Ingredients Set Foundation for Product Development

Ingredient suppliers offering everything from flavors and colors to texturizers and antimicrobials and visiting from countries around the world met at the 2013 IFT Food Expo to promote their ingredients, present on-trend product concepts, and share a wealth of technical expertise with attendees. There was no shortage of ingredient solutions for foods and beverages with reduced sodium and sugar content. New ways to improve the textural attributes of foods and beverages were introduced. The push for naturally derived ingredients like flavors and colors continued. Innovative ways to produce fruit and vegetable ingredients highlighted the move to include more of these ingredients in foods and beverages. A range of product concepts inspired by the cuisines of Latin America and Asia showed how product developers could explore new ingredients and flavors in developing foods and beverages that play into the growing popularity of foods from these regions. While this article is not an exhaustive account of everything that occurred in the Food Expo hall, it does give a sample of the range of ingredient suppliers that exhibited and the topics they addressed.

For more information about ingredients and product development trends, read Linda Milo Ohr’s article for details about some of the exhibitors that showcased ingredients for developing nutritionally enhanced foods and beverages. Liz Sloan’s article (see page 44) covers current trends around foods and beverages and consumers as well as some that are emerging to keep food formulators apprised of what is going on in the marketplace and what consumers are demanding.

Finally, read and view some of IFT’s electronic options to catch up on more of what happened at the IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo. IFT Live (http://live.ift.org) contains a wrap-up of the event, additional articles about ingredient suppliers and press conferences, and links to videos (http://live.ift.org/videos) that take you to the booths of several ingredient suppliers as their experts chat about topics like protein, gluten-free foods, ethnic food inspirations, and energy-boosting ingredients.  

Advancing the Peruvian Cuisine Trend 
For a few years now, trend analysts, food writers, and culinary professionals have predicted that Peruvian cuisine will grow in popularity. With its influences from Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, Jewish, and Incan cuisine and its rich flavors and textures, what’s not to enjoy? As a result of all this new-found and increasing interest in Peruvian cuisine, Bell Flavors & Fragrances Inc., Northbrook, Ill. (www.bellff.com), featured a number of product concepts inspired by the cuisine’s foods and flavors.

Taking note from a traditional Peruvian dish called papas con huancaina, which is made from fresh cheese, milk, and aji Amarillo peppers, Bell created its own version of the sauce for its Peruvian Cheese Fries. The sauce featured Aji Type Flavor and Feta Goat Flavor. Served over potatoes, the cheese sauce itself was topped with Salsa Criolla made with Peruvian Lime Flavor and Aji Type Flavor. Christopher Warsaw, Corporate Executive Chef, Bell Flavors & Fragrances, said that this particular product had a lot to offer the senses, with soft potatoes, crunchy salsa, acidic vinegar, and spicy cheese sauce.

Tres leches, which means three milks, often refers to cakes and other desserts. Bell served Tres Leches Cupcakes with flavors like spice and coconut water in the cake, cajeta in the milks, and maple in the caramel buttercream. Beverages included Kola Champagne, a cream soda beverage, and Chicha Morada, a beverage that can trace its roots to the Incan empire and that traditionally is made from purple corn, pineapple, cinnamon, cloves, sugar, apples, and lime juice. Bell developed a Kola Champagne Flavor and Chicha Morada Type Flavor for the beverage prototypes.

Expertise in Flavor Development 
Black Raspberry Mint Smoothie, Creamy Potato & Rosemary Soup, Rainbow Sherbet-flavored Lollipop with Immunel™, and other product concepts illustrated the ways in which WILD Flavors Inc., Erlanger, Ky. (www.wildflavors.com), uses its expertise in flavor development, taste technology, and healthy ingredient innovations to help clients set their products apart from the competition. The booth was organized into six themed areas—Flavor Innovation–Beverage, Flavor Innovation–Food, Mint, Natural Colors, Taste Technology, and H.I.T.S.–Health Ingredient Technology & Solutions^®—where attendees sampled food and beverage
prototypes that featured ingredients that addressed these topics.

The company continues to expand its capabilities in mint development and showcased some different mint flavors in Strawberry Melon Mojito and Mint Julep Meltaway. Product developers looking to differentiate their products from competitors can use flavors from WILD Flavors’ varietal fruit line such as Marion Blackberry, Clementine, Fuji Apple, Key Lime, and White Peach (featured in beverages and marinades). The nutrient content of foods can be enhanced as shown in Tropical Punch Sports Drink with RPM Factors™ and Citrus Peach Mango Vegeceuticals™ Water. Its Natural Sweetness Enhancer showed how it could provide sweet taste in beverages and foods with less sugar like Summerberry Juice Cocktail and Jamaican Sunrise Cereal. Finally, flavorings like Vegetarian Turkey, Chicken, and Beef Pot Roast provided rich savory notes to broths.

Virginia Dare’s New Presence in Madagascar
Madagascar produces more than 80% of the world’s vanilla, so it is understandable why a company that specializes in supplying vanilla to food manufacturers would want to establish a presence in the country. Virginia Dare, Brooklyn, N.Y. (www.virginiadare.com), announced that it has partnered with SOARARY, one of Madagascar’s most experienced vanilla exporters, to form a fully integrated supply chain for securing, curing, and exporting vanilla beans from the country. 

“Madagascar is a very important country to Virginia Dare because we are a world leader in vanilla,” said Henry W. Todd Jr., Vice President International. “It’s one of our legacy product lines. We’ve been extracting vanilla beans for the greater part of a century, and Madagascar is the world’s leading supplier of vanilla beans. This is why it’s an important country to us.”

The company sees the initiative as a way to establish programs to ensure the quality of vanilla for its customers, more easily develop better traceability standards, and have a more immediate awareness of political issues that could affect logistics and quality assurance. Having the local presence in Madagascar will give Virginia Dare better opportunities to work with NGOs or even state institutions to implement programs for areas like quality improvement or sustainability initiatives aimed at helping growers, explained Todd. “Coming back to our status as one of the world’s leading suppliers of natural vanillas we obviously have to make sure that we’re focusing on future strategies which will give us access to this very critically important raw material in any kind of scenario.”

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Showcasing the Versatility of Vegetables
Vegetables have a number of different functions in food and beverage applications, including color, flavor, texture, and, of course, nutrition. A colorful array of products featuring vegetables were on display ready for sampling at the booth of Vegetable Juices Inc., Bedford Park, Ill. (www.vegetablejuices.com). Purple sweet potato gave a bright purple hue as well as added nutrition to Purple Ginger Lemonade. Company representative were available to discuss how the company’s culinary blends and pre-made recipes like Chili Garlic, Jerk Seasoning, Asian Mirepoix, Sriracha, and more provide flavor to finished products but also add convenience in product development efforts. There are even ways to use cucumber and lettuce juices, which have lower brix and calories than fruit juices, to help lower calories and sugar in beverages.

A Whey to Replace Gluten
Davisco Foods International, Eden Prairie, Minn. (www.daviscofoods.com), showed how its BiPRO^® whey protein isolate could be used to formulate gluten-free products with desired texture and flavor attributes. When used in gluten-free pizza crust, the ingredient helps to form soft dough that is easily handled by machine or hand and produces a crust that is sturdy enough to support large amounts of cheese and other toppings, even in thin-crust pizza applications. The ingredient can be used with other gluten-free flours like potato, tapioca, and sorghum to replace rice flour, which the company says can cause the dough to be wet and sticky. When used in peanut butter cookies, BiPRO is said to help improve the texture of the cookie compared to using other ingredients in the gluten-free formulation that may result in a cookie with texture that is too crumbly.

Cargill on Children’s Food, Sustainability
Cargill Inc., Minneapolis, Minn. (www.cargill.com), released the results of its survey investigating parents’ attitudes and drivers of food and beverage purchases for their children and announced that it has a new responsible supply chain assessment tool.

For its Cargill Gatekeeper Purchase Drivers Study, Cargill conducted an online survey of 1,000 parents who had at least one child between the ages of 2–12 as a way to identify drivers of purchase, specifically purchase drivers within certain key categories of foods that are heavily consumed by children. The results showed that nine in 10 parents say they ask their kids to broaden their tastes and seven in 10 say they ask their kids to try more adult foods. “As parents lean toward family-friendly meals, they’re looking for products the entire family will like,” said Dee Ann Roullier, Marketing Research Manager for Cargill. “Eight in 10 parents say it’s important to appeal to the entire family, and younger parents are leading on this. What this suggests is that this family-friendly approach is likely to become even more prevalent as more young consumers enter into parenthood.” Other findings showed that parents are more likely than other consumers to refer to claims on the front of the package rather than review the Nutrition Facts Panel and that parents are unsatisfied with the healthfulness of current food options in categories that are popular with children like frozen pizza, cookies, and ice cream.

Other news from Cargill detailed its new assessment tool to help its food and beverage customers to mitigate risk, manage cost, and grow their business by identifying qualitative, quantitative, and actionable risks and opportunities in their supply chains, explained Steve Polski, Senior Director, Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability. “Often companies begin their journey toward sustainability or responsible supply chains by looking at it through a risk-management lens. They then focus on cost and eventually look for growth opportunities. Cargill’s tool allows for identifying all three opportunities at once.” The key is to quickly address issues like labor practices, animal welfare, workplace safety, and environmental before they affect the business.

Almonds Add Special Touch to Desserts
Adam Moore, Corporate Chef, Charlie Baggs Culinary Innovations, showed the versatility that almonds and almond paste from Blue Diamond Almonds, Sacramento, Calif. (www.bdingredients.com), have in sweet product applications. 

Snacking is big among consumers, and they are looking for snack products that not only satisfy their cravings but also provide a level of nutrition. Almond paste, fruits, chopped almonds, and yogurt provide the flavor and protein that consumers want in Chewy Almond Snack Bars. For some indulgent treats, Moore used ingredients like bourbon cherry and infused almond paste, chocolate, and toasted almonds in Bourbon Cherry & Almond Chocolate Truffles and cocoa almond buttercream in Roasted Cocoa-Almond Macaroons. Pastry cream made with almond paste was featured in Almond Eclairs and Miniature Frangipane Tarts.

A Focus on Sweetener Solutions
Ingredients like Splenda^® sucralose, Krystar^® crystalline fructose, and Purefruit™ monk fruit extract helped to produce zero-calorie, zero-sugar, reduced-calorie, or reduced-sugar foods and beverages like Passionfruit Flavored Gelato, Reduced-sugar, Glutenfree Waffle Wafer, Mojito Mocktail, and Sugar-free Black Cherry Flavored Carbonated Soft Drink. Tate & Lyle, Hoffman Estates, Ill. (www.tateandlyle.com), highlighted the benefits of Purefruit, in particular. The ingredient, an extract of monk fruit, is a zero-calorie sweetener and does not have any bitter taste, making it an alternative to other zero-calorie naturally derived sweeteners, according to the company. In addition to its use in carbonated beverages, Purefruit can be used in juices, juice drinks, nutrition bars, cereals, yogurt, and flavored waters.

