Future-Proofing Food: How Consumer Needs Shape Tomorrow’s Market
01 Apr 2025 | Valio
The food and beverage industry is evolving rapidly, shaped by shifting consumer expectations and emerging trends. In this webinar, Valio, a Finnish dairy and food company, unpacks the key forces driving change—rising demand for personalized nutrition, protein-rich innovations, and free-from products—and how they are redefining food production. With deep expertise in dairy and ingredient solutions, Valio will explore how businesses can navigate these shifts, translating insights into growth opportunities. From leveraging protein and lactose-free innovations to creating future-proof product strategies, Valio provides practical solutions that help manufacturers meet evolving consumer demands while standing out in a competitive market.
Hello and welcome to today's webinar brought to you by Valo.
I'm Anvisha Manjal, senior journalist at Food Ingredients First, and I'll be your moderator.
The title of today's webinar is Futureproofing Food, How Consumer Needs Shape Tomorrow's Market.
We'll explore key forces driving change in the food and beverage industry, including the rising demand for personalized nutrition, protein-rich innovations, and free from products.
Our speakers will share insights into how manufacturers can navigate these shifts and develop novel solutions that resonate with consumers.
Before we begin, I'd like to remind our audience that you can submit your questions at any time during the presentation using the Q&A tool.
Any questions we don't have time to address today will be answered via email after the presentation.
The webinar will be available on demand at food ingredientsfirst.com and a link to the webinar will be emailed to you after the session.
We're joined by two speakers today.
We will first hear from Dr.
Kevin Deegan, Vice President of innovation at Valo.
Kevin brings extensive experience in consumer insight and research.
His passion lies in unlocking and interpreting consumer behavior as a driver for business development and innovation.
We also have with us Katrina Lee, Customer Development Manager, Food Solution sales at Value.
Katrina has a strong background in international sales and is passionate about creating success in collaboration with customers.
Welcome, Kevin and Katrina, and thank you for joining us.
Now, let's begin the presentation.
Kevin, the floor is yours.
Hi, and thank you very much for the introduction.
My name is Kevin Deegan, and I'm vice president for innovation here in Valo headquarters in Helsinki, Finland, the happiest country in the world.
Today I will try to take a look towards the future by looking at consumer trends and emerging topics, how we have got to where we are and what we could see as areas of potential for the consumers of tomorrow.
But first I'll tell you a little bit about Balio.
It all began with butter.
Valio was founded in 1905 by Finnish dairy farmers to export the highest quality Finnish butter to the world.
And high quality has been a cornerstone of our operations from the very beginning.
The name Valo was chosen 120 years ago.
In our founding moments to indicate our dedication to quality, and it refers to high quality.
So much so that only dairy producing the best quality butter at the time were allowed to become members of the cooperative.
Valio is not only Finland's largest food company, but it's also Finland's largest exporter of food.
This accounts for about 25% of Finland's total food exports, which equates to about 200 shipping containers filled with our products.
We export high quality dairy products and ingredients to about 50 countries worldwide, leveraging Finland's clean environment and very strict quality standards.
Our exports include cheese, milk powders, butter, and specialized dairy ingredients for the food, pharmaceutical and infant nutrition industries.
In addition to our home market in in Finland, we operate several subsidiaries to support our international business and specialized operations, including Valio Esti in Estonia, which focuses on dairy production and sales in the Baltic region, and Valio Sweden, which markets consumer goods to the markets in Sweden.
In addition, we have Value USA and Value China which handle exports and business developments in their respective markets.
Although we could argue that dairy itself is a food, Valio has made the strategic decision to make its mark and pursue opportunities in categories outside our core of milk and milk products.
An example of this was launched in 2018, Valo's plant-based brand Oddly Good, which was an innovative and brave jump into a new but somewhat familiar world.
And in the six years since launch of Oddly Good, we're now a key player in the Nordic plant-based market, where it's grown to a turnover close to about €50 million last year, and a widely stocked range of plant-based alternatives to milk, cheese, desserts, cooking products, and yogurts.
