Here are five stories you might have missed this week. They are taken from other BNP Media publications (the parent company of Dairy Foods).

• Respondents to Beverage Industry’s annual New Product Development Outlook survey say “high protein” and “natural” are most likely to be the latest trends for 2015.

• Health is very much a do-it-yourself concept for today’s American consumers, reports Prepared Foods. The low-fat or reduced-fat items some consumers will gravitate toward will be rejected by others as containing too much sugar or salt, or not enough “good fats” to qualify as “healthy.”

• Finnish dairy producer Valio becomes the first company in the world to sell products to consumers in carton packaging made entirely from plant-based materials, according to this report in Food & Beverage Packaging.

• When speaking to consumers, say natural, local and healthy. Those are some conclusions by the International Dairy-Deli-Bake Association, as reported by Dairy Foods.

• Cheese snacks are the “kings of the extruded snacks world,” according to this article in Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery. IRI, Chicago, reports that the category is up 4.81% in dollar sales for the 52 weeks ending Oct. 5, 2014, to $1.81 billion. Frito-Lay, the undisputed leader of the category—with its iconic Cheetos brand—was at $1.55 billion for the period.