Food and Beverage Top Stories

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Whether you pour it, spread it, slice it or spoon it—plant-based dairy options are making inroads in consumer kitchens. Retail 2021 data from the Good Food Institute and SPINS showed plant-based milk category sales at $2.6 billion alone with one- and three-year growth figures of 4% and 33% respectively. Moreover, plant-based milks enjoyed a 16% share of market two years ago and 42% share of household penetration.

Today’s suppliers do more than simply mix a formulation to the customer’s request; they offer guidance and expertise, typically staffing nutritionists, biochemists, and medical experts, as well as experts on regulations. They realize that often the company ordering a premix might not have the knowledge or in-house experience to create a safe and effective blend that includes the appropriate amounts and delivered bioavailability for each vitamin, mineral, or other component.

Breakfast items like cereals, omelets, and hash browns have become popular as snacks. Meeting this trend from the other direction, such comfort and enjoyment, coupled with convenience and variety, are increasingly repositioning snacks as replacements for meals. 

While plant-based proteins are undoubtedly the biggest trend of the decade, cellular-based proteins—also known as "cultiavated animal proteins," "no kill meat," and formerly known as "lab-growth" proteins—are benefiting from a technical boom that's bringing cellular-derived meat, poultry, seafood, and dairy to market at a breakneck speed.

David Feder, Executive Editor-Technical for Prepared Foods media, interviews Paul Kollesoff, co-founder of The Urgent Co., makers of industry-upsetters Brave Robot animal-free ice cream and Modern Kitchen animal-free cream cheese.

According to research from NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business and Circana, sustainability-marketed products outperformed conventionally marketed products across 36 categories and grew +0.3 points to 17.3% of purchases. In addition, sustainability marketed products’ five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) sits at 9.48%, outpacing its conventional counterpart at 4.98% for the same period. 

Lu Ann Williams, Innova Market Insights’ Co-Founder and Global Insights Director, discusses consumer interest in immunity and its impact on new foods and beverages.

You might be starting from scratch in a kitchen, or perhaps you already have a recipe you like. Either way, now is the time to think forward. You’re going to be choosing the ingredients and packaging you need to meet consumer expectations, support the statements and claims you want to make, and match way you expect to manufacture it.    

According to Innova’s 2022 Flavor Survey, 39% of Americans said they are most likely to experiment with flavors through sauces, seasonings, and toppings. These categories rank ahead of others such as bakery, soup, desserts and ice cream, cheese, savory snacks, and more.