Tate & Lyle won the 2013 IFT Food Expo Innovation Award for its SODA-LO™ Salt Microspheres for reduced-sodium applications, and the company proudly displayed the award at its booth. The SODA-LO ingredient was created using patented technology that takes standard salt crystals and transforms them into free-flowing hollow crystalline microspheres that deliver salty taste by maximizing surface area relative to volume. Formulators can achieve sodium reduction of 25–50%. And because it is salt, it does not impart any off-flavors or bitter notes like some salt substitutes do, explained Judy Turner, Director, Applications Americas, Specialty Food Ingredients, Tate & Lyle. Samples of Truffle Oil Flavored Popcorn with SODA-LO were available.

Enhancing Flavor, Texture in Dairy Foods
A yogurt powder from Grande Custom Ingredients Group, Lomira, Wis. (www.grandecig.com), Yogurt Powder Y45, adds or maintains yogurt flavor, texture, and creaminess and can be used to replace yogurt in applications. The company demonstrated the ingredient’s functionalities in a yogurt fruit dip. It formulated an alfredo sauce with Bravo 300 whey protein, which helps to maintain texture and creamy mouthfeel, reduce fat and calories, reduce cost, and lend dairy and creamy flavors.

Ingredient Helps Reduce Sodium in Bakery 
An alternative to sodium bicarbonate, KUDOS™ Potassium Bicarbonate is said to provide up to 50% sodium reduction. Kudos Blends Ltd., Cleobury Mortimer, UK (www.kudosblends.com), offers the ingredient in two grades: one in fine particle size for bakery mixes and cake batters and the other in very fine particle size for chemically leavened dough. The ingredient is said to be directly interchangeable for sodium bicarbonate. According to the company, the ingredient will help produce a darker crumb color and not impart any metallic taste.

Flavor Blends Provide New Twists to Products
There are three benefits of blending flavors in food and beverage products, according to FONA International, Geneva, Ill. (www.fona.com). The first is to satisfy adventurous consumers who are looking for new taste experiences in familiar products. The second is to appeal to a specific market segment like children, who list flavor blends like cherry cotton candy, s-mores, and peanut butter and jelly as some of their favorites. Finally, blending flavors can help product developers to create a signature taste for their product, which differentiates it from their competitors’ and generates consumer interest.

FONA presented this and much more information about flavor selection and formulating with flavors to overcome certain product development challenges in its reference guide flavor + tools. There were also plenty of prototypes offered as examples of how blending flavors can take products to the next level. Some of these included Banana Bread French Toast Baked Bar (with the company’s Banana Bread French Toast Type flavor and French Toast Pell-Ettes™) and Key Lime Pie Baked Bar (with Key Lime Type Flavor and Graham Cracker Crust Flavor-Ettes), which show how some flavor blends from familiar foods can be formulated into product applications that traditionally have not featured these flavors. Other product concepts were Cranberry Chai Shortbread Cookie that combines flavors of cranberry, chai tea, and ginger and White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Gummy Candies.

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A Global Flavor Adventure
It seems that the cuisines from countries throughout Latin America and Asia have never been more popular in the United States. Magazines and television shows provide information about the different foods and flavors, and restaurants and food trucks serve up countless varieties of both familiar and unfamiliar foods to customers. Even at the IFT Food Expo, many exhibitors showcasing their ingredients featured them in prototypes reflective of foods from Latin America and Asia. There are even several examples mentioned throughout this article, including a wide range of Latin American and Asian-inspired ones from Sensient Technologies, Milwaukee, Wis. (www.sensient.com).

The company organized the prototypes around themes, a different one featured each of three days of the IFT Food Expo. Each day, beverages, savory, and sweet applications highlighted many different flavors or colors the company has in its extensive portfolios. Latin food concepts included Mango Horchata, Cucumber Citrus Agua Fresca, Mojo Pork Criollo with Pork Marinade, Chile Spiked Cornbread, and Adobado Sauce, Vegan Chili Verde Soup, Chipotle Cocoa Pecan Ice Cream, and Dulce de Leche Spicy Caramel Nutritional Bar. Asian food concepts included Asian Orchard Green Bubble Tea, Lotus Blossom Mocktail, Bahn Mi Sandwich with Chicken Glaze and Kimchi Relish Salad Dressing, Asian Bouillabaisse Soup, Thai Peanut Greek Yogurt Dip, and Lemongrass Ginger Shortbread Cookie. Finally, to illustrate the trend known as fusion cuisine, which combines foods or ingredients from two different cuisines, Sensient offered a few of the prototypes already listed along with Fusion Soft Taco with Port Marinade or Chicken Glaze, Asian Slaw, and Pickled Red Onion. Prototypes like these can inspire product developers to look beyond typical flavorings used in foods and beverages to create products that will address trends and excite consumers. 

Glitter: It’s More Than Just for Crafts
Every schoolchild at one point or another has probably used glitter (way too much) for a school art project that they proudly displayed on their refrigerator at home. Food formulators can relive their childhood fascination with all things sparkly with Edible Glitter™ from Watson Inc., West Haven, Conn. (www.watson-inc.com). Use it on snack chips, popcorn, cookies, crackers, breakfast cereals, confectionery, coatings, frostings, and baked goods. There is even an insoluble glitter for use in carbonated beverages and products that may be exposed to moisture. Pearlescent and Metallic Glitter™ shapes come in stars, crescents, hearts, trees, sequins, and hexagons. Edible Glitter is available in a variety of colors and can be heated up to 450°F without browning or burning, and it is stable in frozen food products. Samples of fudge with these various glitters were distributed at the company’s booth.   

Sweet Success of Reducing Sugar
As consumers’ love affair with sweet foods and beverages continues, the government and health and nutrition groups are calling on people to consume less sugar and for product developers to reduce the amounts of sugar in their food and beverage formulations. Ingredient suppliers offer a number of different sweetener solutions that are naturally derived or high intensity. Ingredion, Westchester, Ill. (www.ingredion.com), introduced DULCENT™ aspartame, sucralose, and acesulfame potassium sweeteners for use in beverages, yogurt, ice cream, confectionery, and bakery and DOLCERRA™ sweetness and texture system to reduce sugar and calories in beverages while maintaining the taste and texture of full-sugar versions.

Ingredion focused on sweetener solutions at the Sweetness Station location at its booth. There visitors tried two beverages, Reduced Sugar Orange Juice and Reduced Sugar Chocolate Milk, that showed how the DOLCERRA sweetness and texture system was used to formulate beverages with less sugar and maintain the taste, texture, and overall appeal. The chocolate milk prototype had 37% less sugar and 26% fewer calories than a control chocolate milk. The company said that no artificial sweeteners were used; rather, the milk was formulated with Enliten^® reb-A sweetener, Novation^® 8600 rice starch, and Invertose^® high fructose corn syrup.

DULCENT and DOLCERRA are part of Ingredion’s DIAL-IN^® Sweetness Technology, a proprietary approach utilizing Ingredion’s expertise and portfolio of ingredients to help clients solve sweetness challenges ranging from taste to functional and optimize cost and time during the formulation process. The experts help with reducing sugar, calorie, and fat as well as meeting clean label formulation efforts.

Ingredient Development Evolves
Over the years, a number of ingredient suppliers that specialize in one or two specific areas have branched out to new ventures like offering a more diverse portfolio or providing solutions to various dietary needs of consumers. Bunge North America, St. Louis, Mo. (www.bungenorthamerica.com), has done both. “Health and wellness is the driving force,” said Dilip K. Nakhasi, Director of Innovation, Bunge Oils Inc. “The big question is how does the industry address obesity? That’s why our initiatives have changed” to include more than just the traditional commodity fats and oils.

As a result of Bunge’s innovation group thinking outside the box, it has developed fats and oils with reduced saturates and no trans fat, created high nutritional structural lipids, used microencapsulating technology to develop new ingredients, found ways to incorporate protein, and more. Prototypes like Chicken with Gluten-free Homai Rice Panko fried in one of Bunge’s high-oleic soybean oils and a spinach and cheese empanada with EIE Ultra All Purpose 133 shortening for no hydrogenation illustrate how the company is on track to help processors formulate better-foryou food options. Its Saturate Sparing technology allows it to reduce saturated fat to 19% and eliminate trans fats while providing the necessary functionalities that food processors need. The version released in 2012 contains hydrogenated oils, which is something that some customers have voiced concerns about, said Nakhasi. So the Bunge innovation technologists developed a solution to this that Nakhasi promised would be released shortly.

A New Generation of Stevia Solutions
Working with product developers to deliver the optimal steviol glycoside or combination of glycosides for a formulation is at the heart of PureCircle USA’s (www.purecircle.com) Stevia 3.0 approach, said John Martin, Global Director, Technical Development & Innovation, for the company based in Oak Brook, Ill.

Five years ago, in the days of what the company terms Stevia 2.0, sweetening with stevia tended to be focused on the rebaudioside A compound. With Stevia 3.0, however, it involves coming up with a customized formulation capable of delivering greater calorie reductions and a more complete sweetness profile. Martin said that the majority of the application work the PureCircle team is doing is in the beverage category, but it is also partnering with clients on stevia-sweetened products in areas including bakery, dairy, and tabletop sweeteners.

To educate product developers about formulating with stevia, the ingredient supplier operates PureCircle University, which offers a general education about stevia as an ingredient, insights into formulating with stevia, and guidance on product improvement.

Keeping Costs in Check 
Cost reduction is on the minds of many product developers, and Dairiconcepts LP, Springfield, Mo. (www.dairiconcepts.com), focused on how some of its ingredients could be used to replace more expensive ingredients without compromising the finished product’s attributes. Using DairiFusion™ PARMPLUS to replace some of the Parmesan cheese in alfredo sauce can result in an overall cost savings of 9%, according to the company. It added that sensory evaluation of the product showed that it had the same desired flavor profiles of an alfredo sauce made with 100% Parmesan cheese. Product developers can use less than half as much butter but still achieve 100% butter flavor by formulating with Supernatural^® 5X Butter Concentrate, as shown by the company in reduced-butter caramelized popcorn.

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It’s All Greek to Me 
The flavors and cuisines of the Mediterranean, particularly of Greece, continue to grow in popularity. David Michael & Co., Philadelphia, Pa. (www.dmflavors.com), took inspiration from some popular Greek foods in formulating a number of product concepts. The David Michael food technologists used feta type and bleu cheese type cheese flavors as well as herb flavor to formulate Greek Flavored Chicken Sliders and cucumber, spearmint, and dill flavors in Tzatziki Flavored Greek Yogurt Sauce. After sampling the savory sandwich and sauce, visitors to the booth had a chance to sample several Greek-cuisine inspired desserts like Raspberry Rooibos Tea Flavored Greek Yogurt, Pear Flavored Frozen Greek Yogurt, Honey Flavored White Chocolate Truffles, and Fig Flavored Dark Chocolate Truffles. Incidentally, Greek yogurt as both a product and a flavor is more popular than ever, so expect to see these continue to appear on grocery store shelves.

