How is the food industry feeding a population of Australians who have become increasingly aware and knowledgeable about health and nutrition? Market research shows Australians have become more aware of the health benefits of natural, non-processed food marked by the growing demand of wholegrain and whole-meal ingredient based products. In addition to genuine health concerns, others have become fad-like, with gluten taking one of the hardest hits.

Despite only 0.25 per cent of Australians diagnosed as coeliacs, many have been reported to limiting their gluten intake motivated by the promotion of better health. Farmers and manufacturers have noticed the rise of gluten free products, investing in buckwheat crops along with the production of other gluten-free based foods such as rice flour, quinoa, sorghum and millet flours – all driven by the modern consumer’s mindfulness and health consciousness.

The rise and rise of the superfood has also been seen and it seems Australians have adapted to a natural food culture in droves. Proving to be more than just a fad, food trend reports show the super food rage in 2014 is to continue into the next year with an even further push towards organic grown products.

With this growing awareness for health, consumers are also advocating ethical manufacturing and production, and are less hesitant to spend the extra dollars for food ‘without’ as opposed to food with artificial pesticides. For this reason, food labelled organic is preferred among Australians, causing a growing stigma towards non- organic produce. The impact can be seen across the entire food service industry from supermarkets to retailers to restaurants – super foods and organic produce dominate both aisles and menus.

It would be interesting to see how the food industry will continue to respond to this demand for ‘organic’ foods; natural food definitely opens up new opportunities for food producers to get innovative with their ingredients and development of new products.

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