Healthier profiles are becoming table stakes in the snacking game, according to Packaged Facts. This includes clean, natural, organic, no artificial flavors, gluten-free and non-GMO labels.
“Specific brands or product varieties have also been developed to be diet friendly, offering lower calorie snacks or formulations suited for specific diets, such as keto and paleo,” said Packaged Facts.
Cleaner products, like sugarless meat snacks, perform well for Smartt of Kwik Chek. Jack Link’s recently released a sugarless jerky flavor.
“People still want great-tasting products; they want them as healthy or clean as they can get,” Smartt says.
The 2020 trend of better-for-you products is “coming to life in several sub-trends,” says Holly Ingram, communications manager for Perfetti Van Melle USA. That included more fruit juice and fruit puree products entering the better-for-your category, “bringing nutritional value in candy as consumers navigate to find their own balance of healthier living options.”
“We see this trend picking up even more momentum driven by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Ingram told CSP. “Consumers have been re-evaluating everything they are eating by trying new brands when their usual was out of stock. They’re also asking important questions about their own health and wellness and the value of better-for-your products.”