This is the main conclusion of a study released this Monday by the employers' association of the consumer goods sector Aecoc and which analyzes how to respond to these changes in consumer behavior "from innovation".

Healthier habits

Under the title "Health and sustainability mark the food of the future", the report recalls how the reduction of sugars, salt and fats is a trend to follow in numerous categories, to which are added others such as the rise of vegetable alternatives to meat and specific products for vegans.

Health and awareness

All supermarket chains "try to differentiate themselves and position themselves as the reference brands in these segments", highlighted the manager of Aecoc's Retail Knowledge area, Pablo de la Rica, in a statement.

In fact, the bet is such that even most of the distributors that operate in Spain already follow this same line also with their private brands.

De la Rica has pointed out that the concept of "health" is increasingly linked "to pleasure, convenience and comfort", which is part of a search for "healthy indulgence" by customers.

According to their surveys, Eight out of ten consumers spend more on healthy eating and during the past year - marked by the pandemic - the percentage of clients whose main concern about their diet is health went from 10% to 19%.

In terms of sustainability, those responsible for Aecoc relate this factor to the concept of transparency in order to know the origin and route of all the ingredients included in each product.

Environment and sustainability

In this sense, they have predicted that in the future there will be "more labels related to environmental impact", in the image and similarity of what already happens with nutritional values.

Reducing the use of plastics through redesign of packaging and combating food waste are other key trends in this area, according to their analysis.