Food & Beverage Trends of 2025: A glimpse into the future

The vulnerability of global supply chains

With increasing globalization, there are also crop failures, transport bottlenecks, and other world events that are having an increasing impact on local markets. Just a few examples of how such challenges can be met are spice extracts substituting for whole herbs and spices, cocoa-free chocolate alternatives, or citrus fruits other than oranges. 

Richness: fullness of flavour, functionality, and pleasure

Richness can be associated with mouthfeel and flavour as well as with health benefits. Functional beverages are still trending and will continue to do so for a long time to come. In addition to vitamins and minerals, we offer acerola powder extracts (vitamin C) as well as liquid and powdered extracts of guarana and mate (caffeine). 

Rich flavour is on everyone’s lips

Reducing sugar is another strategy for improving the nutritional value of foods and beverages. Without fillers, sugar-reduced products tend to taste watery and weak. To counteract this, mouthfeel can be improved with erythritol, beta-glucan, and soluble fibres. When this is combined with a clear-soluble protein for a high-protein claim, nothing stands in the way of a sales hit. 

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Flavour complexity with aromas and fermented foods

The third concept of richness, taste complexity, can be influenced, for example, by mixing various flavours using fruit juices or even fermented foods. Fermentation produces a large number of aroma-active substances that give foods and beverages a full-bodied flavour.

The high content of short-chain, aroma-active metabolites from the microorganisms creates higher flavour complexity and intensity, which can even enhance the perception of other flavours. The pronounced full-bodied flavour of the fermentation products can reduce the amount of added salt and thus the sodium content. In addition to fermentation products, salt substitutes or flavour-enhancing aromas and extracts can also be used to reduce sodium.

Imperfect perfection: making unexpected combinations and breaking with tradition 

Salty-savory ingredients in sweet drinks? Surprising flavour combinations can surprise existing buyers and attract new ones, thus greatly helping to increase a brand’s popularity. Besides making crazy combinations, other unspoken culinary rules can also be broken: breakfast in the evening, sweet drinks in the morning, or unexpected textures and trigeminal stimuli such as cooling, warming, or tingling. 

Expect the unexpected: surprising textures and trigeminal stimuli

Whether leavening agents for pancakes, mild acidifiers and sweeteners for morning refreshments, or flavours with a cooling sensation – we offer a wide range of solutions that will amaze you. In addition to cooling flavours, Takasago also offers hot sensation flavours, which are first felt in the throat. These are ideal for giving products a delayed heat without adding the taste of chilli. 

There is also a solution for tingling or spicy treats – be it our coated citric acid with integrated sodium bicarbonate or the use of smoked dextrose and spice extracts to create a unique smoky flavour. The possibilities are endless. 

Synergy of agriculture and technology: sustainable, efficient, and healthy

To optimize cost efficiency, it is necessary to operate in large quantities, both in agriculture and the manufacturing industry. Changeable climatic conditions, unstable prices of fertilisers and energy, etc., frequently lead to fluctuating availability and price increases. To avoid bottlenecks of certain natural products, a diverse range of flavours can be used as substitutes.  Citrus flavourings that are extracted from unused by-products (e.g. peel) can reduce the need for expensive and scarce fruit juices.

Another example is nature-identical berry flavours, which can be produced from natural by-products without having to transport the berries over long distances and potentially spoiling or damaging them along the way. While the use of by-products is increasing, the demand for typically resource-intensive crops is decreasing, which in turn is resulting in fewer monocultures.   

Healthy and delicious: reduced-sugar foods with mouthfeel

Cost efficiency is and will always be a top priority. However, the aspect of health is also playing an increasingly important role. This goes hand in hand with the trend towards alternative sweeteners and increasing consumption. Sucralose, stevia, erythritol & Co are now on everyone’s lips. However, products made with high-intensity sweeteners such as sucralose and stevia often lack “body”. The mass or the slight increase in viscosity of the missing sugar has to be replaced somehow. An inexpensive and simple application is clear-soluble xanthan gum, yet sugar alcohols such as erythritol are also suitable. Compared to other sugar alcohols, erythritol is very well tolerated and has a glycaemic index of 0.

Polydextrose or Promitor® soluble corn fibre in powder or syrup form can also be used as a 1:1 substitute. These give products texture while enriching them with dietary fibre. When the dosage is high enough, the dietary fibre content can even be a claim. Similar to glucose, polydextrose and Promitor® are made from corn.

Fibre can also be added sustainably with insoluble fibres from cereals, fruit pomace, and brewer’s spent grain. However, these are less suitable for liquid applications. 

Excursus: beverage trends

The beverage market is fast-paced, and consumers are always keen to try out new flavours. According to the Mintel report “A year of innovation in carbonated soft drinks, 2024”, there is an increasing focus on new taste experiences and health benefits in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA):

• 59% of Brits (n=1515) stated that they are driven by new flavours when trying out new products. 
• 24% of consumers in Germany (n=2000) are interested in drinks with health benefits (“better-for-you”).

These trends can also be discerned to a varying extent in other markets:

• For example, 47% of consumers in China (n=1000) indicated that they were interested in novel foods and associated flavours. 
• In the USA, 31% of the 2000 respondents said they were interested in functional properties in soft drinks. 

In Latin America and Asia, however, certain trends can also be found that have already taken hold in Switzerland:

• 49% of consumers surveyed in China would rather buy beverages without artificial sweeteners (n=2839). 
• At the same time, the number of sugar-free and low-sugar beverages has increased, particularly in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

Sources:

1. Mintel Global Food Drink Trends 2025
2. Minten A Year of innovation in carbonated soft drinks 2024