Winner of Foods For Life Healthy Food Awards 2006
The new stars of healthy health food Redwood Wholefoods, have won yet another Award to add to their impressive list of achievements. The Foods For Life Nutritious and Delicious Award 2006
September 3, 2006--London
Redwoods Wholefoods are challenging Quorn and Linda McCartney foods for the title of the UK’s favourite vegetarian food brand. Instead of spending millions of pounds on TV advertising, Redwoods have instead invested their money and their time in healthy innovations. This has paid off yet again. They have succeeded in making their products even more appealing to the millions of consumers who are buying more health meat free foods.
Redwoods have concentrated on making their products appeal to as wide a range of consumers as possible. You won’t find cheap allergenic dairy protein or egg derivatives in their products. Nor will you find unhealthy ingredients such as hydrogenated trans fat or excessively high levels of salt.
It doesn’t matter who you are, vegetarian, vegan, Jew, Hindu, Muslim or just one of the huge growing number of healthy eaters or ‘conscious consumers’ Redwoods’ products are indisputably delicious and nutritious and that’s the key criteria for winning The Foods For Life Awards.
A year ago London Nutritionist and founder of Foods For Life, Yvonne Bishop-Weston gave a talk at The Food & Drink Federation’s National Vegetarian Week barbeque event. She told key members of the vegetarian food manufacturing industry that they were in danger of loosing their multimillion pound slice of the healthy eating market unless their products shaped up to consumers’ new healthy expectations.
Most vegetarian and vegan products are sold not to vegetarians but to consumers who perceive vegetarian and vegan food to be healthier. Following the popularity of TV programmes such as ‘you are what you eat’ consumers have become more educated about what is and isn’t healthy and were unlikely to continue buying products laced with saturated fat and little or no protein.
Yvonne says “Less than a year later ethically run Redwoods have delivered everything we’d asked for, more protein, vitamin B12, essential fats and less saturated fat. It’s products like this that will ensure the meat free foods industry will have a healthy future, continue to thrive and encourage more people to adopt a diet that is better for people, animals and the environment”.
Tony Bishop-Weston from Foods For Life (London Nutrition Consultants) says - "There are too many products out there pretending that they are healthy when they just can't cut the mustard. It's crazy that a bar of chocolate can have more protein than a leading vegetarian brand's meat replacement product. The Foods For Life Awards are intended to cut through the £million marketing hype and highlight the real innovators in the food industry.
Premier Foods has appointed advertising agency Publicis to handle the £8m advertising account for its Quorn vegetarian food range. It's a sad state of affairs for innovation in food when a £93 million a year food brand product such as Premier Foods' Quorn are investing so much more in PR (£8million) than NPD. The so called healthy eating brand can even be beaten by a bar of chocolate.
Quorn Low Fat Chicken Style Pieces - 14% protein no declared essential fats
Plamil Foods No Added Sugar Chocolate with Hemp - 15% Protein & omega 3, 6 & 9 essential fats
More about Redwoods and products including Fishless smoked salmon pate, melting dairy free cheese, award winning meatless chicken pieces, vegan bacon rashers and ready cooked snack sausages at
www.redwoodfoods.co.uk Other finalists included
2) Sugar Free Dairy Free Hemp Chocolate –
www.plamilfoods.co.uk 3) Carley’s Hemp Nut Butter –
www.carleysfoods.co.uk Vegetarian and Vegan Market Value Facts
In a recent report, Leatherhead Food International noted that “innovation is essential” but said that the main drivers now are: “Convenience and Snacking, Health and Wellbeing, and Pleasure and Indulgence”.
According to Key Note report based on Taylor Nelson Sofres figures 70% Vegetarian market value is said to be derived from chilled products whilst the total UK vegetarian market is worth approximately £700 million per annum
Foods For Life estimate that the total UK Vegetarian and Vegan Foods Market will continue to grow, rising to £800 million pa by 2010
The UK Food & Drink Federation estimate over 45% of consumers are now purposefully buying vegetarian foods on a regular basis whilst 57% of people said they often choose the vegetarian option when eating out.
Food & Drink Federation Vegetarian Market Website at
http://www.meat-free.org.uk