At Vitafoods Europe 2018, one of the biggest talking points was targeted nutrition. Ingredient companies are working hard to narrow down the functionality of their products to specific consumer needs, age groups and even occasions. But how do they take personalised nutrition that step further? How do they offer products that meet the needs of consumers on an individual level?
DSM Nutritional Products’ Maria Pavlidou spoke to FoodBev’s Alex Clere about new research into consumer understanding of the term ‘personalised nutrition’. DSM conducted a survey with 7,000 consumers across Europe and found a high level of awareness around personalised nutrition, but low levels of deep understanding.
In addition, DSM found that over half of respondents find personalised nutrition in its proper sense ‘really appealling’.
DSM has partnered with Mixfit, an American start-up that is pioneering an in-home drinks dispenser that gives consumers a daily beverage full of all the vitamins and minerals that consumers need – facilitated by DSM functional ingredients – based on a nutrition profile uploaded from their wearable fitness device.
Pavlidou said: “We’re so excited about Mixfit. It’s a company that DSM invested in; it’s a start-up. They’re working on this really innovative machine that will be able to deliver personalised beverages at home that contain the nutrients that your body is missing.”
FoodBev also spoke with Marco Iotti, the co-founder and CTO of Mixfit, who explained how the machine works in greater detail and revealed the price point that Mixfit was aiming to reach in order to maximise uptake among consumers.
“We’re targeting $299, and in euros probably €250. The Mixfit system works on a monthly subscription basis that goes around $50–150 depending on the requirements, what they want, of every single user.”
Iotti emphasises that Mixfit is not about replacing traditional food, but supplementing consumer’s diets: “We are not like a company that says ‘you only have to drink our drink and you don’t have to eat any real food’. We want people to eat normally, but then having that peace of mind with Mixfit that their nutrition is correct and everything is good. So, they can enjoy their burger, they can enjoy their fish and chips, but then in the meantime they say ‘okay, do I have enough nutrients to fill whatever is my requirements?’ Mixfit is the peace of mind that does that.
“We’re in a prototype phase at the moment but things go very fast, and actually we’ll be commercially available already beginning of 2019, and then we’ll have a little test of 50 machines by the end of this year.”
Presented and edited by: Alex Clere
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