What do a plankton-feeding fish from Australia, Curry Powder’s golden ingredient, and explosive corn have in common? They may play a starring role in 2012 American Food trends, according to Food and nutrition forecasters at Publicis Consultants USA.

“Economic circumstances are prompting more than the usual degree of change in the highly adaptable Food and beverage business, with higher Food costs and budget-minded consumers driving innovation,” says Steve Bryant, president of Publicis Consultants USA, who also pointed to digital influences. “The table setting has changed,” adds Bryant. “It’s now knife, fork, spoon and smartphone.”

Top 12 Food & Nutrition Trends for 2012

1. Perpetual Snacking
Smaller portions and mini-bites will invade restaurant menus and grocery stores.

2. Global Food Mash-Up
Millennials will “travel the world” through eating and drinking inexpensive culturally mixed Foods.

3. The Connected Table
Geo-targeting apps, recipe commenting, crowd-sourced restaurant reviews and tweets between bites will mean you’re never alone.

4. Wine Cred
Desiring fresh value-priced experiences, consumers will discover and share wines from lesser known growing regions.

5. Pop-ular Popcorn
Popcorn is healthful, convenient, natural, versatile and affordable.

6. In-Your-Face Nutrition
Front-of-pack labeling, nutrition disclosure on menus and calorie counting mobile apps will make nutrition messaging hard to escape.

7. Grow-it, Raise-it, Pick-it, Eat-it
From backyard beehives, chicken coops and heirloom veggie gardens to home brewing and at-home canning, hyper-local will come home.

There have been a great number of success stories in the organic foods industry. But, like any business, the realization of success comes with a lot of hard work for a long time, along with a focus on what works and what doesn’t, and discipline in carrying out what needs to get done.

In the latest edition of Organic Processing Magazine, Pedro Garcia sets out four priorities organic foods business owners need to keep in mind as they continue to develop their business.

1) Remain Profitable

This may seem obvious, but so many people are willing to drop their margins to unhealthy levels that don’t take in to account unforseen mishaps and problems. Healthy margins help buffer bumps that arise on the road (losing a retailer, disaster at the packing plant), and keep you rolling forward and staying profitable instead of forcing the company to a reactionary position.

2) Understand and Challenge Your Products’ Position in the Marketplace

Once you get shelf space and a relationship with your buyers, it’s easy to become complacent, with the underlying hope that you’ll be able to change when change is necessary. However, being proactive in assessing your position in the market and making moves to improve it keeps those internal processes in place and active. This keeps your company on its toes, internally and externally, helping to progressively evolve your product line.

3)  Regularly Assess Your Skill Set

Although success can never be singularly attributed to one person, smaller companies often rely heavily on the skills  of a few people whose drive, ambition and skills set keep the company moving forward. Keeping a small company’s skill level diversified can be a challenging one, but will prove to add stability and life to its activity in the market.

4) Stay Informed and On Top of Trends

At their start, the difference between short-lived and longer-term trends can be difficult to discern.  This can make it tricky to decide which new product or look to jump on and which to let pass. Hard and thoughtful analysis needs to be brought to bear on what the advantages are of a new trend, and how the consumer perceives its advantages. Garcia gives one good example of how Silk came to dominate in the refrigerated soy beverage arena, while others let it lapse.

Read the full article here.