Trend Snapshot: A Full Serving of Fruits & Veggies

July 6, 2015

Starring Fruits & Veggies

Eating enough fruits and vegetables has always been a challenge for consumers. With recommended guidelines on the upswing, it’s going to become even harder to fill up on these food groups unless consumers take advantage of nutritional powerhouse concepts that offer both fruits and veggies. Manufacturers that find a way to incorporate fruits and veggies across categories will be first pick.

Yes, More is Better

• Many consumers believe that fruit and vegetable blends are healthier than fruits alone.
• 35% of parents still say they have a hard time getting their kids to eat fruit and 44% are open to new ideas for how to accomplish this.
• Countries outside of the U.S. are increasing recommendations for fruits and vegetables. The UK is considering seven servings per day, while Australia thinks 5 servings of veggies and two of fruits would work just fine. And Japan? A staggering 17 servings per day!
• 64% of households feel that more snacks should include veggies. Recent introductions of new carrot and parsnip based “French fry” introductions should do well given consumers healthy snacking goals.
• 40% of U.S. consumers only eat one to two servings of vegetables per day.

A Taste of Fruits & Veggies

Beverages and snack bars lead the way in fruit & veggie new product introductions. We surveyed introductions to get a taste for flavors being featured in these products.

Indulgent Flavors

Chocolate

Vanilla

Oatmeal Raisin

Maple

Honey

Mocha

Chocolate Peanut Butter

Carrot Cake

Fruit Flavors

Triple Berry

Blueberry

Mango

Banana Berry

Mango Peach

Raspberry Orange

Lemon

Savory & Spice Flavors

Nacho Cheese

BBQ Teriyaki

Spicy Jalapeño

Ginger

Cinnamon

Clove

Veggie Flavors

Purple Carrot

Sweet Potato

Pumpkin

Beet

Kale

Coming Soon: A Healthier Snack

Pizza

The increasing popularity of homemade veggie-based crusts is poised to translate into frozen concepts. With 72% of households with one child or more purchasing frozen pizza from a retail grocer, this is an opportunity to keep and eye on.

Breakfast Cereals

Fresh, cold-pressed juice concepts are on the rise, and we expect that the next step would be to see this carry over to the freezer case. Adults are the primary consumers of “gourmet” juices and would be attracted to frozen desserts containing a combination of fruit and veggies.

Frozen Desserts

Full Serving? It's in There!

Beverages

The beverage category is a natural fit as smoothie kits, RTD shakes and juices blended with veggies and fruit have become mainstream for adult and kids alike. We don’t seem to have issue with drinking our veggies and are accepting that fruits make the veggies go down much easier. 18% of new product introductions in 2014 were fruit and/or veggie full serving beverage concepts.

Snacks

More than half of all new products claiming to have a full serving of fruits or vegetables arrived in the snack format, which is right in line with consumers’ snacking obsession. Snack bars containing veggies are becoming new favorites.

Pasts/Pasta Sauces

Since 2010, 23% of all new products with full serving claims were pastas or pasta sauces. We love our carbs, and if we can have a full serving of veggies on top in an easy-to-use, healthy sauce, all the better.

Frozen Desserts

The freezer case has some surprising new offerings with frozen desserts claiming to have full servings of fruit and vegetables. These sweet treats satisfy consumer desire for indulgence and health at thesame time.

Download the full report here!

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FONA CAN HELP!

Let FONA’s market insight and research experts translate these trends into product category ideas for your brand. They can help you with concept and flavor pipeline development, ideation, consumer studies and white space analysis to pinpoint opportunities in the market. Our flavor and product development experts are also at your service to help meet the labeling and flavor profile needs for your products to capitalize on this consumer trend. We understand how to mesh the complexities of flavor with your brand development, technical requirements and regulatory needs to deliver a complete taste solution. From concept to manufacturing, we’re here every step of the way. Contact our Sales Service Department at 630.578.8600 to request a flavor sample or visit www.mccormickfona.com.