Insights & Innovation

Mintel's 2026 Global Food & Drink Predictions paint a picture of a food industry defined by resilience, inclusivity, and sensory intelligence. After years of navigating uncertainty and disruption, consumers are moving beyond survival mode — they're seeking foods that help them feel balanced, connected, and supported in their everyday lives.

1. From "Maxxing Out" to "Mixing In"

The era of "maxxing" — where consumers chased high-protein or high-fibre diets — is evolving into one focused on diversity and inclusion in food.

Instead of fixating on a single nutrient, people are embracing varied, functionally diverse diets that combine ingredients from different cultures and traditions. Mintel even predicts a rise in "DEI-ting" — applying the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion to what we eat.

At Eatpol, we view this as a defining shift in how consumers interact with food. Variety isn't just about flavour — it's about meaning. Through our Models, we help brands test how consumers experience different textures and ingredient combinations. In a world of diverse diets, understanding how each combination feels and satisfies is key to success.

2. Retro Rejuvenation: The Past Meets the Future

Mintel highlights a growing nostalgia for trusted traditions and heritage foods. Consumers are rediscovering fermentation, pickling, and preservation — not just as hobbies, but as innovative, sustainable practices.

This movement toward "resourceful innovation" reframes ancient techniques as modern solutions: preserving freshness, minimising waste, and improving gut health.

From an Eatpol perspective, this trend shows how innovation doesn't always mean new — sometimes it means relearning what worked. Our role is to help companies understand how consumers emotionally connect with traditional foods, textures, and rituals. By capturing real human feedback, we translate nostalgia into data-driven insights that guide meaningful product design.

3. Intentionally Sensory: Designing for Feelings, Not Just Flavours

The next frontier in food innovation will be multisensory experiences. Mintel predicts that sensory elements, such as texture, sound, and aroma, will move beyond novelty to become functional design tools that enhance emotional well-being.

From stress-relieving snacks to texture-rich comfort foods, the future will be about how food makes us feel, not just how it tastes.

At Eatpol, we've long believed that understanding the human sensory response is essential to creating food that connects. Using AI and behavioural data, our tools simulate how consumers perceive taste, texture, and mouthfeel — helping companies craft experiences that truly satisfy.

As Mintel points out, this approach is particularly vital for underserved groups — from older adults to neurodiverse consumers and GLP-1 medication users. True innovation is inclusive innovation.

Our Take at Eatpol

The future of food isn't just about ingredients or claims — it's also about insight and experience.

What Mintel describes as the next evolution of food and drink is what we're already building toward:

• Understanding how consumers feel about food, not just what they say about it.
• Bridging data and emotion to create sensory-rich, inclusive products.
• Helping companies innovate with people at the centre.

In short, the food industry is entering an era of human-centred intelligence — and Eatpol is here to make that transition measurable, actionable, and meaningful.

Reference:
1. Mintel (2025). Global Food & Drink Predictions 2026 https://www.mintel.com/insights/food-and-drink/global-food-and-drink-trends/

Ready to bring human-centred innovation to your products? Take our free assessment and discover how Eatpol can help you understand what consumers truly experience.

The European Parliament has voted in favour of restricting names like "burger" and "sausage" to meat-only products, sparking a heated debate about innovation, consumer choice, and the future of sustainable food.

The Decision and Its Implications

This decision reflects concerns from traditional meat producers about consumer confusion and brand protection. However, critics argue that it creates unnecessary barriers for plant-based alternatives at a time when sustainable food options are more important than ever.

Consumer Understanding vs. Industry Protection

Research shows that consumers generally understand what plant-based alternatives are. The real question is whether naming restrictions serve consumers or simply protect established industries from competition.

Eatpol's Perspective

At Eatpol, we believe that the future of food lies in understanding consumer experiences, not limiting their choices. Whether it's called a "burger" or a "disc," what matters is how it tastes, feels, and satisfies.

Our AI-driven consumer testing helps companies create plant-based products that truly compete on sensory quality and satisfaction — making the name debate less about semantics and more about substance.

Want to create plant-based products consumers will love? Take our free assessment and discover how to optimize your products based on real consumer experiences.

Based on insights from Innova Market Insights' "Top 10 Trends 2025: #10 – Bytes to Bites"

AI is redefining how food and beverage companies innovate — from new flavour creation to personalised experiences. EatPol builds on Innova Market Insights' "Bytes to Bites" report to explore how AI is not only transforming product design but also how we understand what consumers truly experience when they eat.

From Infinite Potential to Real-World Impact

According to Innova Market Insights, food brands are moving from imagining AI's possibilities to applying it in practical ways — accelerating innovation, flavour design, and consumer engagement.

EatPol takes this further by applying AI not just to make products, but to measure how people experience them. Our chew analysis, emotion detection, and vocal sentiment tools reveal the hidden data behind consumer preferences.

What Consumers Think About AI in Food

Innova's data shows a generational divide: Millennials and Gen Z are embracing AI, while Boomers remain cautious. Awareness is highest in emerging markets, where consumers see AI as a positive driver of innovation.

At EatPol, we believe this growing trust means brands can — and should — be transparent about how AI enhances product quality, sustainability, and sensory performance.

AI for Personalisation — and Connection

AI enables personalisation at scale. Yet, as Innova notes, true differentiation lies in connection, not customisation. EatPol helps brands understand consumers beyond survey responses through real behaviours such as chew rhythm, pauses, and vocal tone, captured naturally during tasting sessions.

This deeper understanding allows companies to design food experiences that feel authentic and emotionally resonant.

Flavour, Texture, and Transparency: The Next Frontier

From AI-powered flavour discovery to ingredient optimisation, leaders like PepsiCo, Unilever, and Mondelez are already using machine learning to enhance sensory profiles.

But as Innova points out, transparency remains key — consumers want to know how technology shapes what they eat. EatPol's AI bridges that gap by providing measurable, explainable data on texture, emotion, and satisfaction, helping companies innovate confidently and ethically.

EatPol's Take: Measuring What Matters

AI can predict consumer demand. EatPol helps explain why consumers feel the way they do by combining behavioural science and machine learning to analyse texture, emotion, and real-world cooking behaviour.

We share Innova's vision of a transparent, efficient, and sustainable food ecosystem — one where innovation starts and ends with the consumer.

Credits:
This article references Innova Market Insights – Top 10 Trends 2025: #10 "Bytes to Bites", published June 27, 2025.
All commentary © 2025 EatPol

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