“The price increases FMC Health and Nutrition recently announced are necessary to offset higher raw material costs, especially with certain seaweeds used in our alginate and carrageenan product lines,” Marshall Fong, global marketing director of food ingredients, told FoodNavigator-USA. “For carrageenan, in particular, increasing global consumer demand for protein coupled with the food industry’s strong interest in high-performance, sustainable additives for improved food texture, structure and stability is impacting supply.”
In recent years, Philadelphia-based FMC has expanded its product portfolio to include natural colors, pectin and omage-3 oils as the market has trended toward healthier and more natural foods. Indeed, the market for natural additives–in particular, colors, flavor enhancers, carbohydrate- and protein-based fat replacers–is poised for growth in the next five years, according to a recent report from Packaged Facts.
“We continue to work with our suppliers to increase productivity in a sustainable manner,” Fong said. “At the same time, we remain committed to partnering with customers to continually find ways of developing new products and food ingredient solutions that reduce overall cost in-use, while maintaining or improving the end-user experience.”