Singapore-based Gryphon Tea Company has updated its cold-brewed tea range with “no added sugar” formulations, which the firm says has helped it keep up with the better-for-you trend and reach out to a bigger pool of health-conscious consumers.
India-based The Brooklyn Creamery is making headway in the Middle East by catering to the buying behaviours and eating habits of consumers in the region, including healthier options and innovative flavours.
China-based clean label brand Haofood is putting extra efforts into innovation while maintaining focus on taste and affordability to boost consumer adoption of plant-based diets.
Food and beverage brands that are able to convey microlocal tastes and tap into consumer pride with a strong domestic production chain are best-placed for success in the APAC region, according to Kerry.
The crucial combination of freshness and clean label is emerging as an important flavour strategy that food and beverage brands need to hit in order to cater to APAC consumers’ increasingly exacting demands.
NZ-based Off-Piste Provisions has outlined how consumer demands for healthy convenience food and a ‘chewing experience’ are key drivers guiding its product development strategy amidst plans for Australia and United States expansion.
Healthier snacking brand Hey! Chips is looking to overcome the dominance of ultra-processed snacks in the market by innovating with whole ingredients to make scalable clean label products.
The founder of a pioneering China plant-based firm will reveal how the challenges can be overcome to create clean label and additive-free products at our Growth Asia Summit 2023.
Dubai-based ice cream brand House of Pops has detailed how its product development is being influenced by consumer trends in the Middle East’s snacking space, including plant-based and clean eating, functional foods, and personalisation.
Philippines-based plant-based firm WTH Foods is in the process of expanding into both the European and South East Asian markets with its new low-sodium, clean label plant-based seafood products.
Middle Eastern consumers’ rising interest in foods and beverages that are healthy and indulgent, yet still easy to recognise, have led to increased demands for brands to focus on clean label ingredient lists, according to Olam Food Ingredients (ofi).
Children are the ‘toughest food critics’ meaning that healthy snack firms have to pay equal attention to taste and nutrition if they are going to attract mass appeal and help improve the diets of young people.
Chinese firm Haofood says that the convergence of right ingredients with its proprietary tech was key to creating its first clean-label plant-based product - Carefree Pulled Chickless.
Singapore’s Hey! Chips says it is hoping to benefit from first-mover advantage with its whole-ingredient snacks, which the firm says is an untapped category in Asia’s healthy snacking space.
Trends and Innovation Opportunities Across the Life Stages
Delegate tickets are now on sale at a special earlybird rate for our Growth Asia Summit 2023, as we also announce a raft of new content themes and high profile keynote speakers from Danone, Nestle, H&H and Dole.
NZ supermarkets Foodstuffs and Countdown say reinforcing direct partnerships with egg producers is crucial to tackle widespread supply chain disruptions given the government’s ban on battery-caged hens coming into force.
Expanding seaweed farming would help address the planet’s food security and could contribute up to 10% of future diets, an ‘ambitious’ model by Australian researchers has shown.
Organisers of the Future Food Asia (FFA) Awards 2023 have revealed a whole new awards track targeting start-ups based outside APAC, hoping that this will bring more expertise and technologies into the region.
Indian dried fruits and snack brand ProV foods says affordability is key for better-for-you brands to take a bigger slice of the country’s rapidly developing snack market.
Rising awareness amongst Thai consumers regarding the potential unhealthy connotations associated with long expiry dates is a key factor driving up the demand for clean label food ingredients in the country, according to leading industry experts.
The interest in cleaner and better-for-you snacks shown by big food and beverage brands, including Mondelez, Nestle and Vitasoy, is paving the way for a new specialised area of plant-based proteins to enter the market, namely the RuBisCo leaf protein.
Vietnam-based fruit multinational Les Vergers du Mekong is banking on its centralised production location and fresh fruit-only guarantee to expand its presence in retail markets across Asia, on the back of a successful leap from HORECA to modern trade...
Regulatory pressure from Asian governments will drive food and beverage firms to use natural colours, with it rapidly becoming less of a trend and more of a necessity.
Global and regional plant-based protein brands should be prepared to face a reticent crowd should they plan to enter Japan at this juncture, according to the CEO and co-founder of alternative egg firm UMAMI United, Hiroto Yamazaki.
