The goods on foods

MediaPost Publications Lempert: Boomers, Men Will Shape Food Trends 12/29/2011: "Avoiding added sugars. Given the rates of obesity and diabetes, Americans are becoming more reluctant to consume empty sugar calories (as opposed to naturally occurring sugars in healthy foods). Lempert expects “reduced-sugars” to be the biggest health claim in the coming year, supported by a revised Nutrition Facts Panel that goes beyond just stating the total sugars per serving.
Among related trends: The rapid growth of plant-based (natural) stevia sweeteners (see “Cargill’s Truvia Now #2 Sugar Substitute”), and growing pressure on food makers to reduce sugar levels in kids’ foods, in particular (see “Study: Many Kids’ Cereals Still High in Sugar”).

The ethnic food revolution. Food trucks “more often than not manned by descendants of the actual cuisines and cultures being offered” have paved the way for mainstream food makers and retailers to market authentic ethnic foods and ingredients in affordable, convenient ways, sums up Lempert.
Better leveraging the multi-sensory nature of foods.

• The sounds associated with food and its packaging, as well as foods’ taste, look and texture, influence our eating and buying decisions. In 2012, “multisensory perception will be one of the new ‘food sciences,’ as psychologists and food scientists join forces to design, create and influence the sounds of our foods to convey freshness, taste and even health attributes,” says Lempert.

• The checkout and shopper-marketing revolutions. Retailers are pushing hard to leverage mobile and other technologies that enable customers to all but skip the front-end checkout process, as well as access customized, transaction-driven offers/rewards and in-depth product information while shopping. As Lempert points out, however, a variety of new (sometimes conflicting) technologies involve major investment decisions for retailers and suppliers.