Top Ten Food Trends

Consumer food choices are driven by treat taste, health, convenience, and reasonable prices. The top 10 food trends are the result of food businesses attempting to meet these consumer demands. Few food products ever meet all these needs. There are always trade-offs in balancing these characteristics. According to marketers, consumers are searching to define their personal eating styles...customizing their thinking about food, mixing and matching various food characteristics to find the ideal combination for themselves and their families.

Personal eating styles will be influenced by age, state of health, cultural background, and family food attitudes. On the one hand, consumers will seek more enjoyment from food -- better taste, fuller flavors, more ethnic variety. These will be balanced by old habits, eating preferences, economic limitations, and time constraints. And consumers will try new products while sorting through advice on health, nutrition, and food safety. Inconsistencies abound as health-consciousness increased this year but Americans got heavier than ever. "Fat-free" products are prevalent in stores even as sales of ice cream, bacon, and salty snacks soared. So where are we headed?

The top ten food trends identified by the Institute of Food Technologists are:

1. Increasing role of food and food ingredients in self medication and disease prevention. Forty-one percent of Americans take vitamin supplements. Food companies and pharmaceutical companies are actively researching phytochemicals (those from plants) that may have health benefits.
2. Switch to "fresh" foods in most product categories. Consumers equate "fresh" with better taste, health, and nutrition. Sales in bakery fresh items, produce, sauces, salads, and other refrigerated foods continue to rise.
3. Return to organic food production. The organic market is flourishing with improved agricultural practices and one-on-one marketing. Important categories are baby foods, snack bars, vegetable powders and products, cereals, and pastas.
4. Gradual shift from animal-based to plant-derived food products. In restaurants, college foodservices, and at home, consumers are choosing more vegetarian-based meals.
5. Demand of mainstream consumers for foods that provide both physical and emotional "energy". Sports drinks, bars, cookies, and snacks now appeal to stressed-out consumers who seek "performance, power, and energy" from food.
6. Desire for foods that are easy and quick to prepare, yet are tasty, fresh, and nutritionally sound. Today, 80% of women still cook dinner 4-7 times a week. Yet, the majority admit not knowing what they will prepare at 4:00 in the afternoon. In a third of households, average preparation time is 15-30 minutes.
7. Disenchantment with microwave cooking. While 87% of households have at least one microwave, usage has peaked. Only 20% of main meal preparations use a microwave. The most common use is for popcorn.
8. Increasingly consumers eat when and where it's convenient. Portability and single service packaging are on the rise to meet the need to "eat-where-you-are."
9. Upgrading of the American palate. American spice use is up by 50% in the last decade. Consumers are eating more multi-culturally, and gourmet store sales are up.
10. Health-based demand for products containing active bacterial cultures. Yogurt products with active cultures are popular and sales are predicted to rise as consumers buy with health benefits in mind. Both bifidus and acidophilus products are believed to maintain healthy intestines and prevent various ailments.

Source: Sloan, A. Food Technology, July 1994

Karen Penner, Ph.D.
Extension Specialist, Food Science

3/96 File: CONSUMER FOOD MANAGEMENT/Food Consumption Trends

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