Indian firm turns to fortification to launch 'healthy' egg-free mayo

31-May-2018 - Last updated on 31-May-2018 at 02:24 GMT

Mayonnaise fortified with vitamins is now available in India. ©Getty Images

Indian firm Zydus Wellness is seeking to tap to into the country's food fortification drive by launching an egg-free mayonnaise called Nutralite, fortified with vitamins A, D and E.

The products also claims to provide 30% daily requirement of the three vitamins with every serving of 15g.

Besides fortified with vitamins, the mayonnaise are also cholesterol, hydrogenated fats and trans-fat free.

The mayonnaise comes in three flavours, including vegetable, achari and cheesy garlic.

This is not the first time that Zydus Wellness, an Ahmedabad-based manufacturer has introduced fortified spreads under its Nutralite brand.

Previously, Zydus Wellness introduced spread products that are fortified with vitamins A, D and E.

Commenting on the latest launch, Zydus Wellness director and chief operating officer Tarun Arora said that “regular mayonnaise traditionally is not associated with health benefits and hence mothers restrict its use for kids. Nutralite, known for its health credentials, identified this as an opportunity.”

With The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) introducing food fortification scheme, many manufacturers have worked towards the scheme and add vitamins and relevant minerals into their products.

The eggless factor

Mayonnaise is the fastest-growing sauce in India, with a value growth of 23% in 2015, higher than ketchup, which saw a value growth of 13% in the same year.

The mayonnaise market in India was estimated to be at Rs 225 crore (USD 33.2 million) in 2014 by research firm Canadean and is projected to reach Rs 1,000 crore (USD 147 million) by 2020.

According to local daily Hindustan times in January this year, India’s mayonnaise market is booming with over 50 different kinds of mayonnaise sold.

On the other hand, German firm Dr Oetker is already reaping profits of mayonnaise sales. Its retail sales jumped from Rs 14 crore (USD 2 million) in 2008, to Rs 100 crore (USD 14.7 million) in 2015, which is a seven times increase. The company aims to achieve retail sales of Rs 500 crore (USD 73 million) by 2020.

It is estimated that over 80% of the mayonnaise sales in India are from the eggless variant.

In order to appeal to vegetarian consumers, foreign manufacturers have come out with eggless mayonnaise, which is contributing to the popularity of mayonnaise.

For instance, Dr Oetkar has introduced vegetarian mayonnaise, and has only one egg variant to appeal to vegetarian consumers.

Fast food chains such as KFC is using eggless mayonnaise for its coleslaw sold in Indian. MacDonald has also introduced McVeggie with eggless mayonnaise.