The Institute of Food Technologists’ (IFT’s) Science and Policy Initiatives (SPI) team has revealed the top five food trends of 2026 that are predicted to impact the food and policy landscape related to innovation, safety, sustainability, and consumer trust.

“Our food system is under pressure like never before. Climate change, resource scarcity, geopolitical disruptions, and rising consumer demands are creating unprecedented challenges. In 2026, those challenges will only intensify,” said Brendan Niemira, Ph.D., IFT Chief Science and Technology Officer (CSTO) and head of IFT’s SPI team. “But with those challenges comes opportunity for the food science community to turn uncertainty into innovation, complexity into clarity, and challenges into solutions with next year shaping up to be a landmark year for food innovation.”

Below are IFT’s five most impactful food trends of 2026:

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Moves from Pilot into Practice: AI is rapidly transforming how food systems operate, enabling smarter decision-making, automation, and new product development. Integrating AI across the value chain is complex, and will require collaboration across teams, robust governance to address privacy and ethical concerns, and change management processes (i.e., pilot projects, staff training, leadership support) to effectively embed AI into workflows.
2. Scaling Sustainable Solutions Through Investment and Partnerships: With climate change posing significant risks to food safety, production, and access, strategies that build resilience while ensuring safety and nutrition security are critical—although these solutions face significant economic, logistic, regulatory, and behavioral challenges and barriers to adoption. However, in the future, support for scalable, sustainable innovations is expected to increase via incentives and partnerships, and investment in infrastructure will be vital.
3. Digital Tools Accelerate and Expand Food Safety Adoption: Emerging digital technologies are transforming food safety by improving traceability, strengthening risk management, and accelerating response across global supply chains. In the years ahead, wider adoption of interoperable traceability tools and continued movement toward harmonized standards will simplify monitoring and reduce vulnerabilities, particularly for complex international networks. Scalable, cost-effective rapid-testing methods will also gain traction, while increased investment in digital food safety systems will expand access to training, data-sharing infrastructure, and resources for regions with limited technological capacity. Even though the compliance data for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Food Traceability Rule/FSMA 204 has been delayed until 2028, companies will be advancing preparation efforts to modernize their systems.
4. Regulatory Pressures on Food Ingredients and UPFs Reshapes Innovation Pipelines: Regulatory scrutiny of ultra-processed foods (UPFs), additives, and novel ingredients is intensifying, prompting food companies to accelerate formulation and reformulation efforts to meet evolving expectations. An increasingly fragmented regulatory landscape is creating added complexity for compliance and product development. Looking ahead, efforts to improve alignment or streamline regulatory approaches across jurisdictions are likely to become increasingly important to reducing complexity. At the same time, regulatory agencies like FDA are shifting toward more active ingredients oversight. Anticipating these shifts will increasingly influence product development strategies, and staying ahead of emerging regulatory expectations will be essential for maintaining market access and responsible growth.
5. Transparency Becomes Imperative for Consumer Trust: In an era of misinformation and misleading scientific data, effective communication and transparency are vital for rebuilding diminished consumer trust in the safety of their food, especially as consumers seek greater transparency and understanding. Communicating nuanced science to diverse audiences can be difficult, but as consumers seek to better understand the role of science in the food they eat, they will play a bigger role in policy development.

Read IFT’s full write-up on the top five food trends of 2026, authored by Dr. Niemira, and access IFT resources to help address these emerging areas here.