September 9, 2025 – New product development in foods that fit into the Healthier Enjoyment space – including plant-based dairy, plant-based meat, high-protein products and reduced sugar products – has been growing year over year. The biggest challenge facing the industry is to meet consumers’ new expectations for foods that fit into the Healthier Enjoyment space. Increasingly more consumers want healthy foods, but these consumers are unwilling to sacrifice taste and texture or settle for over-processed foods or complicated ingredient lists. Innova Market Insights looks at how brands are responding to consumer demand for healthier foods with new product development.
Healthier Enjoyment
Enhancing the taste and texture of healthier and sustainable choices makes them not only satisfying but also better for consumers. Taste and texture are key in nutritious food and beverage products after price. Actually, according to the consumers researched, it’s more important than naturalness. Taste and texture are especially important in selecting nutritious foods in North American and European markets. Sustainability is particularly important for consumers in Germany, Spain, UK, Indonesia, China, and Brazil.
Blending Ingredients to Unlock Taste and Texture
Since taste and texture is one of the biggest barriers to enjoying healthier products, new product development in food focuses on crafting unique blends of ingredients to deliver creamy texture and delicious taste. Coyo, a plant-based ice cream company in Australia, recently launched a yogurt with a unique combination of 74% oat milk and 17% coconut cream to create a creamy texture.
Sugar Reduction
Food trends show that 46% of global consumers say they are reducing sugar in their diets. This makes sugar the top ingredient that consumers want to limit. Notably, consumers in China are more concerned about artificial ingredients and preservatives. Online search and TikTok views suggest that monk fruit is gaining momentum as a natural sweetener alternative. Globally, monk fruit is widely considered an acceptable ingredient, on par with cane sugar and brown beet sugar and more acceptable than stevia and Xylitol. An opportunity appears to leverage monk fruit in recipes to reduce sugar but also increase naturalness associations (compared to using other sugar substitutes). In the new product development in food industry, Red Bull utilizes monk fruit in its launch of Red Bull Zero, setting it apart from Red Bull Sugar Free, as it offers a “vibrant and balanced taste experience.
High Protein
Food trends reveal that almost 60% of global consumers are looking for protein in snacks. New product development in food shows brands are responding with indulgent upgrades and formats. Borrowing brand equity and language from confectionery and desserts raises the promise of good taste and texture. Fulfil launched Protein Bites (like chocolates) and relaunched its Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bar with Reese’s peanut butter for added indulgence. Likewise, Maxine’s Burn Dessert Mousse launched in a traditionally indulgent format with an equally indulgent flavor name: chocolate decadence. It’s important that as high-protein snacks become more indulgent, the packaging matches with indulgent imagery.
Moving away from the traditional plant-based protein source, Nush Protein launched the first high-protein, plant-based yogurt that doesn’t contain soy in the UK. The company created a new yogurt with almonds that enhances the taste of high-protein, plant-based yogurt in the market.
Mycelium for Clean-Label Plant-Based Meat
For plant-based meat, consumers want better taste and texture. They also want more nutrition and natural ingredients since many see plant-based meats as too processed because of long ingredient lists. In new product development in the food industry, some brands, like Meati and Beyond Meat, are using mycelium to create plant-based meat with improved taste, texture, and cleaner ingredients. Mycelium resembles muscle tissue, which allows it to mimic meat and absorb marinades easily.
Adding Depth with Culinary Techniques
Brands are using culinary techniques to improve taste, such as umami, and texture, including creaminess and full body, in plant-based dairy and meat. New product development in food is evident in 2024 as Daiya Foods rolled out new plant-based recipes across its line (vegan cheeses, pizzas, flatbreads), created with a new fermentation process and a trademarked oat cream blend. Whole Moon, an alternative milk company, uses a unique roasting process to create a creamy, full-bodied taste and texture.
Limited Editions Offer Increased Taste Perceptions
Limited editions offer brands an opportunity to showcase taste and flavor expertise, as well as take advantage of seasonal excitement (á la Starbucks) and keep their brands top of mind. Califia Farms has an expansive limited-edition strategy, as it launched 11 products as part of its fall line-up, including Caramel Apple Crumble Oat Creamer.
As proffee, a mix of coffee and protein, keeps trending on TikTok and in mainstream media, there is an opportunity for innovation in this category. Protein coffee brand, Chika, for example, launched a white chocolate peppermint-flavored protein iced coffee for the holidays.
What’s Next in Healthier Enjoyment?
Some of the biggest opportunities for growth in new product development in food are (1) to reconsider ingredients and product recipes and (2) to explore culinary techniques to enhance both taste and texture and to develop cleaner ingredient profiles. More mainstream brands will add protein and nutrition to core lines to attract growing consumer lifestyles (like GLP1 users). Other brands are tapping into new ingredients, like matcha, to bring functionality and indulgent taste to their new product offerings. Particularly, brands are looking at indulgent product formats, such as chocolates, to deliver nutrition.
Brands will blend plant and animal-based proteins in recipes to unlock the best of both worlds in taste and health. More brands will innovate with mycelium, other fungi, and vegetables to enhance the texture and simplify ingredient lists in plant-based meat.
This article is based on Innova’s Top Flavor Trends 2025: #4 – Healthier Enjoyment – Global report. This report is available to purchase or with an Innova Reports subscription. Reach out to find out more