Banner with making fruit perform title, featuring fruit cubes and a glass of fruit juice and a company logo on the left side
Activia yogurts in supermarket.

The year of fiber: How Danone turns surging demand into scalable product innovation

Fiber has moved from a nutrition afterthought to a formulation priority for F&B manufacturers, as Western consumers increasingly prioritize gut health to support their overall well-being. Food leaders like Danone view fiber as a long-term strategic ingredient, but success depends on balancing functionality, sensory performance, and scalable sourcing in fiber-enriched products. Innova Market Insights ranks fiber as the second most popular functional ingredient for consumers in the US, behind protein. Around two in five say they are highly interested in fibers, signaling a strong baseline demand. Although WHO recommends a minimum of 25 g of fiber per day, most consumers in developed markets fall significantly short, highlighting a persistent “fiber gap.”
pink and red cupcakes and pastries on table
Natural color innovations approach synthetic-level performance as biotech reshapes F&B
Natural colors are no longer aimed at just being a clean label alternative for synthetic hues in F&B applications — they are being engineered to match artificial performance. The future of natural color solutions is not restricted to better plant extracts, but includes a combination of agriculture, biotechnology, and advanced formulation to revamp the F&B ecosystem.
Aux Labs's grilled animal-free grilled cheese.
AuX Labs founder: Solving the melt and stretch problem in animal-free cheese
AuX Labs has secured US$4 million in funding to bring its precision fermentation platform to market, targeting one of the alternative dairy sector’s toughest challenges: delivering animal-free cheese with the texture, stretch, and melt performance required for foodservice. Historically, animal-free cheese has struggled to match the melt and stretch of traditional dairy. AuX Labs believes it has cracked the code. The latest cash injection will propel the company to commercialize precision-fermented dairy proteins designed to perform in real-world kitchen settings.
TechnicalPaperCeamsa
CEAMFIBRE a gut-friendly fibre solution
What's else, besides CEAMFIBRE's mutifunctionality? Could a citrus fibre be gut friendly? CEAMSA investigated whether CEAMFIBRE®—a partially soluble citrus fibre—may exhibit potential prebiotic and satiating properties using in vitro colonic fermentation models and enteroendocrine cell assays. Read the full study to find out.This Technical Paper is brought to you by CEAMSA.
Coralie Garcia, ADM
ADM: Translating consumer behaviors into scalable flavor strategies

Coralie Garcia, senior flavor product marketing manager for EMEA at ADM, answers key questions on translating consumer emotions into flavor strategies, balancing sustainability with innovation, and the role of data in flavor development. Filmed at ADM’s Flavor Innovation Center in Berlin, Germany, the discussion offers valuable insights into the future of flavor across a diverse F&B market.

Image
Vitafoods Europe 2026 preview: Nutraceuticals, functional food & targeted wellness
At the Vitafoods Europe 2026 trade show (May 5–7), the nutraceutical industry will showcase its ingredients, functional foods, and new product applications for increasingly health-conscious consumers. In Barcelona, Spain, suppliers will gather to present the latest innovations in gut health, longevity, women’s health, beauty-from-within, sports nutrition, pet care, and metabolic health. Exhibitors are set to highlight proteins, postbiotics, probiotics, prebiotics, botanicals, enzymes, and flavors. We preview some of the standout companies and innovations.

Latest headlines

View more
Nestlé ramps up restructuring with Blue Bottle Coffee sale and job cuts
Blue Bottle Coffee shop.
Nestlé has agreed to sell Blue Bottle Coffee as part of its ongoing restructuring, marking a retreat from specialty retail coffee. The move aligns with the company’s strategy to streamline its portfolio and focus on scalable global brands, particularly in coffee, where Nescafé and Nespresso continue to drive growth. The divestment comes as Nestlé accelerates efforts to exit or review non-core assets, including its water division and parts of its vitamins and supplements businesses. The F&B giant is increasingly sidelining lower-growth businesses, as management prioritizes brand-led categories with stronger international reach.
Plant-adapted microbial strains could unlock next-gen dairy-free yogurt
Young woman reads product label of yogurt in the grocery store.
Plant-based yogurt still struggles to match dairy on taste, texture, and nutrition, but a research project in Denmark has come up with a potential solution to solve these long-standing challenges and boost dairy-free alternatives.
Scientists tackle flaxseed oil bitterness to improve flavor stability and shelf...
man in black shirt in front of computer
Scientists in Germany have developed a method to improve the flavor stability of flaxseed oil — an omega-3-rich oil known for its health benefits, but which poses shelf life challenges to F&B manufacturers. The team used bleaching earth (magnesium-aluminum silicate) to reduce the oil’s bitterness, offering a sustainable way to extend its freshness without chemical additives or complex refining.
Brazzein goes commercial: Pentasweet’s €65M Lithuanian facility targets sugar...
A mother and daughter eating cookies and smiling at a table in the kitchen.
A sweet protein stated to be 1,500 times more potent than sugar is about to get its first dedicated production facility in Europe. Pentasweet has begun construction on a €65 million (US$76.1 million) brazzein production factory at the Vilnius City Innovation Industrial Park in Lithuania — one of the largest biotechnology investments in the country in recent years.
FaBA MakerSpace: The innovation hub that could power Australia’s food start-up...
scientists working in lab
The University of Queensland in Australia has unveiled Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA) MakerSpace to speed up product development and boost industry collaboration. For Australian start-ups, FaBA MakerSpace can be a bridge between concept and commercialization, enabling faster formulation iterations, while strengthening the country’s food innovation ecosystem.
Vitafoods Europe 2026 explores beauty supplements amid nutricosmetics boom
Vitafoods Europe 2025

