Along with the flurry of celebrity chefs, and in particular the dynamic Mr. Oliver, came a barrage of advice on healthy eating and condemnation too of bad eating habits. As concern mounted over what we’d been putting into our bodies, and especially those of our children, retailers found that they would have to change with the times, before the commercial rug was metaphorically pulled from beneath their feet.

The introduction of healthy school dinners has been followed by healthier vending, as vending manufacturers are quick to cash in on the health boom. Gone are the days when vending machines offered nothing but an array of sugary, additive laden products. Modern vendors are replacing old favourites with seeds, nuts, healthy drinks and other natural nutritional treats.

“In a world where we take less exercise and eat more there comes a time where we need to consider what we eat,” said a spokesperson for Vending Nutritionals - a specialist in healthier vending alternatives. The company’s products are set against strict dietary and nutritional standards and have been approved by independent nutritionists in schools and contain as few e-numbers as possible. On offer instead are water drinks, juice drinks, milk and yoghurt drinks, organic snack bars, bagged fruit and nuts and fruit snacks.

“Foodservice and Vending offers us the opportunity to eat or snack at our convenience so it has become imperative that we have healthy alternatives to the traditional chocolate and crisps,” states the company boldly on its website.

As consumers consider their bulging waistlines (real or imagined!), they are now more likely to opt for a healthier cereal bar instead of traditional chocolate bars. Weetabix is now tapping into this trend offering a wide variety of cereal bars combining fruit, yoghurt and nuts. Weight Watchers too is offering the discerning customer, hoping to lose weight, choice from a wide selection of cereal bar products.

Leading nuts supplier Sun Valley is now Soil Association certified and has been quick to capitalise on growing health trends. Healthier ranges include the new ‘Just…’ range of berries, raisins, fruits and seeds and nuts. Packed with protein, dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals and with no added salt, colourings, flavourings or sugar, they have a clear appeal to the consumer that wants convenience without the cost to their health.

The ‘You are what you eat’ range of seeds, nuts and other healthy bagged treats provide a refuge from the quick-fix, short lived sugar highs of snacks like chocolate bars and crisps. The ill effects of snacks high in sugar content are felt by us all, characterised by that all important ‘sugar slump’, and is leading the average person to look for more in regards to the choices offered to them by vendors.

Munchy Seeds is a Suffolk based organisation that has been developing its own brand of natural healthy seed products, free from all artificial additives and preservatives in response to increasing consumer demand. Newer introductions include the ‘Omega Seed Mix’, ‘Naked Seeds Mix’ and the ‘Cajun Mix’. The snacks are ideal for vegetarians, vegans, coeliacs, diabetics and anyone simply wanting to grab something balanced and nutritious that’s free from cholesterol, gluten and nuts. Munchy Seeds now boasts an impressive 8,000 square foot production plant and 14 employees in Leiston, Suffolk. All of this expansion being a far cry from the company’s humble beginnings in a small commercial kitchen in New Zealand.

Gone are the days when ‘convenience food’ was synonymous with overly processed foods high in salt and sugar. Health conscious consumers want freedom to choose what they put into their bodies. This change in approach isn’t just in relation to meal time, but a day-long, whole approach to modernising the way in which we eat and select our foods. Whilst grabbing that last minute snack on the run before work, people want products that are slow burning, seeing them through the stresses of the day. Rather than be left behind, health food producers and vendors alike are working together to offer consumers the choices that they want, proving that a healthy approach to life, means a healthy approach to vending.

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