With children now regularly eating out at restaurants, watching TV cooking shows with their parents and being exposed to new foods while traveling, the days of basic fare have gone.
Consumers continue to eat and drink for health and are willing to pay more for functional properties. Probiotics, long limited to the dairy sector, are quickly expanding their potency and reach, while food formulators find new uses for galacto-oligosaccharides; not only do they help with taste and texture, but also with satiety.
In Japan, gelatin producer Jellice Co. has developed and introduced a functional food ingredient that is said to increase the body's ability to heal itself.