Top 3 Food & Beverage Trends for 2019

It’s an exciting time to be a part of the food and beverage industry! At the Natural Products Expo West show in Anaheim last week, we couldn’t help but notice all of the innovative oat-based products. There are BIG waves being made using the power of oats and other plant-based ingredients. Food companies are taking note that consumers want more nutritional and flavorful options and companies are delivering in creative ways.

Here are the top three trends we noticed at the show.

1. Oat Beverages and Oat Bases
   

Oat-based beverages took front-and-center stage for new product attention. From oat “milks” to oat-based ice cream, this heart-healthy, plant-based ingredient is a nutritional powerhouse and offers many functional properties to assist in your formulations. As an added bonus, it’s available gluten-free and organically certified.

Grain Millers offers a wide range of oat flours with many different functionalities for use in a variety of applications. In fact, we saw this trend coming and wrote an article all about how our various specialty oat flours can be formulated in beverages and bases.  

2. Plant-Based Meat Alternatives & Snacks

Food companies are getting extremely creative with vegan “meat” products and protein-packed snacks. From “meat” patties to snacks packed with plant-based protein, there are many more vegan options coming to store shelves soon.

Oats and oat fiber can play an important role in formulating for plant-based products. In addition to being vegan, they are also available gluten-free and organically certified. Grain Millers’ Oat Fiber is a chemical-free, clean label ingredient with a myriad of functional properties to assist in plant-based formulation, from moisture retention to texture to breakage reduction in low-moisture food systems and more.

3. Digestive Health

It’s becoming more apparent that a healthy gut is important to our overall health. Because of this, food and beverage companies are introducing symbiotic gut-healthy products that focus on fiber as a prebiotic and fortifying with probiotics.

Oat hull fiber and oat bran are important clean label ingredients packed with soluble and insoluble dietary fiber in addition to flavor, nutrition, health benefits, synergistic functionality, processability, texture, and more. Oats pack a punch as a key ingredient not only to digestive health since they are high in total dietary fiber, but also for heart health thanks to the beta-glucans. Flax is another high-fiber ingredient for use in a myriad of applications and available whole, milled, or in a custom blend.

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We would welcome the opportunity to learn more about your plant-based formulation needs and partner with you to find the solution that fits. To get in touch with one of our technical experts, please email us or call 541.341.6461.

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