In addition, Valo has made the acquisition of the Finnish plant-based meat alternative brands Golden Green and more recently Harkki, giving Valo a commanding share of a growing category.
Innovation has always been integral to Vo.
From pioneering lactose-free dairy milk to groundbreaking ingredient solutions, innovation has been in our DNA since the beginning.
Our commitment to research is reflected in the about 350+ patents and history of scientific excellence, including a Nobel Prize which was awarded to the head of Valos Laboratories, AI Virtanen, in 1945.
The first Val laboratory was founded in 1917 to foster cheesemaking skills and to support rising domestic market for milk products.
And as the nation of Finland itself emerged as an independent state in 1917, so did Finland's dairy farmers with a clear vision of how to generate exports that helped shape the nation's trade policies.
And the legacy of AI Virta lives on.
We use science to make food, which makes life better.
So here you can see some facts and figures about our company.
Valio is a dairy cooperative owned by almost 3500 dairy farmers across Finland.
And we're made up of 13 cooperatives.
We process about 1.7 billion L of milk, which is approximately 80% of the milk in Finland.
We have 15 production plants in Finland and Estonia, and in 2023, we had a turnover of €2.3 billion.
As I mentioned, we export to 50 countries.
And we have made the foray into plant-based milk and meat alternatives through our oddly good and Golden Green brands.
Valio is also present in the wholesale space with Valio Aimo.
And we have a number of joint ventures in terms of sustainability.
One mentioned here with Soman Lanokasu OU, where we try to produce biogas from manure.
I don't know if I mentioned our Nobel Prize in 1945, and we have the aim of every year, producing 5 to 10 patents or inventions.
And in addition to this, we have just over 4200 employees around the world.
So We're talking about the future.
And in terms of talking about the future, we need to think about how we've got to where we are now.
Every year in Vallio, we analyze and look at different sources of trends and consumer research, including our own proprietary consumer research to compile our list of global consumer food trends and the key drivers of change behind them.
But first of all, we need to consider what a trend is.
And it's quite simple.
A trend is a change.
It's a change in a certain direction.
There are two aspects of trends that we need to consider, both the direction of the change and the speed of the change.
And of these two characteristics.
One is probably a little bit more easier to predict, and one is probably a little bit more difficult to predict.
In general, and when I show you the trends that we currently have analyzed, We can say with some degree of surety in what direction these trends are moving in.
However, what's not so clear and it's harder to predict is the speed at which these trends will take place.
Here you can see the 4 main global consumer food trends that we have identified as being the most relevant and the strongest in our areas of business.
Sustainability, convenience, food is identity, and holistic health and -being.
In addition to that, And through various versions over the years of the same trend report, we have considered what's driving these trends.
The trends themselves stay relatively static and are relatively slow moving.
But behind these are characteristics and drivers which go across all of these four trends, and they're shown here.
So we have digitalization.
Value.
And individuality.
And in this presentation, I'm going to go through a few examples of these, how we've got to where we are and what they could mean in our future.
As I mentioned, trends are quite slow moving and relatively consistent.
So in order to have something that we can work with and something a little bit more concrete.
We also analyze and interpret what we call emerging topics.
And you can see here 9 emerging food topics for 2025.
Easy gourmet.
Personalized everything from food to experiences, polarized sustainability.
Drinks for every need, protein everywhere.
Boost your mood, simplify my life.
And culinary diversity.
Now, while these topics are smaller and more dynamic than trends, They do suggest potentially important signals, weak signals if you will, as to where future food demand may be headed.
Or how future decisions may be made by consumers.
And likewise, a few of these will pop up.
In this presentation in various different guises and also I'm very happy to talk about these in, in other situations also.
But first, before we get into the, into the meat, Something to keep in mind when we talk about human behavior.
In our industry that we work in, facts and logic rule, when developing new innovations, we're on the edge of complexity, and often we have 1 ft in academic research or the academic world, which is a world of rigor and rationality.
However, for consumers, perception is reality.
How they feel about a product or a service often matters more than the facts.
The, the bold truth of this is that we make more decisions.
