IBIE 2022 09 19 - 4

IBIE MONDAY
NAVIGATING THE PLANT-FORWARD TREND
Bakers should consider taking a blended approach to product formulations.
" hybrid "
Such
blended
or
products may be perceived as
healthier, with simple, recognizable
ingredients, she added, noting
that many plant-based alternatives
are seen by shoppers as highly processed
and less nutritious.
" If you have a product that's
plant-forward, talk about its attriporating
both when developing
new products.
" Consumers are no longer
vilifying animal, and they are no
longer vilifying plant, " Ms. Badaracco
said. " They want to see them
as a combination: bakery products,
snack products with actual milk
instead of almond milk, perhaps. "
butes and its strengths, " she said.
" Don't talk about how it's better than
a different alternative product. "
Ms. Badaracco highlighted
quinoa, sesame seeds, oats and sunflower
seeds as grains and seeds
with high affinity among consumers.
She said new and less familiar
grains such as fonio and Kernza
will continue to emerge, tapping
into consumer desire for new flavor
experiences. During times of politiTHE
ONGOING PANDEMIC, inflation and
the Russia-Ukraine conflict are
having an impact on how consumers
eat, prompting a shift toward
simple, unprocessed plant proteins
as well as healthful animal
proteins, said Suzy Badaracco,
president of Culinary Tides Inc.,
who spoke Sunday, Sept. 18, at the
IBIEducate session " Inside the
Plant-Forward Trend. "
Bakers should consider incorcal
or economic turmoil, consumers
typically embrace comfort food.
However, she said, consumers remain
eager to experiment, despite
the stressors of the day.
" This is the big twist, " she said.
" Comfort usually returns because
it's calming, but instead experimentation
drivers are still here...
They want global. They want to try
new things. They want spicy. They
want citrus. They want extremes
on the palate still. "
She offered examples of sauces
and seasonings that may elevate
plant-forward bakery formulations,
including pesto, Caribbean
jerk and Korean barbecue, as well
as less familiar gomashio, piri piri
and Baharat. *
- Monica Watrous, Food Business News
Suzy Badaracco, president of Culinary Tides
Inc., explained the evolution of plant-based in
her session " Inside the Plant-Forward Trend. "
Pandemic, economic effects shaping eating choices
Cargill data shows consumers spending dollars more thoughtfully.
AMID A GRADUALLY receding health crisis and intensifying
financial crisis, consumers are becoming
increasingly deliberate in their eating choices,
said DeeAnn Roullier, customer insights and
marketing research leader at Cargill (Booth No.
5453).
Tapping into TrendTracker, a proprietary
consumer trends tracking tool Cargill uses to
inform its team of ingredient supply professionals,
Ms. Roullier spoke Sept. 17 in an IBIE presentation,
" Consumer Trends and Insights for the
Bakery World. "
" We're seeing consumers make more
thoughtful decisions about how they
spend their time and money, " Ms.
Roullier said.
Cargill's data show two
thirds of consumers are
looking at the ingredient
list before purchasing
a food or beverage, Ms.
Roullier said. In some cases,
consumers are looking
at the lists for ingredients
they want to avoid and in
others for ingredients they are
seeking.
" They check the ingredient list
mainly to avoid certain ingredients, " she said.
" It skews 60/40 toward avoidance. We also see
DeeAnn Roullier
4 | September 19, 2022
that both seeking and avoidance, and I call this a
COVID impact. "
Scrutiny of baked foods is less intense than
other products, Ms. Roullier said.
" That percentage is lower, " she said. " It's
still a good chunk of people, with 52% of people
saying they check the ingredient list in savory
(baked) foods and 45% in sweet baked foods. It's
lower than some categories. Lower than the twothirds
for food and beverage overall but still a
good proportion of consumers. "
Across processed foods broadly, non-GMO
and organic food products continue to enjoy
growing interest, Ms. Roullier said. She
cited Nielsen data showing doubledigit
growth
throughout
pandemic.
" Manufacturers
the
have
not produced more natural
or organic, but they are responding
with more nonGMO
products, especially
the new products with a
butterfly (Non-GMO Project
verified). This extends to
bakery. Two-thirds of global
consumers say non-GMO is appealing
in bakery. Non-GMO was the
top claim for bakery. It beat out reduced fat,
reduced sodium and organic. " *
- Josh Sosland, Milling & Baking News
Let's get 'phygital'
Puratos consumer research
points to new directions.
THE FUTURE IS " phygital, " exclaimed Sophie
Blum, chief marketing and channel officer for
Puratos, during a Sunday, Sept. 18, session at
the Artisan Marketplace, Crafted by Puratos
(Booth No. 3645).
In the United States, 26% of consumers
would like stores to be more automated, and
30% believe artificial intelligence (AI) will help
people make better food choices in the future,
according to Puratos' consumer research.
" Consumers expect food to go beyond nutrition.
Mental and physical connections are
increasingly important, " Ms. Blum said.
Puratos conducts ongoing consumer research
globally to shed light on influential
food and bakery trends. The latest research
involved human cultural intelligence, trend
frameworks and AI.
Trends can have various shapes, she explained,
and sourdough started as a trend in
2014. " Today, the sourdough wave is growing
very steep, " Blum said.
As for 2022 trends, " Continued Classics " is
a key trend for bakery to feed innovation. According
to Puratos' research, 60% of consumers
want to try something new, yet 67% would like
to have some familiar ingredients.
" Taste and freshness remain the undisputable
driver of choice, " she said. *
- John Unrein, bake
IBIE 2022 09 19

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