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The most interesting trend is the consumption of bottled water, which rose by 186% from 2.9 to 8.2 gallons per year per capita between 1980-1992. Soft drinks are by far the most popular beverages by quantity consumed. The following are the trends between 1980 and 1992; Per capita consumption of soft drink increased by 29% from 35 -45 gallons per year. Another drink that is gaining popularity is club soda with a 53% increase from 5 to 8 gallons per person per year. On the other hand, juices and milk experienced a decline in consumption. Juice declined by 6% from 7.3 to 6.8 gallons per capita per year. Milk consumption went down by 5.5% from 27-25 gallons per capita. Alcoholic beverages have experienced a decline in consumption between the same period. (Putnam, 1994 and Jobson's wine handbook 1994) These trends are similar to what was reported by Burrid et al 1996 when she compared consumption changes between 1977 and 1994. A 1994- 96 USDA food intake survey has shown a reversal in some of the trends. For instance, there has been an increase in the amount of fruit drinks consumed from 84 grams per person as reported in Borrud in 1994 to 95 grams in 1996 as reported in USDA survey. One of the reasons for the increase of fruit juice intake is that consumers are shifting to natural products and foods that promote health. (Kuntz 1998, Sloan 1998). Marketers have taken advantage of this trend by developing drinks and emphasing ingredients that promote health like vitamin C in orange juice and calcium in milk. Other micronutrients and herbs are also getting attention especially in meal replacement drinks. This has led to the development of fortified drinks (Consumer report, 1998). Some drinks are geared towards sports men. A good example of this trend is within the neighborhood, Dixon Recreation Center. Dixon is selling fruit smoothes blended with nutritional extras of customers' choice. The nutritional extras include vitamin powder, protein powder, brewers yeast, calcium powder, bee pollen, Echinacea, etc. These drinks have attracted a lot of students. It is also interesting to note the controversy on some beverages that are fortified and have health claims whether they will be classified as foods or dietary supplements according to NLEA 1990 and DSHEA 19972 (Kuntz, 1998.) Another interesting trend closer to home is the popularity of beverages that contain caffeine like coffee and soda among college students. Caffeine is a natural drug that keeps students awake enabling them to study longer. Ten years ago, beverage industries tried to remove caffeine from their products because of caffeine's harmful effects to pregnant women. Caffeine is now common in many of the new products, and exotic caffeine products are gaining popularity. (Billie, 1996) Natural tea is gaining popularity due to people's focus on health and new findings on tea's health benefits. Tea's popularity is influenced by growth in herbal beverages, allergy and headache remedies. In response to this trend a variety of teas with different flavours and herbal combination have flooded the market. (Insenberg, 1996) The beverage sector is trimming down and consolidating many of its operations and brands to speed their reaction time to changing consumer demands and meet the challenges of the new millennium (Food Engineering, 1998). The beverage sector is restructuring its operations and becoming more focused in order to become more flexible and quick to market new products and ideas. One such example is Quicker Oats that sold snapple drink. (Byrne, 1998). Triarc Deftly bought Snapple when it was making minimum sales. (Geogun 1998,and Billie 1996) Triarc Deftly capitalising on the popularity of smoothie bars selling fruit shakes developed new lines of smoothie type fruit juice with a dairy base. The new line extensions saw the resurrection of Snapple demand on the market. Industries are becoming aggressive in scientific research in order to develop quality products while keeping costs down. Tropicana is one of the companies that have opened a research center in order to maintain their premium product status. (Katz and Giese, 1998). Line extensions is a trend within the food industry. According to trend research conducted in 1996, 60% of companies interviewed projected a 20% investment increase toward the development of line extensions over the next two years. (Best, 1996). Another interesting trend is the ordering and supplying of beverages via the web. One such beverage supplier is Beverage Direct that supplies more than one hundred and sixty beverages on line, among which 30 are new products. The beverages are divided into the following categories; coffee drinks, cream soda, diet beverages, energy drinks, ginger ale/beer, gourmet sodas, juices, new age, root beer, special products, teas and water (Beverages Direct 1998). The leading companies in soft drinks in 1998 were Coca-Cola, which took 44.5% of market share, Pepsi took 31.4% of the share and Cadbury Schweppes took 14.4 % of the share (Zachary 1999). The same trend in beverages is evident internationally. Soft drinks are consumed more than juices, but overall Americans drink a lot of soft drinks than the British. For instance, in 1988 UK consumed 28.8 gallons (130 litres) per capita of soft drinks compared to 45 gallons consumed in per head consumed in the US in 1992. UK consumed 3.8 gallons (17 litres) per capita of juice in 1988 compared to 6.8 gallons per head in the US in 1992 (Blades 1998 and Putnam, 1994)

REFERENCES

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Agricultural Statistics. (1998) Food Marketing Review.Www.barc.usda.gov/bhnrc.html

Best, D. (1996). Trends 1996.Food Development, vol. 161, 13, 53-54.

Beverage Direct (1998). Product listings. Beverages Direct www.beveragesdirect.com.products.

Billie, K. (1996). The power behind the pop. T@rgumOnline. www.dailytargum.com/fall 1996/102896/news/news9.htm

Blades, M. (1990). Soft drinks. Nutrition and food science, (125), 6-8.

Borrud, L., Enns, C.W, and Mickle, S 1996. What we eat in America: USDA

surveys food consumption changes. Food Review, 19 Issue 3,14-19.

Byrne, M. (1998). The worlds top 100 food and beverage companies. Food Engineering, pp91-104

Consumer report. (1998), 63, (8), 40-41. Got juice? Orange juicest.

Food Business. (1992,) Bottoms up. Prepared foods, 161, no8, 17-23.

Geogun, Nikhil, 1998). Wall street journal, Dec 14, 1998, Vol. XXXIX # 116, Snapping Back; soft drink Marketers at Triarc Deftly give Snapple back its buzz.

Isenberg, L. (1996) Hot ways to manage the natural tea category. atural foods merchandiser. Www.nfm_online.com/nfm_backs/July_96/bt_tea.htnl

Katz, F. &Giese, J. (1998). Science gives specialty juice a big slice f the market. Food technology, 52, (11), 44-47.

Kuntz.L. (1996). Food Product design.www.foodproductdesign.com/archive/1996/0496DE.html.

Putnam, J. (1994). Food consumption trends. Food Review, 17, (2), 5-47.

Snapping back. Soft-drink marketers at Triarc Deftly give Snapple back s buzz. Wall street Journal, cxxxix (116). Dec 1998

Sloan, A.E. (1998). Food Industry forecast: Consumer trends to 2020 and beyond. Food Technology 52, (1), 37-44.

Trends in 1993. (1994). Jobson's wine handbook. New York: Jobson pub cooperation.

USDA, data tables. 1994-96 Diet and health knowledge survey.www.barc.usda.gov/bhnrc/foodsurvey/home.html

Zachary, G.P. (March1999). Let's play oligopoly! Why giants like having other giants around. Wall Street Journal, CXL, (45).

Updated: Monday, August 27, 2007.