Health consciousness on rise in India: Survey
Health consciousness on rise in India: Survey

Puratos, one of the leading global food ingredient companies today launched its Taste Tomorrow 2015 Research results that captures consumer behavior in the food space and provides unique insights into emerging consumer trends in the baked goods industry.

The release of the Puratos Taste Tomorrow 2015 Report at Mumbai today was a high profile industry event where representatives of the confectionary industry turned up to learn about the survey results and understand consumer preferences and discuss future trends.

Taste Tomorrow 2015 is part of a series of events that take place in different parts of the world, each providing unique global and local insights into emerging trends in the baked goods sector that help manufacturers with actionable information to enable them to adapt their product innovation and development to current and future consumer needs.

The results of this global consumer survey demonstrate consumers’ attitudes and perceptions towards bakery, pastry, patisserie and chocolate in various regions and cultures and point out key observations and future trends. The key takeaway of this 2015 survey is that consumer preference for baked goods is based upon 3 key criteria: freshness, health and taste.

The India survey brought out some strong positive signals for the industry with 62% consumers believing that food will be more diverse in India by the year 2025.  The results also indicate that consumers also believed that food will be more innovative and tastier, more convenient and ready-to-eat to mirror lifestyle changes in India by 2025.

The survey also throws up strong indicators of consumer expectations for the future with up to 46% consumers in India expecting food to be of a better quality by 2025. The preferences are clearly veering towards fresh, healthy and organic with a growing number of consumers expecting food to be more natural, more sustainable and fresher by 2025.

Speaking on the launch of the Taste Tomorrow 2015 report, Dhiren Kanwar, Country Head - India, Puratos said, “We are delighted to conduct this survey every year as it gives insight into emerging consumer trends in the baked goods industry. This research establishes that our consumer wants more diversity, innovation, better taste, freshness, healthier options and more convenience in food products. It offers a great peep into the psychology of our consumers and will be of great help to industry to strategize better for new product development and to win consumer confidence.”

At the same time, consumers have become very serious about food quality and health aspects. The survey points out that 46% of consumers in India expect food to be healthier by 2025, which incidentally is a negative trend when compared to 3 years ago. In a sharp indication of the growing consciousness of health and nutrition concerns, the survey indicates that 74% of consumers in India tend towards reading labels in detail. Along the same lines are indicators that some food materials are being now being considered ‘power’ ingredients because they offer the perfect balance of taste and health. 86% Indian consumers find whole-grains and whole-meal to be healthy and 75% feel it adds something to taste also.

The report also points to the growing craving among consumers for confectionary but with health, freshness and taste as essential parameters. The report indicates that 76% of consumers would appreciate a live bakery where they can see freshly baked items on the spot. Additionally, and perhaps not so surprisingly, 80% of consumers in India feel chocolate adds taste to patisserie products.

The survey concludes that consumers have become more empowered and articulate over the last few years. They want to have a say in the products they consume and have more means than ever before to do so, particularly with the growing trend of social media.

Priscillia Ooi, Marketing Director, Asia Pacific, Puratos, said “We conduct this survey across 25 countries including India with a sample size of 11000 respondents from a mixed socio economic strata. We have had a great run so far, and some of our learning and understanding of consumer behaviour here makes for a stronger pitch for customers in emerging markets. We will continue to launch more comprehensive surveys to make Puratos’ Taste Tomorrow Reports the first choice for baked goods industry”.

The Puratos Taste Tomorrow 2015 India launch for the northern region will be held on 21st August at New Delhi.

 
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