Child eating apple. Little girl playing peek a boo holding fresh ripe apples. Kids eating snack relaxing on a lawn. Children summer fun on a farm picking healthy fruit.

In today’s on-the-go consumer lifestyles, snack foods are enjoying a revolution, and now they’re younger and healthier than ever before.

A Food Processing article this week says Technomic’s latest Consumer Trends Report shows over half of consumers snack between meals. Snacking is also a more constant activity, one that is slowly replacing traditional meal times.

In addition to younger consumers driving snack trends, a movement toward savory, satisfying, and nutrient-rich snacks is evident in this latest data.

Corroborating Neilsen findings from 2014, snackers are going for more basic, whole-foods-based options, like popcorn, pretzels, veggie chips, and granola bars. Protein snacks are also surging in popularity. Mintel in 2015 reported a $1.3 billion protein-snack industry and a rise in U.S. jerky sales of 12.5 percent.

Predictions based on this latest report from Sally Lyons Wyatt of IRI Worldwide include growth in kids’ snack markets and product varieties, a focus on wellness and clean ingredients, and a shift in purchase channels, partly due to e-commerce gains.

Source: Food Processing. There’s No Bad Time for Snack Foods.

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