Currently browsing posts about: Candy

I don’t say much about candy on this site, mainly because it’s best consumed in small amounts, if at all.

Candy sellers, however, have a very different view.  Their job is to sell candy, and the more the better (never mind consequences).

I’m always interested to see what they say and do to increase sales, especially when they try to make candy seem healthier (oops).

• What ‘unlikely’ social factors are shaping the candy market?  Surprising reasons like cultural changes and social shifts are transforming confectionery consumption habits. Here’s what you need to know… Read more  [Would you believe fewer marriages and an older population?]
• Freeze-dried sweets boosted by TikTok as new confectionery craze: Bursting onto our shelves and socials with eclectic flavours and novel textures, freeze-dried candies are set to be the coolest confectionery trend of 2024…. Read more
• How gifting brings together top confectionery trends: Sweet-treat gift-giving creates engagement and brand loyalty, so it’s no wonder many global brands are tapping into the purchasing driver…. Read more
• Has the world’s first ‘super candy’ arrived?  Protein candy aims to revolutionize confectionery with high-protein treats… Read more  [Oh great; candy as a superfood]
• Scientists develop better-for-you chocolate, and it’s better for the planet:  Healthier and more sustainable chocolate? While it sounds almost too good to be true, that’s exactly what scientists have created in Switzerland…. Read more  [Anything to get you to eat more chocolate and not feel guilty]
• The race to replace red no 3: Is your brand ready?Colour manufacturers advise confectioners on top considerations when replacing soon-to-be-banned synthetic food dye… Read more  [This will be a big issue, given RFK Jr’s concerns about artificial food dyes] 
• Governor Patrick Morrisey Signs Food Dye Legislation Into Law: Charleston, W.Va. – Today, Governor Patrick Morrisey signed House Bill 2354 into law, which prohibits certain harmful food dyes in school lunches and unhealthy food items for sale in West Virginia. [The dyes are red 3 and 40, yellow 5 and 6, blue 1 and 2, and green 3].
• How Prevalent Are Dyes in Foods? We Crunched the Numbers. RFK Jr. and consumer advocates want to rid Americans’ diets of artificial colors; switching to natural alternatives can be costly.   [Candy will get hit hardest]

CANDY

IFT’s Food Technology Sweet and Spooky:  Halloween is one of the most popular times for consumers to purchase candy. Mars, in partnership with Ipsos Omnibus, surveyed nearly 3,000 U.S. adults about their Halloween plans to learn more about how consumers celebrate.

Interactive Candy Map 2024: Our map ranks the most popular Halloween candy in each state in America, as well as the first and second runners up. Our results are firmly grounded in 17 years of candy sales data! Key Takeaways: – Reese’s Cups Loses #1 Spot for the First Time Ever.

The WORST Halloween Candy 2024: People get really fired up about the candy they don’t like. Over 10,000 survey responses from the past 12 months! Key Takeaways — – Circus Peanuts Retain #1 Worst Spot; – Candy Corn on Both Lists? Divisive.

Better-for-you candy brands are going all in on Halloween: “Better-for-you candy brands are hoping that adults will dole out low-sugar gummies or chocolate-dipped nuts to trick-or-treaters this Halloween season,“ Modern Retail reported.

New York Times Candy IQ: Trick or treat! See how much you really know about sweets with this quiz.

PUMPKINS

World’s largest pumpkin: Minnesota grower wins again at World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off. 2,471 pounds. That wasn’t enough to beat the world record he set last year — that pumpkin was 2,749 pounds.

Scaring Halloween Trick-or-Treaters Is Free. But This Pumpkin? $13.50: Each application of pepper spray for pests costs the Dykemans, who calculate many expenditures by acre, about $150 per acre. Two charcoal filters, $400 apiece, protect operators in this John Deere tractor ($67,000 in 2008), which takes $130 of diesel. Fertilizer prices, which soared in part because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have come down in recent months. But it remains a significant cost, the Dykemans said, at $200 per acre.

Pumpkin Seeds: A Tiny Seed With Big Benefits: With Halloween just around the corner, pumpkins are everywhere! However, many people overlook a highly nutrient-rich part of the pumpkin – the seeds…For instance, just a small handful provides around 40% of the recommended daily value for magnesium

Pumpkins: Background & Statistics: All States produce some pumpkins, but six States produce most of them. According to the most recent USDA, Census of Agriculture, in 2022, about 45 percent of pumpkin acres were harvested in the top six pumpkin-producing States, measured by pumpkin weight. 

HOLIDAY ECONOMICS

Pricing fears grow ahead of Halloween: Cocoa and sugar prices are reported to have reached frightening highs, with alarming price rallies predicted…. Read more

Halloween’s Mutation: From Humble Holiday to Retail Monstrosity: In 2024, consumers are expected to spend $11.6 billion celebrating the holiday, up from $3.3 billion in 2005….Spending on candy is expected to reach $3.5 billion this year.

PET SAFETY? SURE, WHY NOT?

Halloween Pet Safety: It’s the season for costumes, candy, and creepy décor. Halloween can be one of the most fun holidays for a pet, but also one of the most hazardous. From choosing safe costumes to takeaways on trick or treating, the following Halloween pet safety tips will help both you and your dog have a frightfully delightful holiday. Continue Reading.

RESOURCES

Institute for Food Technology’s confection content collection: Explore IFT’s collection of scientific resources on chocolate, hard candy, and other confections.

Enjoy the holiday!

A reader, Bart Peuchot, writes:

I would be very interested to have your view on this new publication for Nature.