Nutrition Insight

For the first time, this year’s Vitafoods Europe trade show will include a dedicated nutricosmetics spotlight, reflecting the rapidly accelerating beauty-from-within market. The event organizers note that innovation in this space is expanding beyond traditional supplements into functional foods, beverages, and longevity-focused nutrition as consumers link appearance with overall well-being. Ahead of the event on May 5–7, Nutrition Insight speaks with Francesca Berry, head of Content Programming for Vitafoods Europe, about what visitors can expect in Barcelona, Spain. 
Highlighted features
two young asian girls clicking street food photo on mobile
Food Ingredients News
Asia-Pacific flavor trends: Takasago on “digital natives”...
Asia Pacific (APAC) has emerged as a flavor innovation hub for F&B manufacturers, as they work to navigate consumers’ fast-evolving taste expectations. Social media-driven curiosity for global cuisines is co-existing with local flavor demands, with companies advancing technical innovations around taste modulation, plant-based, and sustainable food systems, particularly to appeal to younger generations.
Food made with traditional South African flavors.
Key interview
African flavors: How ADM localizes R&D to strengthen...
Taste preferences across Africa are highly diverse, but for years, the industry has developed flavors for African F&B markets from a distance, which meant missing the subtleties. ADM’s newest flavor creation facility in Johannesburg, South Africa, looks to overcome that gap by embedding innovation inside the markets it serves.
Strait Of Hormuz.
Regulatory News
“Global agri-food catastrophe”: FAO sounds alarm on Strait...
UN FAO chief economist, Maximo Torero, has warned that a prolonged Strait of Hormuz crisis could result in a “global agri-food catastrophe.” The US-Iran war in the Middle East, which began in late February 2026, remains unresolved, with Torero urging anticipatory policy actions to mitigate a price and supply crunch for key agri-food inputs. Although a delicate ceasefire has been agreed, major elements of the conflict — including naval blockades, sanctions, and military posturing — are still active, so the situation remains volatile rather than fully de-escalated.

Ingredient focus

View more
Image

Natural colors surge in F&B industryApr2026

Innova Market Insights data shows that consumers are actively reducing artificial ingredients in favor of natural alternatives. The use of natural colors in F&B launches is rising, with +9% growth...

Brought to you by:

Exberry

Product innovation

View more
Image

Plant-based F&B launches see steady growth Apr 2026

Innova Market Insights data indicates a 3% CAGR in plant-based F&B launches between 2021 and 2025. Dairy and Meat Substitutes remain the key categories, while Fruit & Vegetables showed the fastest growth (36% CAGR) during the same period. Emerging ingredients in plant-based launches include sucralose, oat flake, and vegetable fats.

Trend analysis

View more
Image

Healthy beverage trends: A growing market for functional drinksApr 2026

Innova Market Insights has identified “Beverages with Purpose” as one of the top F&B trends for 2026. Consumers worldwide are increasingly prioritizing health-conscious beverages, driven by growing industry support and innovation. This shift is accelerating the demand for functional drinks, with protein and biotic benefits leading the charge as key trends in healthy beverage development.

Multimedia

View more
Coralie Garcia, ADM
Video09:00
ADM: Translating consumer behaviors into scalable flavor strategies

Coralie Garcia, senior flavor product marketing manager for EMEA at ADM, answers key questions on translating consumer emotions into flavor strategies, balancing sustainability with innovation, and the role of data in flavor development. Filmed at ADM’s Flavor Innovation Center in Berlin,...

Win-win video thumbnail: Stack of cookies topped with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce on a plate, with a smiling man’s portrait in a blue circular graphic background
Video10:45
Win-Win: Fermentation unlocks cocoa-free, climate-friendly chocolate NPD
Valio webinar banner for More per Bite: Turn wellness into market success, with register link for 21 April sessions.
Webinars32:35
More per Bite: Turn wellness into market success
Image
Video11:07
Melt&Marble: Enhancing flavor in alternative meats and dairy with precision-fermented fat
Subscribe to our newsletters
PlatformsFood Ingredients FirstNutrition InsightPackaging InsightsPersonal Care InsightsThe World of Food Ingredients
About usContact usAdvertisingPrivacy statementSitemapArchive
Follow us
linkedinrss_headergoogle_news
Image