Annabel Karmel

Annabel Karmel

Babyfood brand Annabel Karmel is set to enter the Chinese market for the first time, with products expected to land on shelves in the autumn.

The business is preparing to roll out 19 SKUs to three retailers in China in October, including eight new variants for the local market. It had also revised some existing recipes “based on distributor feedback to ensure they are suitable for the Chinese market – for example, removing vanilla, which is prohibited there as a babyfood ingredient” said the brand’s founder, Annabel Karmel.

In China, there was “a real trust in Western babyfood brands and an appetite for more of a Western influence” she added. “Chinese parents typically favour non-domestic brands, in part because of the Chinese milk scandal.” The 2008 controversy centred on melamine-adulterated milk and infant formula that led to the hospitalisation of an estimated 54,000 babies.

The Annabel Karmel ambient products have been in development since November 2017. They will comprise organic purees in resealable pouches for feeding stages one and two, organic pasta shells and pasta sauce. All will be made in the UK, then shipped to China to be distributed by a local company.

The Asian rollout will be preceded in the summer by a launch in the Netherlands of Annabel Karmel frozen meals for toddlers across 120 stores. Holland was “one of the biggest countries for British exports in food” Karmel said.