Read about the winner of the Probiotic Innovation Jumpstart Program.

Ganeden announced its first-ever Innovation Jumpstart program, which encouraged the development of new probiotic food and beverage ideas. Submissions flooded in during the three month entry time, and after extensive deliberation three finalists have been selected. The finalists are:

• AVOKE Spoonables: a line of vegan, avocado-based smoothie bowls. Each Spoonable comes packaged and ready-to-eat in an avocado-shaped stackable cup containing two servings of fruits and vegetables, 1 billion CFUs of probiotics and a toasted quinoa topping. The concept, entered by Daniel Karsevar, would be the first avocado, probiotic smoothie and serves as a tasty and healthy alternative to yogurt or plant-based beverages.

• Red Lotus Foods: a Cleveland-based company offering a creamy spread made from cultured cashews with roasted garlic and herbs from entrant, Jeanne Petrus-Rivera. The artisan spreads and toppings are dairy-free and make a unique variation to traditional spreads. Consumers now have the option to give up dairy products without giving up the taste they love.

• simplyFUEL: non-GMO, protein energy balls made from scratch by Mitzi Dulan, a registered dietitian and the team sports nutritionist for the World Champion Kansas City Royals. The balls are packed with delicious ingredients and are a fun snack option that satisfies outside of protein bars. They have been taste-tested and approved by several high-profile professional athletes, active adults as well as young athletes and children.

On July 16, up to two representatives from each company will fly to Chicago to present their product concept in-person to a panel of esteemed industry experts from manufacturing, marketing, entrepreneurial and retail backgrounds. These judges will select one idea for a partnership that will make probiotic history. The grand-prize winner will receive $25,000 in support to utilize GanedenBC30® probiotics in the product, as well as the guidance, assistance and expertise needed to help develop and launch their innovation into the functional food industry.

“We invited scientists, entrepreneurs, inventors and others with a brand-new probiotic food or beverage product concept to submit their idea, resulting in many impressive entries,” said Andy Lefkowitz, CEO of Ganeden. “We believe our finalists represent novel products that will resonate with consumers and fill a specific need in the marketplace, but it was a difficult choice as many entrants met this goal.”

The winning concept will join the more than 500 probiotic product SKUs that have been brought to market with GanedenBC30 probiotics. These products exceeded more than $1 billion in retail sales in 2015.

The winner announcement will take place at 3:15 p.m. on Sunday, July 17 at Ganeden’s Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) expo booth (#2148), followed immediately after by a celebratory happy hour and interview/photo opportunities.