by WTN Staff

According to research released this week by Chicago-based market intelligence firm Mintel, food and drink manufacturers in the U.S. launched nearly 30 percent fewer new products in 2009 than in 2008.

Mintel researchers gleaned the trend from statistics contained in the company's Global New Product Database. After reviewing data from 2008 and 2009, they determined that, overall, the number of new food and beverage products introduced into the database was down more than at any other time in the decade the data has been collected.

The economic recession was to blame for the decline, according to a news release by Mintel. Lynn Dornblaser, the company's new product expert, said, "In the last decade, Mintel GNPD has only tracked occasional, small declines in new product introductions for the U.S. market, never a decline as strong as this."

A few categories of products did see modest declines, such as side dishes, products claiming ethical and environmental claims and those with environmentally friendly packaging. Products claiming to be "economy" saw the greatest leap, up 75 percent in number from 2008 to 2009. The number of new all-natural and organic products was were down 10 to 15 percent.