of International Food Information Council (IFIC) has released its Annual Trends Forecast Report, which shows that recent moves towards health and wellness, transparency and diversity will continue in 2023.
Specifically, IFIC notes that health remains a top priority, reflected in the growing popularity of beverages with purported health benefits. The organization notes that it is seeking alternatives to caffeine, such as mate and yapon tea. non-alcoholic beveragesespecially resonate with young consumers.
Another wellness-related trend is the ongoing interest in gut health. IFIC expects demand for probiotics and prebiotics to impact the market this year as manufacturers increasingly add probiotics to ‘non-traditional’ foods such as chocolate, ice cream and sauces doing. According to IFIC, the wave of plant-based innovation is expected to continue in 2023, with various forms such as plant-based pasta and various processes such as upcycling plant-based food ingredients. And while cultured meat is niche for now, IFIC reports that this year could be the breakout year for meat produced using animal cells.
IFIC also predicts that consumer trends toward health and wellness will show up in food packaging. “There will start to be a greater consensus around nomenclature, some terminology and marketing claims to get more label real estate,” the group predicts.
Beyond products, IFIC predicts that food-centric companies will continue to focus on diversity, equity and inclusion in their industry. This will be evident in purchasing decisions, treatment of workers, etc. IFIC also emphasizes the term ‘glocally’, expressing its own local needs that unfold with its interest in globalization and concerns about supply chains and inflation, and interest in locally produced and sourced products. I paid attention to the conditions.
Meanwhile, with the start of the new fiscal year, IFIC has undergone internal changes as well. IFIC CEO Joseph Clayton is leaving the non-profit research organization after six years at the helm. To ensure a smooth transition, a search committee has been working over the past few months on behalf of Clayton, who will remain until early 2023.
“It has been an extraordinary six years and I am honored to have been able to help advance IFIC’s mission and programs,” said Clayton. “To expand the scope of IFIC as an evidence-based information source on food and to strengthen our research agenda to better understand how consumers approach decisions at the intersection of food and health, we has taken a big step forward, and IFIC is better prepared than ever to promote actionable, science-based food information.”
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