Call Us Email Us

Food and Beverage Trends 2022 including the Effect of War

In this post, we summarise an article by Joshua Minchin on the New Food Magazine website about the trends predicted for 2022. We look also at the effects on the food industry of the war in Ukraine.

Five Food and Beverage Trends 2022

Consumer Indulgence will Continue

During the pandemic, consumers turned to sweet treats as a small antidote to the privations of lockdowns and restrictions. This trend will continue and is borne out by research commissioned by Mondelez International. (Mondelez International is one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of snacks including Cadbury’s chocolate and Ritz crackers). This ‘State of Snacking’ research report, which surveyed more than 3,000 consumers from marketplaces around the world, found that 85 percent of respondents eat at least one snack for sustenance and one for indulgence every day. 88 percent of respondents said that a balanced diet can include some indulgence.

Home Cooking is Here to Stay

Home cooking saw a huge rise during the pandemic as consumers sought to fill their time and, in some cases, recreate a restaurant-quality meal at home. Many food manufacturers and retailers have added meal kits to their products ranges to take full advantage of this trend.

CBD and Hemp

The cannabis, CBD and hemp food markets have been growing continuously for some time now. It is expected, however, that that this growth will be slow as approval by the relevant authorities of the use of some of these products is still a long way off.

Functional Food

The trend of consumers demanding food that promotes health and well-being in addition to tasting good will continue. Dr Jeffrey Blumberg from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts states that “They (consumers) want foods, beverages, and supplements that have the ability to improve their mood and boost immunity, sharpen their cognition, help with their athletic performance, or improve their skin or sleep”.

What will this mean for the food industry? Dr Blumberg suggests that retailers will need to offer consumers more information on what their product can do for their body and possibly a further trend where retailers will offer meal kits based on one’s personalised nutritional needs and goals.

Low and No Alcohol Drinks

It is expected that the rising trend of consumers opting for low or no alcohol drinks will continue as more beverage companies offer these types of drinks. Diageo recently launched Guinness 0.0, a no-alcohol version of the famous Guinness drink. Other beer and spirits giants have had no alcohol versions on the market for a while now.

Effects on the Food Industry of the War in Ukraine

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has warned of a potential food crisis, with rising prices and food shortages.

Prices had already risen due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and now the war in Ukraine has increased the likelihood of this crisis becoming a reality.

Foods Most Affected by the War in Ukraine

The foods mostly likely to be affected include wheat, barley, maize, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil as well as fertiliser as both Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of these products. It is feared that the war itself will affect production and producing countries may restrict exports of these products to feed their own people first.

You can read more on the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation website in an article entitled:  The Importance of Ukraine and the Russian Federation for global agriculture markets and the risks associated with the conflict

See the original article here

Search Posts

Categories