With our emotions than with logic.
Now, in our industry, we may know the logic and the rationale, but to truly connect, we must step into their world, not just expect consumers to step into ours.
And sometimes we need to park our logic at the door.
When we try to analyze and interpret consumer behavior, it's crucial to overcome biases and challenge our assumptions to gain a deeper and more accurate understanding of what truly drives why people make the decisions that they make.
Personal experiences, industry norms, past successes can lead us to have blind spots.
And they can lead to misconceptions about consumer needs and why people do what they do.
But if we embrace diverse perspectives, question our beliefs, and rely on robust data-driven insights, we can uncover hidden opportunities and respond to evolving consumer expectations more effectively to ensure that strategies that we have remain relevant and consumer-centric in an ever-changing world.
And an example I'd like to use to illustrate this point is shown here.
In 2020, 6,399 Finnish consumers were asked about their dietary choices.
1.8% said that they were vegan.
In the same survey later on.
Participants were asked what percentage or if they are if they ate minced beef on a regular basis.
So our hypothesis would be that amongst vegans or people that reported to be vegans, this percentage should be 0%, when in reality it was 32%.
Likewise, in the same survey, when asked about milk consumption, and it was specified as dairy milk.
37%.
Of participants who self-reported as vegan.
Said that they consumed dairy milk on a regular basis.
So what's the point of this?
This is a good reminder that what people say and what they do are not always aligned.
It could be social desirability, aspirational thinking, or habit.
Consumer responses can sometimes contradict the real behaviors.
And in market and consumer insight and research, our job is not to take the values, the answers at face value, but to dig a little bit deeper, cross-check data, interpret insights with a critical eye.
Decisions that we make and, and predictions that we make should be based on evidence, not on our, on our assumptions or emotions, because understanding consumers as they truly are, not just that they claim to be, is what can really lead to business impact.
I'll now open up 4 themes or trends which we see as being the most relevant in terms of future consumer needs and potential for growth.
The first of these 4 major themes is personalization.
Personalization or individualization, if you want to call it that, is something which its importance has increased to such an extent that we used to class it as a trend, but now we consider it as a driver of change, something which is present behind and driving the changes that we see.
This growing influence of personalization across all trends will be even of even more importance in the future.
Personalized everything.
The growing demand and expectation for personalization can be visualized by the smartwatch.
Whether we like it or not, we are being measured and monitored on a continual basis.
And as a result, technology is becoming more personalized to our own needs and enables us to demand more personalized solutions in other areas of consumption.
32% of Gen Z consumers used an app to track their fitness and health.
59% of global consumers are interested in foods and drinks, drink products.
That are customized to meet their individual needs.
So what does this mean and what could this mean for us in our future?
11 thing that it could mean is that there will be, and there is probably now already less acceptance for one size fits all.
We're at the tail end of an acceptance for generic offerings.
In the same way that technology is allowing and and enabling us to get more customized solutions, the same demand and expectation.
Will and has in some part already transferred to food and beverage.
Also, There is a unique, or there are unique opportunities for database solutions.
So how we use data, how we use customized data, and how we respond to such customization and demand for customization will be of significant competitive advantage in the future.
Protein is everywhere.
It's easy to under to underestimate or to understate the importance of protein and how it's perceived by consumers.
Amongst the basic macronutrients in food, protein stands alone in terms of clarity and positivity, something which has been already prevalent for a number of years and appears to remain so in the future.
At the beginning of this presentation, I mentioned that predictions of the future benefit greatly from an understanding of how we got to where we currently are, and this is what I will do with protein.
So why has protein become ubiquitous in food and beverages?
The Atkins diet played a big role in this.
The Atkins diet, which was created in 1972 and gained massive popularity at the end of the 1990s, was the first mainstream diet to allow instead of deny, essentially giving control to consumers.
And this marked a shift away from previous diets and the idea of a diet in terms of sacrificing to giving control.
It also helped shift public focus towards protein as a key nutrient for weight loss and also satiety and itself influenced another a number of other diets in its wake.
