Developing Next Generation Products Mike Webb, Director Natural Sports Nutrition

Developing Next Generation Products The demand for convenience in society has led to an increasing number of retail outlets from which food and drink can be purchased 24 hours a day. Ready meals and eating out both provide flexibility for Consumers to eat wherever and whenever they choose. Consumers are increasingly aware that the lack of physical activity that comes with sitting at a desk all day, combined with snacking on junk food, can contribute to them putting on weight and, as such, they are seeking more healthy alternatives in food and drink.

Developing Next Generation Products Consumers recognise the importance of high quality, good nutrition but do not always have the time to prepare healthy meals due to work and family commitments. We recognise this issue and identified the shortcoming in both the food industry and sports nutrition industry. We strongly believe that we have created a ground-breaking product to address this issue whilst providing a real benefit to anyone involved in fitness, sports, bodybuilding, and dieting.

Developing Next Generation Products By replacing main meals of the day with Performance Meals, Consumers should not be tempted away by unhealthy convenience foods. Helping to prevent them from failing in their diet and fitness goals. Performance Meals have been developed by qualified sports nutritionists in conjunction with leading food technologists. Overall, Performance Meals are designed to allow the human body to perform at its best.

Developing Next Generation Products Performance Meals are nutritionally balanced and sold in a ready to eat format which requires little preparation or time investment. Performance Meals are presented in a unique pouch that maximises convenience, optimises nutritional value and is appealing to the consumer. Performance Meals are ambient: simply keep in cupboard, gym bag, office drawer etc...

Developing Next Generation Products Superior Quality Food – Fresh tasting, great flavour and retained nutrients. Convenience – Ready to serve, minimum cooking/preparation time. Enjoy Anywhere – Eat hot or cold Shelf Stable – Long shelf life, no need for refrigeration or freezer space. Consistency – Perfectly prepared every time, allows for portion control. Natural Ingredients – No preservatives or additives are required. Nutritionally Balanced: High in Protein – Moderate Carbohydrate – Low Fat Low GI Carbohydrates Low in Salt

Developing Next Generation Products A common misconception is that freshly prepared home-cooked meals will have greater nutritive value than a pre-prepared counterpart. It must be stated that due to the efficiency of the processing chain, with rapid harvest, preparation, cooking and storage, nutritional losses are likely to be much less than a fresh meal which has to go through a chain of producers, wholesalers and retailer prior to purchase and preparation. During this time the nutritional contents of the foodstuff will greatly diminish.

Developing Next Generation Products Any form of processing will affect the nutritive value of food and even simple preparation such as washing and slicing will affect the delicate light, heat and oxygen sensitive nutrients contained within, such as the many vitamins and minerals. Vitamins and minerals can also 'leach‘ when cooked in water, reducing the nutritional value of the whole food material.

Developing Next Generation Products All the traditional food processing methods; canning, freezing and pouches, are prone to nutrient loss into the surrounded fluid through leaching. Canned goods leach nutrients excessively during heat treatment and storage. Food packaged in a conventional can must be cooked approximately twice as long as food contained in a pouch.

Developing Next Generation Products Pouched goods also leach nutrients, however, to a much smaller degree than the canned goods due to a shorter cooking time. The Performance Meals pouch has thin profile and a high ratio of surface area to volume. Heat penetrates the food much more quickly when it only has to reach the inside of a half-inch-thick mass rather than a much larger mass in a round can. Compared to canned products, cooking time is reduced by as much as 57% in the pouch.

Developing Next Generation Products Performance Meals are in essence steam cooked using superheated water to cook the raw ingredients inside the sealed pouch. This method naturally preserves the product, extending shelf life to 12 months and ensures food safety. You don’t overcook and soften the food into mush. If it’s packaged in the pouch, no matter what it is, it tastes better, and the consumer absolutely loves that!

Developing Next Generation Products One of the most common compliments heard from focus groups during consumer testing our Italian Style Tuna Performance Meal was that its texture and appearance was superior to a chunk of canned tuna. Not only does it look better, but it offers better nutrition, too, because of the reduced cooking time. Canned brine has been reported to actually exceed the whole food material in its' nutritional contents, highlighting the (excessive) susceptibility to leaching. The liquid solution is considered waste, and the solid food usually constitutes % of the total can contents.

Developing Next Generation Products A benefit of The Performance Meals pouch is that fluid content is much less than a canned counterpart, increasing the volume of actual foodstuffs per unit of product. Feasibly, this increases nutrient retention as there is less fluid available for the nutrient to leach into. In the event that the foodstuff is being served with the fluid in a meal as a sauce, the affects of leaching become even more insignificant; the leached nutrients will be consumed anyway.

Developing Next Generation Products A further advantage of the Performance Meals pouch is that the additional liquid can be used as a carrier mechanism for the fortification of additional ingredients to the food. With total absorption of the hydrating fluid by the food during processing, virtually any soluble ingredient can become a constituent of the foodstuff. Thus additional nutrients or ingredients can be added to the hydrating fluid in the pouch to be absorbed, fortify, enrich or complement that particular food.

Developing Next Generation Products This benefit could be used to improve the nutritional quality of the food. This novel method of fortification could also be a viable method for enhancing the performance potential of the Performance Meal concept with the addition of natural performance ingredients. The pouch offers a distinct advantage over other food processes in this regard.

Developing Next Generation Products Natural Performance Ingredient: Himalayan Crystal Salt

Developing Next Generation Products Many of us in the UK eat too much salt. Too much salt can raise your blood pressure, which puts you at increased risk of health problems such as heart disease and stroke. Since the advent of industrial development, natural mined table salt and approximately 89% of sea salt or salt evaporated from seawater, has been stripped of its inherent mineral content through a process that "chemically cleans" and reduces it to only sodium and chloride. Important minerals and trace elements are considered "impure" and removed. The remaining salt by itself however, is not a natural element and is poison to the body.

Developing Next Generation Products The body recognizes this chemically cleaned and chemically enriched sodium chloride as an aggressive poison and wants to get rid of it as quickly as possible. The body now tries to isolate the over dose of salt. In this process, water molecules surround the sodium chloride in order to ionize it into sodium and chloride to neutralize it. For this process, the water is extracted from our cells and the body has to sacrifice its most precious cell water in order to neutralize sodium chloride. In doing so, the dehydrated body cells die.

Developing Next Generation Products Performance Meals do not use this regular salt, instead we use Himalayan Crystal Salt which contains all 84 minerals and elements necessary for your optimal health! The human body depends upon 84 of the known 106 elements to maintain optimum health. Including potassium, calcium and magnesium that help promote a healthy balance by maintaining fluids and replenishing your supply of electrolytes whenever you sweat heavily.

Developing Next Generation Products Your body functions on Energy alone and requires a specific and complex combination of electrolytes to maintain the very delicate balance. It’s the electrolytes that affect and regulate the hydration of the body, blood pH, blood pressure, and are crucial for nerve and muscle function. Performance Meals incorporate this purest salt available on earth which is absolutely uncontaminated with any toxins or pollutants.

Developing Next Generation Products Performance Meals samples are available to try today. Thank you for your interest. Your comments, are very much appreciated.