Patent Insights: Food and Drink Cost Reduction Tactics
Recent patents aim to improve affordability by optimising protein production, leveraging upcycled ingredients and producing cocoa and coffee alternatives.
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- What you need to know
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WHAT CONSUMERS WANT AND WHY
- Food and drink prices continue to climb, squeezing consumer budgets amid ongoing global crises
- Consumers seek affordable nutrition and sustainable alternatives to shortage-prone commodities
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PRODUCT INNOVATION TRENDS
- Innovators are exploring upcycled ingredients and cost-saving processing techniques to reduce costs and de-risk food industry supply chains
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THE PATENT LANDSCAPE
- Patent activity for cost-effective food, drink and ingredient innovation is rising steadily
- Graph 1: patents for cost-effective food, drink, ingredients and production processes, 2016-26
- China leads with patent grants for affordable food, drink and ingredients and production processes
- Nestlé S.A. dominates cost-effective food and drink products
- Graph 2: top 10 organisations with granted patents for cost-effective food, drink, ingredients and production processes, 2026
- Tech developments deliver cost-effective proteins
- Longer term, precision fermentation promises to deliver cost-effective proteins at scale
- Energy-efficient manufacturing processes can reduce the cost of protein-rich products without compromising quality
- Lab-grown casein micelles and whey protein nanogels help eliminate purification steps and reduce energy- and water-intensive processing steps
- Specified ratios of plant proteins, along with enzymatic and heat treatments, could help produce high-quality plant proteins at reduced costs
- Innovate affordable sweeteners, nutrients and fibres
- Biotechnology is used to produce cost-effective ingredient variants at scale
- Simple, low-cost processing of fruit by-products creates high-fibre, multifunctional ingredients with broad application potential
- Eutectic co-crystal stabilisation and enzyme-assisted hydrolysis produce cost-efficient, high-stability functional ingredients
- Optimise rare sugar production through enzyme biocatalysis and advanced crystallisation
- Egg, coffee and cocoa alternatives are being developed at pace
- Reduce reliance on coffee and eggs with mushroom-based coffee alternatives and plant-protein egg replacers
- Innovators are using fruit waste to create cocoa alternatives through enzyme treatment and roasting
- Fermentation and Maillard-driven innovations enable scalable, caffeine-free coffee alternatives produced from upcycled substrates
- Alkaline salt-enhanced plant proteins and euglena-based formulas deliver cost-effective egg replacers
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KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Key takeaways
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APPENDIX
- Research methodology
- Key patent examples for cost-effective food, drink, ingredients
Recent patents aim to improve affordability by optimising protein production, leveraging upcycled ingredients and producing cocoa and coffee alternatives.
Neha Srivastava, Senior Patent Analyst – Food & Drink and Beauty & Personal Care
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