FOOD manufacturing giant National Foods Limited continues to expand its market share and customer experience after launching new innovative products that have increased health benefits for the Zimbabwean populace and abroad.
The Pearlenta Smart Carbs meals and all-day instant cereals were introduced into the market last Friday.
National Foods group marketing executive Lawrence Kutinyu said the new products were targeted at all age groups and enhance the quality of life through the reduced starch intake.
“Today we launched an extension of the Pearlenta portfolio with the introduction of our Pearlenta Smart Carbs range in both meals and all-day instant cereal variants,” Kutinyu said.
“The Smart Carb meals are made from traditional grains and come in sorghum, finger millet and pearl millet variants in their pure grain form and our all day instant cereals are sugar free and come with the added goodness of baobab and brown rice in addition to the millet bases.
“In addition to that, we have also developed a plant-based protein product called Organica, which is a soya-based product that we encourage our consumers to try out as it is a good alternative to meat but tastes as good as mince meat and so helps reduce the risks that come with too much red meat consumption.
“Organica infuses the soya base with dried vegetables, gravy and flavour and its quick cooking as well.”
Kutinyu said as National Foods they have always been in touch with the Zimbabwean consumers bouyed by their 100-years experience in industry.
“The feedback has been that our consumers are becoming more and more health conscious and they want more control of their health and part of their health comes through good diet as well exercising and following their doctors instructions,” he said.
“In terms of the need for a good diet, what we thought as National Foods is we need to improve on the nutritional quality of the food that our consumers eat and we have embarked on an exercise of expanding our portfolio with products that are better for you and address the market’s demands.”
The company’s health consultant Karen Gurure urged people to consider traditional grains like finger millet, pearl millet and sorghum as part of their meals.
“Small grains such as pearl millet, finger millet and sorghum are not only renowned for their drought resistant nature, they also have high nutritional benefits, like increased iron, anti oxidants, calcium and magnesium which help to boost the immune system,” Gurure said.
“Research has shown that the quality of carbohydrates people consume can contribute to the risk of diet related non-communicable diseases.” – The Standard
