Naturopath Jacquie Perrott has led the wellness revolution in grocery shopping for more than a decade.

As the buyer choosing all healthy products in 75 independent supermarkets, Ms Perrott has transformed wellness shopping by asking one simple question – would I buy that for my own family and recommend it for my naturopathy patients?

“When you stock products with high quality ingredients in the health range, word gets around fast,” says Ms Perrott, the Healthy Living buyer for Richies IGA.

“The first thing the consumer does is turn a product to read what’s in it, so it’s my job to make sure it’s clean and build trust.

“The choices I make also have a broader impact. When retailers refuse to buy unhealthy products, manufacturers are forced to change and make cleaner food. It’s as simple as that. The changes might be slow, but they’re happening and the changes are gaining pace.”

Ms Perrott is one of the expert speakers at next month’s Naturally Good Summit, a snapshot into the future evolution of Australia’s growing market for natural, healthy and sustainable packaged goods.

In her summit address, Ms Perrott will talk about the latest trends in clean, healthy ingredients.

IN THE FRIDGE

Ms Perrott expects more growth in demand for organic plant-based refrigerated products, especially those produced with natural fermentation.

“We’ve had the fad of pretending to be meat with plant-based ingredients,” she says. “I believe we’re moving away from that and going to fermented, plant-based alternatives that aren’t full of soy and wheat. They’re made with organic ingredients and fermented properly so the leptins are broken down.”

Her favourites include Peace, Love & Vegetables’ range of krauts, kimchi and cashew cheeses, along with Cultiv.Ate’s veggie burgers and Bite Me Veggie Patties.

CLEAN FUNCTIONAL BEVERAGES

Ms Perrott has also noticed a boom in “really clean properly brewed drinks” with ingredients that offer specific health benefits, such as prebiotics to balance gut flora and adaptogens to relieve stress.

She says kombucha has plateaued at about 12 per cent of the market share as new functional drinks move in.

“There are a lot of new functional beverages out there, but I see real growth in drinks with no artificial sweeteners or alcohol sugars added,” she says. “I’m also looking for drinks with as many whole ingredients as possible.”

Ms Perrott is a big fan of the whole ingredients in Mrs Toddy’s Tonics, which will soon release a range of plant-based smoothies. She also sees a big future for the pro-environment Dash Water, cans of natural spring water infused with the juice of otherwise wasted fruits.

CLEAN HEALTHY SNACKS

“Consumers want snacks made with nutritious wholefoods, minus the numbers and any nasties,” Ms Perrott says.

“The ingredients must be clean, so people can read the label and know exactly what’s in it.”

Ms Perrott says healthy snacks like Eat For You’s wholefoods bar and Locako’s grass-fed collagen brownie bites have been available for a while, but “now it’s their time”.

FUNCTIONAL WHOLE FOOD PRODUCTS WITH NUTRACEUTICAL BENEFITS

Ms Perrott is noticing a shift away from synthetic vitamins towards whole foods people can recognise in an ingredients list.

She rates the collagen, bone broths and wholefood multivitamins from Nutra Organics, along with the new Manuka honey shots by Ambrosia Honey (from mid-June) and premium hemp oil from Aussie Legends.

SUSTAINABLE LIVING

Ms Perrott says sustainable products will be a huge focus this year as more consumers choose to live without toxic chemicals.

She also expects more customers to turn to compostable baby nappies like Panda Eco Disposable Nappies, which are made from bamboo and break down in two years (compared to the 500 years it takes for the mainstream competitors.

“The Panda range is made in New Zealand and works better than any of the competitors,” she says. “If people realised that it takes 500 years to break down nappies, I reckon they’d make the change.”

Hear more from Jacquie Perrott at the Naturally Good Summit on Monday, 5 June at ICC Sydney.