AGRANA Fruit offers natural plant-based nutrition

"Plant mania" stands for embracing plant-based nutrition in our diets. At AGRANA Fruit, plant-based nutrition is nothing new. The company's business is firmly rooted in plant-based agriculture. It leverages this legacy and offers sustainable and innovative products to feed the world naturally.

According to Metilicous Market Research reports, the plant-based food market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.9% from 2020 to 2027 to reach US$ 74.2 billion by 2027. This growth is mainly being driven by consumer concerns around sustainability, naturality, and health. This makes the "plant mania" topic a crossroad of three of our six global megatrends: act for the future, leverage nature, and forever young. Important issues for many consumers nowadays.

One-third of consumers globally follow a mainly plant-based diet, and 4 out of 10 consumers want to reduce or avoid animal-based products in their diet, even more states FMCG Gurus. The global Covid-19 pandemic has further boosted consumer demand for natural and plant-based foods. 25% of consumers want to include more planted-based foods into their diet to improve their nutritional intake and health and reduce their impact on the environment because of Covid-19.

Plant-based nutrition

When we talk about plant-based nutrition, many automatically associate it with alternative products to dairy or meat, which is definitely part of it, but the scope is broader. AGRANA Fruit has identified three main areas of plant-based nutrition where it can offer tailor-made solutions:

• Alternatives for dairy and ice cream

• Naturally functional ingredients

• 100% fruit and vegetable products (clean label)

According to the company, what all three directions have in common is that consumers want to incorporate more plant-based foods into their diets. This can be in various formats besides alternative products, such as fruit, vegetables, cereals, botanicals, or many other plant-based ingredients incorporated into both dairy and ice cream applications to boost plant-based.

Consumers inclination for plant-based products

At AGRANA Fruit, the company is closely following the free-from dairy market for yogurt and ice cream. In 2020, they conducted consumer research in the USA, Australia, Germany, France, and Russia to better understand dairy alternative consumers and the next market trends. Nearly 3,500 consumers online were asked about plant-based dairy alternatives, and the findings include:

• 60% consume plant-based dairy alternatives regularly, meaning at least monthly.

• Only 2% of consumers who regularly consume these products are vegan. The main target group consists of omnivores and flexitarians who also consume animal-based products but want to increase their plant-based food intake. Therefore, it is crucial to position dairy alternatives as plant-based foods rather than vegan foods.

• The primary target group for plant-based dairy alternatives is Generations Y and Z.

The company also states that consumers turn to plant-based dairy alternatives because they are "better for them" because of the nutritional benefits and because they like the taste or flavor of these products. Environmental and ethical or animal welfare concerns only come after this. As mentioned above, dietary choices or restrictions play a minor role and are only the last reason for consumption.

Contrary to the industry's widespread belief, consumers are actually satisfied with the taste, naturality, and vitamins and minerals in plant-based dairy alternatives. However, what consumers are not so satisfied with dairy alternatives is the quality of the protein, sugar level, and the price of products currently available.

Many consumers want to increase their consumption of plant-based foods while decreasing their intake of animal-based products. Therefore, what the company sees as an evolving and potential opportunity for the market are so-called "hybrid" products blending the best of both worlds: dairy and plant-based.

AGRANA Fruit has broad experience in working with plant-based solutions. Its expertise ranges from creating bases for yogurts or ice cream from various sources to combining different plant bases in one product to enhance the nutritional profile.

The company also offers fruit and brown flavor solutions, with or without pieces, which match the plant or dairy base of yogurts or ice creams. In addition, it can also include botanicals or other plant-based ingredients in its preparations to add more plant-based ingredients to the final product. For more information https://www.agrana.com/. AGRANA Fruit can help your company develop the next consumer favorite. The company offers a wide range of creative and innovative solutions for the food and beverage industry. Its fruit solutions claim to offer high-quality fruits which are expertly prepared to be used in the dairy, ice cream, bakery, foodservice, and beverage industries.

Source – AGRANA Fruit