List season begins: Top 10 food trends for 2008

Mintel has kicked off the top-10 list season with its predicted food trends for 2008:

1. Clean labels: Clean labels — ingredient labels that read like a home recipe.

2. Transparency throughout the system — where ingredients come from, how they are manufactured and how they are packaged.

3. Junk-free foods —  additives, preservatives, colors, flavors or otherwise unknown ingredients listed on food labels.

4. Salt, a positive and a negative — sea salt rather than mineral salt, and "place" salts, like Hawaiian red clay salt.

5. Faux genomics — products designed to be consumed all at once, like a supplement, and deliver a very specific single benefit will become increasingly popular.

6. Experiential shopping –more in-store dining, warmer lighting and familiar display fixtures at the supermarket.

7. Carbon footprint — manufacturers will start discussing their company-wide environmental initiatives instead of just focusing on the carbon footprint of a particular product.

8. Fairtrade expansion — more Fairtrade and Fairtrade-certified products appearing in the United States, Latin America and Asia.

9. Ancient and sacred grains — such as amaranth and quinoa moving from niche markets to mainstream.

10. Bottled water backlash — consumers will become more aware of the environmental impact of shipping water from remote locations to local supermarkets.

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About Douglas Powell

A former professor of food safety and the publisher of barfblog.com, Powell is passionate about food, has five daughters, and is an OK goaltender in pickup hockey. Download Doug’s CV here. Dr. Douglas Powell editor, barfblog.com retired professor, food safety 3/289 Annerley Rd Annerley, Queensland 4103 dpowell29@gmail.com 61478222221 I am based in Brisbane, Australia, 15 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time