The author has posted comments on this articleNamrata Singh, TNN | Oct 24, 2014, 02.26AM IST

According to UN's Food and Agriculture Association , 42 % of Indian households are veg while, 35% turn veg on certain days of the week.

Given the country's significant vegetarian population, and also the fact that a section of non-vegetarian consumers turn vegetarian on certain days of the week, mayonnaise manufacturers have been forced to alter ingredients to suit their preference. An eggless variant of mayonnaise now forms the bulk of the volumes of this classic American spread in the country.

The category, which is estimated at Rs 350-400 crore across retail and institutional segments, is therefore growing at over 25% per annum, making it one of the fastest growing food categories in India. Estimates put eggless mayonnaise sales at 80% of the overall mayonnaise volumes in the country.

Considering that Indians follow various religions that drive them to be either vegetarians or turn vegetarian on certain days of the week, depending on their beliefs, Oliver Mirza, MD, Dr. Oetker India, which owns the Fun Foods brand, said "having an eggless product is a plus". Dr. Oetker India has six variants in eggless mayonnaise and it is the market leader with a share of over 50%.

"Mayonnaise has traditionally been an out-of-home consumption product. Thanks to QSRs (quick service restaurants), people have got attuned to mayonnaise as a spread. Over the last one-two years, it has moved into home consumption through the retail route," said Yogesh Bellani, CEO, FieldFresh Foods (Del Monte), whose entire mayonnaise range in India is eggless.

India is the only country in the world where McDonald's sauces including mayonnaise are eggless, except tartar sauce. It is also the only country for Del Monte to have eggless mayonnaise in its portfolio. While earlier most mayonnaise-based dishes were a strict no-no for vegetarians due to its egg-base, food companies have made it fit for consumption for a larger chunk of consumers by replacing eggs with vegetarian ingredients.

"The young consumer is demanding more than plain butter or jam on bread. Instead, cheese spreads, chocolate spread, peanut butter and other spreads are making their way into our kitchens. While in terms of size the salad dressing/spreads to butter ratio is approximately 40:60 in our stores, both segments are growing for us at a similar rate (close to 30%)," said Devendra Chawla, CEO, Food Bazaar.

Five years ago, the ratio of salad spreads to butter was highly skewed towards butter at 20:80, said Chawla.

Half of the mayonnaise-based spreads' sales in Food Bazaar stores comes from eggless variants, which indicates a strong vegetarian tilt.

Originally posted here:
Eggless mayo forms 80% of overall India sales

Once every two weeks Yaroslav Haladzhy, a 40-year old designer living in Kyiv, makes a rather expensive grocery run. He pays up to Hr 500 for a small bag of simple food cereal, eggs, tea. The reason behind the high price is simple all the items are sold as "organic".

The healthy lifestyle trend came to Ukraine around four years ago. It sparked new interest in fitness centers, low-fat products and organic food. With the growing demand, organic food shops sprung up drastically. Haladzhy started eating organics five years ago. His devotion to it doubled his groceries budget. He says its worth it. I trust my body and it gives me clues that I should continue eating organics, he told Kyiv Post while shopping at the Eco Club stores - a popular Kyiv organic store chain, one of many. In Ukraine, eating organics means having to pay at least Hr 40 for 10 eggs instead of the regular Hr 15, or buy a kilo of sausages for more than Hr 200, while regular sausages are half of that price. Ukrainians average wage is just around Hr 3,000 per month, but the boom of organic stores and farms shows that many families are ready to increase their food budgets to make the menu healthier. Kyiv now has at least three organic grocery chains and multiple organic farms. The chains sell both Ukrainian and imported organic goods. The biggest chain, Eco Lavka, was launched around three years ago and opened 36 stores in Kyiv since then. It also sells organic food online and provides delivery to any part of Ukraine. Their competitor Eco Club chain has three stores, but claims to make most sales online. The assortment of our store is 30 percent Ukrainian and 70 percent imported. Although, we never had goods from Russia and Belarus, says Vira Artemenko, a shop assistant at Eco Club store. Artemenko claims to save 30 percent of her food budget buying organics, because organic food is quite filling and you never overeat. According to the Federation of Organic Movement of Ukraine, in 2012 there were already 164 organic food producers in the country. However, the Ukrainian organic food market is still dragging behind in comparison to Western Europe. According to the Organic Data Network, EU organic market resulted in 20.9 billion euros profit in 2012. Top giants of European organics are Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, and Netherlands. In comparison, Ukraines organic market was five million euros in 2012. The biggest share of the EU organic market goes to vegetables and fruits. Dairy products make the first runner-up. Organic eggs are selectively popular and meat products usually have high prices compared to the conventional products, hence the demand for them is the lowest. In Ukraine, the organic market was not legally regulated till January, when the parliament adopted a law that defines the organic products. Still, it failed to set clear rules on the procedure of certification of organic products, thus complicating the export of Ukrainian organic products. The State Statistics Service of Ukraine does not differentiate organic food from other agricultural products yet and doesnt give any market statistics for it.

Organic stores in Kyiv: Eco Shyk http://www.ecochic.com.ua Eco Lavka http://www.eco-lavka.com.ua Natur Boutique http://www.natur-boutique.ua Semero Kozlyat http://www.7koz.com.ua Villa Roz http://www.milk-shop.com.ua Eco Club http://www.ecoclub.ua Komora http://www.e-komora.com.ua Dyvolayf http://www.divolife.com.ua Vega Market http://www.vega-market.com

Kyiv Post staff writer Bozhena Sheremeta can be reached at sheremeta.bozhena@gmail.com.

The Kyiv Post is hosting comments to foster lively public debate through the Disqus system. Criticism is fine, but stick to the issues. Comments that include profanity or personal attacks will be removed from the site. The Kyiv Post will ban flagrant violators. If you think that a comment or commentator should be banned, please flag the offending material.

See more here:
Organic food fad hits Ukrainian consumers

McDONALD'S myths are easy to come by and we all know that fresh, organic food is not only healthier but tastes much nicer, right?

Wrong - at least according to Life Hunters' YouTubers Sacha and Cedrique.

Scroll down for video (turn on subtitles)

The pair visited the annual food convention in Houten in The Netherlands, where they asked unwitting gastronomic experts to taste samples of McDonald's food and offer their opinions on this "new, organic alternative to fast food".

"Delicious", "fresh", "tasty" and "firm" are just some of the adjective used by the food critics in a video posted on YouTube.

"It's nice and firm, it has a good bite," says one.

Another adds: "It rolls around the tongue nicely; if it were wine I'd say it's fine."

The foodies were then cajoled into making a direct comparison with McDonald's. Asked how the "organic" fare shapes up in comparison to the fast food giant, one individual says:

"It's definitely a lot tastier than McDonald's, you can just tell this is a lot more pure."

And another replies: "It tastes a lot better, and the fact that it's organic is definitely a good thing. It's just better for you. The taste is a lot richer."

Here is the original post:
WATCH: Food critics tricked into reviewing McDonalds