Hot Right Now: Coca-Coca-Fonterra alliance in Vietnam, Nestle China's new products, Mondelez on APAC trends and more trending stories

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Beverage giant Coca-Cola and New Zealand dairy major Fonterra have partnered in what has been deemed a Strategic Alliance in South East Asia. ©Coca-Cola/Fonterra

The Coca-Coca-Fonterra alliance in Vietnam, Nestle China's new product priorities, Mondelez on APAC trends and more of our social media trending stories feature in this edition of Hot Right Now.

Coca-Cola-Fonterra alliance: New Nutriboost dairy products launched in Vietnam

Beverage giant Coca-Cola and New Zealand dairy major Fonterra have partnered in what has been deemed a Strategic Alliance in South East Asia, with the first range of products from this having just been launched in Vietnam under the Nutriboost brand.

According to Coca-Cola/Fonterra Strategic Alliance General Manager Steve Bonz, the new Nutriboost products have been developed for various different functionality needs, for example beauty, growth and development and energy.

“We’re trying to cover as many demographics as we can,” he said to FoodNavigator-Asia.

“There are three main reasons we started in Vietnam. First is the opportunity, as Vietnam is the third largest dairy market in the ASEAN region.”

“Additionally, we had an existing brand there in Nutriboost [to build on] that already had traction, which we could launch under and not spend a whole lot more developing a new brand from scratch."

New product priorities: Nestlé China unveils plans to launch 170 new goods to market this year

Nestlé China is harbouring two highly ambitious goals – it wants to cut down the speed to market of new products and brands from 18-24 months to six to eight months and aims to launch 170 new products for this year.

Nini Chiang, the Chief Marketing Officer of Nestlé (Greater China), revealed the plans and strategies to do so when speaking at the Food and Beverage Innovation Forum (FBIF) 2019, a three-day event held in Hangzhou.

During her presentation, she revealed that the firm had struggled to meet the demands of Chinese consumers two years ago, and a breakthrough was urgently needed.

“In 2017, we realised that we have met some challenges. Why is it so? This is because our launch of new products was too slow and was unable to meet the demands of the Chinese consumers,” she said.

Mondelēz, Yili and Danone share three need-to-know trends dominating APAC's food and beverage industry

F&B industry leaders from around the globe have identified speed of change, localisation, and influencing consumer behaviour as three major opportunities and challenges in the industry today.

Convening at a panel at the Food Industry Asia (FIA) Summit 2019, the leaders were Maurizio Brusadelli (Mondelēz International Executive VP & President, AMEA), Pascal De Petrini (Danone SVP, Non-Executive Chairman Asia), T.C. Chatterjee (Griffith Foods CEO), Jocelyn Chng (JR Group GCEO), Franck Monmont (Cargill MD, Starches, Sweeteners and Texturizers, Asia) and Yun Zhanyou (Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Assistant President).

Snack facts: Mondelez reveals the major trends driving growth across the category

Well-being, digital advancement, localization and speed are amongst the major trends and opportunities that global snack manufacturing giant Mondelez has identified as crucial to shaping the future of snacks in APAC and beyond.

According to Mondelez International Senior Vice President for Growth Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (AMEA) Glenn Caton, the value of the global snacking market currently stands at some US$1.2tn, and in AMEA the snacks market makes up some 22% of Mondelez’s global net revenue (US$5bn).

“The growth rate of the snacks market in AMEA is already outstripping that of global growth, [spearheaded] by rapid population increase and wealth growth in the region,” he said..

“We foresee this to accelerate even further moving forward, to reach a growth rate around twice the average snacking growth rate [of 4% to 5%].”

Food additive found in over 900 common food products increases risk of cancer and gut disease: Study

Researchers at the University of Sydney have discovered that the food additive E171 - commonly known as titanium dioxide and found in over 900 common food products - significantly increases the risk of gut disease and cancer.

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles can be present in products including mayonnaise and chewing gum. It is normally found in ’high quantities’ as it has a whitening function.

“[This means that] E171 is consumed in high proportion everyday by the general population,” said the study’s official statement.

According to study co-lead author Associate Professor Wojciech Chrzanowski: “It is well established that dietary composition has an impact on physiology and health, yet the role of food additives is poorly understood.”