271 legislation that affects, 175–176
future of, 314–315 new, 5–7
new product development considerations, 279 pollution caused by, 44
nutraceuticals, 305–306, 317–318, 337 regulations for, 182
prebiotics, 306–309 vacuum, 150
probiotics, 306–309 Panelists, for sensory testing, 188–191
standards for, 271–273 Partnering, 244
Pemmican, 148
Per capita consumption, 39
O Personnel
innovations constrained by problems in,
Obesity, 42–43 91–92
Objective sensory testing, 188–189 marketing, 85
Ohmic heating, 138–139 research and development, 82, 86
Omega-3 fatty acids, 308 Phytochemicals, 272, 308–309, 316
Organic farming, 333 Plant trials, 105–106
Organic foods, 45–48, 350 Polls
Organization(s) analysis of, 51
committee politics, 72 customer information obtained from, 48–52
communication in, 82 Pollution, 44
court politics, 73 Prebiotics, 306–309
creativity, 76–80 Preference testing, 189–190
description of, 71 Prepared foods, 328–329
fluidity within, 82–83 Pricing, 162
hierarchical politics, 72–73, 75 Primary producers, 324
management and, 76 Proactive product development, 291
managers in, 75 Probabilistic models, 205
multinational nature of, 92 Probability index, 110
product development organizing in, 73–79 Probiotics, 306–310
Procrustes analysis, 165 distribution and handling of, 154

