Though they’re navigating rising ingredient costs, most companies have sorted out their supply chain issues this year, according to the 52nd Annual R&D Survey from Food Processing.
The vast majority (95%) of the 175 participating product development professionals said their ingredient costs increased over the past year — more than half (57%) reported a 5-25% rise, and 32% saw a 26-50% increase. No one said their prices had gone down.
However, pandemic-related challenges seem to be subsiding — two-thirds of respondents reported no difficulties with ingredient sourcing within the last year, most (64%) said economic conditions haven’t impacted how their company develops products, and 62% aren’t struggling to find new hires for R&D teams.
Most respondents were focusing R&D efforts on creating new products and improving existing ones — (34%) rated “really new” products as their most important target for R&D efforts this year, but many also said they were looking to improve existing products (19%) and extend product lines (17%). However, some respondents said pricing challenges have limited their ability to innovate, and 16% noted cost control as a priority.
When it comes to the ingredients they’re working on this year, survey participants were most focused on removing sugar (39%), adding fiber (22%), and reducing sodium (21%). But dealing with ingredient costs created challenges in sourcing ingredients like sugar, starches, and xanthan gum.
See the full report for more insights into food industry R&D.
