Health-conscious eating: the new frontier of the Food sector

One in three consumers is willing to spend more on foods with healthy and nutritional properties. Many governments worldwide are also implementing regulations in favor of healthy foods. These trends will increasingly influence the technological development of the industry.

Nourishing not only the body but also the mind

According to a lifestyle survey conducted by Euromonitor in 2023, consumers are increasingly adopting a holistic lifestyle, paying attention to the food aspects, which increasingly must serve to nourish not only the body but also the mind. Indeed, 64% of global consumers want to improve their eating habits, while 63% consider mental well-being the primary aspect of health. It is not only the market that drives the food supply chain.

Many governments support production policies geared toward a healthy lifestyle to prevent the spread of diet-related diseases, such as diabetes and obesity. That is creating a revolution in the world of Food, with a change from a narrow focus on functionalities such as digestion and immunity to a more holistic positioning that targets areas like gut health, as well as the emergence of functional foods that target needs such as energy, calm, and cognitive functions.

Healthy foods and personalized nutrition plans

But what do consumers specifically desire? How much are they willing to pay? And, what do they not want to compromise on? The top feature consumers are willing to pay more for in their food and drinks is health and nutritional properties, with 29% of respondents selecting this option. 23.5% of consumers prefer “all natural” claims, and slightly below is taste with 23%.

Consumers also expect to find foods that meet specific needs related to age and living conditions, according to the principle of “personalized nutrition.” Children, for instance, have unique nutritional needs to support their growth, while women’s may vary during pregnancy, lactation, and menopause.

That implies the need to tailor food products while giving consumers access to a wide range of information. The personalized nutrition trend involves targeted feeding plans and the use of specific technologies to convey them, an aspect on which consumers seem ready since 74% of them say they are comfortable using online or app-based services for personalized nutrition recommendations.

Pouches as a key asset

According to Euromonitor data, food packaging inside flexible packaging (stand-up pouches and paper) is one of the driving trends, particularly in emerging markets such as Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. Food quality is becoming increasingly important in these regions as well.

Indeed, it would be wrong to think that the demand for products with holistic features is only limited to developed markets, such as the United States or Western Europe. For instance, when choosing foods, US consumers place more value on energy-boosting characteristics, while emerging markets focus often shifts more towards the nutritional properties of the food, such as protein content.

Foods that can provide adequate nutritional value, in addition to complementing the holistic lifestyle, are one of the main components of the diets of the future. At the same time, the ability to purchase foods that are ready-made or require little effort to prepare is also highly appreciated.

Therefore, the consumption of products such as ready-made soups, concentrates, or baby yogurts is rising. These foods can all be packed in pouches.

Our contribution: forty years of experience and a clear vision of the future

All of this creates new challenges for supply chain players. Challenges that we, as Volpak, are ready to face. We boast more than 40 years of experience developing advanced solutions for doypack and flat pouches, tailored for the food industry. Our HFFS machines are developed to handle flexible packaging pouches for a wide range of food products, including Baby Food, Baked Goods, Biscuits and crackers, Candies and gums, Cereals, Chocolate, Salt, Sugar, and more.

But that's not all. Our machines offer maximum flexibility, allowing effortless adjustments to accommodate various pouch sizes, shapes, and closures.

We are committed to delivering sustainable packaging solutions that preserve product quality and shelf life while providing an attractive appearance and convenient daily use. In addition,  thanks to Volpak's Pouch Lab, we have developed a unique know-how in sustainable materials for food product packaging. 

Volpak SP and SI series are designed to form and fill flat and stand-up pouches and, therefore are ideal for the health food sector. All SP and SI series models offer maximum reliability and a wide range of filling and pouch-closing systems. They can also produce a large variety of formats: from small to large pouch sizes. Finally, they offer fast and easy size changeover, to optimize the machine user experience and achieve minimal waste of materials and time.