Food and beverage NPD essentials
- Regulations vary by market and product type
- Know if it’s a novel food – it changes everything
- Understand full product potential early
- Plan tests based on use and application
- Prove consistent manufacturing
- Early planning avoids costly delays
The rules and regulations around launching food products and ingredients vary from market to market. But one general rule holds true: at some point, you will need to prove your product meets various requirements related to food safety, quality and nutrition. To do this, you’ll need to compile a dossier of information based on the results of a series of tests. The dossier will then need to be assessed and approved – which itself takes time, effort and money.
Know your route from the start
What information and tests go into that dossier depends heavily on what your product is and how it will be used. Anything considered a novel food will need a very different series of tests, with a strong emphasis on safety, compared to a product based on familiar ingredients.
Similarly, a bulk protein requires more data to substantiate its nutritional value, safety, bioavailability and digestibility, than an enzyme used purely as an additive.
Target audience also plays a role. For example, infant formulas or medical food products face more stringent safety and nutrition requirements than products for general consumption.
The secret to a smooth, timely launch lies in understanding which regulatory requirements apply to your product. Realising later in the process that you need to consider different requirements can lead to long, costly delays as you refocus or, restart your dossier building programme.
Novel or not?
The first question to ask yourself is whether your product or ingredient is a novel food or not. This isn’t always as straightforward as it may seem. If you are using an innovative production technique like precision fermentation, that’s clearly a novel food. But, in some cases, a minor change to a familiar food – even just sterilising it in a new way such as using UV light – could lead to it being considered novel.
Understand the true potential of your product
The next step is to understand your products full potential in the marketplace. Again, this can be a more complicated question than it first appears. It is not unusual for a new ingredient to be developed with one type of application in mind only to find, later in development, that it could also be used in other, perhaps higher-value, applications. This is great news for your bottom line but could mean you have to consider a completely different testing programme. At the very least, you may need additional shelf-life studies to prove stability in these new applications.
The best way to avoid such late surprises is to map out the technical, functional, sensory and commercial characteristics of your product or ingredient. This will help you identify all its potential opportunities and establish the right programme for building its dossier of information.
For example, you may have developed a new enzyme to be used as an additive. Analysing its gelling, hydration and foaming properties along with its impact on flavour and mouthfeel could reveal new opportunities as a bulk protein in meat, cheese or yoghurt analogues, plant-based beverages or frozen desserts. Meanwhile, understanding its production costs could help you decide whether to target mass-market or premium applications. All of which could have a big impact on the testing choices you make.
Putting it to the test
Once you know how, where, and by who your product will be used, you can start to plan out the type of information that needs to be in your dossier, perhaps with the help of a third-party consultant. Common areas of information that need to be considered include:
- Composition
- Production processes
- Toxicological data
- Bioavailability and digestibility
- Allergenic potential
- GMO status
- Stability and shelf life
Many of these tests and assays are standardised and available from multiple lab services providers. Others are more specialised and must be tailored to the specifics of the product, its production process and its planned use. For example, products and ingredients produced via precision fermentation must be proven to be free of recombinant DNA, which requires quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).
Similarly, assessing the digestibility and bioavailability of new protein ingredients is be done through in-vitro digestion models and the calculated Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score (DIAAS). Such assessments require specific equipment and know-how to ensure regulatory-compliant and meaningful results.
Ready to launch
Another important part of the dossier is to show that your new product or ingredient can be manufactured consistently. This involves producing multiple batches in a food-grade pilot production facility and assessing them for quality, safety and composition throughout their shelf life.
The launch of a new food product or ingredient can be a huge opportunity. But it takes foresight and planning to deliver on that opportunity. By fully understanding your product, its technical, functional and nutritional characteristics, and its potential applications, you can plot a smooth route through testing and data gathering to protect your investment and launch on schedule.
