Nut milks on the increase but soy still dominates
While soy milk continues to dominate the dairy alternative drinks sector, interest has been rising in other alternatives, according to Innova Market Insights. Soy milks accounted for 78% of dairy alternative drink launches, but alternatives like rice, oats, barley, almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts are growing in popularity.
Rice was the second most popular ingredient after soy, featuring in 17% of product introductions. Oats and almonds followed rice, with 11 and 10% respectively.
Innova highlighted almond milks as a growing sector in early 2011 and they have continued to grow in popularity. Their share of global launches has reached its present level of 10% from just 3% in 2005.
As well as single-source milk alternatives, blends are increasingly being used, such as soy and rice, or multigrain options. The US has led the way in launches of combined non-dairy ingredient sources.
“Within the overall dairy alternative drinks sector, soy is facing some problems with regard to health scares and the result, in many instances, has been a move to other, non-soy plant-based alternatives,” said Lu Ann Williams, Head of Research at Innova Market Insights. “This trend seems set to continue with an increasing variety of products being made available.”
Dairy alternative drinks have traditionally been marketed on a health platform and this has continued, with three-quarters of launches recorded by Innova featuring a health claim of some kind. The most popular positionings relate to lactose-free formulations, the use of organic ingredients, low cholesterol content and an additive- and preservative-free ‘clean-label’ image. Over 35% of global introductions featured lactose-free labelling, rising to over 50% in North America and Europe.
About 6.5% of launches in the ‘active’ health or fortified arena featured health claims, which was lower than the level of claims for digestive and gut health, at 7.5%. Innova says this reflects regulatory concerns over health claims, as well as disputes over their validity.
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