The new rules of reformulation
Reformulation has become a complex challenge for bakery and snack manufacturers.
Consumers, regulators and public health advocates are pushing for products with less sugar, salt and calories while calling for fewer additives, less processing and more transparency around ingredients.
A recent webinar, "Reformulation: Rethinking Recipes for a Changing World," tackled what this strategic and practical challenge means for manufacturers, and how policy and changing regulations increase reformulation’s complexity.
Among the topics explored were public health goals, consumer expectations, innovation, commercial realities, long-term competitiveness, individual ingredients for health and the impact of GLP-1 agonists.
The webinar, presented by the U.K.’s Bakery&Snacks, a B2B trade news site for the global bakery, snack, cereal, grains and dessert industries, featured speakers Kiran Annapragada of PepsiCo, Joanne Burns of Food and Drink Federation Scotland, Sebastian Emig of the European Snacks Association, Anne-Marie Roerink of 210 Analytics and Rasma Zvaners of the American Bakers Association. It was hosted and moderated by Gill Hyslop, editor of Bakery&Snacks.
The complexities of reformulation
“Reformulation is no longer just about what is possible in the lab or factory. It is about what is viable commercially, scalable industrially and proportionate from a policy point of view,” said Sebastian Emig, director general of the European Snacks Association.
For PepsiCo, reformulation has become part of a broader portfolio transformation, as the company responds to consumers looking for more functional benefits, fewer artificial ingredients and products that still deliver the taste they know.
“We’ve been listening deeply to consumers,” said Kiran Annapragada, SVP of research and development at PepsiCo.
That has meant reducing sugar, saturated fat and sodium in some products, while also adding more nutrient-dense ingredients across the portfolio, he said.
Fibre is one example. Annapragada noted that only a small share of Americans meet daily fibre recommendations, creating an opportunity to add fibre to products consumers already enjoy.
PepsiCo has also moved into protein-forward snacks, including Doritos Protein, and is expanding options made without artificial colours, such as NKD Cheetos and Doritos.
READ: Move over, protein. What’s driving the fibre craze?
But making those changes while preserving an iconic product experience is the hard part.
“Most people don’t realize how much science and technology goes into making products—and also making products without specific ingredients,” he said. “Functional ingredients, and natural ingredients can significantly impact flavour, taste, aroma and also appearance. So, developing products that deliver functionality or have more naturality, while giving the same iconic, enjoyable experience is incredibly complex.”
That means product teams often test, optimize, pull back and try again before a reformulated product is ready.
The goal, he said, is for the science to disappear into the background, leaving consumers with the taste and experience they expect.
Anne-Marie Roerink, principal at 210 Analytics, underlined the importance of taste.
“The claim might drive a first purchase. A good price, a promotion—all these things might get a product into a cart for the first time,” she said. “But if that taste doesn’t deliver, we don’t often see a secondary purchase.”
Changing consumer demand and evolving regulations
“We’re looking to see what’s coming on the regulatory horizon. I anticipate we may be hearing more on sugar and sodium before the end of the year. We may hear a bit more on front-of-pack labelling as well, so more to come,” Rasma Zvaners, VP of government relations for the American Bakers Association, said.
“I feel there’s a greater drive from the consumer, and our members are trying to meet that consumer where they are at this time.”
Annapragada agreed: “Consumers are increasingly looking for products that support things like hydration, metabolism, muscle maintenance, satiety and even cognitive well-being through food,” he said.
As moderator Gill Hyslop noted in closing, reformulation is no longer optional, but neither is it a silver bullet. It is asking manufacturers to do more with less: improve nutrition, reduce ingredients under scrutiny and meet rising expectations without losing taste, affordability or appeal.
“The real question isn’t whether the industry can reformulate. It’s whether it can do so in a way that works for consumers, for regulators and for business.”
