Organic continues dominance
Despite comments made earlier this month by UK Environment minister David Milliband that organic foods are not superior to cheaper more conventionally produced foods, the organic sector is expected to maintain its steady growth.
A new report, entitled The Global Market for Organic Food & Drink, published late last year by British consultancy Organic Monitor predicted global sales would reach 31bn (US$40bn), as consumer demand for natural produce rises.
Consumers get ethical
Shoppers are becoming more interested in where their food comes from, who grows it, how it is produced and what this means for growers and their communities around the world.
As a result of these growing concerns trend spotters at the Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD) predicted recently that ethical produce, such as Fairtrade products, will soar in 2007.
In the UK last month Waitrose extended its Fairtrade range to include chocolate and coffee, while Sainsbury's switched to 100 per cent Fairtrade bananas, after revealing that a considerable 60 per cent of its customers buy Fairtrade products when shopping.
Food retailers help reduce waistlines
The New Year is full of good intentions and resolutions waiting to be fulfilled: an ideal time for supermarkets to cash in with new healthier launches. UK supermarket Sainsbury's recently told consumers that snacking doesn't have to be unhealthy with the launch of a new lower-fat, lower-calorie avocado this January.
Smoothies become the new fast-food
Market research group Mintel released a report earlier this month suggesting that smoothies would be the high street success story of the coming few years, trebling in sales. The report found that smoothies were most popular among the under 35's on the go, looking for healthy fast-foods to aide hectic modern life-styles.
Online sales on the up
Supermarkets are seeing a surge in online sales as shoppers seek out new ways to make life more convenient and time efficient. British supermarkets Marks and Spencer and Sainsbury's saw online sales jump by 70 and 60 per cent respectively during the third quarter of 2006.