The Origin of Weet-Bix

Weet-Bix is known as the famous breakfast meal for all the Australians and people of New Zealand too. This product is originally from Australia itself and was founded by Bennison Osborne who hailed from South Wales in the 1920’s (1). At first, he tried this product on his nephews and nieces. In the year 1926, he registered the product as Weet-Bix. Later he got the financial support from Shannon for the production of the Weet-Bix. The product became famous with the span of a very short time. Later a big and a very famous company named as Sanitarium which deals in the food industry took over this product. The company then planned to sell it across Australia, New Zealand and Auckland and Christchurch. It comes in different ingredients with various other flavors. For example: They come as High Bran, Oat Bran, Multigrain etc.

People in Australia are just ready for the quick and healthy options in food products which involve lots of fiber in them like Weet-Bix. There was a very recent research done in which it was known that 89% of the Australians within the span of 17 years links themselves with the fiber intake and relates to good health. This type of awareness for the healthy food has increased as people age and get educated about such subjects (2). It was also found out that the women are more conscious about taking the fiber intake and the benefits of fiber as compared to men. The research also found that the texture, time pressures and tastes were the barriers for the consumption of fibers yet the people were open to a high fiber intake in their diet. People were ready only if these issues were overcome in a good food product. It was also known that the risk reduction in health and the benefits were vital reasons for the subjects taking in mind that they are ready to take more and more fiber in their diet. Later in the research, it was concluded that if these trends will follow, there is always going to be an increase in the demand of the consumers demand for new innovative ideas and also for high fiber intake (3).

In the survey a few years back, it was found out that the adults in Australia do not have enough fiber intake and people who age 65 and above consume very less fiber than it is recommended (25g for females and 30g for males) to maintain the general health.  There are very vital health issues related with not consuming fiber in good amount. Hence, people in Australia who are not in taking good amount of fiber can have a risk of cardio vascular disease. 30% of the people in Australia were found dead in 2013 due to CVD (4).

The Importance of Fiber Intake in Australia

This report gives the detail of the ingredients and the operations, process of manufacturing, packaging and the innovation of the product of the product named Weet-Bix. 

Weet-Bix can easily be found in every house hold across the country of Australia and it is being consumed in every house hold every day by all ages. It is especially loved by the generation of young people in Australia and it is considered to be the no. 1 breakfast cereal. The product is packed completely with the goodness of 97% of whole grains and it gives a person a very good source of iron and Vitamin B1, B2 and B3 for helping the release of energy which a person needs for starting the day. It is also considered to be a balanced diet. It gives a natural source pf fiber. It is low in fat and added sugars (5).

The whole grain wheat is 88%, plant sterols, Raw Sugar, salt and lots of vitamins like niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, foliate etc. and minerals like iron.

Mixing

In the mixing process, all the ingredients such as the flour, sugar and fats etc. are all amalgamated in the correct proportion for making the dough. The mixture is put into the mixers and then mixed for manufacturing the biscuits. Mixing takes the time of 15 minutes approximately yet it will always depend on the features of the type of flour put into it. The mixing is actually done in two to three processes at various speeds.

Moulding

After mixing, moulding starts. In the process, the dough is laminated wrapped in the sheets and then it goes into the rollers and apt sheets which are thick is achieved for cutting. Now the biscuits are made and then they are cut into the different shapes. The usage of moulder or the cutter is done depending on the shape of the desired biscuits.

Baking

This is the 3^rd stage in the process of biscuits making in which the biscuits are put into the oven for baking as per the temperatures required. There are different type of ovens and temperatures which are needed for baking the biscuits. Different types of ovens are used such as hybrid, conventional. (7). 

Cooling

The biscuits are cooled down and then they are ready to go for packaging. They are cooled by nature process and not by any other process. This will help the biscuits to remain in their won texture

The Health Benefits of Weet-Bix and Its Ingredients

Packaging

When the biscuits are made, they are placed in the cardboard boxes which are lined with the plastic. These biscuits can be availed in different packaging materials in different packs like slug packs, pouch pack or family packs. fThe sides of the boxes are sealed with glue so that they do not break open (8).

