The snack food industry is continuing its focus on producing healthy, or at least healthier, products to meet growing consumer demand.  The success of the 100-calorie snack pack remains a popular phenomenon, but now consumers are looking for foods that are also identified as “better for them,” reports Forbes.com.  “Consumers, overall, are more concerned with the kinds of foods they’re eating,” says Susan Fussell, spokeswoman for the National Confectioners Association. “They’re asking, ‘Where did it come from, how did it get to me and what’s the nutritional profile?’”

Americans are estimated to eat 19% of all meals as snacks consumed between breakfast and lunch or between lunch and dinner. Consumption of products marketed as trans-fat free, sugar-free and full of whole grains are popular because health-conscious Americans see them as “better for them,” according to Harry Balzer, VP at Port Washington, New York-based market research firm NPD Group. The popularity of such items as convenient snack bars and yogurt reflect this search for “a halo of health,” says Balzer.

“Snacks never used to be considered a health item,” says David Baxes, CEO of Sensible Foods. “They were something to fill you up in between meals. But now people want to extend their interest in eating properly past meal times.” 

Several new waistline-friendly snacks are previewed in the recent Forbes article:

• Meat snack manufacturer Jack Link’s is offering new 50-calorie portion-control snack packs in varieties such as prime rib tender cuts, strips of beef that are marinated and slow cooked before being smoked and dried. A single .6-ounce package contains no trans-fats and six grams of protein.
• Hillside Candy has obtained the USDA organic seal for its GoNaturally Hard Candies, now available in pomegranate.
• Sensible Foods’ has a new line of four organic dried fruit and vegetable snacks, including the 100% Organic Sweet Corn.  The single .75-ounce bag is the equivalent of a half-cup of fresh corn and contains only corn and sea salt to total one gram of fat and 70 calories.
• The new think5 bar – which packs five cups of vegetables and fruits – meets the USDA’s entire recommended daily allowance in one snack.  Because its full of dried spinach, watercress, broccoli, carrots and beets, the bars have a berry flavor and also come covered in chocolate to ease the transition to snacking on such a healthy snack.
• Crum Creek Mills’ new biscotti, called Biscuties, are full of almonds, raisins and soy protein.  Four cookies contain 4.5 grams of fat, two grams of fiber and five grams of protein.