Talk of consumer behaviour fills Twitter during HIE

Consumer behaviour, the hunt for alternative protein sources and the latest food ingredient trends were the hottest topics discussed on Twitter during Health Ingredients Europe (HIE), in Amsterdam this week.

The health and natural food ingredients show, which was held this week (December 2–4), boasted “a record attendance”. This highlighted the importance of the health and natural ingredients and wellness and nutrition industries, the organisers claimed.

Insight

HIE aims to offer an insight into new processes and technologies, industry trends, consumer needs, cost reduction, food safety, traceability and sustainability.

Among the top tweeters from the event was Mintel, which claimed the UK was lagging behind the US on protein consumption at breakfast time.

Mintel also claimed that 34% of UK consumers chose organic products because they felt they were free from chemicals and pesticides and therefore healthier.

Meanwhile, nutritionist Virpi Varjonen took to Twitter to claim that consumers don’t listen to education surrounding health and that the industry was fighting a one-way battle in trying to improve consumer health.

Top tweets

Scroll down to the bottom of this article to view a selection of the top tweets from HIE.

Along with more than 500 key industry exhibitors such as DSM and Cargill, HIE also hosted innovation tours, a new product zone and a discovery tour. Seminars covering topics such as weight management, sugar and salt reduction, protein alternatives, sustainability and natural ingredients were also held.

Click here to read about the top 10 ingredients trends for 2015 published at the event.