Zeina Foods, which provides ingredients such as nuts, seeds and dried fruits, said that it can now add greater diversification to a snack manufacturer’s range through the supply of toffee, maple and honey flavourings for various nuts that do not mask the nutty flavour.
In addition, said the Yorshire-based company, it has been working closely with the Regional Food Group for Yorkshire and Humber to develop a new range of seasonings, which will be unveiled in the New Year, and which have been influenced by the current trends for healthy as well as exotic produce.
Martin Savage, sales and marketing manager at Zeina Foods, told BakeryandSnacks.com that the collaboration with the regional group has helped it to develop more variety and flexibility in the design of its products.
“The aim of working with the Food Group is to enable our in-house team to create exciting and innovative seasonings for our range of nuts - working from initial ideas through to factory trials,” he explained.
He said that improved in-house flavour design knowledge will enable Zeina Foods to offer added value through even more customisation and quicker sample turnaround.
“This will help our customers to bring new products to market even faster than before,” continued Savage.
"Being able to develop samples on site in Ossett will mean less wastage as we can create the amount that is needed for the trial and have this approved by a customer before it is made up in bulk,” he said.
He said that the enhanced in-house expertise has resulted in an improvement in its relationship with its current flavour house, with both parties benefiting from a clearer understanding of specific product requirements and capabilities.
Savage added that, in terms of processing, the company prefers to dry roast its nuts, particularly in the current environment where there is requirement for regulator compliance on salt levels.
He said the firm's processing capacity for roasting nuts is 4,000 tons a year.
Zeina's current flavour portfolio includes lemon, barbeque, chipotle chilli, red thai curry and lemon & chilli.