Taste is the bottom-line in food product development. However, the bottom-line is also the bottom-line in food product development. How can there be two bottom-lines? I'll tell you: because there is actually only one.

The unavoidable truth, friends, is that the world loves to talk about food. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone, in this case, is right.

At this very moment, I have an absurd number of hot peppers growing in my garden. I don't know why I planted them. I'm allergic, and I otherwise have a relatively low tolerance for spicy food.

There's no room for flippant commentary on this subject. It's serious. Food allergens and consumer intolerance to them is a constant in food product development. There is no denying that

This week's topic is somewhat nebulous. Special Nutrition Products? Yes. Special Nutrition Products. They're everywhere. Green tea extracts, amino acid supplements, magnesium boosts, nanoencapsulation of this or that.

Believe it or not, there are people on the planet who do not like soup. I imagine there are a handful of people off the planet, astronauts and what have you, who do not like it as well.

And now we come to the conversation all of us must endure at some point in our lives: salty or sweet? Some deviants have skirted the issue by claiming they prefer sweet and salty. No! This is entirely unacceptable!

Folks -- have we established that I can call you folks? This week, I felt compelled to move away from category-specific research and trends and focus on an event I attended on Wednesday Aug. 14. It's called the R&D Applications Seminar, and if you aren't aware of it, I think you should take a moment to familiarize yourself.

What in the world is at the root of all this? I routinely ask this question over a French dip sandwich with my childhood friend and current neighbor Sherwood Day.

Meat, poultry and seafood. Must we decide? I wish it were not the case. Perhaps it is not. Bring me a crowded plate of steak, chicken thighs and hearty sea scallops at once!