The line between meals and snacks continues to blur. Hectic lifestyles and health and wellness trends combine to drive shifts in eating patterns. Consumers demand nutritious, filling morning and afternoon snacks to fuel them throughout the day while enabling them to maintain a healthy diet. The snacking occasion market value has grown to more than $90 billion in the United States alone.¹

The possibilities for creating innovative snacks with healthy profiles to help consumers overcome mid-morning, mid-afternoon or late-night cravings are seemingly limitless. Snack formulators count on dairy ingredients like cheeses, whey proteins and yogurt to provide functional benefits as well as the overall consumer health halo perception.  

Dairy ingredients and products from the United States help product developers keep on-trend with innovation in snacks. Learn more about U.S. dairy products in the Product Section. 

Snacking Trends

Savory, salty applications lead new product development in the snack category, followed by snack nuts and seed. More than half (53%) of global snack launches in 2013 featured savory and salty flavor profiles, followed by snack nuts and seeds at 32%.² 

Consumers seek quick nutrition to meet health and wellness needs, but also demand taste and texture. The same focus on health provides opportunities for reduced sodium snacks. The on-the-go nature of snack consumption also demands convenience.  

Taste and Texture

Steady growth of snack consumption between meals or to augment small meals provides new opportunities for innovative product formulations that provide great-tasting, nutritious and convenient options. Whether sweet or savory, flavor and texture matter; consumers won't compromise, even for nutritional benefits.  

Snack product formulators can help prompt consumers to try new options with use of familiar ingredients like cheese, yogurt and whey proteins. Cheese flavor and functionality can be tailored to specific applications, including reduced-fat and low-sodium options. Yogurt and yogurt powders fortify snacks with nutrients while providing consumer-friendly flavoring. In addition to flavor, whey proteins add a variety of functional benefits, including browning, emulsion, shelf-life and texture.  

Reduced Sodium Snacks

Health and wellness trends include a focus on snacks positioned as lower-sodium alternatives. Health professionals around the world prefer food formulations that are low in sodium, and the link between high sodium intake and potential health risks gives added appeal to convenient low-sodium options.³   

Processed and prepared foods make up roughly 77% of U.S. consumer sodium intake.³ Nearly one-third of U.S. consumers strive to reduce or avoid sodium and two-thirds (65%) state some concern about sodium intake.³ Developers of snack products find dairy permeates offer an alternative to salt that does not sacrifice taste.  

Convenience

The need for ultra-convenient single-serve products that are at least somewhat healthy continues.⁴ To fit today's busy consumer lifestyles, snacks must be quick to prepare and portable. Multitasking is common during snacks-as-meals. Families with activity-packed lives that require eating on the run make grab-and-go options a critical eating strategy for many.⁴ Dairy ingredients can help create the taste and nutritional credentials of go-to convenient snacks that will have consumers coming back for more.   

Utilization

Dairy ingredients from the United States provide snack products with flavor, function and nutrition. The chart below illustrates the common benefits dairy ingredients offer.

Access U.S. Dairy Export Council prototype formulations for inspiration on making ordinary snacks extraordinary with U.S. Dairy, including developing sweet and savory snacks.