Food product design serving Generation Z

In the immediate future, it’s time for Millenials to move over. Generation Z is coming of age and is set to become the purchasing powerhouse of the global economy.

Research has shown that Generation Zers (typically born after 1995) to be more health conscious, more open minded and more international in their habits compared to Millenials, meaning we can expect some significant changes in the years ahead.

Generation Z has the potential to reset expectations for health and wellness, increase the reach of international cuisine, and heighten creativity in the kitchen. This means food manufacturers should be looking to produce more healthy formulations based on fruits and vegetables, more internationally diverse ingredients and flavours, as well as more interactive products enabling creative experiences. This is where texture will play a large part in creating those culinary experiences and where texture analysis is equipped to test and measure the result of food manufacturers' new creations.If you haven’t already realised, a Texture Analyser can have an Acoustic Envelope Detector attached for the measurement of sound alongside your usual texture analysis testing. This will help you measure those exciting textural properties such as crispness, brittleness and fracturability.  
 
To find out more about creating and controlling your product’s sound signature, request our article ‘Measuring snap, crackle and pop – capturing the sound quality of food’.

Reformulation has been commonplace over the past few decades as food manufacturers have had to adapt to the changing needs of the consumer be that for health or wellness reasons e.g. fat or salt reduction, gluten-free reasons. Existing products have to be reformulated without the consumer perceiving any loss of taste or textural expectation. 

Learn more about how texture analysis is used in these situations, request our article ‘Low salt, low fat, low sugar – testing texture in reformulated food’.

And for some inspiration on magical mouthfeel manipulation tricks that developers can use to create and maintain perfect and texturally sensational products, request our article ‘How to perform textural magic’.