Less Can be Better 
ICL Food Specialties’ portfolio of ingredients includes ones that help food formulators formulate better-tasting foods with less sodium, sugar, and fat. The company, located in St. Louis, Mo. (www.iclfood.com), highlighted its Salona^® sea salt as an ingredient for use in low-sodium applications. According to ICL, Salona has 1.7 g of sodium per 100 g compared with 39 g of sodium chloride. To help achieve desired texture while enhancing the flavors of low-fat and low-sugar foods, the company developed JOHA^® and BRIFISOL^® specialty ingredient blends. The company’s scientists can tailor the blends to a customer’s specific processing conditions and product type to ensure proper texture, mouthfeel, and stability of the finished product.

Bursting Foam’s Bubbles 
Emerald Specialties, a business group of Emerald Performance Materials, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, introduced two new foam control ingredients for use in powdered food and beverage applications. Foam can form when these products are mixed with hot or cold water. Foam Blast^® PDR21, a high melting point non-silicone powdered defoamer, is said to not melt or be absorbed by the treated product until it reaches a high temperature. The ingredient is particularly useful in instant soups and noodle cups, which may foam over in the container if left untreated. The second ingredient, Foam Blast PDR 10, is a 10% siliconebased powdered defoamer for use in powdered food and beverages mixed in either hot or cold water like flavored water and tea mixes.

Eggs May Improve Gluten-free Foods 
Eggs have positive effects on the quality of gluten-free bread, reported a team researchers led by Fadi Aramouni of Kansas State University during a poster session held on the Food Expo hall floor. Specifically, the results showed that eggs, with their protein content and foaming ability, benefited bread roll quality and increased volume and cell elongation. The American Egg Board, Park Ridge, Ill. (www.aeb.org), highlighted this and other research that shows the functional and health benefits of eggs. For instance, researchers are working to develop the right ingredient blend for improved texture and shelf life of gluten-free foods, explained Shelly McKee, Associate Professor, Auburn University, and a technical expert for the American Egg Board. Eggs are also a useful ingredient for developing foods that offer a “clean label.” Since eggs perform more than 20 different functions in foods and beverages, they can be used to replace other ingredients and additives, and they are listed as “egg,” “egg white,” and “egg yolk,” according to the American Egg Board. Consumers want something that is simple, easy to read, and that they understand, and listing egg on the ingredient statement meets these consumer demands, added McKee.

Company Stresses Non-GMO, Green Initiatives 
Even though California Proposition 37, a ballot initiative to require the labeling of genetically modified foods sold in California, was defeated last November, the push for labeling of these foods as well as a general awareness of the issue has not waned. About half of all U.S. states have introduced bills that address genetically modified foods. Whole Foods Market announced in March 2013 that by 2018 all products sold in its U.S. and Canadian stores must be labeled as to whether they contain genetically modified organisms. And for many consumers already concerned about what goes into the food they eat, this is just one more thing to keep them scrutinizing the ingredient labels.

Some ingredient companies that offer non-GMO ingredients have begun to publicize this about their ingredients more and more, as evidenced by quite a few at the IFT Food Expo. Wisdom Natural Brands^®, Gilbert, Ariz. (www.sweetleaf.com), was one such company. It promoted its SweetLeaf Stevia^® as a naturally derived, non-GMO sweetener that is USDA Certified Organic and Non-GMO Verified. What’s more, the company also has put in place its “green practices” of sustainable farming processes, nonintrusive harvesting methods, and no chemicals, solvents, enzymes, or alcohols, according to the company. It extracts the select glycosides from the stevia leaves through a proprietary cool purified water extraction method.

Packaged Moles Liven Up Dishes 
Culinary Farms, Woodland, Calif. (www.culinaryfarms.com), added a number of ingredients to its lineup that help product developers add authentic flavors to their products. Moles, which are popular sauces used as the backbone ingredient of many Mexican dishes, differ from one region to another, even from one person to another, and are made with a variety of chiles, spices, seeds, nuts, chocolate, and other ingredients indigenous to the region. Since they are time-consuming to make from scratch, Culinary Farms has combined ingredients to make five different moles: Mole Adobo with ancho and guajillo chiles and aromatic ingredients, Mole Dulce with chocolate and ancho and mulato chiles, Mole Oaxaca with pasilla, mulato, guajillo, cascabel, chipotle, and mora chiles, Mole Ranchero with ancho, pasilla, and mora chiles, chocolate, sesame, and pumpkin seeds, and Mole Verde with herbs, Serrano chiles, and spices. These shelf-stable moles, which the company sampled at its booth, work well in dips, dressings, frozen meals, sauces, spreads, RTE applications, and in foodservice. The company also had samples of its smoked sea salts, which are smoked over a proprietary blend of woods with no added artificial flavors or ingredients. Each variety of smoked sea salt has a distinctive flavor.

Sweeteners Aid Clean Label Efforts 
Several ingredient companies highlighted ingredients that could be used in so-called clean label formulations. The ingredient and product prototype lineup presented by Briess Malt & Ingredients Co., Chilton, Wis. (www.briess.com), was dedicated to featuring how its sweeteners offer a more natural sweetening alternative to products and add simple, descriptive names to the label. 

Three product concepts focused on this trend. Briess technologists formulated Sorghum Sweet and Savory BBQ Sauce with BriesSweet™ White Sorghum Syrup 60DE to add sweetness, flavor, and browning. In addition to these functions in sauces, the ingredient can replace malt extract for sweetening and browning in glutenfree applications, provide fermentable sugars and enhance browning in baked goods, reduce water activity for increased shelf life in confectionery, and lend sweetness and texture control in frozen dairy desserts. The ingredient is an enzyme-produced syrup produced from the starchy heads of grain sorghum.

The other two prototypes were Puffed Corn made with BriesSweet Tapioca Syrup, which has a clean, neutral flavor with varying levels of sweetness and a number of functionalities like preventing crystallization, building body, and humectancy, and Malt-lasses Cookies, which featured Maltoferm™ CR 45, a caramel-flavored malt extract that can provide varying levels of maltiness and flavor to a variety of applications.

Business Unit Debuts
Richardson International, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (www.richardson.ca), launched its Richardson Milling business at the IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo. The business is the result of an acquisition of Viterra’s oat supply chain in North America, making Richardson Milling the largest oat miller in North America, according to the company. A granola snack pack featured the company’s whole-grain granola clusters.

Additionally, Richardson International’s other business unit, Richardson Oilseed, had a booth at which it made available information about its Bake-It Rollin 560 NH non-hydrogenated baking roll-in margarine for puff pastry, croissants, Danish, and laminated dough applications, and its Shorten-It Puff NH non-hydrogenated rollin shortening for puff pastry and laminated dough applications.

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New Name, Logo for Edlong 
During a press conference, Edlong Dairy Flavors announced that it changed the name of its company to Edlong Dairy Technologies and introduced a new logo to better emphasize the company’s goal of providing expanded capabilities in food ingredient technologies and developments. The new name helps the company prepare for growth in food ingredient technologies, explained Laurette Rondenet-Smith, President/CEO, Edlong Dairy Technologies, Elk Grove Village, Ill. (www.edlong.com), while showing the differentiation in its ingredients and products.

In addition to the announcement, the company showcased some of its dairy flavors like butter, various cheeses, Greek yogurt, and others in Cheddar Cheese Puffs, Gluten-free Garlic Toast, Cherry–Almond Biscotti, Protein-fortified Iced Coffee, Salted Caramel Milk—“Ice Cream Melt,” and Spiced Mixed Nuts with Quinoa Puffs. 

New Dried Fruits and Vegetables 
A drying process that gently heats fruit and vegetables to reduce microbial load and a vacuum–microwave dehydration technology to finish drying produces whole fruit and vegetable pieces and powders that are part of the Milne MicroDried^® line. Milne Fruit Products, Prosser, Wash. (www.milnefruit.com), uses the process to dry fruits and vegetable pieces to retain most of their original size, flavor, and natural color. The resulting pieces are available in low-to-high moisture ranges with crunchy-to-chewy textures. The company recently expanded its line to include vegetables like corn, green peas, and carrots, and fruits like pomegranate and aronia. 

What’s Cooking with ConAgra Mills 
“Next-thing thinking” was the mantra for ConAgra Mills, Omaha, Neb. (www.conagramills.com), at the IFT Food Expo. That translates to offerings like Ultragrain^® High Performance, a whole-wheat flour with the taste of white flour plus excellent gluten strength, improved absorption, and mixing tolerance and cost-reduction attributes. The flour was put to good use in a Pizza Bianca (white pizza) prototype developed by ConAgra Mills chef Daniel Marciani.

Marciani also cooked up a Ragu Napolitana dish featuring ConAgra Mills’ new protein-enriched Ultragrain Pasta Plus™, a pasta that has the benefit of qualifying as an “excellent source” of fiber and a “good source” of protein, according to standards established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Ultragrain flour and pasta are widely used in foodservice applications thanks to their broad appeal to kids, many of whom prefer the taste of traditional white flour, as well as their ability to allow foodservice operators to meet U.S. Dept. of Agriculture nutrition standards for foods that are rich in whole grains.

In other news from the company, the ConAgra Mills Ancient Grains line of artisanal grains now includes buckwheat and spelt in addition to amaranth, quinoa, sorghum, millet, and teff.

A Lineup of Organic Sweeteners 
Suzanne’s Specialties, New Brunswick, N.J. (www.suzannesspecialties.com), offered a number of certified organic sweeteners. The options included barley malt syrup, honey, molasses, inulin, invert syrups, rice syrup, rice maltodextrin and dry solids, tapioca syrup and starch, agave syrup, and sugar and ECJ crystals.

Around-the-Clock Dairy Protein 
Building muscle mass, boosting satiety, and improving body composition are among the benefits that dairy proteins deliver. To highlight these benefits and to showcase options for morning-to-night dairy protein intake, the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), Arlington, Va. (www.usdec.org), featured product
prototypes ranging from Café Yogurt Frappé, a chilled yogurt espresso beverage designed to provide a dairy-based a.m. wake-up to a nonalcoholic Mock Mint Protini—the perfect beverage for bringing a day to a relaxing close, according to USDEC Senior Vice President of Global Marketing Vikki Nicholson.

The Frappé delivers all the caffeine of a cup of coffee plus 20% of the daily value of protein (10 g) thanks to its yogurt and whey protein concentrate content. The Protini also boasts 10 g of protein per serving; it is made with whey protein isolate and bottled water flavored with mint, sweetened with Truvia (a blend of erythritol and rebiana), and garnished with mint sprigs.

