Soluble-Fiber Fortification Swelling

NEW YORKWhile Packaged Facts determined sales of all fiber food and beverage ingredients will continue to increase indefinitely, formulators are increasingly embracing novel fibers due to their versatility and invisible nature in applications that previously were not conducive to fiber enrichment. This, along with the desire of food manufacturers to increase the soluble fiber content, has Packaged Facts predicting the novel fiber food ingredient category will increase its share of the market by more than 750 percent, jumping 35 percentage points from an almost 5-percent share in 2004 to a 39-percent share in 2014.

In Fiber Food Ingredients in the U.S," Packaged Facts estimated in 2004, 91 percent of all fiber food ingredient sales were of conventional, insoluble-type fibersthe fiber food ingredients that have historically been used the most in food formulations. The remaining 9-percent share was split evenly between conventional, soluble-type fibers and emerging, novel fibers. Future projections are that the share for conventional, insoluble-type fibers will decrease by 41 percent, or 38 percentage points in 2014, while the share for the mostly new or newly refined conventional, soluble-type fibers will increase 64 percent, or almost 3 percentage points.

In the 1990s, there were likely less than 20 suppliers of fiber food ingredients, according to the firm, and most of them were marketing conventional, insoluble-type fibers. In 2010, there are more than 50 companies supplying fiber food ingredients to U.S. food formulators.

Growth of novel fiber food ingredients, which showed the greatest compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) (65.6 percent) for the five-year period from 2005 to 2009, was driven by polydextrose (CAGR=54.6 percent). Though available to the food-formulating industry for more than 25 years, it was in 2007 that polydextrose was approved for use as an ingredient in an extensive array of foods and beverages. This resulted in a boom in use by formulators, as polydextrose is a multi-functional, versatile and inexpensive fiber food ingredient. Both chicory root/inulin (CAGR=42.3 percent) and fructooligosachharide (FOS)/fructan (CAGR=35.7 percent) continue to drive innovation in the fiber-enriched food marketplace. Though CAGRs for the period from 2005 to 2009 are not available for fiber food ingredients introduced during this time frame (e.g., galactooligosaccharide (GOS), resistant starch and soluble corn fiber/resistant corn dextrin), they all doubled and some even tripled in volume sales once they were introduced to the marketplace.

 Packaged Facts determined that sales of all fiber food ingredients (i.e., conventional, insoluble-type fibers; conventional, soluble-type fibers; and novel fiber food ingredients) will continue to increase indefinitely, as the market for fiber-enhanced foods is still in its infancy," said Don Montuori, publisher of Packaged Facts. There is a great deal of room for growth across almost all food categories, which presents an opportunity for the many different fiber ingredients that are among the most popular with todays food formulators."

The firm noted most Americans consuming only about half the recommended amount of 25 to 30 grams of fiber daily, and without help from fiber-fortified foods and beverages, most Americans only consume about half the amount suggested for optimal health.

In this report, Packaged Facts used 2004 as the base year from which to estimate growth in volume sales and provide projections until 2014. This data are not for actual volumes sold and used in product applications, rather the data show annual increases in volume, as well as changing market share for specific fiber food ingredients for the 10-year period from 2004 to 2014. Data to determine the baseline year (2004), as well as estimations up to 2009 and projections through 2014 were obtained from an extensive analysis of suppliers, the retail market and consumers.