When PepsiCo bought small fermented drinks maker KeVita in late 2016, it signaled that fermented foods have reached a tipping point.###“Social media is buzzing about fermented foods,” says Julian Mellentin, author of New Nutrition Business’ new report Fermentation: how to make a trend into an opportunity. ###“The restless, food-explorer consumer can find a wealth of bloggers and online sources recommending kombucha and other fermented teas, sauerkraut, kefir, kimchi, pickles, vinegars, tempeh and a host of other fermented foods for their digestive health benefit.” ###“Against this tide of more interesting alternatives, yoghurt looks like a less exciting option.”###Against 0.5% calcium citrate 600 mg without vitamin dgrowth bariatric calcium citratefor the US$6.9 billion spoonable yoghurt market in 2016 (IRI), kefir experienced 16% sales growth, for the third year in a row. ###Vinegars, a US$544 million marketcalcium citrate vitamin d2, grew 11.7%, with an average annual growth rate of 9% in the past three years, and kombucha, now a big and established business, grew by 7%.###Digestive wellness, the strongest and longest-lasting trend, is key to the success of fermentation. ###Consumers need to “feel comfortable inside” and they are increasingly opting for lactose- and gluten-free products, and plant-based drinks. ###Smaller categories offering more interesting routthe best calcium citratees to digestive health are achieving greater sales growth calcium citrate plus magnesium & vitamin dthan dairy-based probiotics. ###Start-up company Rhythm Health spent nearly a decade developing a probiotic formula that would thrive in a coconut milk-based kefir drink.###Its flagship product, a non-dairy kefir shot, is marketed as ‘100 percent natural’ and with no added sugars, connecting with the widespread consumer belief in ‘naturally functional’ and the need to lower sugar intake.###Fermentation also connects to the plant-based foods trend. ###Companies have already tapped into this need by creating single-serve vegetable-based snacks – a format that fits well with fermentation.###“Fermented vegetables are a well-established idea in consumers’ minds – they’re a traditional food format, such as kimchi or tempeh in Asia,” says Mellentin. ###“Offering a fermented chilled vegetable-based snack that is ready-to-eat can connect to that idea of traditional use and be credible.”