Food and Beverage Top Stories

RSS

To attain the coveted clean-label designation, today’s “flavor helpers”—the secondary ingredients needed to mask or block a bitter aftertaste or to enhance a desired flavor (which in turn can mask off notes)—need to be derived from natural ingredients and contain no traces of solvents or similar chemicals.

By using behavioral insights and co-creation at this crucial stage, you can avoid wasting time and money, and build a concept from which you can measure the potential to impact people's lives.  

Americans still are not meeting the recommended intake levels for dietary fiber, a nutritional failure that can lead to the development of a number of health issues down the road. The shortfall is so critical that the new “Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025” has designated dietary fiber as “a dietary component of public health concern.”

Prepared Foods interviewed James Oliveira at Aiya Matcha (Aiya America Inc.), Torrance, Calif., to explore matcha's growing uses in new consumer packaged foods and beverages, its on-trend culinary and nutritional profiles, its role as an ingredient and trending future applications.

Ingredients that affect gut health are characterized as prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, and newly defined “postbiotics.” Ongoing research is elucidating the mechanisms by which these ingredients confer health benefits, demonstrating how trending ingredients such as fiber affect the gut microbiome on a molecular level, by interaction with microorganisms either directly or within intestinal cells. 

Most food is judged by the consumer before it’s ever tasted. The color and appearance of foods and beverages are a primary aspect of what encourages someone to desire and taste them. The vibrant greens of fresh produce, the rainbow hues of fruits, or the more subtle, creamy beiges and golds of cheeses, and the rich browns of baked goods and seared meats can awaken a slumbering palate.

Seemore Meats & Veggies, a women-owned and led sausage company on a mission to make it easier and more fun for people to eat well, launched Chicken Chili Verde Sausage. 

Prepared Foods profiles new functional foods, drinks and supplements.

Today’s consumers are rarely satisfied with just a thirst-quenching drink when they crave a beverage. They’re seeking healthful extras that target everything from immunity to mood issues, from energy to meal replacement. And of course, they want plenty of flavor with few calories.