This past year has been dominated by the Health and Wellness trend.
This was the year that the food industry was truly driven by consumers’ concerns about health and diet, and food manufacturers and processors have striven to meet their demands.
The trend has also been behind much of the year’s industry innovation.
And nowhere was this more evident than in this year’s FOOD Challenge Awards entries, for which almost every category had an entrant that addressed health or wellness.
Several of these went on to become winners and are no doubt pleasing consumers as I write.
It was good to see the Government put up some money to back food innovations this year.
These days, you can’t turn on the tv or radio without hearing a news report on childhood obesity and the hidden evils of processed food.
Oh yes, and salt. Australians eat too much apparently, although there hasn’t been a reliable survey done since 1997.
It is estimated that Australians consume 9g to 9.5g salt daily, but noone really knows for sure.
However, the industry has been reducing salt levels in food since the early 1990s.
Perhaps the Government could conduct a study that will provide incontrovertible baseline data for the industry and other groups to work with.
Clearly, the Health and Wellness trend is here to stay and the food industry is eager to step up and deliver.