2003 Product Innovation Awards

By the

FoodProcessing.com

Our look back at the best food products from the past year

Food Processing staff

Innovation is an elusive concept, as difficult to define as it is to put in practice. Yet you know it when you see it: it's the product that meets consumer expectations precisely because it exceeds them. That's a difficult charge for the food industry, whose product introductions often march behind the shield of past successes, with very little to distinguish them.

With that in mind, the staff of FOOD PROCESSING decided that products with genuine ingenuity should be lauded for their courage, novelty and, yes, success. So on the following pages, we salute those products from the past year that best demonstrate new ways to look at old markets, whether they relate to taste, format, formulation, convenience, safety or any of the myriad combinations thereof.

Because innovation in the food sector so often represents the happy convergence of these and other variables, we've dispensed with classifications on the order of "best packaging" or "most convenient," as well as the hierarchical problems such titles confer. Each of the products presented was selected by FOOD PROCESSING's editorial panel, whose members sought and graciously received outside perspective. In that same spirit, we welcome your observations.

Breath of fresh air

From a 19th Century blend intended to sooth the savage stomach comes one of the most innovative products in decades to improve one's breath. At the very least, Altoids brand Peppermint and Cinnamon Strips put a new spin on the expression "melts in your mouth" and, indeed, the paper-thin strips not only provide quick-dissolve delivery, but impart everything from caffeine to vitamins, depending on the brand. Nonetheless, this is the one that propelled the concept to world popularity in a diminutive, pocket-sized container. Fun company, fun concept.

A tall Tombstone

In the 1960s, a pair of brothers serving pizza and libations in their bar near a Wisconsin cemetery uncovered a great recipe. By the mid-1980s, Tombstone Pizza was in the capable managerial hands of Kraft, which expertly grew the brand by combining interesting flavor combinations with quality production techniques. The latest to join the Tombstone product fold is Deep Dish Pan Pizza, featuring six single-serve pizzas (two cheese, two pepperoni, two supreme) stacked in a freezer-friendly plastic wrap. Each of the pizzas can be prepared in the microwave in as little as 2½ minutes, with the remainder tucked snugly in the freezer under the reclosable wrap. Though the single-serve format is perfect for family snacking and lunching, we suspect that Deep Dish will find its greatest success in the grab-and-go hands of young consumers.

Au naturel

Kudos to PepsiCo's Plano, Texas-based Frito-Lay division for making pre-emptive strikes against obesity long before the nation's expanding waist line ballooned into the most pressing public health issue confronting consumers -- and the food industry. Frito-Lay has been at the forefront of developing healthy snacks since the 1960s (Its Lays and Ruffles potato chips, for instance have been prepared in trans fat-free oils for years), and this year the manufacturer launched what is arguably its largest, and riskiest -- assault yet on unhealthy snacking with the release of its Natural Line, which includes Reduced Fat Ruffle Chips; Tostitos Tortilla Chips with Organic Blue Corn; Tostitos Tortilla Chips with Organic Yellow Corn; Tostitos Organic Salsa and Natural Lays Potato Chips. The entire line is cooked in fat-free oils (sunflower oil) and is devoid of cholesterol-raising trans fats. The products also contain less salt than regular brands. But the line's crowning achievement may be that it "Lays" to rest the myth that tasty and healthful are oxymorons in the salty snack category. Come to think of it, Lay's rewards are bound to outweigh any risk the manufacturer has taken.

Chef's special

Grinning, mustachioed Chef Boyardee has presided over kids' lunches for generations, and now he's serving up supper in the form of Deep Dish Meals (DDM), a savvy combination of the Chef's venerable ravioli, macaroni and lasagna brands and his more recent Cheese Pizza Kits. Available in five varieties, including Cheese Lover's Lasagna, 5 Cheese Ravioli and Cheesy Burger Macaroni, the meals each consist of meat, pasta and cheese served atop an oven-baked crunch. The ConAgra-owned DDMs are sure to strike a nostalgic chord with baby boomers, especially those among them who are time challenged. Each variety contains a can pasta and meat sauce, as well as pouches of cheese sauce and crust mix, all of which require only five minutes' preparation time before dinner is popped into the oven. Its almost as simple as the brand's original canned Spaghetti, which brings the Chef -- and consumers -- full circle.

Fire up the grill!

You might expect that McCormick & Co.'s new line of Grill Mates Grilling Sauces would include Teriyaki and Mesquite varieties, but not that the Hunt Valley, Md., manufacturer would seemingly create a sauce for every season, and reason, with varieties that include Roasted Garlic and Herb, Dijon Mustard and Montreal Steak, which contains a robust blend of coarsely ground peppers, garlic and spices that enhance the natural flavor of steak, hamburgers and ribs. Depending on the variety, the sauces provide the perfect complement to chicken, pork, burgers, seafood, even vegetables. And they can be brushed on during the last few minutes of grilling, though these mouthwatering sauces hardly taste like an afterthought. If the grill is standing under six inches of snow, they're also perfect as a dipping sauces at the table. "People are craving bolder flavors and brush-and-go simplicity," Laurie Harrsen, McCormick director of public relations told FOOD PROCESSING last summer. "These new sauces are just what they've been searching for."