FDBusiness.com

Products formulated for toddlers with nutrition-rich dairy ingredients represent a major untapped opportunity for food and beverage brands. The popularity of dairy ingredients such as whey continues to rise in the mainstream food market, and they are already well established as key ingredients in the tightly regulated infant formula sector. However, says leading supplier Arla Foods Ingredients, they remain under-used in products aimed at children in the 1-3 years age bracket – a crucial period in every child’s development.

According to Euromonitor, the global toddler food and beverage market was worth US$34 billion in 2015, making it significantly bigger than the $24.7 billion infant formula market. Sales of toddler products are forecast to post a compound annual growth rate of 11.4% between now and 2018 to reach $47 billion, indicating the enormous potential this market offers.

“As they transition from babies to toddlers, young children enter a new phase in which they leave behind their exclusively milk-based diet,” says Anne Staudt Kvistgaard, Senior Manager for Pediatric at Arla Foods Ingredients. “They begin to eat a more varied selection of food and drink and develop their own preferences. In addition, due to their limited stomach capacity and high activity levels, toddlers will often get hungry, and naturally they will crave the most tempting foods.”

She continues: “All of this means it’s very important that parents make certain their child’s needs are met to support proper growth. The toddler years are a crucial period during which it’s important to ensure children receive the right nutrients and develop healthy eating habits.”

Dairy ingredients offer the perfect solution for toddler-specific products such as snack bars, squeezable pouches, yoghurts, fruit drinks, milky drinks and toddler formulas. Rich in essential amino acids and minerals, they are filling and gentle on the stomach. In addition, they are healthy, natural and completely safe, all of which are priorities for parents of young children. They also have a pleasant milky flavour that is ideal for young taste buds.

As part of its new Goodness of Dairy* campaign, Arla Foods Ingredients is ready to offer a range of dairy ingredient solutions containing high quality proteins and minerals from milk that will enable manufacturers to create delicious and nutritious products that parents will want to buy and toddlers will want to eat:

• Lacprodan^® whey proteins – packed with the essential amino acids required to support development and growth
• Lacprodan^® ALPHA-10 – offering all the benefits of Lacprodan^® proteins while also supporting a healthy gut flora, protecting against intestinal infections and reducing gastrointestinal events
• Capolac^® – an ingredient solution with >24% milk calcium to support the development of teeth and bones
• Lacprodan^® PL-20 – a milk protein concentrate rich in phospholipids and gangliosides, a nutritious combination that supports brain development.

Anne Staudt Kvistgaard adds: “A child’s diet during the sensitive toddler years is a key determinant of their health both in the short and long term. Even though they are leaving behind their milk-based diet, proteins and minerals from milk should continue to form the bedrock of their diet to ensure they get a healthy start in life. For food and beverage companies, this offers an excellent opportunity to create products that are perfectly balanced for a toddler’s specific needs, and which will appeal to parents keen to ensure the best possible diet for their children.”

Arla Foods Ingredients’ Goodness of Dairy campaign highlights how dairy ingredients are key to tapping into growing consumer demand for food that is natural, healthy and offers great taste and texture.

*Protein contributes to growth in muscle mass, and calcium is needed for the maintenance of normal bones