Food and Beverage Top Stories

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Wasted food is a major drain on business and on the planet. Shelf Engine, a perishable food forecasting specialist, estimates that supermarkets alone discard more than 43 billion pounds of food each year and that excessive food waste costs the grocery industry more than $50 billion in lost profits annually. 

Flavor firms say classic combinations continue to pervade the edibles market, but manufacturers are increasingly exploring profiles that communicate wellness, offer culinary adventure and celebrate the distinct flavors of the cannabis plant.

Prepared Foods talks all things sugar reduction—from ingredients to formulation strategies—with Lindsay Wisener.

Cutting edge global flavors feature across food and beverage categories. For example, Vegolutionary Foods expanded to eight frozen categories. Its latest is CAULIPOWER frozen multi-serve meals in three varieties include: Cauliflower Gnocchi with Savory Pesto, Spinach Gnocchi with Tuscan-Style Marinara, and Cauliflower Penne Pomodoro.

Driven by format familiarity, consumers’ desire to avoid alcohol, and new cannabis markets becoming operational, beverage is one of the fastest-growing segments, outpacing the growth of the overall edibles category.

Formulating plant-based products to maximize nutrition and deliver function is a growing opportunity, and selecting the right building blocks in formulation is important. The gap between nutrition delivery and consumer desires is one that can be filled by a new generation and greater variety of products.

The science behind understanding what a "healthy" human microbiome looks like, how it is controlled or how it can be changed is an evolving area of research. Recipients of the Danone North America Fellowship Grant support these efforts by exploring how the gut microbiome, yogurt and probiotics help sustain human health and wellness through growth, development, and longevity.

Professor Hinnerk Von Bargen of the Culinary Institute of America, San Antonio, shares his expertise on the trends and techniques that marry together seemingly disparate culinary styles and flavors in order to create new products with a flavor synchronicity that is greater than the sum of its parts.