‘Robust demand’ for recession-defying functional food market
The functional foods market – defined as ‘food and drink products making a specific health claim’ – was last year valued at £14.8 billion (€16.8bn), according to a new report from Leatherhead Food Research.
According to Future Directions for the Global Functional Foods Market, the functional foods market has been growing significantly faster than the headline rate of growth of the global food and drink market of around 4% per year, with a number of factors facilitating the growth of functional foods.
“Changes in consumers’ diet, lifestyles, awareness and interest in their own health and well-being are important factors creating a demand-pull for products with the potential to deliver beneficial health outcomes,” explains Leatherhead’s marketing and communications manager Marc Esselen. “ Supply-push factors are evident too. Expanding scientific knowledge and technological capability, particularly ingredient exploration and development, has led to increased product innovation.”
As a result, the number of new product introductions making functional claims has been growing by approximately 28% year-on-year, with an increasing diversity of claims and suggested health benefits.
“Throughout the recession the functional foods market has continued to grow, indicating robust demand,” adds Esselen. “However, the high rejection rate of claims by EFSA illustrates the difficulty companies face in getting new products to market with substantiated claims, and this may slow down innovation. ”
