2021

eHANDBOOK

FORMULATION & INGREDIENT TRENDS

TABLE OF CONTENTS2021 Formulation Trends: Home Dining, Comfort and Health 3

The COVID-19 pandemic sparked sizeable shifts in what, where and how consumers eat,

and the changes are likely to linger in 2021.

AD INDEXRosedale Products Inc • www.rosedaleproducts.com 4

B&P Littleford • www.bplittleford.com 6

Corbion • www.corbion.com 8, 10

eHANDBOOK: 2021 Formulations & Ingredients Trends 2

www.FoodProcessing.com

2021 Formulation Trends: Home Dining, Comfort, and HealthThe COVID-19 pandemic sparked sizeable shifts in what, where and how consumers eat and are likely to linger in 2021.

By Food Processing

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic,

Americans are cooking and eating

more meals at home, stocking up

their pantries with shelf-stable, center-of-

the-store products, embracing e-commerce

and seeking food and beverage products

with a mix of attributes — comfort, health,

indulgence, adventure, etc. — depending on

their moods and needs.

The big question is whether these behaviors

that dominated 2020 will become a regular

part of consumers’ routines or fade in 2021.

HOMEBOUND EATING Traditionally, Americans eat about three-

fourths of their meals and snacks in the

home, according to a Hartman Group

(www.hartman-group.com) report. When

the pandemic hit last spring, Americans

hunkered down in their dwellings and

many worked from their residences.

Eating and drinking occasions in the home

jumped to 88% while away-from-home con-

sumption dropped in half, notes Hartman.

About 46% of consumers say they are baking

more and 54% declare they are cooking

more, according to a Hunter (www.hunterpr.

com) April 2020 report. Half of these cooks

are more confident in the kitchen and have

discovered new brands or products, 44%

have found new ingredients to use and 28%

have rediscovered ingredients they have not

used in a long time.

More than half of Americans claim they will

continue cooking more in the future, reports

Hunter. Their top three reasons are cost sav-

ings, healthier eating and trying new recipes.

But consumers are split when it comes to

health and indulgence. About 39% of con-

sumers say they are eating healthier, reports

Hunter, while 40% declare that they are

eating more comfort and indulgent foods.

eHANDBOOK: 2021 Formulations & Ingredients Trends 3

www.FoodProcessing.com

Ask about our Pall®/FSI® replacement filter bags.800.821.5373 • RosedaleProducts.com

Rosedale Products Inc.3730 W. Liberty Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48103

Email: Filters@RosedaleProducts.comPhone: 734.665.8201 • Fax: 734.665.2214

©2021 Rosedale Products Inc.

Applications include dairy, beverage, vegetable oils, foods, and pharmaceuticals.

S A N I T A R Y F I L T R A T I O N S Y S T E M S

Comprehensive liquid filtrationsolutions.

A July/August 2020 study from Acosta

(www.acosta.com) reports the shift to eating

more meals at home and fewer at restau-

rants may become a long-term trend. Post

pandemic, about 29% of consumers plan to

eat dinner out less often or not at all, 33%

plan to eat lunch out less often or not at all

and 47% plan to eat breakfast out less often

or not at all, according to the Acosta report.

With many Americans working at home,

the biggest increases in at-home eating

occurred in three dayparts — morning snack,

lunch and afternoon snack, says Hartman.

Lunch took on the characteristics of dinner,

with more fresh ingredients and scratch

cooking, more moderate preparation such

as using a recipe, and a greater emphasis on

health. Dinner involved more heavy prepara-

tion, such as cutting and chopping meat and

produce. And more dinners were sourced

from ingredients purchased for stocking

the pantry.

E-COMMERCE AND MEAL DELIVERY E-commerce emerged as a savior for

several food companies during the

pandemic – and most believe at least some

of the consumer activity is here to stay.

“The FMCG [fast-moving consumer goods]

market was pushed 3-4 years ahead in terms

of digitalization by the current COVID-

19 crisis,” says software firm Data Impact

(dataimpact.io). “Omnichannel is becoming

the new normal.”

