While Sriracha, gochujang and harissa continue to find favor with consumers and operators, the foodservice community awaits the next big global hit to transform menus.

In preparing for its annual outlook on 2019, global new products tracker Innova Market Insights identified its top 10 trends influencing all food and beverage categories. These developments certainly express themselves in Prepared Foods' category overviews.

Across an exhibition area of more than 80,000m2, experts from all sectors – including product developers and decision-makers from the food and beverage industry, as well as representatives of major brand companies – will do business face-to-face with top buyers and specialists from across the F&B supply chain.

According to Euromonitor International, 24% of the surveyed global consumers are trying to cut down their meat intake, driving sales of global meat substitutes to reach $19.5 billion in 2018.

Don't have a travel passport on hand? That's okay. There’s an ever-growing selection of foods and beverages—both at restaurants and on retail supermarket shelves—to offer bolder ethnic flavors and multi-sensory food experiences.

Consumers are rejecting the mass-produced and generic and will favour products positioned as simplified and of better quality, with an implied level of status. In the food and beverage industries, the trend is leading to an increased consumption of local ingredients and craft drinks.

Other hot flavor spots along with Asia, include Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Think sambal, gochujang, guasacaca, sofrito, agrodolce, dukkah, and more. These are just a taste of the flavors from around the world spicing up menus all over the country.

Multiple trend reports have pointed to a rapidly expanding interest in the cuisines of North Africa and the Middle East. For product developers wishing to serve this consumer trend, the key to an authentic experience is to unlock the taste and flavor through the ingredients and spices that bring accuracy to the flavor profiles that define these cuisines.

The Global New Products Report from Innova Market Insights found that almond introductions grew in four out of the five key categories for almonds worldwide, including confectionery (22%), snacks (19%) and bakery (17%), as well as bars (16%) and cereal (8%). This growth helped almonds maintain their long-held position as the top nut in global new product introductions.

Today, the internet and the popularity of social media has shortened the timeline to only two or three years from restaurant menus to materialization of new products on grocery shelves.