This Shopper Trend Study Reveals The Most Sought-After Superfood (And Much More)

Everyone wants to know the next hot food trend, and sometimes it's informative to look at the present in order to predict the future. The 2017 Label Insight Shopper Trends Study provided by Label Insight — the market leader for transparency, enabling access to complete and accurate product information for more than 350,000 products — shows how consumers feel about a wide range of food-related topics ranging from diets and superfoods to additives and allergies.

Here are the results of the 2017 Shopper Trends Study.

Allergies

44 percent of consumers say food allergies, intolerances, or sensitivities affect the way they shop. Some of the leading food allergies are nuts, dairy, soy, wheat, and shellfish.

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Diet

Almost half of respondents follow a specific diet or health-related eating program.

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Ingredients

98 percent of consumers believe ingredients are an important consideration in the food products they buy, and 75 percent avoid specific ingredients. The most-avoided ingredient is high fructose corn syrup (56 percent), followed by artificial sweeteners (44 percent) and preservatives (36 percent).

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Labels

Consumers struggle with understanding package labels. Almost half consider themselves to be "not informed at all," after reading a product's label, and 67 percent find it challenging to understand whether a product meets their needs solely by looking at the package label.

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Research

The rise of smartphones has increased the availability of information, and shoppers are taking advantage — 74 percent of consumers research online when the information on product packaging and labels is not enough to be sure if it meets their dietary needs.

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Superfoods

85 percent of consumers seek out superfoods. The most popular are blueberries (63 percent), avocados (60 percent), green tea (50 percent), and kale (44 percent).

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