For an anytime snack, USDEC offered a Soft Protein Pretzel formulated with whey protein concentrate and milk permeate, which delivers salty characteristics while allowing for sodium reduction of more than 70% compared with a conventionally formulated soft pretzel. A single serving comprised of two small soft pretzels contains 150 calories, 9 g of protein, and 150 mg of sodium. “What we’re learning from the science is that a lot of those milk minerals carry a lot of the salt-potentiating flavors that can replace sodium in an application,” said Nicholson.

Consumer interest in higher-protein diets has sparked interest in dairy proteins, she offered. “The market for dairy proteins is just on the cusp.”

Szechuan Pepper Takes Center Stage
Szechuan peppers have a lemony aroma and a different flavor than that of black, white, or chili peppers. The peppers are traditionally used in some cuisines throughout Asia but are growing in popularity outside of the Asian region. The Szechuan plant is part of the citrus family and is not botanically related to black peppers or chili peppers. Sanshool is the active compound in Szechuan pepper that provides a tingling, numbing sensation in the mouth. Kalsec Inc., Kalamazoo, Mich. (www.kalsec.com), has captured some of the various flavor nuances of Szechuan pepper in its Szechuan Pepper Extract. The company worked with a trained panel of sensory pungency experts who were well-versed on time intensity techniques and types of pungent sensations in developing the extract.

Kalsec is known for providing a range of naturally derived flavorings and colorings. It offered a number of examples like popcorn in Harissa, Szechuan 5 Spice,  and Crazy Caprese varieties, and meat sticks in Sriracha and Sicilian Pepperoni varieties to show how its flavorings and colorings could be used to develop interesting snacks in different flavors and colors.

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Looking Closely at Microalgae’s Benefits
A microalgae-based ingredient was promoted as contributing to improved texture and nutrition of finished food and beverage products. A high-lipid algal flour ingredient from Roquette America Inc., Geneva, Ill. (www.roquette.com), is derived from microalgae and is an optimized source of lipids to help improve the overall texture in baked goods like muffins and cookies and in creamy foods like cheese sauce and Thousand Island dressing as well as to reduce levels of total fat, saturated fat, and calories. The company featured the ingredient in product concepts like these.

The Many Applications of Rice Ingredients
Using rice-based ingredients may help food technologists formulate foods that meet consumers’ demands for clean label products. Two rice  extract ingredients—Nu-RICE^® and Nu-BAKE^®—from Ribus, St. Louis, Mo. (www.ribus.com), function as replacements for soy lecithin, monoglycerides, diglycerides, polysorbate 60 and 80, sodium stearoyl lactylate, and magnesium stearate. Nu-RICE acts as an emulsifier and hydration aid in liquids, sauces, and extruded foods like snacks, cereals, and pasta. Nu-BAKE helps to condition dough, reduce stickiness, and work as an overall processing aid.

Two rice concentrates—Nu-FLOW^® and Nu-FLAC^®—can replace silicon dioxide, maltodextrin, and tricalcium phosphate. Nu-FLOW is used in spices and seasonings as an anti-caking agent and flow aid while Nu-FLAC functions as a flavor carrier and plating substrate in bakery, sauce, beverage, tea, and coffee applications.

BASF, IFSH Announce Partnership
BASF, Florham Park, N.J. (www.newtrition.basf.com), and Institute for Food Safety and Health (IFSH), Bedford Park, Ill. (www.iit.edu/ifsh), announced during the IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo that they will collaborate on nutrition research and food safety projects. The effort will bring together BASF’s health ingredients and experts with IFSH’s research facilities and scientists to develop products and address the needs of solving future market and product challenges.

“BASF’s customers will benefit from this collaboration knowing that it is partnering with the best of the best, including access to the top scientists and clinical nutrition research in support of their products,” said Charles Barber, Head of Applications and Technology, BASF Nutrition & Health.

BASF is known for offering a range of ingredients for human nutrition, but it also supplies ingredients that help food formulators that have proper texture, stability, and other attributes. Product concepts like iced tea with Divergan^® for stability and clarity and cupcakes with Spongolit^® aerating emulsifiers for improved texture and volume and Lamequick^® whipping concentrate for smooth icing illustrated this.

Soy Sauce as a Salt Alternative
Soy sauce is an old ingredient. It has been around for more than 2,000 years, originating in China at some point in the third century BCE. Originally made from fermented soybeans, and then from fermented wheat, this seasoning was used to enhance the flavor of meatless foods throughout Asia. It was in Japan where people refined it to the well-known condiments we use today. During the 17th century, the founding families of Kikkoman were brewing soy sauce, and the descendants of those families still operate the company, one of the oldest food companies in the world.

Even today, centuries later, product developers, chefs, and home cooks turn to soy sauce for its flavor-enhancing properties in foods as varied as soup, sauces, dry mixes, snacks, and even desserts. It is also positioned as an ingredient that can be used to add rich flavor to lowsodium applications. Kikkoman Sales USA, San Francisco, Calif. (www.kikkomanusa.com/foodmanufacturers), showed how some of its ingredients could be used to formulate Italian Beef Sandwich with Au Jus—typically an application that is high in sodium—to have less sodium but all the flavor of a regular version. Its newest ingredient, Kikkoman Natural Flavor Enhancer-PY powder with yeast extract, helped to reduce the sodium in the bread, where it also increased umami taste and provided flavor retention during baking. The ingredient can be used in many different applications for a sodium reduction of up to 30%. With 45% less sodium than regular soy sauce, the preservative-free, tamari-style Kikkoman Premium Less Sodium Soy Sauce is the lowest-sodium Kikkoman soy sauce available. The flavor of the ingredient, which is sweet–salty with beefy notes, is retained even through harsh cooking environments. A dehydrated version of the ingredient was used in the dry rub on the beef, and a liquid version was used in the au jus. Finally, one of the mainstays of the company’s ingredient portfolio, Kikkoman Soy Sauce, added a tart, slightly salty taste in Salted Caramel Sauce. 

DSM Releases Consumer Insight Report
DSM, Delft, the Netherlands (www.dsm.com), took the opportunity during the IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo to release the results of its consumer perception survey that shows urban consumers around the world are still confused about the amount of salt they consume and the recommended maximum daily intakes. This is the first in a number of global insight reports about consumers’ perceptions of savory tastes that the company will conduct.

The current survey of 5,000 participants found that almost 50% believe they eat less than 5 g of salt per day. Some respondents, like those from the United States, believe they eat the largest amount of salt. More than 61% of those in the U.S. believe they consume 10 g or more of salt per day. On the other hand, almost 65% of Nigerian consumers think they eat the lowest amount of salt at less than 5 g per day. Actually, salt consumption studies show that consumers around the world are likely consuming as much as three times the recommended daily amount, reported DSM. Of interest to product developers, the DSM survey showed that 80% of consumers reported that they would be willing to lose some of the flavor in foods if they knew it would be beneficial to their health, with those living in China the most willing to make this change and those living in the U.S. the least willing.

The company was excited to feature some of its ingredients in what it calls a “salt reduction toolbox” for salt reduction at this year’s show. The ingredients include yeast extracts and natural flavor ingredients to reduce sodium up to 50% in some applications while keeping the flavor consumers have come to expect. Multirome™, Maxarome^®, Gistex^® HUM LS, Maxavor^® YE, and Maxagusto™ can add or intensify umami notes as well as contribute other functionalities like improving juiciness, enhancing meaty flavors, and adding succulence and mouthfeel depending on which ingredient is used in a certain application.

Proteins, Starches to Improve Foods
Specialty proteins and starches can help improve the taste and texture of, increase the nutritional content of, and reduce fat and sodium in foods. MGP, Atchison, Kan. (www.mgpingredients.com), offers several, including TruTex^®, a textured wheat protein that is high in protein with a neutral flavor profile. The ingredient’s functionalities really shine in vegetarian products like vegetarian patties. In these products, hydrating TruTex causes it to take on a fibrous structure that mimics the look and texture of meat. Other ingredients like Fibersym^®RW and FiberRite^®RW resistant starches act as partial fat replacers in applications like bakery, snack foods, confectionery, salad dressings, sauces, yogurts, and prepared foods. For sodium-reduced foods, there is Midsol™ modified wheat starch, which helps reduce sodium usage and provides a clean flavor profile in soups, sauces, marinades, and seasonings.

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GPC Deli Serves Formulation Delights
Many ingredient suppliers offered ingredients to help product developers formulate foods with less sodium, and Grain Processing Corp., Muscatine, Iowa (www.grainprocessing.com), was no exception. Its Reduced Sodium Snack Cracker product prototype was made with ReduNa™ SR110, a freeflowing powder comprised of sodium chloride, maltodextrin, and potassium chloride. It is used as a direct substitute for regular salt to reduce sodium by 40%. The ingredient was designed to dissolve rapidly to enhance salt flavor without imparting bitter or metallic aftertastes, according to the company. It can be used on snack crackers, potato and corn chips, and popcorn as well as in seasoning blends for dry applications.

The reduced-sodium cracker was part of GPC’s deli booth theme, where visitors also tasted Toasted Ham & Cheese Deli Sandwich on Bakery Rolls with TruBran^® corn bran for added fiber and Creamy Mushroom Soup with Orzo Pasta with TruBran corn bran and PUREGEL^® modified food starch, which provides heat stable viscosity, refrigerated, freezer, and steam table stability, and reduced pasting temperature. Pumpkin Pie Smoothie and Aronia Berry Smoothie were formulated with MALTRIN QD^® maltodextrin for body and creaminess.

Functional, Nutrition Benefits of Oil
DuPont Pioneer, Johnston, Iowa (www.plenish.com), served fried foods and baked goods made with Plenish^® high oleic soybean oil. The oil contains more than 75% oleic acid, while traditional soybeans contain about 22%, according to the company. Plenish oil has several functional benefits like oxidative stability, 0 g of trans fats, an increased shelf life, and an increased fry life.

CSM Now Corbion
CSM in June 2013 announced that the company’s name along with its business units Caravan Ingredients and Purac had changed to Corbion as part of its new growth strategy to become a leading supplier of biobased ingredients and biochemicals. Corbion brought together ingredients from both Caravan and Purac to highlight their functionalities and health benefits in one booth area. Several of the ingredients showcased under the Corbion Purac banner addressed formulation needs such as reducing fat uptake during frying (PURACAL ACT), improving the quality of refrigerated foods (Verdad, PuraQ Arome, PURSAL, Opti Form, and PURASAL HiPure Plus), and reducing sodium (PuraQ Arome NA4, PURASAL HiPure Plus, Verdad N10, and Verdad N15). Ingredients under the Corbion Caravan banner were Trancendim, which helped reduce trans fat in Iced Sugar Cookies, and Nutrivan, which fortified Cereal Pillow with various vitamins and minerals.

