Market Trends of Europe Specialty Food Ingredients Industry
This section covers the major market trends shaping the Europe Specialty Food Ingredients Market according to our research experts:
Obesity And Overweight in Europe – Leveraging Opportunity For Manufacturers
A few centuries on, with the onset of industrial farming, food is no longer a status symbol and the specter of famine has receded from the consumer consciousness. The abundance of food is such that the link between calorie intake and social status has not so much been eliminated but it has been highly reversed the other way. Across Europe and most of the developed countries, people have easy access to cheap, high-calorie fast food and ready meals. As a result, the average body mass index (BMI) has shot up across the developed world and beyond. Utilizing the latest estimates from EU countries, the World Health Organization suggests that 30-70% of adults are overweight in Europe, whilst obesity affects 10-30% of adults. Moreover, according to the WHO, in the EU, one in three 11-year-olds are either overweight or obese.
Functional Food Ingredients Holds The Major Share
Functional food ingredients are fortified with ingredients to enhance their basic nutritional values. The increase in consumption of nutritive convenience food and fortified food and the growth in health awareness among consumers are driving the functional food ingredients segment. Rapid advancements in technology and companies’ efforts in trying to develop products with multifunctional applications are driving the functional food ingredients segment of the market studied. The major factors restraining the growth of the functional food ingredients segment are the high cost for functional food products, due to the inclusion of healthier or naturally sourced ingredients and the complexities that are related to the adulteration of functional food products.
