Innova Market Insights has unveiled its 2024 Top 10 Trends, placing a spotlight on the pivotal role of Ingredients. These food and beverage trends are borne from a foundation of global influences, consumer trends, and food and beverage trends, including trends in food ingredients.
The top trend, Taking the Spotlight, isn't just a label; it reflects a defining choice factor for consumers. As health consciousness soars, a spotlight on healthy ingredients and sustainable choices emerges, shaping consumer preferences. Local, natural, and responsibly produced ingredients dominate this flavorful narrative.
Nutritional ingredients enter the spotlight, revealing that consumers prioritise nutritional value, balanced nutrition, and naturalness. The focus is on holistic well-being, from macronutrient ingredients like proteins and fibres to micronutrients like vitamins and minerals. Proteins, in particular, maintain their star quality, with consumers seeking benefits like energy, stamina, and weight control.
Manufacturers respond to the protein craze, which is evident in the uptick of protein-focused product launches. Protein-packed offerings extend beyond sports nutrition to mainstream categories, with labels proudly proclaiming protein content. Plant-based protein products, in particular, experience exponential growth, reflecting shifting consumer preferences.
Natural ingredients are also spotlighted as consumers associate natural foods with essential nutrients. Specific health-benefiting natural ingredients, such as adaptogenic mushrooms and functional herbs, gain traction. Seaweed, ashwagandha, and other adaptogens are on the rise, embraced for their unique properties.
In this era of heightened consumer knowledge and demand, storytelling has become a powerful brand tool. Companies leverage on-pack labels and websites to share narratives about sustainability, responsible sourcing, flavours, and innovative ingredients like the sweet protein brazzein. Storytelling isn't just a marketing tactic; it's a means to build trust and loyalty.
Consumer trends call for honesty and transparency, making on-pack messaging the most crucial aspect for product developers. Consumers prioritise honesty, transparency, and sustainability, with one-third constantly checking product labels for health and sustainability-related ingredients.
Looking ahead, Ingredients: Taking the Spotlight trend aligns with broader themes in 2024. Whether natural, functional, plant-based, local, or indulgent, ingredient choices will be pivotal in product development. As consumers seek to learn more about health, food, and nutrition, on-pack health information and details about various ingredients become key in elevating products.
In the digital age, where information is at our fingertips, digital sources and media influencers will play a pivotal role in shaping consumer preferences, especially among younger generations like Gen Z and Millennials. As the curtain rises on this ingredient-centric era, innovation, transparency, and storytelling will be the key ingredients for success in the dynamic landscape of the food and beverage market.