ROHA Rebrands, Expands
Product Line ROHA announced a new corporate reorganization and rebranding initiative that allows the company to streamline service and position it for future growth. Specifically, the reorganization allows ROHA’s global customers that manufacture products in multiple industries and countries to streamline their supply chain operations by providing them with one source to meet all of their coloring needs. The organization’s plan places its six divisions that deal with various types of color additives in a group with the corporate mission statement, “Innovating for you. With you.” The divisions include established brands Idacol, Natracol, and Simpsons, and new brands Adora, Essenzia, and Futurals. Futurals is the company’s newest brand, which it launched at the IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo. The line features colorings and extracts derived from fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers, and algae. Some were featured in soft-serve ice cream samples.

IOI Gears Up for New Creative Studio 
IOI Loders Croklaan, Channahon, Ill. (northamerica.croklaan.com), celebrated its soon-to-open Creative Studio in Channahon, and attendees were able to enjoy the festivities too, by sampling cake pops made with the company’s SanTrans™ cake shortening for improved cake aeration and Freedom™ 900 coating to provide a clean mouthfeel and a steep melting profile. These two ingredients allow product developers to formulate baked goods without hydrogenated fat and trans fat. The Creative Studio is a place where IOI Loders Croklaan technologists will work with clients to bring their product development ideas to fruition or help them overcome problems with their existing products.

Providing for Flavor, Color Needs 
Representatives from Gold Coast Ingredients Inc., Commerce, Calif. (www.goldcoastinc.com), were available to discuss the company’s extensive range of flavors and colors, everything from acai flavor to zucchini flavor, as well as natural colors, artificial colors, and vanilla. It has even developed flavors like Canatarine, sweet cantaloupe with citrus flavors of Sicilian tangerines, Peaconut, which blends a fruity peach taste with milky coconut flavor, and Carromatoe, which combines the flavor of carrots with the acidic background of tomatoes.

New Direction for IDF’s Ingredients 
International Dehydrated Foods Inc., Springfield, Mo. (www.idf.com), is well known for its chicken and meat ingredients for soups, sauces, and gravies. Now, the company is taking its ingredients beyond these traditional applications to ones like sports drinks, bars, and smoothies. “The primary objective is to help IDF be seen more in the specialty ingredients arena,” said Stephanie Lynch, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, IDF.

Part of the plan includes taking ingredients like its High-Protein Chicken Powder and formulating it into products like pasta, which was featured at the company’s booth. “The chicken powder is high in protein and a great alternative to allergens like soy and whey,” remarked Lynch. “It is also a cost-effective ingredient to help product developers deliver more protein.” The pasta is packed with 16 g of chicken powder that delivers almost half of the protein that is recommended children eat in a day, she added. The protein is said to be readily bioavailable, making it especially useful in products like meal replacements that are formulated specifically for people like the elderly who have trouble digesting protein.

Cold Brewing Is Hot 
S&D Coffee & Tea Food Innovation & Ingredients, Concord, N.C. (www.sdextracts.com), presented information about how the company’s cold-brewed products and ingredients can help product developers formulate cold coffee beverages and other products with consistent flavor and quality.

Cold-brewed coffee is used by national coffeehouse chains and independent shops to create brews with signature flavors that differentiate them from other competitors, according to the company. Cold brewing was a closely guarded secret in the coffee industry, and in 2009, S&D acquired commercial coldbrewing intellectual property. The method produces a coffee with rich, balanced flavor with less acid and no bitter aftertaste. The company offers several cold-brew method coffee extracts.

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Ingredients Address Needs of Developers, Consumers 
As the demands of consumers change to wanting products that are both healthier and better tasting, so too do the demands of product developers who need ingredients that can provide health benefits and solve functional challenges. “At ADM, we have many different ingredients and techniques to provide our customers with what they need to meet their ultimate goals,” said Michelle Peitz, who works in the Oils Division at ADM, Decatur, Ill. (www.adm.com).

Product concepts served at the ADM booth like Crème-filled Chocolate Flavored Cupcake showed how a blend of its NovaLipid™ canola and palm oils could provide the functionality desired in cake and result in a product with lower saturates. Vegetarian Egg Roll filled with textured vegetable concentrate for protein was fried in a blend of NuSun^® sunflower oil and peanut oil. “Both products are excellent frying mediums that provide desired fried flavor and stability in the fryer,” remarked Peitz. Cheesecake with Caramel Drizzle was presented in honor of ADM’s 10th anniversary of its enzymatic interesterification process, which uses enzymes in place of chemicals to produce oils and shortenings with a sharper melting profile and low trans fats.

In addition to lowering the amounts of saturates and removing trans fats from products, product developers are also formulating more and more products with added protein. Clarisoy™ 100 and Clarisoy 120 soy protein isolates were designed to add protein to low-pH, high-acid, clear beverages without precipitating out  and clouding the beverage. ADM initially launched the ingredients about a year ago and made some refinements so the ingredients are now a little less astringent, explained Tom Burrows, Director of Strategic Marketing, ADM. As a result of the improvements to the functional properties, added Burrows, the company is really seeing a genuine growth in interest in the ingredients on the product development side. And as far as consumers are concerned, ingredients like Clarisoy provide a plant-based source of protein in products for weight loss, exercise recovery, elderly consumers, and children. “This is nutrition beyond hydration,” said Burrows. “There’s a definite need to get a balance of protein in people’s diets.” 

Kancor Ingredients Launches Subsidiary 
Kancor North America, Morristown, N.J. (www.kancor.in), a subsidiary of Kancor Ingredients, made its debut at the IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo. The company will focus on spices, natural food colors, botanicals, essential oils, floral extracts, fragrances, and phytochemicals as well as work with clients to develop customized ingredients in its new facilities throughout North America. Some of the ingredients introduced at the show were OxiKan range of antioxidants derived from rosemary used for shelf life extension, a line of roasted onion, garlic, cumin, and coriander flavors, Mango Ginger flavor, Natural Vanilla Extract, and Granor™ line of spice extracts that are available in free-flowing granular formats, and natural colors.

Grains for Texture, Flavor, and Health 
Bay State Milling Co., Quincy, Mass. (www.baystatemilling.com), has developed several fusions of grains that have been tested to ensure optimum performance, flavor, and texture in baked goods and snacks. Flavorful 5 Grain is a blend of rye meal, cracked wheat, baby oat flakes, steel cut barley, and whole millet. Savory 7 Grain is a combination of rye meal, cracked wheat, baby oat flakes, corn grits, barley flakes, whole millet, and cracked triticale. Nourishing 9 Grain has rye meal,
cracked wheat, baby oat flakes, corn grits, steel-cut barley, whole millet, steel-cut triticale, steel-cut spelt, and whole quinoa flour. The three blends can be used in a formulation or topically, in straight and sponge doughs, with or without pre-hydration.

The Versatility of Hibiscus 
The hibiscus is a beautiful, brightly colored flower that evokes images of a tropical island. Dried petals can be steeped in tea, resulting in a tart flavor. At one point, cutting-edge culinary professionals began to use hibiscus as a flavoring and coloring ingredient. Then, food formulators began to use hibiscus ingredients in food and beverage formulations. It is one of those ontrend ingredients, along with other floral flavors, seen in beverages like tea and in baked goods, confections, and ice cream, remarked Greg Robertson, President, Teawolf, Pine Brook, N.J. (www.teawolf.com). The company offers liquid hibiscus extracts and spray-dried powders, which have a rich red hue that can be used as a natural alternative to artificially derived colorings.

Tea is one of the most popular beverages that features hibiscus flavor. Teawolf also focused on its extensive line of tea extracts and distillates from black and green tea, oolong tea, white tea, Darjeeling, gyokuro, matha, rooibos, tisanes, herbal teas, and more. Tea is the second-most-consumed beverage after water around the world. Market research has shown that consumers will continue to choose tea for its health benefits and variety of flavors, and Robertson said that Teawolf is prepared to help product developers meet the growing demand. What makes these tea ingredients exciting is that they can be used in more than just beverages since there are growing numbers of non-beverage food products that use tea as a flavoring, added Robertson.

Emulsifiers Aid Processors 
Palsgaard Inc., Morris Plains, N.J. (www.palsgaard.com), introduced several ingredients to help stabilize and improve the overall texture of applications like yogurt, ice cream, and cake. Palsgaard^® AcidMilk 316 was featured in samples of yogurt. The ingredient is designed for use in stirred yogurt products produced from fresh milk, where it helps produce a very smooth and creamy consistency and firm texture. It also helps to prevent the separation of whey during  distribution and storage. Product developers looking to formulate products with clean labels may also find the ingredient beneficial since it is made from vegetable fibers and natural starch, said Rosa Regalado, General Manager, Palsgaard.

Another new ingredient from the company is Palsgaard IceTriple 104, a mixture of emulsifiers and stabilizers said to improve creaminess and sensory features in ice cream, help ice cream withstand heat shock, and function in reduced-fat ice cream, explained Regalado. The ingredient, which does not contain guar gum, is made up of propylene glycol esters of fatty acids, monoglycerides, and diglycerides. Finally, a mini microwave cake mix formulated with Palsgaard Emulpals^® 110 was promoted as a cake emulsifier that can do it all. After developing the ingredient and then conducting extensive performance and shelf-life tests, Palsgaard demonstrated that its ingredient could provide stability over a minimum of 24 months, lend tolerant aeration performance to the processing of the cake, and result in stable batch-to-batch performance. It is also versatile and easy to use in a variety of cake mix types and can be added at any point during the mixing process.

Powdered Colorings Work with Palm Kernel Oil
Naturally derived colorings are growing in popularity, and color additive suppliers are answering the demand with new ingredients that offer better functionality. Custom natural color blends in powdered form for use in palm kernel oil disperse quickly to deliver a range of vibrant colors. ColorMaker Inc., Anaheim, Calif. (www.colormaker.com), developed these powdered natural colorings especially for use in baked goods, nutritional bars, and confections, where they provide homogeneous color and allow for the development of “clean label” foods.

Univar’s One-Stop Shop for Ingredients 
Industrial and specialty chemicals distributor Univar, Redmond, Wash. (www.univar.com/us), offered IFT Food Expo visitors what it billed as a healthier version of the classic treat of milk and cookies. Univar’s fiber-fortified Sweet Cinnsation cinnamon cookie had nearly 50% less sodium and 25% less sugar than a traditional cinnamon cookie. The Refreshing and Delicious Almond Milk also had a reduced sugar and sodium profile.

Univar debuted its interactive formulation tool for facilitating ingredient selection at the show.

This web-based tool allows users to search for ingredients and quickly and easily compare their attributes. It also offers resources on topics such as health and wellness, product enhancement, and process improvement.

