Maybe you’ve already noticed these changes happening now at your local supermarket, according to the Institute of Food Technologists in Chicago.
Food labels are getting cleaner. Many food manufacturers are striving to eliminate chemical-sounding ingredients or any ingredient recognized as being artificial by reformulating their products to make them simpler and seem more wholesome. Maybe you’ve noticed Häagen-Dazs Five. It’s just one example of the “clean label” trend. It’s a line of ice cream that focuses on just five ingredients—milk, cream, sugar, eggs and one flavoring ingredient.
Recent studies show that shoppers are paying more attention to what they’re putting into their bodies, which is driving the clean label movement. Keep in mind, though, that the simplest foods often have no labels, such as apples, oranges, sweet potatoes and beets—in other words, produce.
Whole grains are big. The number of whole-grain products on the market increased by 9 percent from 2009 to 2010 (the most recent stats)—3,272 new products formulated with whole grains were introduced. Consumers are driving the bus. We’re switching to whole-grain bread and pasta, buying brown rice instead of white more often and catching onto preparing ancient whole grains like spelt, faro, amaranth and quinoa at home because they’re trendy at restaurants. To spot whole-grain bread or rolls, look for “whole wheat” or whole grain as the first ingredient.
More food manufacturers offer healthier options. Over the past five years, the sales of better-for-you (BFY) foods—a combination of “lite” plus “good” products, which are considered more wholesome, like Tropicana 50, Capri Sun Roarin’ Water, Dannon Yogurt and Lean Cuisine, are growing faster than traditional foods and beverages. Manufacturers are responding to consumer demand and seeing that what’s better for us is good for their bottomline, too.
