The Trend of the Year Is Responsibility

Consumer perception has completely changed in recent years, and companies have been adapting their products, production and marketing strategies in order to meet the new requirements.

Of course, consumers still want to try new products, new flavors and to experience innovative presentations, but the entire food industry is now centered on concepts as “sustainability”, “ethical”, “reducing waste”, “fair trade”, or “eco”, to name a few. These trends were highlighted by Lu Ann Williams, director of Innovation at Innova Markets Insights, in a webinar called “Sweet Inspiration”.

For example, Innova’s analysis shows an increase in ethical claims across all F&B industries, and they are meant to bring peace of mind to the consumer while making a positive impact.

The number of product launches featuring ethical animal/human/environmental claims increased in 2017 with 29% in confectionery and with 59% in the snack market segment. The category uses possible claims such as “save the bees”, “organic and ethical traded”, “reduce food waste”, etc.

Moreover, another trend on Innova Market Insights’ list is the so-called “Going full circle”. The number of products with ethical packaging claims recorded a 50% growth between 2015 and 2017. Upcycling is referring to reusing the packaging for something else. Bio packaging, made from renewable natural polymers that can contribute to solving environmental pollution and creating new markets for agricultural products, is also a claim on trend. This huge trend it is also seen in corporations such as McDonald’s, which has announced goals to improve its packaging and help significantly reduce waste, to positively impact the communities the company serves around the world.

But however, Innova is not the only one research agency that claims ethical packaging to be big. Mintel underlined that the trend will be important for online trade as well. “Packaging will play a pivotal role in reducing global food and product waste, and online brands will reinvigorate their packaging in order to enhance the e-commerce experience”, according to Mintel’s packaging trends for 2018.

As part of the big “sustainability” trend, reducing food waste is on trend. It is already known that bread and other bakery goods are at the top of foodstuffs that are wasted. For example, a report presented by The Guardian in 2015 showed that 22.4% of all bread was thrown away.

The analyst also highlighted a trend called “Positively processed”. Here we can observe that more “raw” and “old fashioned” processed hit the shelves, for example we have products created by using a traditional Mexican mill stone, or fermented cocoa beans. Minimal processing needs are met with raw snacks and confections.

On the other hand, the “healthy claim” is here to stay this year, but it takes on different aspects, as the consumers diversified their perceptions on what is healthy or not. However, depending on their own set of values, four in 10 consumers in the US and UK have increased their consumption of “healthy foods” in 2017.

In this category, the “better-for-you” trend has also grown. The penetration of better-for-you-related claims in snack and confectionery increased from 37% in 2013, to 43% in 2017. There is an increasing interest in a cleaner lifestyle and greater transparency and manufacturers have many ways to apply this concept.

Here, we talk again about sugar reduction, traditional recipe or tracking the sources of ingredients.