Awards
NZMP Probiotics win at China Gut Conference (CGC) 2021
NZMP's world-class probiotic strains were awarded Innovative Marketing Role Model and Most Popular Probiotic Strains at the recent CGC.
21 Jun 2021
6 min
Trade media company Mr. Gut has hosted the third China Gut Conference (CGC) this year in Nanjing. Attracting 6000+ academic scholars and industry experts across 68 companies, the event is the largest academic event on gut health globally.
During the conference, NZMP was credited with two awards for our science-backed probiotic products:
- ToB Marketing Innovation Model 2020-2021
Awarded by the Mr. Gut Research Institute for our two high-quality probiotic products and two consumer concepts
- Most Popular Probiotic Strain
Awarded for our Probiotic BifidoB HN019TM
Market and consumer needs have been changing rapidly in response to global lockdowns
A resharpened importance on health has seen demand for better-for-you food and beverages increase as people look to nutrition to protect themselves and their loved ones.
In China, supplements containing probiotics have become one of the most popular choices for consumers with the market size reaching 85 billion RMB in 20201.
This is undoubtedly a very timely event to be discussing gut health given how the market and consumer needs have been changing so rapidly post the pandemic.
Mark Robins, Vice President of NZMP Greater China
Additionally, the connection between mood and food has helped to move the topic of gut health into mainstream consciousness. With research on the gut-brain axis demonstrating the importance of using diets as a tool to manage stress and mental health.
With China pushing to meet the Healthy China 2030 Strategy, we expect to see awareness of health and balanced lifestyles continue to grow.
The future of China’s probiotic market
This year, NZMP hosted a roundtable discussion during the conference. The topic: Probiotics and New Consumer Trends in the Post-Pandemic Era.
The panel included well-known industry experts who were asked for their views on the current probiotic market, the probiotic market development amid the Healthy China 2030 strategy, and the innovative applications of probiotics.
The discussion sparked a great exchange of different insights and opinions between the industry experts on the panel.
Key takeaways for the future development of China’s probiotic market from the discussion included*:
As the topic of gut health moves into mainstream consciousness, the probiotics industry should improve consumer education on the background, efficacy, and scientific research evidence of probiotic raw materials. Through popularizing this information consumers will develop a better understanding and recognition of probiotics to make informed purchase decisions. The efficacy of products is important and should be felt by consumers. To achieve good product efficacy, companies should increase investment in scientific research and develop probiotics with independent intellectual property rights.
In China, the probiotics industry continues to grow year on year with no signs of slowing down.
While the market is broad, those born post-90s have gradually become the primary consumers. Companies should abandon the “one product for the world” mentality and create products with their main consumer groups in mind.
By digging deep into the research of these target groups, companies can constantly optimize products with the support of scientific research to make products more in line with the needs of consumers.
The emergence of new research fields is exciting but these will need continuous investment and good transformation system support.
We are also seeing many companies joining the research team of probiotics, but it should be noted that the research and development of probiotics require significant energy and cost. The process from strain isolation to screening and evaluation is long and importantly, the development of probiotics must include clinical studies. Fonterra has done a good job in this aspect.
With consumers' increasing awareness of probiotics efficacy, more people will look to probiotics to meet their different health needs in the future.
Companies should pay attention to the functional properties of probiotics products, develop different types of probiotics, and meet consumers' demands for gastrointestinal balance and health care through the way of "simple and rough brand building, rigorous and evidence-based product building".
Health needs that consumers are looking to meet with foods and supplements may include:
- Oral health
- Allergy relief
- Women's health
- Mental wellness
- Other areas of gradually upgraded health demands
*These views are representative of the panel from the "Probiotics and New Consumer Trends in the Post-Pandemic Era" roundtable discussion at the China Gut Conference 2021.
Expert panelists
Zhang Heping
Director - Key Laboratory of Dairy Biotechnology and Engineering of Ministry of Education, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University
Professor Zhang Heping and his team are actively committed to the development of China's probiotic technology and the research of dairy science and molecular biology of lactic acid bacteria.