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Two Flavoring Ingredients Debut
Treatt, Suffolk, UK (www.treatt.com), introduced Pineapple Treattarome 9736 pineapple essence. The company uses a short-pass and low-temperature distillation process to capture the flavor and aroma of freshly crushed pineapples. As a result, this essence will not impart a cooked or metallic flavor, according to the company.

Another new addition is Green Tea TrueTaste Natural 200 tea concentrate. This ingredient is free of caramel color, contains natural ingredients like tea solids, and has a fresh green tea flavor, reported the company.

Gums Keep it Together
Gum Technology Corp., Tucson, Ariz. (www.gumtech.com), expanded its ingredient line to include Coyote Brand^® Soy Fiber. The ingredient is said to protect and stabilize dairy protein at low pH values (less than 4.0), control bubble size and improve carbonation shelf life in carbonated beverages, promote aeration and stabilize foams, and stabilize emulsions to provide creamy mouthfeel. Blending this ingredient with tara gum in frozen novelties can help promote overrun, control ice crystal size, provide a creamy mouthfeel, and improve the melting properties.

Coyote Brand GumPlete™ blend of gums and starches, referred to as stabilizing systems, can be used to reduce the overall level of hydrocolloids usage, allow for a cleaner flavor release, and maintain the integrity of the finished product. Examples of applications that are formulated with gums, starches, soy fiber, and citrus fiber are Gluten-free Brownies, Vanilla Ice Cream, Lemon Lime Syrup, Frozen Raspberry Confection, Vanilla Mousse, Vegan Marshmallow, and Bake Stable Filling.

Different Salts for Different Applications
Salt has a number of functions in food products, from flavor enhancement to preservation, and it is more than just the salt consumers add to their recipes or shake on their food at the table. The experts from Morton Salt Inc., Chicago, Ill. (www.mortonsalt.com), a company with 165 years of experience in the salt business, presented a number of its different salts available in varying particle sizes and textures specific for certain processes or to deliver maximum salt taste. At the booth, prototypes like Triple-Salted Caramel Brownies showed how Morton^® Refined Sea Salt, Morton Star Flake^® Dendritic Salt, and Morton Top Flake Coarse Salt sprinkled on top of sweet caramel helped to create a new taste sensation and enhance the overall caramel and chocolate flavors. Other prototypes that featured Morton’s specialty salts were Non-alcoholic Mango, Blood Orange, and Peach Ginger Margaritas in glasses rimmed with Morton Top Flake Coarse Salt and Rosemary Flatbread Crackers made with Morton Refined Sea Salt and Morton Top Flake Coarse Salt.

To highlight its ingredients for reduced-sodium applications, Morton featured Gazpacho made with Morton Refined Sea Salt and KaliSel Potassium Chloride, Guacamole made with Morton Refined Sea Salt and KaliSel Potassium Chloride and served with Tortilla Chips made with Star Flake Dendritic Salt and KaliSel Fine Potassium Chloride, Chili-Chipotle Kettle Corn made with Star Flake Dendritic Salt and KaliSel Fine Potassium Chloride, and Sriracha Ranch Dip made with Morton Refined Sea Salt and KaliSel Potassium Chloride.

Ingredient with Cost-Saving Benefits
Grain Millers Inc., Eden Prairie, Minn. (www.grainmillers.com), showed food formulators how to “save some dough” by using SafeExtend™ flaxseed to replace guar gum. The ingredient can be used in breads, beverages, salad dressings, tortilla shells, and more. Tests conducted by the company show that tortillas made with SafeExtend flaxseed had the same stretching properties even after 14 days. The company subjects the ingredient to a 5-log microbial reduction process to help ensure the safety of the ingredient.

The company’s Functional Flours confer a wide range of textures, water absorption levels, and viscosity control options during processing and in finished products. The different flours include high water absorbing oat flour, malted oat and whole oat flour, low-viscosity oat flour, flours from multiple and ancient grains, gelatinized and custom processed flours, and extra-fine flours.

The Color House Opens Its Doors 
The booth space for D.D. Williamson, Louisville, Ky. (www.ddwcolor.com), was fashioned to look like a small house. Company representatives were there to welcome guests into what they called The Color House, where they showcased prototypes of foods like Hard Cider, Breakfast Cereal, Chicken Tenders, Yellow Basmati Rice, and Gumballs for viewing the results of the company’s variety of naturally derived coloring options. Some of the ingredients included oil dispersible caramel that could be used in dairy spreads, buttercream icing, and more. The company also highlighted its expanded annatto extract line and certified organic annatto extract powder. 

Ingredient Reduces Particulate Loss
Ever look at the bottom of a bag of pretzels only to see a bunch of salt that has fallen off the pretzels? TIC Gums Inc., White Marsh, Md. (www.ticgums.com), has a solution to help keep many particulates in place with its Add-Here^® CSA hydrocolloid system. Particulates that unstick from the surface of foods like pretzels, cookies, and chips are a significant issue, with many processors losing up to 70% of what they adhere to products, said Maureen Akins, Technology Manager, TIC Gums. Processors spray the ingredient, which is a combination of maltodextrin, cellulose gum, and starch, onto their product and then add various toppings like seeds, herbs, coated nuts, sprinkles, and non-pareils. The bonding strength of the ingredient is said to hold up to processing and packaging. Akins also explained that processors who use the ingredient will need to purchase less of the desired particulates, ultimately saving them money while producing a quality product.

Another ingredient showcased alongside Add-Here CSA was Saladizer^® Max, a patented hydrocolloid blend that emulsifies and improves the texture in full-fat, reduced-fat, and fat-free dressings, sauces, and dips. The company uses its PreHydrated^® agglomeration process to create the ingredient, which easily disperses and rapidly hydrates in food products. Pretzel chips that featured Add-Here CSA and honey mustard dip with Saladizer Max were served.

What’s Bugging You?
An online petition campaign in 2012 that called out a major coffee beverage chain for using carmine (or cochineal or carminic acid), a coloring made from pigments derived from the cochineal insect, resulted in that chain abandoning the use of carmine in favor of using a naturally derived tomato lycopene ingredient. LycoRed Corp., Orange, N.J. (www.lycored.com), the maker of the Tomat-O-Red^® line of tomato lycopene colorings, debuted a humorous video, Cooking with Carmine, to educate both consumers and executives at food companies about consumer perceptions about using carmine and how to formulate with alternative colorings. There are some reports of carmine causing severe allergic reactions (the FDA requires it to be labeled in the statement of ingredients as “carmine” or “cochineal extract”), but the main drivers calling on companies to remove the ingredient are that it is not kosher, halal, or vegetarian/vegan friendly, or that it causing that “ick” factor consumers in the United States and Europe have at the idea of eating insects or ingredients derived from them. 

The company now offers new formulations of its tomato lycopene ingredient Tomat-O-Red that are stable across a wide range of pH levels, light conditions, high temperatures, and in the presence of vitamin C, according to Roee Nir, Global Commercial Manager of Color, LycoRed. What’s more, Nir added, is that these ingredients can match carmine shades and still remain stable in different types of foods and beverages.

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Mizkan’s Flavor Marriages
East met Southwest at the Mizkan Food Ingredients booth, where the company paid homage to its heritage as a Japanese-owned manufacturer of specialty vinegars, wine reductions, and Asian sauces and dressings and to its 2011 acquisition of Border Foods, a processor of green chile, jalapeño, and tomatillo peppers and a manufacturer of enchilada sauces.

Thus the flavor of the sampling menu at the Mizkan booth was a fusion of Latin and Asian. Prototypes included Summer Southwestern Salad made with spinach and dandelion greens, chipotle peppers, and a bacon vinaigrette dressing and Beef Barbacoa featuring beef marinated in a mole sauce made with 20 ingredients and served on a sweet potato chip.

“We’re trying to send a message: What’s resonating [with consumers] is authentic Mexican and Southeast Asian,” said Barbara Zatto, Director of Culinary and a sales executive for Mizkan, Mount Prospect, Ill. (www.mizkan.com). “You can use industrial ingredients in a smart, fresh, flavor-forward way,” emphasized Zatto, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America.

The approach she crafted clearly met with the approval of show attendees. Mizkan staffers served up more than 2,000 samples on the first day of the IFT Food Expo, and at the time of a day two visit, crowds continued to flock to the booth. Mizkan’s product portfolio includes an extensive assortment of ingredients capable of meeting the demands of Asian-Latin fusion—everything from traditional rice wine vinegars to jalapeños.

A Rising Star in the Plant Protein Portfolio
Don’t pass on peas. That was the message of Burcon NutraScience Corp., Vancouver, British Columbia (www.burcon.ca), a leading supplier of plant-based protein, which put its Peazazz^® pea protein in the spotlight at the show. 

Pea protein is a clean-tasting, versatile ingredient that is highly soluble in acidic beverages. Burcon sampled two beverages: Orange Mango Rhythm, a 30% juice product, and Vanilla Jazz, a fortified dairy alternative beverage. Both were formulated without artificial ingredients and offer 5 g of protein/250 mL serving. Other application options for Peazazz include fortified waters, powdered beverage mixes, snacks, and cereals.

Pea protein is more environmentally sustainable than other plant-based proteins thanks to the ability peas have to take nitrogen from the atmosphere and store it in their roots, which means that growers can use less fertilizer when replenishing the soil, according to Burcon.

Kevin Segall, Burcon’s Director of Research and Intellectual Property Management, sees a bright future for plant-based protein thanks to its affordability, versatility, and consumers’ interest in upping protein intake. “Consumers are realizing that proteins are healthy ingredients, and that they promote things like muscle synthesis and recovery after exercise, they help reduce age-related muscle loss in older adults, and proteins are more satiating than carbohydrates and fats,” said Segall.

Earlier this summer Burcon announced that it had completed the start-up phase of a semi-works facility in Winnipeg, Canada, with the capacity to produce the kind of largescale samples of Peazazz required by food and beverage companies seeking to test market products formulated with the new ingredient. (See video above)

Colorful Coatings Make Food Fun 
Add whimsy and eye-popping color to baked goods, bars, and more with Vibrant Colors colored coatings and Flavorburst flavored confectionery coatings from Clasen Quality Coatings, Madison, Wis. (www.clasen.us). The gluten-free colored coatings are all vanilla-flavored except for black, which is chocolate-flavored. The line of flavored confectionery coatings come in a range of on-trend flavors like Sea Salt Caramel, Marshmallow, and Key Lime. All of the coatings are perfect for bars, truffles, and cake pops.

Stabilizer with Added Functions 
Wacker Chemie AG, Munich, Germany (www.wacker.com), introduced CAVAMAX^® W6 alphacyclodextrin, a vegetarian-grade stabilizer for cake icings with no solid fats, egg-free fillings for confectionery products, and fat-free fruit mousses. The ingredient functions as a whipping agent and stabilizes oil-in-water emulsions. The ingredient is said to be stable in heat and acidic environments so it can be formulated in starting products with low pH. The company presented applications like icing, fruit mousse, and chocolate mousse featuring the ingredient.

