Over time, select trends across food emerge, rise to prominence and then grow fully intertwined into the fabric of the industry itself. Such is the case with “better-for-you,” a term that has grown to encompass any product that has some level of nutritional improvement over a “traditional” version of the very same product, often released under the same recognizable brand that made the traditional product famous in the first place. Think a reduced-calorie RTE popcorn product formulated to have fewer calories through fat selection and level than its regular counterpart.
Better-for-you can also relate to a slight variation on a tried-and-true product format—like apple chips versus potato, or integrating purple potatoes and/or beets into a salty snack chip mix.