Kefir accounted for over one-third of global kefir launches in 2016 and beverages featuring kefir accounted for 40% of U.S. drinking yogurt/fermented beverages introductions overall, compared with just over 8% globally.
While kefir launch numbers are still limited globally, data from Innova Market Insights, The Netherlands, indicates that the kefir market has grown more than three-fold between 2011 and 2016. This is despite launches in the overall drinking yogurt/fermented beverages sub-category rising by a much more modest 60%.
“As interest in fermented dairy products spread in the west alongside the arrival of the so-called functional foods market in the 1990s, kefir started to move out of its home in the Caucasus via limited availability in specialist health food stores in western markets to a more value-added, mainstream positioning, particularly in the U.S.,” says Lu Ann Williams, director of innovation.