Low carbs high on menu at trade show


Robin McLennan Murray, left, of Biscoamerica, talks with Teri Erickson of Kellogg's about their cereals.
AP Photo By Brian Kersey



By IRA DREYFUSS, The Associated Press

CHICAGO -- Take a piece of pita bread, a little tuna, some olives and capers and -- presto -- it's a low-carbohydrate "sort of Mediterranean" pizza. The impact of the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet and other low-carbohydrate eating plans is everywhere at this year's food industry show of new products.

Food companies are trying hard to fit the current low-carbohydrate diet craze into their familiar product lines, and Margaret Dennis' easy-to-make pita pizza was just one contribution at the exposition organized by the Food Marketing Institute. Also on display were low-carbohydrate candies, cereals and salad dressings.

In her white chef's uniform, Dennis, a culinary consultant to Del Monte, was handing slices to passersby. On the pita bread, she spread a pizza sauce, added flavored tuna that Del Monte sells in a pouch for the quick-lunch crowd, and threw on olives and capers.

And as long as the cook uses pita instead of standard pizza dough, the result will be a thin-crust product with 12 grams of carbohydrate per slice, roughly half the carbohydrates of regular Mediterranean-style pizza, Dennis said.

Kellogg has reformulated a version of its calorie-sparing Special K cereal to be low-carbohydrate as well. "Consumers are looking for a low-carb lifestyle," said Mike Greene, vice president of customer marketing. "It's about alternatives."

Kraft Foods also is exhibiting shelves of carbohydrate-limited products, some of which are already in stores. Supermarkets now have four Kraft salad dressings without carbohydrates.

In June, consumers could get a steak sauce with one gram of carbohydrate per serving to slather on their Atkins-approved meats. Also in June, Kraft will introduce CarbWell cereals. And the company that produced SnackWell cookies in the days when consumers only watched fat calories will expand the line with SnackWell's CarbWell cookies.

Kraft is not putting all its high-protein, low-carbohydrate eggs in one basket. "For folks who are watching fat, there's the sugar-free SnackWell as well," said spokeswoman Pat Riso.

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