Secondly, protein is very easy to understand and widely perceived as a positive component of foods.
Here you can see that almost 1 in 5 Americans came to follow a high protein diet, which is the most widely followed consumption pattern, and 33% of Americans consider healthy food to also mean a good source of protein.
Number 3, protein provides permission.
This is something very interesting because we'd start to see a health halo appear.
Where, where consumers perceive and perhaps use protein as a means to Allow themselves to enjoy more tree products.
An example here shown by our own Vop profile, chocolate protein pudding, which looks delicious and I can assure you also tastes delicious, and gets the balance right between providing the healthy boost and perception of protein as being a positive and healthy characteristic with the treat of a chocolate pudding.
It's a bit of a no-brainer if you ask me.
Protein is perceived as having multiple benefits.
So not only is it positive, but it's quite diverse in terms of the perception by consumers of its benefits.
For example, energy and stamina, weight management, brain health, boosting immunity, healthy aging, so it covers a lot of bases.
And also protein was and is placed to take advantage of key consumer trends across consumer occasions and needs, of which I've listed some here, healthy aging, like energy, exercise, brain and cognition, balance, activity, and performance.
So, all in all, protein covers a lot of bases.
What does this mean looking to the future?
I think it's, it's safe to say that in general and looking at how we got here.
That protein has quite , positive and probably as long-term growth and demand for consumers.
It's been on the block already for quite a while and shows no sign of slowing down.
Something that we need to consider and something that in general, when we talk about food and talk about beverages is that natural sources or perception of natural sources of macronutrients or certain trends.
Ultimately have an advantage over their competitive products.
Products and foods and drinks that are naturally or perceived as being naturally high in protein.
Will be favored and will continue to continue to be favored by consumers in the future.
Next, digestive wellness.
This again has been on the block for quite a while and something which Ebbs and flows A lot of the assumptions about gut health and gut wellness relate to what we know about the gut microbiome.
Essentially the relationship between what happens in our gut and what happens in our brain.
And as more and more information and studies appear er and bring us new insights into that relationship, the more interest is reflected in consumer demand.
So much so that in Gen X and baby boomers, improving gut and digestive health is the most desirable, functional characteristic in food and beverages, which is quite significant.
Also, over 80% , as reported by McKinsey, of consumers in China, the United Kingdom, and the United States recognize gut health is important, with more than half expecting to prioritize it even more in the next 2 to 3 years.
So, what can that mean for us?
One thing is that Gut health we see as becoming almost a hygiene factor across categories.
And by hygiene factor, I'm not referring to cleanliness, I'm referring to an assumption or a demand by consumers that it just has to be there.
The more that we learn and the more consumers learn and also perceive about gut health, what's good and what's bad, will lead them to make wider and probably er more accurate decisions about what products they choose and what foods and drinks they consume in the future.
One of our main trends that I showed at the beginning of this presentation was holistic -being.
We no longer talk about -being in the lens of physical -being or health, but we talk about it also in terms of mental health.
Being in the bigger scale is about balance.
Getting the balance between stress and relaxation, getting the balance between good and bad.
And we can go across in many different functional aspects as as food.
But we're seeing that gut health, probably because it's also quite still unknown and the actions and reactions about what happens in our gut and our brain are still undiscovered.
People are beginning to realize that, maybe this has a much more important role that we've considered previously.
A lot of the issues and er problems that people have with their gut or their stomach or consumption in general are still undiagnosed, and a lot of it has to do with own perception.
Perception is reality for consumers and especially so in the case of gut health.
And the final theme or trend that I'd like to, like to raise is the world of alternatives.
Valio is traditionally a dairy company and now we're making the transition to being a food company.
I mentioned at the beginning that we made bold and brave, innovative moves into the world of plant-based dairy alternatives and plant-based meat alternatives.
But what's behind this move to alternatives?
Something which has happened quite recently in this move has been how people react to and perceive sacrifice.
Alternatives traditionally were forced upon people.
If you have a problem with wheat, you're forced to go gluten-free.
If you have a problem with dairy, you're forced to forced to go to lactose-free or to go to plant-based.