NPD reports about 40% of shoppers pur-

chased edible groceries online in May 2020

versus 28% in May 2019. About 58% of shop-

pers say they are comfortable using digital/

online tools to assist with grocery shop-

ping, up from 35% in 2015 and 42% in 2017,

reports Acosta.

Last May, PepsiCo launched two direct-to-

consumer shopping websites: pantryshop.

com and snacks.com. With pantryshop.com,

consumers can purchase specialized bun-

dles of brands such as Quaker, Gatorade,

SunChips, and Tropicana. More than 100 Fri-

to-Lay products are available on snacks.com.

In November, PepsiCo opened a highly auto-

mated microfulfillment center in Joliet, Ill.,

to help the company meet growing demand

from consumers shopping online.

With glum prospects for trick-or-treating,

the usual Halloween sales bump looked

doubtful for Hershey Co. But ongoing invest-

ments in online sales capacity helped save

the candy holiday. Hershey’s e-commerce

sales grew 80% in the third quarter, and

helped the company to stronger-than-ex-

pected results.

For both large and small food manufactur-

ers, e-commerce offers greater opportunities

to connect and talk directly with their con-

sumers and gain insights on their wants and

needs. These learnings can be used to opti-

mize new product development as well as

packaging functionality and graphics.

www.FoodProcessing.com

eHANDBOOK: 2021 Formulations & Ingredients Trends 5

B&P LITTLEFORD - OWNERS AND OPERATORS MANUAL

CH. #19

CUPCAKESAND

ROCKETFUEL

These are just two of the hundreds of products produced on B&P Littleford equipment. We’ve been producing commercial mixers since 1889, so we’ve seen it all. Plastics, food, minerals, carbon paste, pharmaceuticals, energetics, chemicals, and hundreds of other products. If it needs mixing, we can build the equipment that gets the job done. Because if you want quality, talk to the company that was making industrial equipment back when Henry Ford was still just a farmer.

Fig. 49

With meal preparation becoming a chore

for some Americans, frustrated cooks are

looking for quick and convenient mealtime

options. Consequently, some have turned to

meal delivery companies like Freshly, which

saw its orders jump 20% in March when the

pandemic prompted stay-at-home directives

and restaurant closures.

Freshly is currently selling more than one

million meals per week, compared to about

600,000 per week in 2019, reports Emily

Buckley, vice president of Freshly’s meals

portfolio. Sales in 2020 were forecasted to

reach $430 million.

Nestle, which secured a 16% stake in Freshly

in 2017, fully acquired the prepared meal

service last October. At the time, Nestle

USA CEO Steve Presley said, “Consumers

are embracing e-commerce and eating at

home like never before. It’s an evolution

brought on by the pandemic but taking

hold for the long term.”

HEALTH AND IMMUNITY About one-third of all eating and drink-

ing occasions are about basic health and

well-being, reports Hartman. Consumers

have placed an increased emphasis on food

as medicine and upped their demand for

functional foods and beverages that sup-

port immunity.

When the pandemic began disrupting

Americans’ lives last March, about 36% of

“clean label enthusiasts” (CLE consum-

ers) began making changes to their diets

to boost their immune systems and keep

themselves healthy, according to research

from InsightsNow. Nearly two-thirds of these

consumers increased their consumption

of vitamins or supplements, 34% ate more

fruits (specifically citrus) and vegetables and

9% increased their use of spices. Top sup-

plements include vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc,

probiotics and elderberry.

“Immunity-boosting ingredients will play

a significant role in the new year, while

research and interest in the role of the

microbiome and personalized nutrition as

ways to strengthen immunity will acceler-

ate,” declares Innova.

Several food companies have jumped on

the immunity bandwagon with new product

launches. In September, Bolthouse Farms

rolled out Superfood Immunity Boost, a fruit

juice blend with elderberries, cranberries,

echinacea, zinc and vitamins C and D. In

October, PepsiCo debuted Propel Immune

Support, an electrolyte water with added vita-

min C and zinc.

