At this years Natural Product’s Expo West, New Hope’s team of editors and analysts identified five nationwide trends that are influencing the natural and organic food marketplace.
These trends are having a strong influence on the emerging foods and brands, and were seen all over the aisles of Expo West.
Here's their top 5 (plus 2 more I thought deserved to be on the list).
Traceability
Consumers want to know where their food is coming from — both where it was grown and where it traveled on it’s way to their mouth. Even better, they want to know about the people that produced it.
New technology is emerging to allow brands to connect their consumers with this information. For example, Traceable Coffee is an organization that allows consumers to type in the code on their coffee and learn about the farmer that produced their specific bag. It even allows you to tip the farmers if you really like their goods!
Clean Labels
Clean labels is another way of saying “short ingredient lists that are nutrient rich”.
Consumers want a simple food with just a few ingredients, but they must pack a powerful nutrition punch. Ancient grains are a great example of this; they’re simple but they bring a lot of nutritional value to the plate. Minimum processing is an important feature of this as well.
Paleo Products
The paleo movement is expanding, with paleo products popping up in every product category from english muffins to chocolate.
In case you haven’t heard of the new trend, the paleo diet is based on the food humans' ancient ancestors might likely have eaten, such as meat, nuts and berries, and excludes food they likely wouldn't have had access to, like dairy and processed grains.
Packaging Innovations
Packaging has made leaps and bounds in the last few years, and this year was no different.
Packaging made advancements in sustainability, shelf stability and consumer education.
Protein Rich
Consumers today have a nearly insatiable hunger for protein. The products at Expo West showed this is many ways, tucking protein into many different forms and many unexpected products.
My personal favorite? Cricket flour protein bars. That’s right.
Other Top Trends That I Would Add To Their List
Gluten Free
Gluten intolerance has been on the rise for the last few years, and as a result, gluten free products have exploded. Many consumers who aren’t gluten free still enjoy eating gluten free products occasionally because they’re healthy.
Non-GMO
The popularity of the Non-GMO Project is no secret. Their seal has taken off in the natural products industry and was seen on nearly ever booth at Expo West.
This is now considered a basic component for any natural product to succeed in the market.
What other trends are you seeing on the market now? Tell us in the comments below.
Topics: Industry Trends
