The idea of a normal day being breakfast, lunch and dinner is a myth. Desserts are now eaten any time, sometimes even before breakfast. Lunch and dinner are increasingly combined into "linner" - this eat-what-I-want-when-I-want trend is changing some of the biggest names in food — from McDonald's to Kraft to Kellogg to Dunkin' Brands. Most have turned their new product labs and test kitchens on their heads. It's no longer about inventing the next big meal, but about concocting the next big snack.

Innova Market Insights has identified 10 key trends to impact the food and beverage market through 2012 and beyond. The top trends relate to purity, authenticity, and sustainability, as consumers continue to look for products with added value, despite the ongoing economic uncertainty.

With incredible growth rates off a low base in the early 2000s, the energy drink industry has slowed down its pace over the five years to 2011. Yet the industry continues to achieve double-digit growth, according to IBISWorld, one of the US's largest publishers of market research. As the energy drink market gradually becomes saturated it will grow only slightly in the next five years.

As rare coffee beans are becoming all the rage amongst the coffee intelligentsia around the world, all beans are becoming rarer. The price of a cup of coffee — from ultra high-end expresso to cafeteria swill — is being driven up by a complex combination of weather events, pest and fungus outbreaks, speculation on commodities exchanges, an unstable labour market in the developing world, and an unprecedented thirst for good coffee among a growing global middle class. The problem, in simple economic terms, is that supply has gone down and demand has gone up.