Category expert at Tate & Lyle says brands cannot ignore the opportunity to build brand value and enhance reputation among parents and regulators by creating healthier ice cream.
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, (28th August 2024): Tate & Lyle PLC (Tate & Lyle), a world leader in ingredient solutions for healthier food and beverages, has published a report that uncovers the factors driving parents’ decision making when buying ice cream for their children.
The report Cool for kids: The inside scoop on ice cream provides exclusive data and insights, and highlights the opportunities for brands and manufacturers.
According to the report, over 40% of parents surveyed in the UK and Germany ranked nutrition and ingredients lists as their top priorities when choosing children’s ice cream (1).
With almost two in five take-home ice cream purchases now being made by families with children (2), Tate & Lyle says responding to these preferences by offering tasty, healthier ice cream for kids creates a value proposition that supports category growth for manufacturers and brands.
And as half of children consume ice cream once a day, or at least twice a week or more in the UK and Germany (3), the report takes a closer look at how regulators are also encouraging brands to reformulate products to make them healthier through mandatory nutritional labelling schemes, including non-HFSS (high in fat, salt and sugar) and Nutri-Score.
In addition to answering public health concerns, Tate & Lyle experts argue that providing more balanced treat options for children is an industry-wide responsibility and ultimately requires collaboration with ice cream formulators, brand owners, foodservice and retailers.
Delphine Forejt, Dairy Category Development Manager at Tate & Lyle said:
“The evidence is there that we need to improve children’s eating habits, which is why we’re focusing our ice cream innovation efforts in Europe on children’s ice cream.
“Plus, many parents are not overly familiar with the nutritional guidelines for their children and reply on brands to make children’s options healthier.
“We know there is a demand for sugar and calorie reduced ice cream, but creating this while also maintaining the great taste and texture that kids love, is technically challenging.
“It’s a challenge we’ve been working on for many years, and today we’re an industry leader in the science that’s enabling brands to boost the nutritional profile of ice cream.”
Backed by extensive, dedicated work, Tate & Lyle has unlocked the science that makes nutritionally balanced frozen desserts possible, without compromising the ice cream experience that kids and families want.
Recognised by our European customers as a leader in global nutrition (4) and partner of choice to many of the leading food and beverage manufacturers in Europe and beyond, Tate & Lyle has leveraged its ingredient solutions including PROMITOR® Soluble Fibre, to provide ice cream prototypes that effectively lower sugar and fat by up to 50% and help build back the creamy and smooth mouthfeel, soft texture, and ice cream stability.
For more information and to download the full report, click here.
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About Tate & Lyle:
Supported by our 160-year history of ingredient innovation, we partner with customers to provide consumers with healthier and tastier choices when they eat and drink. We are proud that millions of people around the world consume products containing our ingredients every day.
Through our expertise in sweetening, fortification, and texture, we develop ingredient solutions which reduce sugar, calories, and fat, add fibre and protein, and provide texture and stability in categories including beverages, dairy, bakery, snacks, soups, sauces, and dressings.
We have more than 3,300 employees working in around 58 locations in 39 countries, serving customers across 121 countries. Science, Solutions, Society is our brand promise and how we will achieve our purpose of Transforming Lives Through the Science of Food. By living our purpose we believe we can successfully grow our business and have a positive impact on society. We live our purpose in three ways, by supporting healthy living, building thriving communities and caring for our planet.
Tate & Lyle is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol TATE.L. American Depositary Receipts trade under TATYY. In the year to 31 March 2024, Tate & Lyle revenue from continuing operations totalled £1.65 billion. For more information, please visit https://www.tateandlyle.com or follow Tate & Lyle on LinkedIn, X, Facebook or YouTube.