With such an acute focus on well-being in the wake of a year and a half of an ongoing global health crisis, consumers are paying closer attention than ever to the ingredients in the foods they eat. Moreover, with working from home shifting from a temporary to a permanent state for many workers, these same consumers have learned the hard way that calories count, so counting calories is back.
The protein trend has promised to continue at a steady pace, with interest in, and consumption of, plant proteins increasing at record levels. This is due in large part to the rapid expansion in consumer demand for meat, dairy, and seafood analogs. But alongside the growth in protein as a whole ingredient, the various parts that make up a protein molecule are not being ignored.
Consumers’ concerns over “green” issues also rose sharply. Upcycling, organics, sustainability, corporate responsibility, and living wages reached enough of a tipping point in the consumer zeitgeist where the Hartman Group termed sustainability and company responsibility a “business imperative.”
March is National Nutrition Month, yet I can’t help but think of the meme currently circulating: “Welcome to the One-Year Anniversary of the Two-Week Lockdown!” The past year has been a mixed blessing, especially when it comes to health and nutrition.
There are two overarching trends greeting us as we enter the third decade of the 21st century. The first is a hyper-awareness of the foods and beverages we consume that surpasses anything preceding or predicted. The other is the synergy between food makers and consumer demands ignited by this awareness.
The growth in sales of natural food colorants is expected to continue growing strong. The food color market reached $2.85B at the end of last year (about double the 2015 figures), and boasts a CAGR of nearly 6%.
For the past few years, we’ve noted in these pages that digestive health, and the probiotic bacteria and prebiotic fibers and starches that support it, would continue to be the hottest trends in “better for you” food and beverage development.
When mushroom teas, powders, and concentrates did indeed start to take off in the late 2010s, the timing could not have been more efficacious. American consumers had an awareness of medicinal mushrooms that gave food and beverage developers targeting immune health an easier task in marketing such products.
Plant-based has been the big buzz-term in food and beverage for well over a year now. With meat and poultry analogs leading the way, we split the topic into two features.