And traditionally, that usually has meant a drop in quality, a drop in enjoyment, and ultimately sacrifice.
Recently, in the last say 10 to 15 years ago, we've seen a mindset shift also in the industry about how we approach and how we communicate alternatives to consumers.
Here I'll show you some results from a plant-based shopper study from last year, which is part of our own consumer insight proprietary research in body, where we ask consumers what was their one number one motivation to use, in this case, it was plant-based dairy alternatives.
And across the 4 markets where we studied, you'll see that in Finland, the number 1 motivation to use plant-based dairy alternatives was variety.
Earlier in this presentation, I asked you to challenge your assumptions.
To think about what really lies behind these.
And for the last 6 to 7 years when we've asked this question in Finland, we've got a consistent answer, and that answer is variety.
Previously, we may have considered and our hypothesis was that people make the move from dairy to to plant-based dairy alternatives for ethical or ecological reasons, and for some case, for some people that is the case, but the number one reason is for a variety to try something new.
The 2nd most common answer, and in the markets shown here, Sweden, Spain, and the United States, is wellbeing.
Now digging deeper into the -being aspect of that, there is still a lot unknown.
Related to gut health or related to interactions and reactions to dairy, to meat, or to wheat.
So, a general feeling or misunderstanding or perception by consumers that this may be better for me or this may be of better quality or healthier for me is also causing this change to happen.
But if we look at what is the most important feature.
In choice.
Across the markets, you see taste.
Now, for those of us who work in consumer research and market research, this is not a surprise, especially in food.
The most important feature and the number one reason why somebody will rebuy or not rebuy a product after the first tasting.
Is taste.
If it doesn't taste good, you're not gonna buy it again, in general.
Of course there are some attitudes and drivers which will override that, but for the vast majority of people, taste is the most important feature in choice.
If we look at the number 1 barrier preventing this move to alternatives across these 4 markets, you'll see that for the majority, it's bad taste.
Cost has come up in recent years, obviously with an inflation, and also because the drivers and the attitudes which are forcing or mentioning to people that why they should move.
In some cases are not that strong.
So when price sensitivity comes into the equation, it might be a case where the move to the alternative is actually not desired.
But here you can see, and the reason that we, we include this slide is because there's a lot of work to do in the alternative world.
Also, there's a lot of hypothesis that we have to challenge.
There's a lot of questions and assumptions that we need to consider, about why consumers are making their move towards this and what it could mean for us in our industry.
What does it mean for us in the future?
One thing that we're very passionate about is we need to bring some rationality to the debate here.
I mentioned earlier that perception is reality for consumers and rationality and logic is not always a part of that.
But in functional products.
And products with an intended need or to, to answer to provide a solution to a need.
Active and rational communication of -being is very important.
And for those of us in the industries, like I mentioned earlier, where naturality and perception of naturality is clear for consumers, we have a huge advantage in this and something that we need to be proud of and, and preempt and be proactive about.
And secondly, Like I mentioned that when I started this part of the presentation, we have to remember that the alternatives are no longer a sacrifice for the mass majority of people.
This translates into consumer demand for quality, for taste, like you see on this slide, and also that making a choice for an alternative in some cases is seen as a positive decision and as a decision of being in control.
One of our main trends in our trend analysis is food is identity.
Literally you are what you eat and what do you say or what you want to say with your food choices.
Thank you, Kevin.
My name is Catherine A Lee, and I work as a customer development manager at Valium.
And today I will present to you how Valo has approached turning some of these prevailing trends into business opportunities.
I will cover, two topics in my presentation today.
First, digestive wellness market, and then, tap on the growing, protein market also.
But we will begin with the digestive wellness market, and I want to share with you how Valio has become the market leader in the lactose-free category.
And firstly, in my presentation, we will shortly go through what is lactose and what lactose intolerance means.
And then I will explain how we developed our offering for this market.
And then finally, we will discuss a little bit about the potential that is yet to be untapped in this category.
So lactose, what it is, it's a sugar which is naturally found in milk and dairy products.