Produce, organically grown, 47 Religiously responsible foods, 43–48
Product complaints, 59–60 Repackaging of existing products, 3–4, 6–8
Product design Repertory elicitation with statistical treatment,
assurance policy for, 209 191
cooperation and communication in, 208–209 REPFEDs, See Refrigerated processed foods of
costs of, 213–215 extended durability
energy conservation considerations, 277 Repositioned existing products, 3–5
hazard analysis critical control point program, Research
185–186, 197, 210, 215–216 applied, 80
program for, 208 basic, 80–81
requirements for, 209 classification of, 80–81, 80–82
safety concerns, 210–213 fluidity as an organizational tool in, 82–83
Product integrity, 208–209 goal-directed, 81
Product life cycles, 14–16 interest-for-interest’s-sake, 80–81
Product maintenance program, 239 management of, 90
Professional consultants, 245–246 market
Profiling of customers, 120–121 description of, 112–114
Profits, 16, 88 information, 114–116
Promotions, 227–228 pooling of resources, 81
Protein, 304–305 Research and development
Prototype, 30 challenges associated with, 125–126
Pulsed electric fields, for food stabilization, 155 computer use by, 164
Purchasing department, 161–162 failure of product and, 238
in-house, 60–61
personnel for, 82, 86
Q Research symposia, 62–63
Response surface methodology, 166
Quality Retailers, 55–57, 324, 327
costs of, 213–215 Retort pouch, 138
in food service marketplaces, 269 Risk capital, 88
in food service markets, 279–280
in new product development, 213
Quality control S
company policy for, 214
description of, 185–186 Safety
legislation for ensuring, 181–182 concepts of, 211–213
Quality control department, 185–186 concerns for, 210–211
Quasi-governmental bodies, 24 in food service marketplaces, 269, 280
Questionnaires, 52 government regulation of, 26
high pressure used for, 139–141
irradiation for, See Irradiation
R legislation for ensuring, 181–182
microwave heating for, 139
Ratkowski square root equation, 206 ohmic heating for, 138–139
Recipes product design considerations, 210–211
development of, 126–128 standards for, 216
home, 126–128 thermal processing for, 137–138
scale-up of, 126 Sales department, 121–122
technologist use of, 125–126 Satisfactory market share, 19
Recycling, 44–45 Sauerkraut, 148
Reformulated existing products, 3–4, 6 Scale-up
Refrigerated processed foods of extended description of, 126
durability engineering department’s role in, 157–159
description of, 152–153 problems associated with, 158–159
Index 387
Scientists testing of
hierarchical politics by, 75 accelerated tests for, 199–201
personal needs of, 75 conditions for, 196–198
Screening considerations for, 203
criteria for, 84–88 criteria for, 194–196
description of, 30–31 static tests for, 199, 201
financial criteria for, 107–108 tests, 198–202
food service industry product development, use/abuse tests, 200–202
281 Slotting fees, 106–107
Seafood, 337 Socially responsible foods, 43–48
Seller Sous vide products, 150
customer interface with, 230 Soy beans, 305
new product ideas from, 55–57 Spoilage
Selling, 45 advances in, 23
Semiconserved foods, 212–213 causes of, 130–131
Semiperishable foods, 129 concerns of, 129–132
Senior management, See also Management consumer’s view of, 129
competitive intelligence, 99–102 definition of, 129
description of, 93 delaying of, 134
involvement by, 95–97 description of, 128–129
new product development role of, 94–103 measures for preventing, 131
Sensory evaluations, 187 microbial, 132–134, 207
Sensory testing processing techniques for preventing, 131
age-related differences, 193 Spyware, 120
blinded, 192–193 St. John’s wort, 317
children used in, 193–194 Stabilization of food
considerations for, 191–192 controlled atmosphere and modified
focus groups for, 189–190 atmosphere packaging for, 7–8,
gas chromatography for, 194 143–144, 151
gender differences, 193 high pressure used for, 139–141
objective, 188–189 hurdle technology, 148–152
panelists for, 188–191 intense light pulses for, 155
preference, 189 irradiation for, See Irradiation
product characteristics, 191 low-pressure, 152–154
resources for, 187 microwave heating for, 139
subjective, 189 ohmic heating for, 138–139
techniques for, 186–188 oscillating magnetic fields for, 155
types of, 187–188 pulsed electric fields for, 155
Shelf life techniques for, 133, 135–137
advances in, 205–208 thermal processing for, 137–138
atmosphere packaging effects on, 143–144 water control for, 141–143
of chilled food, 153 Static tests, for shelf life testing, 199, 201
customer/consumer acceptance and, Storage facilities, 266
204–205 Storage temperature, 131, 196, 200
definition of, 194 Store brands, 2
description of, 131–132 Structured interviews, 51
determinants of, 202–205 Subjective sensory testing, 189
estimating of, 203 Sucrose, 300–301
factors that affect, 197–198 Sugars, 300–302
gas technology for improving, 212 Surimi, 304–305
increases in, 134 Surveys
kinetic models of, 205–207 analysis of, 51
predictive models of, 205–206 customer information obtained from, 48–52
probabilistic models of, 205 distrust of, 50
temperature effects on, 198 interviews used in, 50–51
mail, 52–54 marketing’s involvement in, 222

questionnaires used in, 52 product design and format used in, 228
telephone, 52–54 results of
Sweeteners, 300–302 evaluation of, 233–234
Swept surface heat exchangers, 137 misinterpretation of, 228–229
for small companies, 220–221
Thermal processing, 137–138
T Thin-profile containers, 137–138
Tocotrienols, 308
Tannins, 317 Total quality management, 185, 217
Technical feasibility, 167–170 Trade associations, 176–177
Technical libraries, 65–66 Trade literature, 66–67
Technologists Trade shows, 62–63
hierarchical politics by, 75 Trehalose, 142
personal needs of, 75 Triglycerides, 299
recipes used by, 125–126
Technology
biotechnology, 330–332 U
description of, 320
etrusion processing, 34 Unstructured interviews, 51
food ingredient industry, 287 Use/abuse tests, for shelf life testing, 200–202
impact of, 330
trends in, 333–342
Technology transfer, 90 V
Telephone surveys, 52–54
Temperature Vacuum packaging, 150
food changes caused by, 198 Value added, 9–10
shelf life affected by, 198 Vegetable protein, 304
Test markets Vegetarianism, 41–42, 349
advantages of, 223 Vending machines, 266
area for, 224–225 Vibrio cholerae, 147–148
bias considerations, 224–225
cautions regarding, 222–223
classes of, 219–220 W
competitors’ effect on, 230–231
considerations for, 223–228 War room, 100, 119–121
consumer targeting by, 224–225 Warehousing department, 162–163
costs of, 223 Waste
definition of, 219 by consumer, 282–283
description of, 29, 221–222 disposal of, 44
disadvantages of, 223 in food service markets, 282–283
disruptive and unexpected elements in, handling of, 278
226–227 Water
duration of, 226 control of, 141
dynamism in, 229–231 food stabilization and, 141–143
examples of, 220–221 Web bugs, 120
food service industry products, 282–283 Web sites, 60
goals of, 221–228
for ingredients, 294–295
length of, 226 Z
line extensions introduced into, 222
location of, 224–225 Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique, 118–119

