The year for fruits and nuts: a trend toward healthful snacking, and a change in consumer palates are helping to grow the fruit and nut snacks category.

Salty, sweet, dried or glazed--consumers today can have their dried fruit and nut snacks any way (and anywhere) they want thanks to the category's explosive popularity. As U.S. consumers have proven time and again, food is a versatile vehicle for trends, and no segment has gone untouched. Today's

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Essentially, growth in the dried fruit and nut snacks category is the direct response to increased consumer awareness. Shoppers are applying what they learn in the media toward their food choices. An increased awareness of GMO, chemicals, pesticides, hormones and other unhealthy ingredients in conventional snacks has helped boost the success of the dried fruit and nut snacks category. So has heightened awareness of the USDA's new dietary guidelines, which call for an abundant variety of fruits, vegetables and nuts. The obesity crisis in the United States, particularly in children, also has impacted the way consumers shop, sparking the demand for sugar-free and low-fat snacks.

While trends stoked by the media are largely responsible for the category's increased popularity, its been around for quite a while, but just recently has become a destination point for consumers.

"The category has gained popularity over the past several years thanks to the help of major retailers such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, who were ahead of the 'trend,' says Mark Devencenzi, national sales director for Sunridge Farms, Pajaro, Calif. "When before there was a limited market, now we're seeing excitement in the category because of what Whole Foods and Trader Joe's have done with these products."

For some retailers, using the word "excitement" to describe the current state of the dried fruits and nut category is an understatement! According to Chicago-based Information Resources Inc., the total dried fruit category increased by 10.4 percent over the past 52 weeks ending April 16, 2006, while sales for private label dried fruit increased by 22.2 percent over this same time period. What's more, subcategories such as raisins and trail mixes experienced substantial growth in the private label sector with 18.2 percent and 71.0 percent increases, respectively.