Dive Brief:
- General Mills launched its first keto-friendly line called Ratio, featuring cultured yogurt dairy snacks and crunchy bars, according to a company press release. Both contain 2 grams of net carbs and 1 gram of sugar per serving.
- The dairy yogurt snacks come in five flavors: Strawberry, Coconut, Vanilla, Mango and Black Cherry, and retail for $1.49 per cup. The crunchy bars are available in Lemon Almond and Toasted Almond and are sold for $7.99 per four-count box. The line is available online and at select retail locations in the U.S.
- General Mills joins other major manufacturers tailoring lines toward the popular keto diet. In the last year, Conagra Brands, for example, refreshed its Duncan Hines brand with keto versions of its cake mixes, and Halo Top introduced seven flavors for its new Keto series.
Dive Insight:
As the keto diet continues to grow in popularity, several companies have ramped up their innovations to create products that suit this dietary choice. Halo Top introduced seven flavors for its new Keto series, while fans of Conagra's Duncan Hines brand can bake keto versions of its cake mixes. Smaller players like Rebbl also added a line of keto-diet drinks called Keto Elixirs.
General Mills is pushing into this category as the pandemic alters consumers’ eating habits. As people search for solutions to boost immunity and improve overall health, many have turned to food as an answer. Beneo, a supplier of functional ingredients derived from chicory roots, beet sugar, rice and wheat, reports that an estimated 75% of consumers globally said they plan to eat and drink healthier as a result of the pandemic. This push to eat healthier has added momentum to trendy diets like Whole 30, keto and paleo.
The maker of Cheerios is choosing to make a play for keto customers at a time when the low-carb, high-fat regimen has seen rapid growth in recent years. Technavio predicts the global keto diet market is poised to grow by an annual rate of 5% to $1.11 billion by 2023, and General Mills cited data from The Insight Partners that this 5% compound annual growth rate will continue through 2027.
However, it will compete against some products that have been keto-friendly cold case staples for a while like Siggi’s, Maple Hill Creamery and Fage.
Nevertheless, yogurt has more to offer than just an appeal to those on the keto diet. The yogurt space is being bolstered by its natural fermentation that is associated with health. Lactobacillus, which is present in yogurt, is a sign of a healthy gut ecosystem and studies have shown that those with healthy gut microbiomes with more lactobacillus had milder symptoms from COVID-19.