January 7/Chicago/Press Release -- Sophisticated flavors have rapidly become an exceptional growth driver in the food and beverage segments. They not only make products tastier, more palatable and cover negative taste effects of other ingredients but also play an important role in product marketing, in differentiating products from the competition, in generating excitement about a product launch and in creating a sense of added value.

Bell´s Trend Theme 2014: Sweet Meets Savory
It all started with classic chocolate or peanut butter, followed by caramel with salt. Also, peppercorns had been a hot topic par excellence for a while. Particularly the combination of sweet and spicy does not know any bounds. Today, spicy notes do not only round off confectionery products but also give a certain touch to alcoholic drinks, as well, and are no longer used in star cuisines to refine meals only.

Salty. Crunchy. Pretzels!
Looking for the next big snacking trend in 2014? Choose pretzel snacks, because pretzels are not just an old-fashioned snack anymore. Soft and hearty or salty and crunchy, the old classic pretzel offers a new exciting twist with more options than ever before to satisfy consumers` demand for innovative salty snacks.

Milk+
As milk is mainly consumed for breakfast, the consumption of the “white gold” is falling throughout the day. Milk mix drinks with their manifold facets are said to be an ideal product to extend the consumption continually and to encourage consumers to drink milk more often -- either as meal replacement or as alternative to snacks and desserts. The variety of flavors plays a key role when trying to increase consumers’ milk consumption.

Tonic Infusions
Bitter is a major trend in the beverages industry and may stimulate new growth in the entire soft drinks market. “Tonic Infusions” is a new hybrid segment interfacing between bitters and classic soft drinks categories including all the latest flavor trends. One of the coolest hot weather flavor trends, in 2007, cucumber-flavored product concepts were considered too exotic or too odd, but in 2013, the flavor has emerged to become a long-term candidate. The flavor is cooling, clear, less sweet and perfectly meets the requirements of fashionable and even healthy product options.