Dairy, more than any other food category, is perfectly positioned to profit from the most important consumer trends shaping the food industry, said Julian Mellentin (pictured), the director of New Nutrition Business, London. In his report released in October, Mellentin outlines 14 trends driving the category.

In “Key Trends in the Business of Dairy Nutrition,” Mellentin points to savory flavors, like Veggie Kefir in tomato, beet and cucumber from Lifeway Foods and yogurt in six vegetable flavors, including carrot, parsnip and sweet potato from Blue Hill.

Innovations like these demonstrate dairy’s new direction towards what Mellentin calls “Dairy 2.0” – a move away from added ingredients and towards natural benefits that are a natural fit with dairy’s wholesome image.

And that’s an image that’s been boosted recently by new research that has brought into question the supposed link between dairy fat and cardiovascular disease.

“The long-held view that dairy fat is connected to risk of cardiovascular disease has now been firmly debunked by a steady stream of good quality science,” Mellentin writes. “One day we will see that low- or no-fat dairy products have been a huge mistake. However, the strength of the low/no-fat belief is now so entrenched in consumer beliefs that this will take 20 years or more to change, for the mass of consumers.”

However, the most health-conscious consumers – the niche of savvy consumers who so often kick off innovations – are learning about dairy’s revised health image from other sources and will embrace “new dairy.”

“A major part of Dairy 2.0 is about bringing formats that are established and traditional in one market and introducing them in a new market where they can be positioned as new and different,” Mellentin observed. The most conspicuous success so far is Greek yogurt, but there are many others succeeding on a smaller scale, such as kefir and skyr.

Dairy has also driven the protein trend. “In the midst of the hype about protein it’s important to remember that it’s dairy – specifically Greek yogurt – that has created the trend and has driven the market to its current heights,” he said.

In digestive health it’s largely dairy that has created a market and continues to dominate it and although Europe’s health claims regulations have put an end to the growth of probiotics there, dairy probiotics are growing massively in many other markets, in particular Asia where:

• Danone Activia is getting huge growth using exactly the same techniques that made it such a success in Europe and the United States
• Probiotic brand Yakult reported a 48% increase in its Asian sales in the year ending March 2014

And in health aging, it is dairy products that have created the most successful formats, such as those for brain health (Danone Souvenaid) and bone health (Fonterra’s Anlene and Danone’s Densia) and many others.   

 Submitted by New Nutrition Business.