'Better-for-you' trends point the whey.(INNOVATION CENTER)

Edited and excerpted from a presentation made by Robert Boutin at the CONTECH 2007, which was organized by the Confectionery Manufacturers Australasia Limited and the CMA Technical Committee.

Whenever one begins talking about confections and nutraceuticals, it's useful to define terms. With confections, let's be very liberal here and define them as treats that are easily carried and fun to eat. As for nutraceuticals, Dr. Paul LaChance from Rutgers University defines them as such: "Nutraceuticals are ingredients and products that affect healthy results." Together these two form the functional foods or "better-for-you" category in which the Health, Energy and Sports Products market exists.

Although estimates on global confectionery sales vary, the most recent data available from Euromonitor International projected 2006 sales at $136.7 billion, with a compounded average annual growth rate calculated at 2.5% between 2006-2011.

Data gleaned from the Ian News SNN conference several years ago projected that the global functional food industry would grow to $58 billion by the year 2006. Of that, functional foods accounted for nearly 40% of all global consumer sales. Boring down even further, confectionery products represented 15.7% of every retail dollar spent on nutraceutical foods.

The latest figures for the organic/functional/better-for-you segment, as outlined in the accompanying chart by AENielson, projects that the category will approach $27 billion in global sales.

What do these numbers mean? Well, they are intended to provide a sense of movement more than pinpoint accuracy, a glimpse of an undercurrent that continues to gain momentum. And although its force and velocity are still being assessed, these information snippets do lead to some interesting observations.

First, not only is the …