Organic Produce (photo by Dmitri Jeltovski, courtesy of morguefile.com)

Fresher ingredients. Increased health benefits. More environmentally friendly packaging. These are the top priorities global consumers are placing on food companies.

Those are the findings of a new study conducted by Ipsos Marketing, Consumer Goods indicates that global consumers have readjusted their priorities regarding food products.

According to David Pring, Executive Vice President at Ipsos Marketing, "These are key developments in the food market, and not just in North America and Europe. We are also seeing that taste, convenience and product difference - aspects that were probably more characteristic of food product drivers towards the end of the last millennium - are taking a back seat in a world now more focused on making a positive impact on freshness and health as well as the sustainability of the planet."

When asked to choose one area on which companies should concentrate most when developing new food products, consumers from around the world suggested that fresh ingredients, additional health benefits, and more environmentally friendly packaging should be top priorities. With this in mind, factors such as improving taste, developing more convenient packaging, developing foods that are totally different, and making food products that are quicker and easier to prepare appear to have a lower priority.

"We are seeing a global consumer movement toward heightened consciousness of health, wellness and environmental factors in their food purchasing decisions," says Pring.

"For food marketers, the challenge is to ensure that innovation platforms are clearly focused on these consumer needs, not merely in developed markets but also in emerging ones that will undoubtedly become increasingly salient in the near future," concludes Pring. "At the same time, Marketers must be careful not to compromise taste, although this should go hand-in-hand with the use of fresh ingredients."