It made me really sad to read a few of these comments, so I just wanted to give you a growl to say hi. I founded BEAR 6 years ago to create snacks that would be barely processed and genuinely healthy for families- it’s something I care really passionately about personally. I totally hear the frustration that you express in terms of highly processed foods- that’s the reason I started the business, and also why we’re doing this survey- it’s gotten to a stage now where it’s all very confusing for families, and that needs to change.
Our snacks are made from whole pure fruit, and absolutely nothing else. We just take fruit that is deliciously ripe, peel it, chop it into pieces, blend it, and then put it on big oven baking trays that are baked gently overnight at 42 degrees. All that happens next is that the fruit is rolled, and then hand cut into shapes. We never use concentrated fruit juices, just the whole fruit itself, which means that you get all the fibre and roughage from the fruit. There’s no blasting at high temperatures, or using extrusion machines with our snacks- we’re the only fruit snack that doesn’t, and are also the only fruit snack- aside from traditional dried fruits such as raisins or apricots- that are actually made from 100% fruit. We'd never use gumming and bulking agents which make sugar levels look lower, but which offer absolutely no nutritional benefit whatsoever, and which require a much more processed approach. The result of our approach is that BEAR snacks are high in fibre, 1 of your 5 a day, and contain the same natural sugars as a fresh apple.
We’ve always advocated fresh fruit as a great snack- but we also know, having spent years talking to families, that that isn’t always a practical or realistic solution, so we set about creating snacks that would let families be happy and healthy. We worked closely with nutritional and dentistry experts in making our snacks- their opinion is that BEAR snacks have a similar impact on teeth as the fresh fruit that they’re made from. As with any fresh fruit, they suggested sensible eating, recommending that it’s best eaten in one go rather than spread out over hours, with a glass of water or milk to follow to help the mouth’s saliva restore its normal pH.
If you’d ever like to chat this through a bit more, give us a growl at the Cave, we'd love to hear from you. We’re on 0203 727 9000 or [email protected].
Bear hugs
Hayley Gait-Golding