A Bounty of Benefits
Everyone knows about the myriad health benefits that fruits, vegetables, and herbs provide. They also lend color, flavor, and texture to foods. Van Drunen Farms, Momence, Ill. (www.vandrunenfarms.com), displayed a number of its fruits, vegetables, and herbs in forms like freeze dried, drum dried, air dried, and low moisture and different sizes and types of pieces and powders. Representatives discussed the health aspects of these ingredients and offered ideas on how to incorporate them into food products.

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Local Farmers Provide Inspiration
The California agricultural industry, particularly for fruits and vegetables, is a big part of the state’s economy. According to the California Dept. of Food and Agriculture, the state produces more than half of U.S.-grown fruits and vegetables. One location in the central part of the state is even referred to as the salad bowl of the world for the vast amount of vegetables grown there. It is no wonder then why Blue Pacific Flavors, City of Industry, Calif. (www.bluepacificflavors.com), would turn to farmers in its home state as sources of fruits for its line of Farm Stand Whole Fruit Flavors™.

The company has partnered with local California fruit growers and fruit juice processors to develop these flavors from natural fruit extractives and essences. Heirloom fruit varietals were subjected to various analytical techniques to create flavors that resemble the diverse taste of fruits consumers would find at farmers market throughout the state. “Over the past few years we’ve learned a lot about what differentiates fruit flavor through our analysis of fresh whole fruit,” said Donald Wilkes, CEO, Blue Pacific Flavors. “These heirloom fruits have superior taste when compared to high-yielding, disease-resistant cultivated produce available at the grocery store.”

Corn, Pure and Simple 
Persuading marketers and product formulators to take a fresh look at corn as an ingredient was high on the list of IFT Food Expo exhibitor Didion Milling, Johnson Creek, Wis. (www.didionmilling.com). To that end, the company served a bitesize, updated version of corn dogs at the show. Didion Corn Pups substituted corn meal for wheat flour and included corn bran in the formulation to help deliver a crunchy, flavorful, gluten-free product with added fiber.

Consumers are becoming more vocal about what they want in food and beverage products, and corn can help provide the benefits they seek such as a gluten-free formulation (corn is naturally gluten-free), simple, recognizable ingredients, and excellent taste, said Katie Dogs, Public Relations Manager for Didion. Dogs noted that Didion’s corn is all produced within 50 miles of the mill, which enhances product traceability.

Flavorful Sauces Enhance Foods
As part of live culinary demonstrations held at the booth of French’s Flavor Ingredients, Chester, N.J. (www.frenchsflavoringredients.com), the company’s Corporate Executive Chef Trip Kadey showed how product developers could add bold flavor to compound butter, breading, batters, and vegetables like potatoes to create signature foods. Frank’s^® RedHot^® Cayenne Pepper Sauce–Dry and Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce–Dry ingredients made from aged cayenne peppers are easily incorporated into formulas and impart a moderate heat level to foods. French’s Original French Fried Onions allowed for an easily dispersible onion flavor in breading.

Sweetener Strikes a Balanced Chord 
“It’s like a harmony,” said Diana Peninger, VP-GM, Nutrinova, as she described the company’s newest sweetener system, Qorus. Unless the sweetener works with all the other ingredients, you do not end up with the right flavor at the end.

Qorus (pronounced like chorus) is a blend of ace-K, a high-intensity sweetener like sucralose, and proprietary natural flavors from Nutrinova, the food ingredients business of Celanese, Irving, Texas (www.nutrinova.com). Like a chorus, where all the parts must work together to produce a balanced sound, so too must the ingredients in Qorus work with one another and with the other ingredients in the product formulation to achieve a balanced and true overall flavor, added Peninger. “When customers put our ingredient into their formulations, they’ve told us that their traditional thought process around the kinds of ingredients they need to add to their formulations has changed.” Peninger explained that the customers do not need to formulate with a lot of the ingredients to mask or enhance flavors. “So what happens then is that they get a much more true and authentic taste that they were trying to achieve, which is exactly what we want.” The company does not take a one-sweetener approach, continued Peninger, but rather looks to how blends of sweeteners and proprietary ingredients provide synergy in products. Currently, the ingredient can be used in beverages like juices, colas, and dairy, which the company showcased at its booth, but it is working on next-generation versions for use in cereal and other food products.

Bringing Homemade Authenticity to Market 
Consumers who are always looking for the next big thing in the food world to delight their senses and expose them to interesting ingredients want chefs and product developers to provide them with authentic ethnic flavors and foods. Innova^®, A Griffith Laboratories Co., Lombard, Ill. (www.innovaflavors.com), develops flavors to help deliver authentic flavors that are process friendly.

One such ingredient is the company’s SavorNotes™ Natural Flavor, Sofrito Type. Sofrito is the foundation of recipes for stews, rice, and beans across the Caribbean. There are many versions, but it typically contains onions, garlic, tomatoes, and peppers, with additional ingredients depending on the region. Others are beef, chicken, and ham flavors from Innova Flavors’ Robust^® Ultima line of meat flavors and Vegamine^® AT 91D hydrolyzed vegetable protein that provide a savory taste foundation. Take, for example, the prototype the company showcased, Carne Guisada. The traditional beef stew recipe calls for simmering beef in a sauce along with sofrito and vegetables. The company’s flavors allow for food manufacturers to make a product like this with an authentic flavor profile in a plant environment, explained Dafne Diez de Medina, Vice President of Innovation and R&D, Innova Flavors.

In addition to Carne Guisada, the company featured two other product prototypes representative of popular dishes in Puerto Rican cuisine. These were Caldo de Pollo (chicken soup) and Arroz con Gandules (rice with pigeon peas). (See video above)

Yeasts, Flavor Enhancers Boost Flavor 
There are a variety of approaches that product developers can take when reducing sodium in foods. Some turn to using blends of sodium chloride and potassium chloride. Others may use newer salt ingredients created through proprietary technology that alters the structure of the salt crystal so as to maximize its surface area to help deliver a more pronounced salt taste. Still others find yeast extracts and other flavors enhancers to be the most successful in their particular applications. Biorigin, Louisville, Ky. (www.biorigin.net), demonstrated how ingredients from its Bionis and Bioenhance lines performed synergistically to result in a 25% reduction in sodium with full flavor. Bionis yeast extracts add umami taste, provide body, and improve mouthfeel, while flavor enhancers from the Bioenhance line can increase the intensity of salt perception without added salt. The company emphasized that its ingredients, including those in the Biotaste line of roasted flavor enhancers in meat, beef, chicken, and toasted notes, Goldcell line of inactive, autolyzed and mineralized yeasts, and Biozalt salt replacer, are naturally derived, non-GMO, and allergen free.

Powders Pack Nutritional Punch 
Food manufacturers continue to seek fruit and vegetable ingredients that allow them to provide added health benefits to their food and beverage products and are easy to work with from a processing standpoint. P.L. Thomas & Co., Morristown, N.J. (www.plthomas.com), introduced Vivid Harvest™ Whole Food Powders designed to offer the health benefits consumers want and the processing advantages manufacturers need.

The powders are created using a patented technology that evaporates water molecules in fruits and vegetables without affecting the active enzymes and other nutrients while preserving the flavor, aroma, and color. Some of the functional benefits the powders have are longer shelf life, better flowability with less dusting, enhanced solubility and dispersibility, better particle shape with greater density, and lack of solvents or processing aids, reported the company.

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A Label-friendly Food Safety Ingredient 
An ingredient to control Listeria monocytogenes in meat and poultry processing facilities also promises to be a more label-friendly alternative to control food pathogens. BactoCEASE™ NV from Kemin Industries Inc., Des Moines, Iowa (www.kemin.com), is a buffered, vinegar-based ingredient that can control L. monocytogenes and other foodborne pathogens in processed meat and poultry and some fresh meat applications. It is part of the company’s BactoCEASE line of ingredients, which are applied at lower application rates than traditional lactates, helping to reduce cost and contribute less sodium in some cases, according to the company.

Penford Introduces New Starches 
Additional ingredients to the PenNovo portfolio debuted. Penford Food Ingredients, Centennial, Colo. (www.penfordfoods.com), showcased these and a number of its other carbohydrate-based ingredients in product samples. The two newest ingredients, PenNovo^® 03 and PenNovo MD, are highly soluble, enzymatically treated starches that help improve the functionality and health benefits in many applications. Specifically, PenNovo 03 can replace caseinate in nondairy creamers, egg yolk in condiments like mayonnaise, and propylene glycol alginate in dressings. Other functional benefits include acid stability, emulsification, freeze/thaw stability, low viscosity, and shear stability. Iced Coffee Frappe product concept featured the ingredient. PenNovo MD is a non-GMO potato-based maltodextrin said to build solids, provide minimal viscosity, and carry flavors in beverages, confections, dry mixes, sports nutrition products, and spreads.

Several other samples were available that showed the wide range of functions of various ingredients. Reduced Calorie Chili with Cheddar Biscuit featured PenGel^® 8 for fat replacement in the meat, PenCling^® 747 for viscosity and texture, PenTech™ 8500 to replace casein in the cheese, PenFibe^® RS for added fiber in the biscuits, and PenNovo 00 to replace fat in the biscuits. Gluten-free Reduced Fat Sandwich Cookie contained PenNovo 00 for solid fat replacement and PenTech GF to replace gluten. Gluten-free Pizza Roll was formulated with PenTech GF to replace gluten, PenTech 8500 to replace casein, PenGel 8 to replace fat, and PenTexture™ to improve texture. Finally, Reduced Calorie Almond Spread used PenNovo 00 to reduce solid fat.

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Clean Label Formulating Requires a Holistic Approach
Several speakers stressed the importance of taking a holistic view when formulating clean label products. “You just can’t look at one ingredient when developing clean label products, you have to look at the entire product—texture, fat, flavor, preservatives, and more. It requires a holistic approach,” said Agnes Jones, Project Leader Technical Services, Ingredion. “You need to think about the product, consumer perceptions, and the regulatory environment,” added Stefan Hake with GNT USA. “When choosing colors from fruits and vegetables for a clean label application, you need to consider the medium or product, ingredients, processing, packaging, and storage.”

Chef Michael Joy with Park 100 Foods discussed clean labeling from a culinary point of view. He said that many companies are “going back to the basics” because consumers buy what tastes good. “There is more interest in natural flavors, such as soy sauce, lemon, tomato, and mushroom—umami types that can reduce sodium,” said Joy. The “back to basics” also includes recognizable cooking methods such as roasting, braising, and simmering.