Packaging and Processing Innovations

The sanitarium has developed, implemented and also review the atmosphere standards that are applicable to the packaging of the product.  The whole-of-chain approach makes sure that all the staff members know about the take accountability for reducing the impact on the environment. Weet-Bix also involves the customers via website and the product labeling and also engages with major of the suppliers via regular packaging reviews.  They also make sure that the handling and the disposal of the waste is done in a proper way with the help of segregation and collection of material which is recycled. It can also be done by helping the marketers for material which would end up in landfill otherwise (9).

Sanitarium has recently developed a gluten free version of the Weet-Bix product. According to Sanitarium, the gluten free version of the product has the similar look and taste of the regular product. The only difference is that the version is gluten free.

Health Claim Innovations

The product lowers the cholesterol and is known to be as Australia’s no. 1 breakfast cereal. It adds up t he functional benefits of cholesterol lowering plant sterols. This is the only product that lowers the cholesterol and contains 2g of plant sterols in 1 serve. This makes Weet-Bix as the ideal choice for the people who want to reduce their cholesterol levels and lead a healthy lifestyle (10).

Future opportunities

Weet-Bix can play a vital and functional role in the healthy diet and its goal is to increase the whole grain and fiber intake for reducing the serum cholesterol and risk of cardio vascular disease. There is a good chance for the product to use future innovation for retaining into the market by making changing in the products and develop more gluten free products. The products can also be made soy free as there are people in Australia who are allergic to soy. It also might product he products which are less in added sugars so that the products may help people more and more in their diet (11).

Conclusion

This report talks about the product named as Weet-Bix which is known to be as the Australia’s no.1 product when it comes to eating healthy biscuits. The report discusses about the market trends and target market for the product followed by the process of manufacturing the biscuits, packaging as well as the new innovations it has been in terms of health claims and packaging innovations. The product is really healthy and it gives a good amount of fiber intake to the people of Australia and one can conclude that its future is quite good in Australia and New Zealand 

References

Weetbix. Products. [Online].; 2018 [cited 2018 October 6. Available from: https://www.weetbix.com.au/products/cholesterol-lowering/.

Moore FF. Breakfast and Breakfast Cereal Choice and Its Impact on Nutrient and Sugar Intakes and AnthropometricMeasures among a Nationally Representative Sampleof Australian Children and Adolescents. [Online].; 2017 [cited 2018 October 6. Available from: file:///C:/Users/Nidhi%20Vyas_JPR/Downloads/nutrients-09-01045-v2.pdf.

Jones JM. Consumer Trends in Grain Consumption. Elsevier. 2016.

Williams P. Functional Foods for the Australian industry: definitions and opportunities. Researchgate. 2005.

Weetbix. Nitritional Info. [Online].; 2018 [cited 2018 October 6. Available from: https://www.weetbix.com.au/products/original/.

Wallop H. How Weetabix is made. [Online].; 2014 [cited 2018 October 6. Available from: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11158615/How-Weetabix-is-made.html.

Madehow. The Manufacturing Process. [Online].; 2018 [cited 2018 October 6. Available from: https://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Cereal.html.

Sanitarium. Sustainable packaging. [Online].; 2018 [cited 2018 October 6. Available from: https://www.sanitarium.com.au/social-purpose/caring-for-the-environment/sustainable-packaging.

Businessawards. Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing | Weet-Bix Gluten Free. [Online].; 2015 [cited 2018 October 6. Available from: https://www.businessawards.com.au/winners/2015/Product-Innovation/Sanitarium-Health-and-Wellbeing-Weet-Bix-Gluten-Free.php.

Weetbix. Weet-Bix Cholesterol Lowering. [Online].; 2018 [cited 2018 October 6. Available from: https://www.weetbix.com.au/products/cholesterol-lowering/.

Koksel H. Grain Science and Industry: Past, Present and Future. Future of Grain Science Series. 2015; 60(2).