Blog - 12.18.2019
Trends at FIE 2019 explained by JLB DÉVELOPPEMENT
The Food Ingredients Europe 2019 event took place at Villepinte Exhibition Centre in early December. For 30 years now, this has been a key event for professionals producing ingredients and intermediate food products for the food industry. In an exhibition area measuring around 80,000 m², some 27,000 visitors came to meet over 1,700 suppliers showcasing 15,000 ingredients, attend conferences given by industry experts and find out about market trends in health and nutrition ingredients.
In this article, the trends at FIE 2019 are explained by Helena Augusto, marketing manager at JLB DÉVELOPPEMENT.
– Natural flavourings for a clean label
– Star ingredients
– Major innovation in drinks
– The pursuit of sustainability
Seeking natural flavourings and flavouring agents for a clean label
Today’s “green” consumers want increasingly natural products and are willing to pay up to 20% more for genuine guarantees of authenticity. Furthermore, according to Progressive Grocer, the turnover for clean-label food and drinks is predicted to top 180 billion dollars by 2020. And as for the clean-ingredients market worldwide, its turnover could reach some 48 billion dollars by 2023 (source: Market Research).
But this pursuit of naturalness will not, however, be at the expense of flavour and pleasure, which are what drive repeat purchasing.
Brands are therefore looking for solutions that respond to clean-label market expectations, with products that are free from additives and artificial colourings and flavourings, whilst still offering organoleptic quality that satisfies demanding customers as regards flavours and colours.
This means that suppliers of flavourings and colourings have really had to rise to the challenge and find natural technical solutions that give the same stability guarantees for colourings, and no after-taste for flavourings.
At FIE, Destilla showcased its new range of HiPures® flavouring distillates. What’s so special about them? They enable any preparation to be flavoured to perfection, but the icing on the cake is that the word “flavouring” is not required on the label, only the name of the plant or food from which the distillate is extracted. The gentle, low-temperature processing of clear distillates ensures a natural, pure flavour that can be used for a wide range of applications.
Star ingredients
As marketing manager for a manufacturing company, I was particularly struck by the sheer number of ways ingredients were being presented in finished products and product concepts. This specific marketing approach really does allow the potential of the ingredient to be put on show. What’s more, it is the vision and market-based approach we use at JLB DÉVELOPPEMENT: being proactive, generating new ideas and concepts for keeping our customers one step ahead!
This vision can increasingly be seen among suppliers of ingredients such as Destilla, mentioned above, which displays its HiPures® ingredients in elegantly printed cans, or Iprona (later in this article), even though they do not manufacture the actual drinks, but rather the ingredients for them.
Some of the bolder ingredient suppliers go one step further: they showcase finished product concepts with their active ingredients, but in addition undertake concept co-branding, which combines the strength and notoriety of two brands. This marketing strategy is extremely interesting in terms of ROA (return on attention), because it means that the concept is promoted by two organisations, each with its own audience, thus achieving twice as much media exposure. The audience is doubled… but the costs are halved! In fact, development costs are shared by both suppliers of ingredients.
In this idea, JLB DEVELOPPEMENT has also produced with Kaneka a product concept called Ready To Recover. Discover the concept.
Major innovation in health drinks
According to Market Research, the drinks market is on the up! It is predicted to reach 1.9 billion dollars by 2021, at a CAGR of 3% from 2016 to 2021. Among the driving forces for this market are reduced sugar, naturalness, finding new experiences for the senses and technological advances in the field.
Drinks which are not as sweet, or naturally sweet
Today’s consumers prefer drinks with less sugar to drinks full of strongly-flavoured sweeteners. Reducing and replacing sugar will continue to be paramount for drinks manufacturers in 2020. This explains why they are coming up with ways to reduce sugar content and use natural alternatives, such as fruit sugars or agave syrup. More technical still, slow-release low GI sugars, polyols or fibre as a substitute for sugar are being offered by ingredient suppliers.
Clean-label drinks
Nexira has developed a range of herbal drinks containing super-foods and botanical extracts, or Thixogum G prepared from acacia gum, that can be used in clean-label drinks as a stabiliser.
Daregal has showcased Infuz’O, its new herb-infused drink, at FIE. The value of this cordial, bursting with flavour, is that it can have the clean label. Only the name of the herb is required to be shown on the labelling.
Drinks designed to be natural and healthy
The demand for drinks which boost physical and emotional well-being will continue to drive innovation. Brands need to “go back to their roots” by including essential nutrients in these functional drinks, such as vitamins and minerals, omega-3 fatty acids and proteins.
Drinks designed to uplift mood and reduce stress are enriched with new ingredients such as adaptogenic plants and cannabidiol (CBD).
A nod to our friends at Lactalis Ingrédient, who were showcasing a ready-to-drink “Protein Shake” packed with nutrients, made from fruit and containing Pronativ, a natural complete protein with 9 essential amino acids, making this shake highly digestible.
New experiences for the senses
Imbibe, a drinks development company, predicts trends for drinks ingredients. “As far as the flavours of drinks are concerned, herbs with flavours that complement fruit, such as basil with strawberry, or mint with lemonade, will be popular combinations”, just like the natural flavours of super-fruits, vegetables, herbs, and plants, such as lavender, rose and chamomile.
The pursuit of sustainability
The word “sustainability” was much in evidence on display stands at FIE 2019. It is effectively one of the major focuses among stakeholders in the food and health market. And with good reason! Brand development in this respect is in response to the pressing expectations voiced by consumers. As revealed at the conference given by Innova Market, 87% of consumers expect companies to commit to sustainability (a study in the UK, US, CHINA, 2019, INNOVA). Moreover, consumers are willing to pay more for products from companies which reduce plastic and waste, or use renewable energy sources.
New avenues for careful thought and innovation are opening up for stakeholders in the food and dietary markets.
As we do for any challenge our customers face, JLB DÉVELOPPEMENT is similarly committed to action for innovation, naturalness, clean label and sustainability. We are proactive in coming up with solutions, and would be delighted to discuss your projects with you. Shall we talk?
Sources:
https://www.figlobal.com/fieurope/about/press
FIE Innovation Tour “Boissons Fonctionnelles” 2019 organisé par NutriMarketing