We polled our Zintro experts to give us the top five trends in food science for 2012. Here’s what they predict.
Ashok Dhruv, an expert in the engineering of food, pharmaceutical and bio-technology says his top five trends are:
1. Diversification into ethnic products: food science for creating authentic/adapted sensory perceptions such as flavors and textures.
2. Application of food science to support global reach: access to higher discretionary incomes in China and India. Customize developed world products for these markets.
3. Cost competition in the domestic markets of the developed countries: higher productivity to increase yield, astute capital allocation.
4. Wider, new, and improved raw material base: more search and application of bio materials from previously untapped locations.
5. Targeting baby boomer needs for targeted: this includes nutrition/nutraceuticals and dietary needs for fats, sugar, and proteins.
Dr. Jana Bogs, an expert in food science, horticulture, and nutrition, says her hot trends for food science include:
1. Rejuvenative foods: the Baby Boomer is feeling the aging process, as are younger people who’ve perhaps indulged too much in junk food and are now realizing why it was called junk. The stressful world in which we find ourselves spurs us to deep nourishment just to keep up. Rejuvenative foods are “superfoods” that pack lots of nutrients into not-so-calorie-laden servings like kale chips.
2. Sustainable foods: it’s a buzzword with a lot of meaning for conscious, thinking individuals. It refers to organic and Beyond Organic foods, nutritionally-balanced from the soil up. No room here for nasty chemical sprays or genetic modifications brought to agriculture by Big Chemical corporations. Instead, our world is refreshed with wholesome, natural products.
3. Living foods: raw foods, as nature intended, with their full complement of live enzymes and nutrients undamaged by heat, are powerful healing and energizing foods. Food scientists do their magic by combining these miraculous foods in tantalizing ways and packaging them so they stay vibrant until consumed.
4. : Consumers want more than just lunch, they want an adventure! Bring on the durian, the mangosteen, the abiu, the cherimoya. Never tried these? From lands far away come the king and queen of fruits along with the princes and princesses.
5. Nutrition-farmed foods: These foods have been carefully produced using a Beyond Organic Growing System™ that maximizes nutrient content, flavor, and shelf life. The growing system can enhance all four of the above categories. It all starts by balancing the full spectrum of soil nutrients so the plants can express their potentials. The lucky consumers are, in turn, supported in their own amazing potentials.
Harvey, an industrial process chemist, says that his top five trends for 2012 are:
1. Food that is correctly spiced: This is gaining interest because it is a popular belief that spices have healthful benefits. Spices impart desired flavor notes and provide the finished dish a pleasing color. Food preparations from the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, and the Far East are going to be trendy.
2. People are questioning the value of certain ingredients in prepared foods; therefore, prepared food manufacturers and food ingredient companies that provide proper science-based products will win.
3. Science-based food trade shows are getting popular. People are looking beyond flavor and color of food.
4. The general public (as opposed to specialized medical diets) is not afraid of reasonable concentrations of fat, sugar (sweetener) and salt in food. Fad diets are out. Low-calorie, healthy food is going to be the next long-term diet trend.
5. Wild (non-traditional) fruits and vegetables from South America and the Far East will become more popular because of their natural flavors and colors. There are no changes in these products.
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