Double-Digit Growth for Gluten-Free Products

DUIVEN, The NetherlandsImproved labeling regulations, rising health concerns, awareness of gluten intolerance and the search for more mainstream and good-tasting gluten-free food and beverage products has helped double the number of gluten-free products marketed globally since 2007. In fact, the gluten-free food and beverage sector experience double-digit growth in 2009, according to new data from Innova Database.

More than 5 percent of food and beverage launches tracked by Innova Market Insights in 2009 were marketed as gluten-free, rising to over 10 percent in Australia and New Zealand and falling to less than 1 percent in Asia. Higher launch numbers were seen in the United States and Europe, but these largely reflected higher levels of food and drink new product activity as a whole.

The United States has probably the largest gluten-free foods market globally, with estimates of sales at more than $1.5 billion a year in an overall free-from market worth over $3 billion. Most European markets are much smaller, reflecting not only smaller populations overall, but also much less developed processed food markets in many instances. The U.K. market, for example, while relatively well developed in European terms, is estimated at less than GB£100 million a year, with the retail market accounting for just more than half of that and the prescription market taking most of the remainder. It has been showing double-digit growth in recent years, however, as have the markets in countries such as France and Italy.

It has been suggested that up to 10 percent of the population have some form of gluten intolerance, said Innova Market Insights Head of Research Lu Ann Williams. Although it remains mostly undiagnosed, while estimates of levels of Celiac disease range from about 1 in 100 to 1 in 300 of the population according to country and source.