Free-from sales to soar on health and wellness trend

Statistics revealed at the Food and Drink Innovation Network’s free-from conference this week highlighted that the market has grown by 61% to £342M in the past five years.

The overwhelming consensus from delegates, speakers and research groups was that the trend is here to stay. Free-from products are increasingly appealing to people concerned with general health and wellness, as well as those with medical needs.

Research presented at the two-day event, held near Daventry, by Mintel’s senior global food and drink analyst Chris Brockman, showed 6% of adults surveyed avoided lactose products as part of their healthy lifestyle regime. 4% avoided them because they, or a member of their household, had an allergy.

The corresponding figures for gluten-free products were 5% and 4% respectively.

‘One of the global leaders’​

While manufacturers are shifting the messaging and branding of products to appeal to people concerned with health and well-being, Brockman said it was still striking how many major players were yet to enter the market. That was despite the fact that the UK is one of the global leaders in free-from new product development.

In the gluten-free sector, Warburtons was widely regarded as pioneering free-from products. Heinz had also recently entered the market with its pasta products.

However, “Major player activity is still quite limited,”​ said Brockman.

“Perhaps by now, we would have expected to see more activity from the major manufacturers. I expect this may change in the next 12 months to two years, but something has clearly been preventing them,”​ he added.

One reason for the delay could be major manufacturers’ fear, especially in the bakery sector, of cannibalising their core ranges if more people migrated to free-from ranges, suggested delegates. Others suspected the big players were waiting for a definitive tipping point in the market before ploughing in.

Own-label activity​

One apparent consequence of major manufacturers’ reluctance to enter the sector, had been increasing activity in the own-label sphere, as retailers sought to exploit the free-from opportunity.

Mintel global figures reveal that own-label launches now account for almost 20% of no/low lactose products. And they account for nearly 15% of gluten-free goods, a market share that has “grown sharply”,​ this year, said Brockman.

Several of these products are being grouped and branded into overarching free-from ranges – covering a breadth of free-from categories – instead of single stand-alone products for one allergy group, he added.

Delegates also heard there were ample opportunities for manufacturers to make headway with free-from pizzas, ready meals and especially beer, where there are potentially fewer taste and texture issues to overcome when reformulating.

“This is not a market which is going to go away,”​ insisted Brockman. “It is not a fad.”​