Food and Beverage Top Stories

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The hotter and spicier foods get, the hotter their popularity. Prepared Foods’ David Feder interviews Frito Lay’s Jody Denton for an expert look behind the hot and spicy trend.

“If your company manufactures yogurt or other cultured dairy products—such as frozen yogurt and kefir—and you are interested in using the LAC Seal on your products, IDFA is now making it easier than ever to obtain the seal for use on product packaging and labels, demonstrating to consumers and other customers that your products contain valuable live and active yogurt cultures,” said John Allan, IDFA vice president of regulatory affairs and administrator of the IDFA’s LAC Seal program. “The LAC Seal is the best way to reach consumers with this unique health and wellness attribute.”

"By growing Truly Grass Fed into a new retail category, we are able to reach new customers who are looking to include plant-based products in their diet, need non-dairy alternatives or just want to enjoy the delicious taste of our pure, creamy oat milk,” said Jaclyn Crabbe, marketing director for Truly Grass Fed.

Prepared Foods discusses plant protein ingredients and formulation strategies with Charlie Baggs, president, founder and executive chef at Charlie Baggs Culinary Innovations, Chicago.

Prepared Foods has selected six new food and beverage products introduced in April 2024. Vote to let us know which new product is your favorite!

The beauty of Innova’s annual Top 10 Trends of the food and beverage industry is that the trends apply across all market categories—including dairy products and dairy alternatives. Dairy and dairy alternatives overlap in many ways, differ in others, and our Top 10 Trends can be interpreted across both.

Traditionally, proteins such as glutenin and gliadin have been favored in baking for their role in dough texture and structure. However, as consumer awareness of health, nutrition, and sustainability has grown, the focus has shifted to incorporating a broader range of protein sources into baking.

Globally, food and drink launches containing microalgae experienced average annual growth of more than 40% during a recent three-year period. Trends in plant-based proteins from the sea—as well as new technologies to produce seafood without the sea—also overlap with our second 2024 trend, “Nurturing Nature.” Indeed, both seafood companies and technology innovators can be ocean guardians.

While natural and botanical methods of preservation have been in use for centuries, the modern food processing system has relied heavily on synthetic food preservatives, such as nitrates, benzoates, sulfites, sorbates, and others. 

Watch or listen to a Prepared Foods interview with ethnobotanist and contributing editor Kerry Hughes discussing the trending foods, beverages, and ingredients using botanicals featured at 2024 Natural Products Expo West.