Prognosticating Global Food Trends
GLOBAL INSIGHTS
Innova Market Insights takes a global perspective for its annual trend predictions by monitoring activities around global new product launches. Recently, reports and news stories have focused on the issue of food waste and its effects on the global food industry and hunger, and Innova analysts say this will continue in 2014 with a focus on reducing food loss and waste across the food supply chain. There is also an increasing concern over where food originates. “Traceability is high on the agenda and manufacturers are actively marketing this to consumers,” reports Lu Ann Williams, Director of Innovation at Innova Market Insights. She cites a 45% increase of new global food and beverage product launches making an “origin” claim for the first half of 2013 compared to the second half of 2012. Cheese, chocolate, and coffee are categories that lead with origin claims.
What else should we be on the lookout for in 2014, according to Innova’s trend predictions? Consumers are enjoying simpler, more basic food, often prepared at home, and food manufacturers are responding for both budget and premium brands by offering value packaging, making “good value” claims on products, and providing more in-store value promotions. Look for more small food companies to have a bigger impact by promoting their products through various social media outlets to consumers in their home market and markets around the world. Innova expects many large food manufacturers to offer holistic approaches to addressing nutrition, which is being seen as the key to addressing healthcare budget issues that people are facing around the world. The popularity of heirloom vegetables continues to rise, as does the use of ancient grains like freekeh and chia. Innova in 2012 recognized that protein and protein-enriched foods would make an impact, especially in the dairy foods category, and indeed that continues with a variety of products making protein claims. Expect to see a growing interest in “free from” foods and new developments around alternative ingredients that address the concerns of consumers with food allergies or intolerances.
Other organizations like McCormick & Co. look to global cuisines for inspiration in pinpointing what up-and-coming trends are expected to affect food product development and foodservice. Four of its top five trends in the 2014 McCormick® Flavor Forecast® emphasize global influences on what many consumers around the world are eating. Chili peppers are an integral ingredient in many foods, bringing a range of heat levels and flavors to many different types of foods. McCormick notes that work on discovering and developing new chili pepper varieties as well as using methods like grilling, smoking, pickling, fermenting, and candying chili peppers to bring out flavor nuances are fueling what it calls a “chilies obsession.” In places where Indian cuisine is fairly established, like the UK, or where basic concepts of the cuisine are taking hold, like the United States, expect to see the ingredients and flavors of the cuisine incorporated in foods served everywhere from food trucks to fine dining establishments, according to culinary experts participating in McCormick’s research. There is a newfound interest in Mexican food in countries like China, while in the U.S. there is a growing emphasis on moving beyond typical Tex-Mex food and exploring authentic, regional Mexican food. Lastly, McCormick reports that Brazilian cuisine, which combines indigenous foods and ingredients from many other cultures’ cuisines and features ingredients like black-eyed peas, guava, cassava flour, and tempero baiano, is poised to become a breakout cuisine.
Karen Nachay,Senior Associate Editor
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