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Nutrition

Freedom foods: A niche food market

This tutorial is useful if you are studying the core strand, Food Product Development or the option strands Contemporary Food Issues: Nutrition and Contemporary Food Issues: Marketplace.

In these strands you will learn about:

drivers of the development of food products
the production of nutritionally modified foods to meet consumer demand
trends in the marketplace such as health enhancing foods, for example, functional foods.

Outcomes

This material addresses aspects of the following syllabus outcomes:

H1.3 The student justifies processes of food product development and manufacture in terms of market, technological and environmental considerations
H2.1 The student evaluates the relationship between food, its production, consumption, promotion and health.

Source: Board of Studies NSW, Stage 6 Food Technology Syllabus, Preliminary and HSC Courses (1999)

Freedom Foods

Freedom Foods has found business success by discovering and meeting the needs of a niche food market. The development and sale of food products by the company is driven by the demands of health-conscious consumers and consumers with special dietary needs and food intolerances.

In this tutorial you will complete the following activities to learn about:

a business success in a niche food market
the functional foods they develop and produce to meet the needs of consumers with food-related conditions.

Activity 1

Use the material on www.freedomfoods.com.au to answer the following questions.

How did Freedom Foods begin and what was the uncatered for market that they found existed?
What is the main concept of Freedom Foods range?
What food intolerances do Freedom Foods specifically design for?
What special diets required by people, make up the niche market filled by Freedom Foods?
What problem ingredients do they eliminate to cater for the needs of the special diets?
Describe the characteristics of their products.
Why will there be an even greater demand for a wide range of specialised foodstuffs?

Answers

Activity 2

Take a look at the list of Freedom Food's specialty products and low fat products. Visit your local supermarket and health food store.
- Where are these products located in the supermarket?
- How much do they cost?
- How does the cost compare to similar mainstream products, for example, gluten free pasta compared to normal wheat pasta?
- Are there similar products from other brands or companies?
- If so how does their price compare to Freedom Foods?
The Freedom Foods' website lists the food related conditions, which have a link page with information on the condition and an order form with appropriate food products. Choose two food-related conditions that interest you. For each condition complete the following:
1. Describe the food-related condition. What causes the condition? What are the symptoms of the condition?
2. How should the food-related condition be treated?
3. List suitable foods available for this special dietary need or food intolerance.
4. Plan meals for one day suitable for this food related condition.