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The biscuit market in the UK (termed "cookie" in the USA), along with the confectionery sector of which it is considered a part, has suffered in some recent years in terms of perception and unit sales, partly due to an assumed increased health orientation by consumers. There has been a particularly noteworthy decrease in sales of what are considered unhealthy "everyday" biscuits produced by major biscuit brands, although there has also been the appearance of apparently conflicting rising consumer demand for luxury biscuit products ([1] Parry, 2006). This new demand structure has been served by divergent policy solutions of manufacturers and retailers towards, on one side, new entrant substitute everyday snack ranges with intrinsic (or added) "healthy" product qualities - including the so-called "functional foods" ([13] Day, 1999) - and, on the other side, increasing ranges of high premium, luxury, indulgent biscuits, with presumed retained unhealthy connotations ([2] Bainbridge, 2007). The healthy biscuit options have included reduced-content, and free-from, varieties of perceived bad health ingredient products, such as those with reduced/no gluten, sugar or salt ([56] McCrorie, 2007). These product choice alternatives are presented either for purposes of general, holistic dietary "balance" or to tackle specific societal problems such as obesity, hyperactivity or allergies. There has also been the comparatively recent advent of functional products with added "healthy" supplements such as vitamins and minerals ([13] Day, 1999; [45] Pacyniak, 2006).
Concerning general food consumption in the post-Second World War years, and increasingly from the early 1970s onwards, there has been a noted growth in research and wider media attention upon the need for (and consumer preference towards) perceived healthier food choices ([15] Feingold, 1976; [41] Mackarness, 1976; [36] Lawrence, 1986; [4] Benton, 1996). The perception of what is "good" in terms of healthy food has been, and remains, however, a major point of contention ([12] Darrall, 1992; [48] Sijtsema et al. , 2007). In terms of contents or ingredients the increasingly common consensus is that healthy food has low quantities of fats (particularly saturated or "trans" varieties), sugars, salt and/or chemical additives (e-numbered preservatives and colourings being highlighted); whilst healthy foods should have relatively high quantities of fibre, vitamins and minerals. High-carbohydrate products, with their associated high calorific or energy value, have also...