And, human body uses an enzyme called lactase to break down this, lactose into two simple sugars of glucose and galactose.
And some people have low levels of this enzyme in their body, which makes it difficult for, for the body to break the lactose, which then in turns leads into intolerance.
And the common symptoms for the intolerance are bloating, gas buildup, and stomach pain.
And then when you think about the fact that actually 68% of the global population are lactose intolerant, it kind of presents a huge opportunity for entirely new range of new kind of products that have already a demand as a consumer base.
So, how has Valio managed to become successful in this lactose-free category?
So, our story really begins already in the 80s with the introduction of low lactose substitute for white milk.
And then in 2001, we introduced the first lactose-free milk into the market, which actually tasted exactly like a real milk.
From there onwards, Valo started to expand to the best sellers in different kinds of dairy categories, really enabling those consumers with the lactose intolerance to enjoy the same products as before without making the compromise.
And this also meant that the families were able to choose only one product.
They didn't have to opt for several items, so everyone was able to use the same product.
And by 2011, already 20% in net sales in dairy category were in the lactose-free in Finland.
So today, how it looks like for us, we have expanded to several different tasty product, dairy categories, and there is a growing demand for this kind of digestive wellness products.
So these products are not anymore chosen, only by the intolerant people and not due to a must, but they are really seen as premium, products and therefore opted to choose.
So there is no compromise that the consumer has to make when they select the lactose-free products.
And today, already over 40% of the dairy product sales in dairy is in lactose-free products.
And this is really huge when you think about the fact that 17% of the Finnish populations are lactose intolerant.
So, Why does the lactose free market remain interesting?
Global lactose-free, dairy market is estimated to reach €17 billion by 2028.
There is, over the past years has been an average growth of 8% in the lactose-free product launches.
So we expect that this growth indeed continues and expands into new categories.
So there is still a significant potential to grow in this.
So.
There is, to summarize, there is a large, constantly growing consumer base existing for these kind of items and products, and it fits really on the global, consumer trend of health and wellness.
People want to, eat food that does good for them and lactose-free products or that kind of products.
I said, building the category takes some time, but it can be done as shown here.
Then next I will tell you a little bit about our more current success in the protein, high protein product category where we have been able to create a strong brand and market position and also offer exciting new ingredients to our industrial customers.
So in 2010, Valio saw this hidden opportunity from the quark eating habit of actually bodybuilders.
So there was a rising trend of this natural fat-free, unflavored quark consumption with some of consumers, buying pallets consisting of 24 pieces.
To consume on a weekly basis.
So here we identified the trend that we decided then to quickly act upon.
But really to make it into a big business of protein, we needed to start educating the normal, more mainstream consumer, making them aware of the benefits of high quality milk protein, and really that meant a shift from the whey protein to milk protein.
Also, the taste profile has to be, or had to be a bit different, as the everyday consumer, has other kind of preferences and expectations on their snacking products.
And once the consumer, started to include these kind of, extra proteins in their everyday diet, they wanted to start, to get more variety in the form of, functionality, different kind of types of products.
And once this kind of a portfolio started to grow, there was a need for different kind of elements also.
So more natural product, less additives, less sugar, more sustainable, and so forth.
So, protein remains one of the key, food consumer trends also today.
So, our industrial customers have also seen the growth in the protein trend and the criteria for good taste has become more critical for them also.
So often the products and the ingredients come with the unpleasant taste and texture that there needs to be masked, and, and, , hidden somehow.
But the best quality dairy protein portfolio that we have to offer, is able to tackle this issue and you, you are able to achieve great tasting, good mouth-fill products with the ingredients.
And I said, today, we serve a wide base of industrial customers in their needs of creating good tasting, interesting new products to offer their end customers.
So whether it's a sweet, high protein pudding, you're interested in developing or savory soup, we are able to.
Help our customers by finding the correct ingredients and the recipe formulation.
So here are some of the examples of the product prototypes that we have recently worked on.
And here is really just to give an idea of the range of lactose-free and high protein ingredients which are suitable for many different kinds of applications.