Guaranteeing the supply chain stability of natural colours to ensure manufacturers can be assured of product consistency has taken on extra importance in the post-COVID-19 era, claims GNT.
Consumers in the Asia Pacific region will continue to be strongly driven by products with clean label and positive nutrition claims moving into the new year, with food and beverage brands also set to boost innovation to meet these demands.
Malaysian plant-based protein firm the Ultimeat Group plans to tailor its formulation and packaging to every market it intends to enter from 2023 to 2024.
The Chinese packaged food sector is set to experience market growth at a CAGR of 5.6% from 2021 to 2026, especially for snacks, savouries, dairy and beverages.
Reformulation and new production development of dairy products, dried foods, bakery and snacks, along with beverages, are driving stevia growth in China and the wider Asia Pacific region, claims global ingredient firm Tate & Lyle.
India’s edible oils and food giant B. L. Agro Industries is gearing up for a rapid increase in production as it seeks to cement its position in the domestic market.
Flavour enhancement products today need to not only cater to consumers’ clean label demands, but also be made using clean energy if firms wish to capitalise on the current wellness and sustainability trends that are on the rise in the China and Middle...
Disease outbreaks, such as swine flu affecting pork quality and the COVID-19 pandemic hitting supply chains, have raised the profile of plant-based products among lower-income consumers in Thailand, according to a brand CEO.
The expertise of global food corporations and VC firms is urgently needed to drive the Thai foodtech system and help build a regulatory framework for novel foods, while also offering more support to start-ups.
Chennai-based nutraceutical and food firm Diabliss Consumer Products is developing another 10 herbal water supplements – on top of its five existing products – to tap the lucrative potential of the general wellness market in the country.
Olam says it is on a mission to improve low consumer awareness of ‘natural and sustainable’ alternative nut butters in Asia in a bid to open up new product development opportunities for the entire category.
The Asian plant-based protein start-up scene is geared to grow 25% by 2025 as more Asians look into flexitarian diets and firms region-wide strive to develop products better suited to their palate.
Plant-based meat in a dry, ambient format could provide the alternative protein industry with cleaner and more convenient options that can simultaneously also offer longer shelf-life and stability.
Turkey’s newest edible oil brand SUNKOY is targeting a 10% stake in the country’s oil exports by 2023, despite facing speed bumps from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Turkey’s honey brand Polenkoy is targeting a deeper reach into the Asian market after achieving 30% growth year-on-year through its partners in India and Australia.
Indian consumers are increasingly leaning toward dark chocolate due to higher awareness of its benefits, according to the founder of the country’s D2C hot chocolate beverage firm Tiggle, Anuva Kakkar.
Asia Pacific consumers are increasingly turning to the back of food packaging to check ingredient lists, before considering any front-of-pack health claims, with interest in clean label products seemingly gathering pace.
Extreme weather events from heat waves and droughts to ‘hundred-year storms’ happening every two years, the impact of climate change is obvious. And few industries are witnessing the impact as much as botanical supply chain.
Singapore traceability technology firm Natural Trace believes it has pioneered a world-first category of in-product tagging based on DNA markers integrated directly within food and beverage products, creating a watermark of sorts that could solve traceability...
Safe Food Advocacy Europe has long been campaigning for an official definition of the term ‘natural’. Yet not all industry players are on board, we are told. How could a legal definition benefit both consumers and the planet?
The ‘clean label’ trend does not remain stagnant. Mintel’s Emma Schofield, Associate Director, Global Food Science, reveals how the trend is evolving in the face of changing regulation, interest is degrees of processing, and environmentally friendly consumers.
Attaining global leadership in the tempeh or traditional fermented bean cake market requires innovative formulations and securing buy-in beyond health-conscious vegan consumers, according to the founder of Singapore’s Angie’s Tempeh.
Rice noodle brand Foodle Noodle has launched its first clean label instant cup noodles range in Thailand, offering local flavours with all-organic ingredients as a healthier, more convenient option to appeal to younger consumers leading a fast-paced lifestyle.
The flavour innovation process for brands in the APAC region is being increasingly driven by culture and localisation, with many of the region’s bigger food firms already grasping the importance of this trend.
