Salty Snackers Turn To Better-For-You Options

ROCKVILLE,Md. In the United States, 50 million consumers who often snack between meals agree that salted snacks are my favorite snack," and 90% of households report eating salty snacks in the past 30 days, according to new market research from Packaged Facts.

The report, "Salty Snacks in the U.S.," attributes the success of snack foods to the strides food manufacturers have made in developing healthier salty snack foods that still taste good. As a result, there is a cadre of 14 million healthy" salty snackers who exercise often, seek out healthy-ingredient foods of all kinds, and do not see a conflict between craving salty snacks and pursing a healthy snacking diet.

According to Packaged Facts research director David Sprinkle, part of salty snacks metamorphosis into better-for-you products has been a change in product labeling that mirrors that for other better-for-you positioned foods such as fruit- and nut-based snacks. Salty snacks now often call out attributes such as non-GMO," vegan" or organic." They also often are labeled local, pure, real, natural, safe, clean, minimally processed and allergy-friendly.

Packaged Facts projects that a number of factors will converge to generate faster growth for the salty snacks market during the upcoming 2014-2018 period. Manufacturers will continue to add more healthy-ingredient products to the salty snack segment to meet demand, including offerings from niche entrepreneurial companies that focus on bringing innovative health-ingredient salty snacks to consumers.