Research indicates that consumers want their food to fill them up and make them healthier. The U.S. functional foods market grew by 6 percent last year with sales totaling almost $31 billion in 2008. New York-based market researcher Packaged Facts predicts that by 2013 the functional food industry will reach $43 billion. Feeding the growth are foods such as yogurt, soymilk, refrigerated blended fruit drinks and more.
Source: Packaged Facts’ Functional Foods and Beverages in the U.S.,4th Edition

Freedonia Group Inc., Cleveland, predicts U.S. demand for food containers will increase by 2.5 percent per year to $25 billion in 2013, or more than 300 billion units. The researcher also found that the biggest demand for food containers last year came from the following sectors: fruits and vegetables, grain mill products (including pet food), dairy products and baked goods.
Source: The Freedonia Group’s Food Containers: Rigid & Flexible

What do consumers want from their pork? A recent National Pork Board study asked two groups — consumers and a panel of sensory-trained individuals — to rate pork that had been manipulated according to four different criteria. The findings indicated that both groups preferred pork with low pH. The outcome makes sense to John Green, director of strategic marketing for the National Pork Board, because "Pork with higher pH levels holds more water and is, therefore, juicier.”
Source: The National Pork Board