Latest Trends in the Food and Beverage Industry

It can be difficult for the food and beverage industry to select the crucial trends due to various restrictions. 

FREMONT, CA: Choosing the most important trends that affect the food and beverage industry can be challenging and, frankly, a completely subjective task. That said, Food Processing consults with industry inspectors to identify the trends that could have a lasting impact on the industry even after 2020. Here are some of the trends that have been identified. 

• Trade climate

• Strategies for product innovation and specialization

• Manufacturing Labor

• Regulatory prospects for cannabis components

• The increasing importance of transparency and traceability

Labor

One of the biggest challenges for the food and beverage industry is the availability of employees. This is part of the general picture of the manufacturing industry facing labor shortages. Deloitte and Manufacturing Co. estimate that the combination of new jobs created by retirement and industrial growth could prevent the filling of 4.6 million industrial jobs over the next decade or more.

See Also: Top Food and Beverages Consulting Companies

Many factors come into play, which includes the decrease of the US working-age population. This current political climate is hostile to immigration, which has traditionally offered much of the food industry workforce. Even the difficulty, particularly in low unemployment times, is attracting young people to jobs in food factories, which often have unpleasant work environments due to noise, heat or cold, smells, and many more.

A more complex factor that applies to the food and beverage industry is the high pressure to keep margins and prices low. These balances and often exceeds the upward pressure on wages.

Cannabis

The most significant change in the consumer goods sector in recent years has been the arrival of various forms and ingredients of cannabis. The cannabis market naturally moves beyond the use of recreation. Its most significant potential lies in the use of cannabidiol (CBD), an ingredient that does not induce high levels but is believed to provide benefits such as relief, discomfort relief, and pain relief. CBD is found in products ranging from drinks and candies to pet foods, nutritional supplements and tinctures, and personal care products such as lotions and soaps.

But the legal status of CBD, and cannabis in general, is hazy as a cloud of marijuana smoke. And until it is resolved, the market will be significantly affected. The immediate problem with CBD as a food or beverage ingredient is that the FDA has consistently refused to designate CBD rather than treating it as a drug. It has sent a letter advising the manufacturer to stop using it as a consumable product.