2020 food trends challenge farmers processors retailers
Farmers, food processors and food retailers face a need to get on board with 2020 food trends illustrated by Nourish Me food trends survey.
The Toronto-based food marketer finds cultural shifts impacting the food industry.
Number one consumer priority is Unpackage Me, a trend to reduce single use plastics packaging. Ninety-four per cent of Canadians want reduced use of plastic packaging. Seventy-one per cent support banning them and 56 per cent are already shopping for food without plastic packaging.
This issue raises challenges for the food industry, from maintaining safety when consumers bring their own containers to how to brand foods when consumers use their own bags to developing reusable food packages as Haagen-Das ice cream did.
Another trend, Save Me, revolves around choosing foods based on carbon footprint and lower environmental impact.
This trend challenges agriculture to tell its story more widely. Food producers, rightly or wrongly, have been labelled as large emitters, especially beef producers. A new definition of Real Food includes the growing plant-based meat and dairy industry. That new industry faces controversy from having highly processed food products, which aren’t as healthy as less processed food. Eating local food with increased local food use by restaurants and institutions as well as consumers offers farmers an opportunity to market locally.
In Ontario public institutions have increased servings of local food between 124 per cent and 602 per cent depending on the category.
Competing with online food purchases and food delivery will prompt some food retailers to offer beverages and meals in the store.
One 23,000 square foot store in Toronto has made the conversion. One store banner has taken out paper products that are easily bought online.
A trend to less alcohol but more artisanal drinks is bolstered by legal cannabis use and promise of low-calorie cannabis infused drinks.
Consumers do want to know more about farming practices, giving farmers an opportunity to engage them and dispel myths.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net