Food additive demand in the US to be worth $8.5 billion by 2014

US demand for food and beverage additives is forecast to expand 3.5% annually to $8.5 billion in 2014. Advances will be driven by increasing consumer interest in nutritionally enriched products and all-natural foods, which promotes demand for high-value premium and natural additives.

As consumers are wary of foods with artificial-sounding ingredients, processors seeking to create ‘clean’ ingredient labels are increasingly favouring natural additives. Consumer desire for functional products that provide health benefits will support demand for additives such as probiotics and other nutraceuticals.

Flavour products and alternative sweeteners will remain the largest product types in the US food and beverage additive market. The inclusion of functional additives such as probiotics in a widening array of foods and beverages will benefit demand in this segment, as these nutraceuticals are often associated with a bitter taste that must be masked by flavour additives.

Additionally, the National Salt Reduction Initiative will promote demand for flavour enhancers, as these additives improve the flavour profile of reduced-sodium foods.

Among alternative sweeteners, aspartame will continue to account for the largest share of demand, due primarily to its widespread usage in the diet carbonated soft drink segment. However, more rapid gains will be achieved by sucralose, acesulfame potassium (ace-K) and certain polyols. Additionally, trends favouring natural products will bode well for stevia sweeteners, which were approved for use as food additives by the US Food and Drug Administration in late 2008.

Among the various types of food and beverage additives, nutraceuticals which include vitamins, minerals, herbal extracts and probiotics are projected to experience the most rapid gains. Advances will be based on the growing popularity of functional foods, which contain additives that promote health and wellness. Nutraceuticals will continue to expand their presence beyond traditional applications like breakfast cereal, milk, bread, yoghurt and juice into a wide variety of other foods and beverages. Probiotics have found success in the yoghurt segment and will increasingly be incorporated into a variety of other products, such as tabletop sweeteners, chocolate, nutrition bars and juice.

These and other trends are presented in Food & Beverage Additives, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc, a Cleveland-based industry market research firm.