零食巨头们正掀起一场以“口感”为核心的产品创新浪潮。亿滋国际推出了夹带酥脆莲花焦糖饼干碎的吉百利牛奶巧克力，而玛氏则推出了添加脆粒的彩虹糖软糖以及“特脆版”芝士饼干。食品工业长期以来致力于通过包装色彩与香气设计诱导食欲，如今口感与咀嚼体验成为了最新的竞争焦点。市场研究机构英敏特（Mintel）的数据显示，主打口感诉求的零食占比从2023年的31%激增至去年的41%，其中“酥脆”是最受追捧的描述词，“耐嚼”与“黏稠顺滑”亦紧随其后。

研发出层次分明的丰富口感在食品工程上面临严苛的技术挑战。例如在混合酥脆与柔软成分时，水分容易从湿润层向干燥层渗透，导致松脆结构变软。为了保持保质期内的酥脆度，亿滋在吉百利饼干巧克力中精心设计了隔绝水分的牛奶巧克力外壳和阻隔水分迁移的脂质涂层。食品工程的复杂性导致供给端显著滞后于爆发式增长的市场需求：英敏特对社交媒体讨论的追踪分析显示，在截至今年4月的两年间，美国市场对“多重口感享受型”零食的需求激增了28%，而按销售量衡量的供应量仅增长了8%。

驱动这种口感消费热潮的核心动力来自多重文化与健康趋势。首先，GLP-1减肥药物的普及抑制了消费者的食欲，迫使人们在选择摄入卡路里时寻求更强烈的感官满足感与食用仪式感。其次，社交媒体上强调咀嚼声响的吃播短视频与ASMR营销极具吸睛效应，去年带有“crunchtok”标签的帖子播放量突破了15亿次。最后，随着传统口味创新行将见顶，食品巨头将多重质感视作实现差异化竞争的终极壁垒，试图通过强化沉浸式的感官刺激防止消费者对日常零食产生审美疲劳。

Global food giants are orchestrating an aggressive pivot toward texture-centric product innovation to drive consumer demand. Mondelez has launched Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate bars embedded with crunchy Lotus Biscoff biscuits, while Mars introduced Skittles Gummy Crystals incorporating crackling elements alongside "Extra Crunchy" Cheez-It crackers. According to research firm Mintel, the proportion of snacks highlighting specific texture claims surged from 31% in 2023 to 41% last year; within this category, "crunchy" remained the dominant descriptor, while "chewy" and "gooey" gained rapid market share.

Engineering multi-textured snack formulations poses intricate food-science hurdles, particularly managing moisture migration where moisture transfers from hydrated layers to dry elements, turning crisp ingredients soggy. To preserve textural integrity over prolonged shelf lives, food scientists must formulate protective lipid barriers and tailored chocolate shells. These engineering constraints have contributed to a noticeable supply deficit: Mintel’s social media tracking reveals that American consumer demand for "texture-indulgent" snacks leaped by 28% across the two years ending in April, whereas actual market supply—measured by textured snack sales volumes—grew by merely 8%.

Multiple dietary and cultural shifts underpin this surging appetite for sensory stimulation. The growing adoption of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs has diminished appetite volumes, prompting consumers to demand maximum sensory payoff and "product theatre" whenever they indulge. Concurrently, viral social media trends highlighting amplified chewing sounds and ASMR audio have exploded, with the "crunchtok" hashtag amassing over 1.5bn views last year. With traditional flavor profiles reaching practical saturation points across confectionery aisles, the snack industry views dynamic mouthfeel and auditory crunch as the definitive frontier for brand differentiation.

Source: Why your snacks are chunkier and chewier than before

Subtitle: Novelty is increasingly coming from texture, not just taste

Dateline: Oct 8th 2026\n