Flavor and color company ADM announced the publication of its 2026 trend report. The report centers around the theme “a year to cultivate personal resilience,” which sees consumers seeking to maximize their joy and feel control through their food and beverage options.
“Globally, we’re dealing with a lot right now,” said Kelly Newsome, global marketing director for the company’s colors and savory flavors division. “And I think consumers are trying to figure out how to better gain control and feel more powerful and confident in their everyday lives. So one of the ways they’re doing that is through their choices in foods and beverages.”
The report outlines three trends for the upcoming year and their applications in both food/beverage formulations and associated colors. The report represents eight months of research with ADM’s various teams and industry experts. The company hopes that industry professionals can use this report to amplify their flavor creations.
“The consumer move towards authentic flavors means that flavorists can be true to their creation and not have to ‘adapt’ as much as they previously would to consumer tastes,” said Jennifer Zhou, senior director of global product marketing for ADM’s flavors and citrus division. “The flavorist is empowered to freely re-create flavor profiles and include flavor notes that they would have previously excluded completely to instead find a way to incorporate interesting notes and find new ways to push boundaries of taste.”
Report Highlights
Authentic Wellbeing
Consumers are making wellbeing their baseline, regardless of age or demographics. They seek authentic flavors that allow them to experience different cultures. Further, risk-averse consumers are going back to basics and seeking flavors that do more with less.
Color Inspirations: Soulful Sunrise, Mellow Yellow, Roasted Peach
Flavor Inspirations: Wellness-associated flavors, mindful indulgence and soothing flavors, nourishing berries and tropicals, combinations with botanicals, global-local authenticity, flavors to extend core ingredients
Give Me More
This trend addresses the need to grab and keep consumers’ attention. Global tastes can bring new and unexpected fusions to challenge tastebuds, and multi-sensory experiences can elicit escapism and indulgence through playfulness.
Color Inspirations: Bohemian Berry, Sweet Mint, Juniper Forest
Flavor Inspirations: Novel, bold, fun flavor pairings, irresistible indulgent tastes, all-in-one flavors, cuisine mashups, category crossovers
Newstalgia Dreamland
Consumers are looking for familiar flavors with elevated experiences to feel comfort and positive emotions wrapped up in the “newstalgia” trend. This trend sees an evolution of beloved classic flavors and a more sophisticated sense of comfort.
Color Inspirations: Red Delicious, Summer Raspberry, Classic Concord
Flavor Inspirations: Favorite and familiar single flavors, newstalgia classics and fusion flavors, glamorous comfort flavors
