Meeting the Food Needs of the Ageing Population

The fastest growing segment of the global population is the one that has to date largely been overlooked by the food industry and relatively few food and drink products have been actively targeted to these ageing consumers (Costa & Jongen 2010, Hensel 2012). The majority of new products that are introduced are positioned to a younger demographic – the principal grocery shopper aged 21 to 49 years – under the premise that marketers are interested in securing product adoption at a younger age. The potential market for food products for older consumers over 65 years who represent the single fastest growing demographic in the food industry worldwide remains largely ignored. There are significant opportunities for the food industry to look to an older demographic population for product insights and to develop products to meet the wide variety of needs that this population offers.