They engage in the development of functional dairy products, the research of dairy active substances, and the research and innovation of dairy processing technology.
Professor Zhang holds a master's degree in food science engineering from Jiangnan University, and a doctorate from Northeast Agricultural University. Additionally, he is a winner of the National Science Fund.
Duan Shenglin
Deputy President - China National Research Institute of Food & Fermentation Industries
Mr. Duan Shenglin is the director of China National Research Institute of Food & Fermentation Industries' key laboratory in Beijing.
He mainly engages in the comprehensive utilization of food resources and physical properties research, restructuring technology and functional food research and development, nutrition mechanism research and product development.
He has undertaken and participated in more than 30 national, provincial and ministerial scientific research projects, obtained 2 international invention patents in the United States and Japan, owned 46 patents in China, received more than 10 provincial and ministerial awards, and presided over more than 100 technology transfer and horizontal projects.
Lan Canhui
President - Mr. Gut Research Institute
After receiving his bachelor’s degree from the Department of Biological Science and Technology of Tsinghua University, Mr. Lan entered the Molecular Immunology Laboratory of Tsinghua University and engaged in viral immunology research and HIV epitope vaccine development.
Currently, Mr. Lan is also a well-known popular science author on digestive health education. Also an experienced serial entrepreneur, he mainly engages in entrepreneurial practice in the transformation of traditional industries through the Internet.
Zhao Jianxin
Director - Biotechnology Center of the School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University
Professor Zhao Jianxin is also the Director of the Functional Food Branch of the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology and Director of the Probiotic Products Branch of the China Biotech Fermentation Industry Association.
Professor Zhao specializes in food biotechnology and traditional food processing technology. He mainly engages in the development and utilization of probiotic resources, the manufacture of functional dairy products, and the industrialization of traditional fermented food.
Xue Bing
Sales Director – NZMP, Fonterra
After graduating from North-East Agriculture University with a master’s degree in food science and engineering, Bing has held a variety of roles supporting the development and commercialisation of ingredient solutions in China.
Highlights include his time as R&D Manager at Heilongjiang Wondersun Dairy leading a team focused on liquid milk and yoghurt development (1999-2005) and working with the sales team at Avebe’s Asia Pacific Application Centre in Shanghai to provide technical support on dairy and bakery applications (2005-2007).
As Sales Director for Fonterra’s Functional Nutrition Units (FNUs) in China, Bing now leads a team of experts in market to drive growth of the Sports and Active Lifestyle, Paediatric Nutrition and Medical Nutrition FNUs.
Simon (Lemeng) Wang
Probiotics Business Manager – NZMP, Fonterra
Simon Wang has a master’s degree in food production management from the University of Nottingham. Simon has over 9 years’ experience in the probiotics industry and has worked with Intertek, Ganeden and Kerry.
After two years of work experience in the United Kingdom, he has returned to China where he now works for Fonterra’s Sports and Active Lifestyle team as probiotics champion, managing NZMP probiotics business in the Greater China region.
NZMP’s commitment to providing science-backed specialty ingredients
We continue to be devoted to providing specialty ingredients that are scientifically proven to deliver functional health benefits. This commitment was recognised during the CGC with industry experts speaking highly of Fonterra’s probiotic research and development efforts.
Our lifestyle probiotics portfolio offers world-class probiotic strains BifidoB HN019TM and LactoB HN001TM with an aim to help improve our customers’ digestive health, immunity, and overall wellness.
Being awarded the Most Popular Probiotics Strain for BifidoB HN019TM demonstrates our leadership in this space.
In the post-COVID era, we are diving deeper into probiotic research exploring their potential benefits in areas such as boosting metabolic health, stress, and mood management.
Tapping into evolving consumer trends, such as healthy snacking and personalisation of nutrition, to bring these products closer to consumers.
References
- [1] 1. 2021 Global Probiotics Industrial Research and Development White Paper - T-MALL and Mr.Gut
