Consumer’s tastes are going back to the standard favourites, say researchers at the Research Chefs Association conference in San Antonio, US. Speaking at the International Food Information Council’s Wellness 2012 Trends meeting, Dr Elizabeth Sloan presented data that shows that, while ‘fruity’ has become consumers’ second-favourite flavour profile, it’s mango, coconut, apple, berry and orange that are grabbing the top spots.
Consumers are becoming less adventurous in their tastes. ‘Superfruits aren’t doing too well,’ Sloan says. “The beverage market has always been the barometer. For the last two years, superfruit flavours have fallen and we’re going back to more traditional fruits.’ In particular, aҫai has gone from being in the top five most-used flavours in new beverage products in 2009, to 19th position in 2011. Pomegranate took the number one spot in 2008-2009, but had slipped to 18th in 2011.
Speculating on the reasons for their demise, Sloan contents that the people buying them were very trendy. ‘They weren’t buying superfruit drinks because of the taste,’ she adds, but their ‘vitamin-enriched’ properties. However, there’s been an even bigger push towards other antioxidant-containing ingredients, including herbs and spices, which may have much higher antioxidant values than superfruits. For example, one teaspoon of cloves has roughly the same level of antioxidants as half a cup of blueberries, while one teaspoon of oregano could be equivalent in antioxidants to a bar of dark chocolate.
Surprisingly though, during a debate conducted with eight panellists at the IFT Wellness 2012 conference, it emerged that many were clueless about what antioxidants really are and their benefits.
They’d heard of them, but that’s as far as it went. One panellist suggested they might ‘fight infection’. The lesson for food manufacturers? Delegates were given the opportunity to compare conclusions from this panel with findings from a Ketchum survey of 1,000 consumers in five countries, and the International Food Information Council’s (IFIC’s) 2011 survey of 1,000 consumers. In general, the report found that people view that natural is good and processed is bad, and the message remains the same: that consumers want to buy products containing only ‘recognisable’ ingredients.
