In today’s diverse food and beverage market, consumers are looking for “better for you” products but don’t want to compromise on taste or quality. The ultimate goal of flavor houses is to source, innovate, create, and market the purest and the most authentic flavors. The flavors industry, driven by new global trends, is tilting towards everything natural and organic. With the base set for innovation, flavor houses are focusing on flavors that play a role in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and deliver new ethnic and exotic flavors.

The flavors market is expected to grow substantially. Understanding the key factors that contribute to flavor trends is important to succeeding in this market. These include:

• Careful consumption that dominates the smart consumers’ world – examining labels, reducing sodium and sugar intake.
• The growing willingness to experiment and the demand for better and complex experiences- a fine balance of sweet, tart, savory, and earthy flavors. 
• Growing demand for naturally sourced ingredients to get the desired flavors – not artificial; sourced from raw fruits, herbs and other natural sources.
• The shift toward vegan and vegetarian products requires more creative and intense flavors to be formulated and applied to vegan products, while still delivering a recognizable and desirable flavor.

   1.   A global shift towards lower salt and sugar consumption.

The increasing focus on “health through healthy lifestyle choices”, globally, has made low-sugar and low-salt flavors a major trend. Furthermore, public health recommendations and tax legislation in many countries are reasons for the drive to reduce sugar content across all food and beverage categories. Though still expecting food to be sweet or savory, today’s consumers are more aware of the health and diet connection and rate reduced salt/sugar as a key ingredient attribute. 

    2.  The rise of green protein solutions and animal protein replacements 

The demand for healthful and sustainable food alternatives is increasing. Flavor houses are innovating with plant-based options to deliver new and more intense flavors. For example, consumers still want a plant-based hamburger to taste like a beef hamburger. The only way to achieve this is by developing flavors that replicate the flavor so that consumers of plant-based diets can enjoy these products without sacrificing the taste they love. This trend of switching to plant-based products is a great opportunity for flavor houses since consumer product companies will rely on flavor suppliers to come up with novel flavors to either enhance or mask the natural flavor of plant-based protein ingredients.

    3.   The rising demand for recognizable and label-friendly ingredients 

The expectations of “more natural, traceable, known and minimally processed” food and beverages is a call to the flavor industry to experiment and create authentic flavors and flavor blends that can be transparently marketed with clear labels and safely used. 

Flavor system experts must base their innovations on the premise that even while experimenting with newer flavors, today’s consumers look for the “comfort and safety of the known”. Recognizability plays a key role in the consumer’s taste adventures.

   4.     A need to compensate for global citrus scarcity 

Citrus, one of the most recognized and beneficial names in the market – as an ingredient, flavor or product - saw a decline in its availability due to climate change, crop disease, and socio-political events over some years. Citrus replacement flavors in beverages and food are the most in demand the world over – with the conscious consumer asking for natural and clean alternatives.  

Delivering innovative, high quality beverage flavors to keep up with new trends and customer requirements, also means overcoming technological limitations and improving systems and processes for better quality and efficiency. 

As you can see from the diagram below, with filtration solutions to meet every innovation and manufacturing process goal in the flavor market, Pall Corporation can help you produce great tasting, high-clarity and long-lasting flavors economically, efficiently and safely.