Dairy processors add functional ingredients like protein, probiotics and fiber to create beverages for weight control, gut health and disease management.
If you need an icebreaker to use at a dairy-industry gathering, try this: “Functional foods: passing fad or future of the business?” It works wonders at sparking discussion.
Dairy processors — indeed, the entire food industry — have been awaiting functional foods’ imminent ascendance for what feels like decades now. And while growth rates and sales projections impress, the functional sector can’t quite seem to escape the “niche” status that’s hounded it, in the United States at least, since the start.