Emerging trends in new foods and ingredients

Which new foods are manufacturers pushing to obtain authorization? According to the UK's Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes, new trends have been observed in recent years. Emerging trends include sustainability, new proteins and healthy foods Wait.

Healthy Food

Health is a key trend in many industries, including nutritional health food, sports nutrition and general food. In the UK, the development of the health market has been particularly remarkable in recent years. According to data from market analyst Statista, the retail value of the market has grown from 20.5 billion euros in 2015 to nearly 623 billion euros in 2018.

Unsurprisingly, with the expansion of the market, the application of new foods is also increasing. ACNEP stated that more and more applications are accompanied by “some kind of health claims”. In this category, people are linking "something that nutritionists consider useful" to a substance in a particular product. For example, the nutritional value of omega-3s can be associated with new foods extracted from algae and krill oil. Another example is mushrooms treated with ultraviolet light, which contain more vitamin D and have passed new food regulations. It is reported that all these products "have taken into account the requirements of healthy foods during development"

Health claim

In the health category, it is not necessary to make a health claim when applying. But ACNEP explained that this is a "some kind of claim" for happiness. For example, D-B hydroxybutyrate is considered a new type of food. For example, during periods of intense and prolonged physical exertion, Tdeltas suggests that D-B hydroxybutyrate can be taken to maintain physical and cognitive abilities.

Inca is another application that makes health claims. This Peruvian plant is star-shaped and is a perennial plant that grows between 200 and 1500 meters above sea level in the Amazon rainforest. This new food contains nearly 50% of Omega-3s and was approved by the European Union in 2013.

Novel protein

Alternative proteins are not only developing in the plant-based wave, but also protein sources, including insects, are gradually becoming market-recognized. As of January 1, 2020, exemptions allowing insects to be used as food no longer exist. Therefore, the industry is also looking forward to seeing insects. Although it is unclear whether consumers are prepared to replace traditional proteins with insects, according to ABC research, 32% of British adults believe that we will eat insects regularly within 10 years.

ACNEP pointed out that consumers are also very interested in other forms of protein, such as cultured meat, cultured proteins and meat analogs. ACNEP pointed out that the agency is interested in anything that contains protein and will spend a lot of energy to identify the protein and whether it will cause allergic reactions in susceptible people.Quorn is the world's largest meat substitute brand, the company Muyiwa Akintoy, head of research and development, also emphasized the importance of allergy risk assessment of new proteins. It is reported that most of the company's products are derived from mold protein. With the hope to expand the scope of its vegetarian diet, the company is looking to plant vegetable protein “binders”.

Combine its vegetarian products with egg white or whey protein. In addition, referring to the mung bean and vegetable oil ingredients, Muyiwa Akintoy said that there are a variety of proteins on the market, but it should be noted that where there is protein, allergies may occur.

Circular economy and sustainable development

Sustainability and ethics are increasingly driving food purchase decisions. According to a study commissioned by the Convenience Retail Cooperative Group (Co-op), in the UK, ethical consumer spending has increased to 41 billion francs, while food and beverage ethical spending has increased to 12 billion euros. So, what does this mean for new foods? ACNFP said that people want to be able to claim that their food is sustainable, so many applications on the market are taking advantage of this opportunity, that is, something that was originally considered waste, now Is being gradually applied to food. Such as coffee fruit, coffee leaves and grape leaves. In fact, an application is currently under review requesting approval for the coffee.

The leaves are used for herbal infusions or herbal ingredients. In short, as consumers become more interested in sustainable products, it is expected that there will be more such applications in the future.