So, our, milk powders are used in a variety of industries and applications, with the end products being such as ice creams, puddings, and so forth.
Or also our fast track solution which allows our customers to create white milk and yogurt in that process.
So here is really to then recap that value has a strong know-how and presence in the consumer business, of course, but we also offer solutions to a variety of industries and work with different kind of applications as shown here.
So we don't, I explained, only offer a product to our customers, but really try to offer an end to end support from the insights to to the actual recipe formulation and, and launching a new product for our customers.
That was my presentation today.
Thank you for listening and I hope you have enjoyed it.
Thank you very much, Katrina and Kevin, for that insightful presentation.
We've had some great questions come in from our audience, so let's move into our Q&A session.
One of our attendees asks, how can companies respond to the growing demand of personalization when creating new products?
Kevin, would you like to answer this question for our viewer?
Sure, I hope that in my presentation one thing came across, and that is that we understand what personalization and what the needs of the consumer are.
We can quite often panic when we think about personalization and think about it in terms of how will my company react.
We have our processes, we have our machinery, we have our production that works in a certain way.
We can't make one individual product for every person.
In terms of value and how we have done it, our, our range of protein enriched products called Profile has managed, I think, just to do that.
So across the assortment of various different products in the brand, we have different types of formulations for different consumer needs.
Those who favor sugar over artificial sweeteners, those who want sweetness without natural sugar.
And those who want less sugar and less sweetness.
So we decide, and we can decide at what altitude we choose to make these things personal and also to consider that what our reality today is versus after 5 or 10 or 15 years into the future.
Interesting, thanks for sharing, Kevin.
Another listener has sent in a question about protein.
They ask, how do you see the high protein trend evolving in the near future?
Katrina, would you like to share your thoughts on this question?
Sure, one of the biggest impacts we believe will be coming from, the sustainability aspect, I believe.
It will create more demand for the kind of ethically acceptable products.
And also, I would say that most likely the products will become more personalized in, in, in the sense of use or more specified, specialized in, in the demand of products created for weight management or muscle gain or gut health or so on.
Great, thanks for sharing, Katrina.
A 3rd listener would like to know from you, Kevin, whether you see some trends from the past that are re-emerging.
Yeah, that's a great question.
It's funny because we have eaten food since the beginning.
And we do see resurgences.
Of similar trends, but maybe for different reasons.
I think probably currently when we talk about natural functionality.
So, natural, traditional products where there is some functional or -being advantage in them.
Are kind of making a resurgence.
A good example of this may be something like in the dairy world, Keffir.
So kefir, again, a very traditional fermented product which has seen a resurgence because of the growing gut, wellness and gut health trend.
So something that was consumed before for different reasons is now finding new life because of new information or new perception by consumers.
That's very true.
Thanks, Kevin.
We wish we had time to take more questions, but we have one final question from a viewer.
They ask, where do you see the biggest potential for lactose-free?
Katrina, maybe you'd like to take this one.
Sure, that's, that's a good question.
And if you think of it, region wise, there's of course a lot of potential in East Asia, Africa, Latin America.
And then if you think of it in product wise, there's still a lot of options to mainstream, so launching lactose-free variants of existing products and then maybe perhaps in more developed markets where the lactose-free is already more familiar, perhaps in this kind of meal kits or functional foods, I would say.
Great.
Thanks for sharing again, Katrina, and I'm sure our, our viewers have learned a lot from the both of you today.
Thank you to our listeners for their questions, and thank you once again to Kevin and Katrina for sharing your thoughts.
That's all we have time for today.
A big thank you to our presenters for sharing their expertise and to all of you for joining us.
Just a reminder that this webinar will be available on demand and you'll receive an email with the link to access it shortly.
Once again, thanks for being with us today.
We look forward to seeing you at our next webinar.
Goodbye.
Senior Journalist
Customer Development Manager Food Solution Sales
Vice President Innovation
Anvisha Manral
Senior Journalist
Katriina Leigh
Customer Development Manager Food Solution Sales
Kevin Deegan
Vice President Innovation
