Trends in the food and beverage industry are always evolving, but consumer demand for healthy, delicious and sustainable food remains.
Health concerns are more prominent than ever in today’s market. Nearly two in three consumers are concerned about their health when choosing food and beverages, showing how diets can impact overall wellbeing and purchasing decisions.¹
In recent years, functional ingredients and alternative proteins that support satiety, immunity, and gut health have risen to meet these demands. However, the challenge is to do so without sacrificing sensory appeal, as no amount of nutrition can redeem a product that lacks flavour or appealing texture.
Importance of taste and texture
Alongside health, taste is a key driver for consumers when purchasing food and beverages. According to a 2020 survey by the International Food Information Council Foundation, 88% of consumers identified taste as their primary driver for purchasing food products.²
Other studies show that consumers seek a balance between health and taste, rather than prioritising one over the other. A 2024 study showed that packaging with taste-focused cues significantly boosted consumer purchase intentions, and in a control group exposed to unhealthy options, health-emphasised packaging increased purchase intentions.³ Taken together, it reveals that the most powerful way to engage consumers through labelling is to clearly demonstrate both flavour and health aspects.
“One of the most notable shifts we’re observing is the perception of ‘food as medicine’. Health is so much more than just the absence of illness – it’s the active presence of wellbeing, and this has prompted fundamental dietary changes as consumers adopt a more proactive and preventative approach to their health,” says Maaike Bruins, Lead Scientist Nutrition & Health at dsm-firmenich.
“They want products that don’t just have less of the ‘bad’ ingredients – they want products that are filled with more ‘good’, with labelling highlighting benefits such as ‘high protein’ or ‘gut friendly’ increasingly driving purchasing decisions.”
Texture also influences consumers’ purchasing decisions. Studies indicate that texture plays a significant role in influencing emotional reactions while eating, with certain textures evoking positive emotions and others triggering negative reactions. These emotional cues are significant in shaping consumer preferences and overall food experiences.⁴
Ensuring consumers are satisfied with texture is vital for food manufacturers. Understanding the emotional impact of texture is crucial for designing products that meet consumer expectations, enhance satisfaction and promote healthier eating choices.⁴
Need for sustainability
Manufacturers must also consider how the environmental impact of their food production is shaping consumer behaviour. Now more than ever, consumers are prioritising sustainability when purchasing: 85% of consumers globally say they are experiencing the disruptive impacts of climate change, and 46% say they buy more sustainable products to reduce environmental impact.⁵
One way that consumers are prioritising sustainability is by incorporating plant-based products into their diets. Research shows that a vegan diet can produce a carbon footprint that is up to 60% smaller than a meat-based diet.⁶
“One of the biggest misconceptions is that taste, health and sustainability are in conflict with each other. This is likely due to formulation challenges where one ingredient may offer a high source of protein, but could also produce undesirable off-flavours, compromising taste as a result.
“That’s why we’re investing in receptor biology research – this helps us address key attributes of taste modulation through receptors for thermal, bitterness, tingling, astringency, drying and mouthfeel. Through this understanding of the biology of taste, we can create authentic, delicious flavours and textures in many different foods and beverages with no compromise on sustainability,” says Bruins.
Innovations in functional plant proteins
Whether it is reducing carbon footprint, cutting food waste, or supporting sustainability, consumers are looking for products that align with their values. For manufacturers, the challenge lies in uniting the ideals of taste, health and sustainability in a seamless way.
In the plant-based market, manufacturers are finding ways to leverage sustainable and functional plant proteins to satisfy the tastes that consumers love. However, dsm-firmenich research shows 67% of consumers think taste is a barrier to the uptake of meat substitutes.
As innovators in nutrition and health, dsm-firmenich works closely with its customers to create well-balanced, sustainable products that do not sacrifice taste and texture. Dedicated to addressing both manufacturer and consumers needs, after 10 years of research dsm-firmenich has developed a market-first solution.
VertisTM CanolaPRO® is an upcycled-certified protein isolate with a high nutritional quality (PDCAAS score of 1), comparable to animal derived proteins and is ideal for those customers looking to adopt plant-forward diets. This certification is awarded to companies that use ingredients that otherwise would have not been consumed by humans.
VertisTM CanolaPRO® was awarded this certification as, usually when a canola crop is processed into oil, the remaining side stream is used as animal feed. But dsm-firmenich’s extraction technique allows the high-value protein to be incorporated in products.
The ingredient is designed to improve the texture of meat alternatives while offering a high-quality source of plant-protein, without impacting taste. VertisTM CanolaPRO® offers a meat-like texture for plant-based burgers, sausages and nuggets. It can also be added to a base protein, like pea, to improve taste and nutrition while avoiding allergens like soy, gluten and egg.
“VertisTM CanolaPRO® was designed to elevate both the functional and nutritional properties of plant-based foods. It contains all nine essential amino acids at the level necessary to be called a complete protein,” says Martin Mei, Senior Director Health Benefits & Solutions at dsm-firmenich.
“While supporting muscle growth and overall health, the ingredient is also highly versatile, giving manufacturers the freedom to incorporate it into a huge variety of formulations, leaving them ideally placed to meet consumers’ ever-evolving demands,” adds Mei.
By leveraging its extensive local presence across 51 application labs globally, dsm-firmenich is well positioned to provide application and technical support during production processes. Beyond the plant-based market, the company is committed to helping partners across the food and beverage industry deliver what is essential, desirable and sustainable for people and the planet.
References
1. dsm-firmenich customer survey 2023.
2. International Taste Institute. Inspiration.
3. Li, X.; et al. Taste or health: The impact of packaging cues on consumer decision-making in healthy foods. Appetite. 2024 Dec 1;203:107636.
4. Baingana, M. Food Texture Perception and Its Influence on Consumer Preferences. Journal of Food Sciences. 2024; 5(2):43-55.
5. pwc. Consumers willing to pay 9.7% sustainability premium, even as cost-of-living and inflationary concerns weigh: PwC 2024 Voice of the Consumer Survey.
6. Scarborough, P.; et al. Dietary greenhouse gas emissions of meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans in the UK. Climatic Change. 2014. 125, 179–192.