Does the industry believe there is strong demand among consumers for functional and healthier confectionery products?

We asked several industry voices if functional confectionery has the potential to go mainstream or if healthy chocolate, gum and candy is a misnomer reserved for niche health stores.

Henri Kamphuis, quality and technology director of Cargill Cocoa and Chocolate

“For us chocolate is an indulgence. It’s really about taste. If you look to the health potential, there are some minor components in cocoa which might have a health potential -  there has been a lot of literature around it - but for us it’s really about the indulgence and the taste of the final chocolate.”

Rinus Heemskerk, global director of innovation at ADM Cocoa:

“Consumers buy our products because they like them, not because they want to be healthier. It’s very much a niche area and it’s very much outside Europe than inside Europe because of legislation. You can say things a lot easier in other countries than you can in Europe, where the legislative environment is more restrictive.”

Thomas Jahn marketing manager for private label gum firm Fertin Pharma

 “I think functional gum definitely has the potential to go mainstream, but one of the key success criteria is that consumers slowly build this idea that you can get active ingredients out of chewing gum. It’s easy to believe in drinks, but [with gum] you still have this residue of chewing gum in your mouth. Although our tests show all active ingredients get out, we still think consumers are the key to the next step. Wrigley launching an energy gum to the market is a big step in the right direction.”