As you taught me, I checked the competing interests and it seems to be a perfect industry-funded publication.

And then ,I ran across this Tweet (X) from @Stuart Gillespie:

New paper concluding “more research needed”
…brought to you by Nutrition Foundation of Italy…
…which in turn is brought to you by
…..@Nestle @McDonalds @CocaCola Ferrero, Barilla, Danone et al…

Well.  What  is this about?

I went right to the paper: Visioli, F., Del Rio, D., Fogliano, V. et al. Ultra-processed foods and health: are we correctly interpreting the available evidence?. Eur J Clin Nutr (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-024-01515-8

Aha! Another attack on the concept of ultra-processed foods.  The article concludes

the available evidence on how different UPFs have been associated with health, as well as the results of studies examining specific food additives, call into question the possibility that ultra-processing per se is the real culprit. It is possible that other unaccounted for confounding factors play an important role. Future, urgently needed studies will clarify this issue.

The Italian food industry has been especially active in opposing NutriScore labels and anything else that might discourage sales of foods high in sugar, salt, and saturated fat.

But it is not alone in pushing back against the concept of  ultra-processed foods—an existential threat to junk food manufacturers.

Here, for example, is Hank Cardello,  the Executive Director of Leadership Solutions for Health + Prosperity at Georgetown’s Business School writing in Forbes:: New Report Highlights The Sweet Side Of Ultra-Processed Foods.

With ultra-processed foods (UPFs) replacing “junk food” as the new bogeyman for public health advocates, a new study published by  the Georgetown University Business for Impact Center (full disclosure: I am one of the authors) reveals that all UPFs are not created equal. The report spotlighted that candy in particular was the exception, since that category contributes only 6.4% of added sugars and less than 2% of our calories. The most surprising discovery is that the “healthiest of the healthiest” consumer cohort in the study purchased candy 26% more frequently than the general population.

The report: New Consumer Insights on Ultra-Processed Indulgent Foods: How Confectionery Products Are Different.

Candy behaves differently from other ultraprocessed indulgent products. New NMI and NHANES data re-confirm that candy is different and should not be lumped together with other indulgent products. Consumers do not overconsume  chocolate and candy, so targeting these foods will not impact obesity. An approach that focuses on product categories that consumers with the highest BMIs eat and drink the most will be more effective.

OK, readers: Take a guess at who paid for this.

Funding for this paper was provided by the National Confectioners Association.

As I keep saying, you can’t make this stuff up.

As I pretty much demonstrate every Monday, industry-funded studies almost invariably produce results favoring the sponsor’s interests.

But here we have a rare exception to the rule:

• The study: Effect of cocoa extract supplementation on cognitive function: results from the clinic subcohort of the COSMOS trial.  The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,Volume 119, Issue 1, January 2024, Pages 39-48.
• Objective: “To test whether daily supplementation with CE, compared with placebo, produces better cognitive change over 2 y.”
• Conclusions: “Among 573 older adults who underwent repeat in-person, detailed neuropsychological assessments over 2 y, daily CE supplementation, compared with placebo, showed no overall benefits for global or domain-specific cognitive function. Possible cognitive benefits of CE among those with poorer diet quality warrant further study.”
• Funding: The Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS) is supported by an investigator-initiated grant from Mars Edge, a segment of Mars dedicated to nutrition research and products, which included infrastructure support and the donation of study pills and packaging. Pfizer Consumer Healthcare (now Haleon) provided support through the partial provision of study pills and packaging.

Comment: Why anyone would think that cocoa extract would have any efffect at all on cognitive function is beyond me, but I, in sharp contrast to Mars, am not trying to sell cocoa extract or convince anyone that M&Ms are a health food.  But, as seems invariably the case, the investigators did give Mars a small break in favorably finding “possible” cognitive benefits of cocoa extract for people eating terrible diets.  My prediction: further studies will not find benefits of cocoa extract—or M&Ms—on cognitive function even though eating M&Ms can be lots of fun.

Halloween is about candy, no?  Here are four thoughts on the topic.

I.  From CagleWorld.com

II.  From The CandyStore.com.

III.  From Consumer Reports: What 100 calories of Halloween candy looks like. 

IV.  From my son Charles, who forwarded this, I know not from where:

Enjoy the occasion!

Everything in moderation!

Chocolate for breakfast? Kellogg’s + Hershey’s collab takes cereal to new heights in IndiaThe breakfast cereal giant has joined forces with one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world to launch Kellogg’s Hershey’s Chocos on the Indian market…. Read more

When I saw this, I wondered what was new here.  We already have plenty of chocolate breakfast cereals, organic and not, most of them aimed at kids.

These, for example:

At best, these cereals have some cocoa in them, usually as the 5th ingredient or less.

I can’t find an ingredient list for the cereal aimed at India, but I did find one for similar products sold in other countries.

Chocolate is the first ingredient!

Candy for breakfast!

Yum!

All of this is enough to make me want to run out and eat some M&Ms.

You can’t make this stuff up.

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I received an emailed announcement alerting me to today’s big event: It’s National Peanut Brittle Day, “a day dedicated to honoring one of our favorite uniquely American treats.”

Who knew?

The press release continues with some not-so-sweet news:  peanut brittle is yet another victim of inflation.

The chart shows the cost of the raw ingredients in peanut brittle has increased by nearly 18% — from just under $0.38 per pound in early 2021 to nearly $0.46 cents today.

Other cost increases: transportation, energy, labor add up to “a recipe for expensive candy!”

A strange press release, but an interesting commentary on what’s happening with prices.

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