New Food Product Development From Concept To Product

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New Food Product Development From Concept To Product

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Second Edition

New Food Product

New Food Product

Visit the CRC Press Web site at www.crcpress.com

© 2005 by CRC Press LLC

No claim to original U.S. Government works

This book is dedicated to my grandchildren:

Chapter 2 The Generation of New Product Ideas .............................................. 33

Chapter 3 Organizing for New Product Development ....................................... 71

Chapter 4 The Strategists: Their Impact on Screening for Product

Chapter 5 The Tacticians: How They Influence Product Development .........125

Chapter 6 The Legal Department: Protecting the Company, Its Name,

Chapter 8 Going to Market: Success or Failure?.............................................219

Chapter 9 Going Outside for New Product Development ...............................241

Chapter 11 Product Development for the Food Ingredient Industry .................285

Chapter 12 What I Have Learned So Far ...........................................................319

Magnus Pyke (1971)

II. DEFINING NEW FOOD PRODUCTS AND THEIR

a product not previously manufactured by a company and introduced by that company

Line extensions Little time or research is required for development.

• Adding a canned three-bean salad product to a line of canned bean products

2. Repositioned Existing Products

3. New Form or Size of Existing Products

4. Reformulation of Existing Products

The “new, improved” product is typical of this category. Reformulation may be

Reformulation can usually be accomplished comparatively inexpensively and

5. New Packaging of Existing Products

(1) Field Potatoes

(2) Bulk Potatoes

(3) Retail Packaging

(4) Institutional Market

(5) Added-Value Marketing

FIGURE 1.1 Adding value to the humble potato.

C. CUSTOMERS AND CONSUMERS

the blandishments of technical sales representatives or hunting for suppliers able to

D. MARKETS AND MARKETPLACES

III. MARKETING CHARACTERISTICS OF

• The product is moved into marketplaces with increased activity by the

The x-axis is an index of increasing the technical complexity required for a

Cube 5 represents another repositioning problem. An established product is

A. PRODUCT LIFE CYCLES

1. The introductory period is heavily supported by promotions, in-store

5. A decline in volume begins. Newly introduced competitive products

B. THE PROFIT PICTURE

IV. WHY UNDERTAKE NEW FOOD PRODUCT

• There has been a consolidation of many food companies and hence a

A. THE “WHY” OF “WHY UNDERTAKE NEW PRODUCT

• New knowledge and advancing technologies make technically feasible

1. Corporate Reasons for New Product Development

• Reducing staff: This is explained by the company getting to its core

• Improving processing efficiency by adopting a waste management program.

2. Marketplace Reasons for New Product Development

• Population movements bring changes in the ethnic backgrounds of neigh-

professionals (often referred to as DINKs, dual income no kids) who have

3. Technological Pressures Forcing New Product

Greater knowledge of food spoilage mechanisms and preservative technologies

Food manufacturers cannot afford to be unaware of developments in science and

4. Governmental Influences Pushing New Product

The objectives of government respecting its enactment of food legislation are