Barbara T. Nessinger

Food marketers understand the appeal of brands offering health and wellness benefits such as reduced calories or added nutrients. But, what if all those “good-for-you” extras could be delivered in products that taste absolutely decadent—boasting a rich and creamy mouthfeel, for example, or bursting with bright fruit flavors?

The advantages of soy proteins are numerous and well-documented. Formulating with soy protein, however, has previously been limited to beverages with a pH higher than 4.5—the isoelectric point (the pH at which the total charge on the protein molecule is equivalent to zero) of soy proteins.

It seems controlling the amount one eats at a restaurant has an extremely simple solution: Use a bigger fork.

The term “smoothie” has many definitions in the U.S. marketplace. The most common definition of the term is a “thick, creamy beverage composed of both fruit and dairy ingredients.” In the broadest sense of the term, a smoothie can refer to a thick, non-dairy, chilled beverage.

Everyone nowadays seems to be interested in food safety--in fact, the Produce Manufacturing Association ranks food safety as the number one issue now facing the industry. In this heightened environment, it is not just good sense to mitigate threats to food safety--it becomes essential.

Move over, white rice--colored rice is making a splash. According to a recently released “What’s Hot” National Restaurant Association survey of chef-members of the American Culinary Federation, black and red rices are the “new white” in foodservice side dishes. Black rice, although a newcomer to the survey, started at the top--number one--among sides and starches, while red rice ranked third.

Soy sauce--that staple of Chinese take-out and wok cooking--is known to many as simply a salt in liquid form, something that adds flavor to many dishes. Soy sauce is so much more, however, and not all soy sauces are created equal.

 The only sustainable source of competitive advantage is innovation, and innovation is imperative in the food and nutrition sector. 

Private label's future includes reformulating/redesigning to reduce costs, or issue-related product innovations, such as green or organic. Attendees of Prepared Foods' R&D Seminars series also learned about co-branding and effective business strategies.

Currently, the vast majority of the raisin industry spans nine raisin-producing countries, with world demand at 770,000 metric tons, and 45% of the world’s raisins grown in the U.S.