The expansion into prebiotic fiber ingredients had expanded fiber use from its traditional home within grain foods to a broader range of categories, including soft drinks and confectionery. Innova Market Insights actively monitors a broad range of trends—including global macro trends, lifestyle forces, consumer insights, ingredient trends, and new food and beverage product launches—that all show the impact of fiber use on various levels.

North America was the second top region for energy drinks launches during a recent one-year period, with Europe as the leading region. Approximately one-fifth of global energy drink launches are released in North America. However, price differences between North America and other regions lead to a larger and dominant North American share for energy drinks sales value.

Consumers tell us that they care a lot about the health of the planet and say that it’s today’s most important global issue. They also describe themselves as being at least moderately engaged in various environmental actions.

The trend toward global culinary exploration is driven by younger generations. Among those participating in our annual surveys, Millennials and Generation Z globally are somewhat more likely to express interest in more unusual, adventurous and exotic flavors.

The beauty of Innova’s annual Top 10 Trends of the food and beverage industry is that the trends apply across all market categories—including dairy products and dairy alternatives. Dairy and dairy alternatives overlap in many ways, differ in others, and our Top 10 Trends can be interpreted across both.

Today, it’s hard to keep up with the dramatic evolution of protein ingredients that fall under the umbrella of plant-based. This includes the growing numbers of ingredients that are not even based on plants. Here’s a brief look at current trends that help define movement in plant-based ingredients, followed by predictions for the future of alternative proteins.

At the top of the trends hierarchy are five macro forces that impact consumer needs and behavior: focus on health, increased cost of living, potential political and global threats, technology transformations, and health of the planet. This last force, health of the planet, inspires consumers to do what they can to manage their impact on the environment. Sustainable packaging is essential to health of the planet because it allows consumers to take action in a tangible way.

Several of Innova Market Insights Top 10 Trends for 2024 support continued successes in the snack food industry. Our third 2024 trend, “Prioritizing Prevention,” demonstrates how consumers take action to prevent health concerns and select healthier snacks.

Every year, Innova Market Insights compiles its Top Ten Food & Drink Trends. The company's latest research shows that food price inflation and the need to cut back on expenses continue to affect consumer markets worldwide.

Although plant-based has become a popular term in the dairy- and meat-free categories, it does not accurately describe all developments in this fast-moving field. There are technologies that generate “animal-free,” bioidentical ingredients such as dairy whey and dairy casein. Even so, “plant-based” continues to grow in use, with indexed average annual growth of +42% between 2017 and 2022.