From functional foods to CRISPR, IFIC forecasts hot food topics in 2017

The organization drew from its in-house survey which was conducted last year on 1,003 Americans ages 18 to 80. Here are some of the food trends IFIC said will be hot topics this year:

Functional Foods​

“Once a little-known concept among the public, functional foods—or foods with health benefits beyond basic nutrition—are becoming a subject of high interest and high demand,” ​the foundation said.

According to its survey’s data, nearly half of consumers said that weight loss or weight management was a health benefit they are interested in getting from foods. Additionally, one-third of Americans listed that they want food to give them ‘increased health,’ ‘cardiovascular health,’ ‘healthy aging,’ or ‘digestive health.’

The responses mirrored a Google Trend report from October last year​, which found that popular functional food ingredients such as kale, turmeric, and blueberry topped the popular search list.

‘Protein still a power house’​

“There are no signs that the health halo around protein will be knocked off in 2017,”​ IFIC said. “According to the 2016 Food and Health Survey, nearly two-thirds of Americans are trying to consume more protein or as much as possible, up significantly from 54% in 2015 and 50% in 2014.” ​

Survey data revealed that one-fifth of Americans view plant protein as more healthful, and brands in this category continue to thrive​. Views of animal protein were split, with 12% perceiving it as more healthful and 15% perceiving it as less healthful.

However, several companies are pushing the envelope of what ‘animal protein’ means, as in vitro meat creeps into the market​​, brought on by companies such as Memphis Meats​ and SuperMeat​.

CRISPR, gateway to biotechnology acceptance?​

Short for ‘clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats,’ IFIC believes this form of biotechnology is poised to go mainstream. It edits an organism’s own genes in a highly targeted way, rather than splicing in genes from other organisms (or “transgenics”), gaining momentum in 2016 in both media attention and regulatory action​.

“Because transgenics are not involved, the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2016 determined that it does not need to approve individual applications of the technology,”​ IFIC said. “CRISPR also would come without the stigma of other biotechnology applications, thus potentially accelerating consumer acceptance.”​

Defining ‘healthy’ claims​

The debate on the definition of ‘healthy’ will continue and take the spotlight this year. After a squabble over the word’s definition​ between snack company KIND and FDA last year, the FDA promised to weigh in on the issue and recently extended the comment period​ to April 26.

“The 2016 Food and Health Survey found that for more than one-third of consumers, a “healthy” food is defined in part by what it does not contain rather than what it does contain,”​ IFIC said.

You can find the full list of seven trends on IFIC’s website HERE​​.