ORLANDO, FL — Euromonitor calls it the “snackification” of meal time, or the way consumers’ snacking behavior is impacting food habits globally.

“We think of snacking as anything you consume outside that traditional meal period,” said Jared Koerten, Euromonitor senior analyst, who presented a global snack industry trends report at SNAXPO19, being held March 31-April 2 in Orlando.

Snackification involves everything from confectionery and ice cream to sweet biscuits, snack bars and savory snacks, Mr. Koerten said. He compared those snack categories against the rest of packaged food — or what Euromonitor calls staples, such as rice, pastas, sauces or processed meats, which could be anything someone would consume as part of a traditional meal.

“If you look at the progression of global packaged food over the past decade, you can see that snacks are gaining market share,” Mr. Koerten said, noting that just under one-fourth of total packaged food sales are snack foods. “That represents about $16 billion that has shifted to snack, relative to those staples,” he said.

With 16% growth over the past decade, snacks are seeing healthy performance around the globe, thanks in part to the changing eating habits of young consumers, who snack more frequently throughout the day in place of traditional meal.

One area that has been impacted is the breakfast meal occasion, in which respondents to Euromonitor’s research have indicated a significant increase in snacking frequency.

“The younger you go, the more likely you see that consumer will be snacking during that meal occasion,” Mr. Koerten observed.

“This has created a battleground,” he said. “There’s a battle for the breakfast meal occasion.”

Just look at breakfast cereals. It experienced just 2% CAGR globally over the past five years.

“If this were just U.S., that number would be negative,” Mr. Koerten said.

This is a result of options such as snack bars, yogurt or breakfast biscuits, where growth is seeing double-digits.

“We’ve seen a lot of disruptive brands come on the scene,” he said, referencing products such as Mondelez’ belVita breakfast biscuits, which have become a snacking powerhouse for the morning occasion, and Kind bars, which have proliferated in grab-and-go.

“These products are what continue to rewrite the story at breakfast,” Mr. Koerten said.

Other global launches for breakfast snacking have included Yohai Greek Yogurt Biscuits in South Korea.

“People love the high protein in Greek yogurt, but it’s not easy to eat when you’re on the way to work, so why not stick it between two breakfast biscuits and make a breakfast sandwich?” he observed.

He also noted that drinkable yogurt has been particularly successful in Latin America through brands such as Dan’ Up and Nesfit, whose products fit right inside a car’s cupholder.

Perhaps some of the biggest breakfast snacking innovation is happening in the United States with Jack Links launching Jack Links AM breakfast jerky.

“Meat snacks aren’t traditionally thought of as a breakfast product,” Mr. Koerten said. “But people eat meat for breakfast. Why can’t meat snacks be a breakfast occasion as well?”

Mr. Koerten also discussed health trends in snacking and the experiential expectations consumers now place on their snack purchases.

Additionally, SNAXPO19 will cover a number of other trends and issues, including e-commerce, Latin American trends, sustainable packaging and more.