That same month, Uncle Matt’s Organic

launched Ultimate Immune Orange Juice Bev-

erage with elderberry, vitamins C and D and

zinc. In November, Ocean Spray introduced

B1U functional infused waters, including I

need immunity variety with 22mg of zinc and

128mg of vitamin C.

www.FoodProcessing.com

eHANDBOOK: 2021 Formulations & Ingredients Trends 7

©2020 Corbion

corbion.com/food food@corbion.com CorbionFood

The right partner can make your job so much easier

When Corbion partners with you, we contribute a combination of scientific expertise, manufacturing experience and innovative, sustainable ingredients to deliver brand-defining attributes and quality. Together, we can create products that stand out in all the ways you want them to.

Leverage the power of preservation with Corbion.

FoodProc_SolProv_Feb2021.indd 1FoodProc_SolProv_Feb2021.indd 1 1/13/2021 3:56:08 PM1/13/2021 3:56:08 PM

TRADING UP Although the pandemic resulted in a deep

recession with staggering unemployment

levels, consumers did not exhibit the

usual price sensitivity toward food

purchases that typically happens during

an economic downturn. Instead, many

consumers are trading up to more premium

and indulgent foods and beverages.

Grocery shoppers — with both high and

low incomes — are buying premium/super-

premium food & beverage products at the

expense of value lines and private label,

according to an IRI report “Discovering Pock-

ets of Demand: The Premium Opportunity.”

Recessions typically see increased consumer

spending on private label and value brands

as well as shopper shifts to value merchan-

disers. This behavior has not occurred, says

IRI. In fact, the market shares of premium and

superpremium brands are up while main-

stream, value and private label are down.

Consumers are buying more premium wine/

beer/liquor and premium/specialty coffee to

re-create their favorite experiences at home,

more meal kits to cook predefined recipes at

home and more premium or specialty food

items to prepare restaurant-style meals at

home, says IRI.

In the pasta sauce category, premium and

superpremium products increased their

market share from 21.3% pre-pandemic to

26.1% during the pandemic, benefiting such

brands as Rao’s Homemade, Michaels of

Brooklyn and Primal Kitchen, reports IRI. In the

frozen dinners category, indulgent, convenient

and better-for-you products grew, boost-

ing sales of brands such as Amy’s, Smucker

Uncrustables and Saffron Road, says IRI.

NO MEAT? EAT PLANTS The combination of consumer panic buying

and COVID-19 outbreaks at several meat

processing facilities put strains on meat

and poultry supply chains, resulting in meat

shortages on the grocery shelf last spring.

This prompted some consumers to try meat

alternatives, such as plant-based meats. ADM

reports 18% of alternative protein buyers pur-

chased their first plant-based protein during

COVID-19, and 92% of those first-time con-

sumers say they are likely to continue buying

meat alternatives.

Based on Nielsen data, the Good Food Insti-

tute reports plant-based “meat” dollar sales

jumped 265% over the eight-week period

ending April 18, 2020, outpacing conven-

tional meat sales growth by six times during

this period. Meat alternative sales (including

fresh and frozen) advanced 50-60% for the

months of April, May and June compared to a

year earlier, 40-50% in July and August, and

30-40% in September and October, accord-

ing to IRI and The Shelby Report.

Read the complete story on FoodProcessing.com.

www.FoodProcessing.com

eHANDBOOK: 2021 Formulations & Ingredients Trends 9

©2021 Corbion

thebakerstake.com thebakerstake@corbion.com

Welcome to The Baker’s Take, your 24/7 baking industry resource.

In the ever-changing baking business, you need answers and ideas at the tips of your fingers. With The Baker’s Take, you can access industry-focused content any time you want it:

• Video news briefs to keep you in the know

• Market trends and insights in infographic form

• Audio and video podcasts offering our take on baking and food trends

• On-the-go troubleshooting tools

• Technical instruction videos from Corbion experts

• An ever-expanding catalog of recipes and variations

Don’t go it alone — visit thebakerstake.com and subscribe.

Your go-to choice for: Bakery Blends | Dough and Batter Improvers | Mold Inhibitors | Fortification | Emulsifiers

CorbionFood

Let us help keep Let us help keep you fresh too... you fresh too...

FoodProc_TBT_Feb2021.indd 1FoodProc_TBT_Feb2021.indd 1 1/26/2021 12:43:36 PM1/26/2021 12:43:36 PM