Jones discussed functional native starches in clean label applications. “Native starches have limitations such as a short peak viscosity range and limited process tolerance, which result in undesirable texture,” said Jones. “Functional native starches perform similar to modified starches and can be labeled by their general name such as tapioca starch.”

—Bob Swientek, Editor-in-Chief, Food Technology magazine 

 

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Healthy Flavors Are Hot, Says Innova
Beverages tend to be a leading-edge category for product development, and Innova Market Insights identified a long list of beverage trends from around the globe at its Taste the Trend Pavilion. Consumer interest in healthful formulations is driving beverage flavors in many markets, according to Robin Wyers, chief editor for the research and trend-tracking organization. Herbs and spices, honey, and a new generation of superfuits will make their mark in the global beverage arena, Innova Market Insights predicted.

While trends can vary significantly from continent to continent, Innova Market Insights’ research datashow rising interest in superfruits around the world, said Wyers. Pomegranate continues to be a market-leading flavor, used in more than 40% of beverage launches between June 2008 and May 2013 (among beverages that featured superfruit flavors). Coming in next on the list are açai berries at 12.5% and lychee at 12%.

Vegetable flavors, often used in combination with fruit flavors in juices, smoothies, and teas, are also in vogue. According to Innova Market Insights, the number of beverage launches featuring celery increased six-fold in 2012, and the number of those that incorporated beets and cucumbers doubled.

Globally, red tomato, cucumber, elderberry, beetroot, and white peach are among the flavors that Innova Market Insights has identified as trending up. The list of flavors that are trending down includes acerola, kiwi, milk chocolate, hazelnut, and root beer.

—Mary Ellen Kuhn, Executive Editor, Food Technology magazine

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Progress in High Oleic Soybean Oil
Commercialization of high oleic soybean oil is moving ahead slowly in the United States, but the volume is expected to more than double from 300 million lbs in 2014 to 750 million lbs in 2015, according to Qualisoy and the United Soybean Board. By 2023, the volume could rise to 9 billion lbs. The biggest impediment to global commercialization right now is regulatory. However, the European Union and China are expected to approve high oleic soybean oil in 2014. Overcoming these regulatory barriers should greatly expand both demand for and production of high oleic soybean oil.

Qualisoy and the United Soybean Board recently announced another effort to increase supplies. The two groups are committing $60 million over the next five years to quickly expand seed production of high oleic soybean varieties across a wide geography and market high oleic soybean oils to food companies and other stakeholders of high oleic soybean oil. Trait enhanced seeds for high oleic soybean oil can be grown in 80% of the 75 million acres that currently grow soybeans—from Colorado to Delaware and from Canada to Mississippi. However, the high oleic crop goal is about 25% of the plantings to reach the 9 billion lbs of oil mark.

—Bob Swientek, Editor-in-Chief, Food Technology magazine

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Sampling the Expo
• Ajinomoto North America Inc., Itasca, Ill. (www.ajiusafood.com), featured its flavor enhancers in sweet and savory applications like mini tacos with Monterey jack, chicken breast, chicken broth, au jus, Spaans sugar-free cookies, various sugar-free and reduced-sugar cold beverages, hummus, sautéed mushrooms, and salad greens.

• Almond Board of California, Modesto, Calif. (www.almonds.com), delighted attendees with Spiced Blueberry, Pineapple, and Strawberries & Cream parfaits.

• Visitors at the booth of Barry Callebaut, Chicago, Ill. (www.barrycallebaut.com), tried Greek Yogurt Flavored Confectionery Coating.

• Beverages sweetened with Stevia All Natural Sweetener in peach, green tea, and lemonade flavors were presented by Batory Foods, Des Plaines, Ill. (www.batoryfoods.com).

• Blue California, Santa Margarita, Calif. (www.bluecal-ingredients.com), featured a number of its botanical extracts like L-TeaActive™.

• Carmi Flavor and Fragrance Co., Commerce, Calif. (www.carmiflavors.com), offered doughnuts, granita, and popcorn in a multitude of flavors.

• Church & Dwight Co. Inc., Princeton, N.J. (www.ahperformance.com), offered its Arm & Hammer^® product.

• Chicken Satay with Thai Pumpkin Curry Sauce was formulated with ingredients from the Culinary Touch^® range like Pumpkin Juice Concentrate Poached, Thai Chili Flakes, Lime Juice Powder, Shallot Juice Concentrate Candied, and Onion Juice Concentrate Sautéed. Diana Naturals, Valley Cottage, N.Y. (www.diana-food.com), also featured various juice concentrates from its Color Impact™ line in Purple Passion Drink.

• Samples of gummy candy and hard candy made from pectin, carrageenan, and naturally derived colorings were distributed by FMC Corp., Philadelphia, Pa. (www.fmc.com). The company also provides naturally derived alginate and Avicel^® microcrystalline cellulose.

• Beverages featuring Exberry^® natural colors from GNT USA Inc., Tarrytown, N.Y. (www.gnt-group.com), were offered.

• Dairy and dessert products featured Erylite^® and Erylite Stevia from Jungbunzlauer Inc., Newton Center, Mass. (www.jungbunzlauer.com), for the replacement of sugar.

• Minsa Corp., Lubbock, Texas (www.minsa.com), displayed more than a dozen prototypes from bakery, tortilla, and snack applications to show how its corn flour and corn flour premixes are used to formulate gluten-free product offerings.

• Naturex, South Hackensack, N.J. (www.naturex.com), featured All Natural Teriyaki Beef Jerky made with EX-Caps™ powdered spice extracts, NAT F&V™ fruit and vegetable powders, NAT stabil^® Acerola Cherry Powder for curing efficiency, and Rosemary Extract StabilEnhance^® OSR for shelf life. It also served a dessert flight with four treats formulated with colorings from the NAT color™ range of natural pigments.

• The functional benefits of gelatins from Rousselot Inc., Mukwonago, Wis. (www.rousselot.com), were demonstrated in Rousselot Delights™ gummy sweet confection with improved heat resistance.

• Soft Pretzels with Cheese Dipping Sauce was formulated with Aged Cheese Booster and Vegetable Flavor, Tomato Sauce on Crustini contained Tomato Salt Replacer, Cumin and Spice Nut Mix had Non GMO Light Corn HVP, and Seafood Bisque featured Seafood Powder. All of these are ingredients from Savoury Systems International Inc., Branchburg, N.J. (www.savourysystems.com), help to enhance or add savory taste to foods.

• Sweet treats like 30% reduced-sugar dark chocolate with Frutafit^® HD chicory root fiber and softserve frozen Greek yogurt and reduced-sugar cookies with Frutalose^® SF75 chicory root fiber were served up at the booth of Sensus America Inc., Lawrenceville, N.J. (www.sensus.us).

• Silesia, Neuss, Germany (www.silesia.com), featured hard boiled candies in Sweet Tea, Mint Green Iced Tea, Raspberry Iced Tea, and Peach Iced Tea flavors.

• Chef Charlie Baggs produced a number of applications formulated with some rather innovative microalgae ingredients from Solazyme Inc., San Francisco, Calif. (www.solyazyme.com), including Roasted Corn Bisque, Lemon Rosemary Shortbread Cookies, Base Aioli, Lemon Pound Cake, Creamy Pesto Dressing, and Chocolate Pot de Crème.

• Hot Mango Ice Cream, Cucumber Lemonade, and Ginger Black Tea featured flavorings from Synergy Flavors Inc., Wauconda, Ill. (www.synergytaste.com).

• Windy City Cooler blended lemonade, grapefruit juice, Grand Marnier, lemon vodka, orange bitters, and Tabasco^® Brand Original Red Sauce, and Buffalo Chicken Soup featured Tabasco Brand Buffalo Sauce from Tabasco Brands/McIlhenny Co., Avery Island, La. (www.tabascoingredients.com).

 

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Natural Colors & Flavors Take Over, Says Mintel
Since the color of a food product is often the first sensory reaction a consumer has, and flavor is what keeps customers buying, it is obvious why these two food ingredients are key to successful product development. But the fact that consumers are increasingly looking for more natural products and are wary of anything processed means that the use of natural colors and flavors is on the rise. In fact, according to Mintel’s “Colors & Flavors” presentation, 47% of U.S. consumers prefer to eat foods without any artificial additives.

According to Lynn Dornblaser, Director of Innovation & Insight at Mintel, “suitable for” claims—such as reduced allergen and glutenfree—have taken the lead. But
natural claims remain strong and continue to grow. David Jago, Director of Trends and Innovation at Mintel, explained that natural colors experienced 77% growth between 2009 and 2013 in the United States, while natural flavors had a 132% increase during the same time period.

“Europe is taking the lead in the switch to natural colors,” said Jago. In fact, 85% of the new product introductions in Europe use natural colors, while in the U.S. it’s only 33%.

For flavors, both the U.S. and Europe have seen a 150% growth in naturals from 2009 to 2013. But, as with colors, artificial flavors are almost entirely absent in Europe. However, this is beginning to change. “The degree to which natural flavors are showing up in big name brand products signifies a shift,” said Dornblaser. Multinational companies no longer want to formulate products just for specific markets, so as they engage in natural formulation for Europe (for example) they are going to formulate naturally for all markets.

—Kelly Hensel, Senior Digital Editor, Food Technology magazine 

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Snacking and Satiety: How They Fit Together
Consumption data show that consumers are snacking more frequently, and, not surprisingly, calories from snacks have increased significantly. The relationship between snacking and obesity is controversial. In the session, “Consumers, Products, Aspirations: The Diane Toops Legacy: It’s Not What’s on the Label, but What’s Inside That Matters Most,” presenters explored some of the ramifications of consumer snacking behavior and examined approaches to formulating products that deliver satiety benefits.

There’s a need to market snacks to consumers in a positive way, noted Roberta Re of Leatherhead Food Research, sharing three recommendations. First, she said, marketers must give consumers permission to enjoy a snack and to recognize that eating healthfully does not have to mean feeling deprived. Honesty and transparency—including clean labels—is a second priority. Finally, Re recommended that marketers focus on consumer empowerment, citing as an example a Special K mobile app that helps consumers achieve success with their weight management goals.

Presenter Kantha Shelke of consultancy CorvusBlue offered some formulation tips to product developers seeking to come up with products that meet consumers’ satiety needs and appeal to their taste buds, while also meeting lifestyle demands. She pointed out that adjusting a product’s sensory cues and choosing ingredients on the basis of their digestive properties can allow product developers to more successfully meet these objectives.

Organizers of the session dedicated it to the memory of Diane Toops, who passed away last year after a long career as a food industry journalist. During her years in the profession she maintained an unwavering commitment to celebrating product taste and quality.

—Mary Ellen Kuhn, Executive Editor, Food Technology magazine

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Modifying Views About Genetic Modification
Presenters made the case for the safety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the session “GM and the Food Industry.”

Wayne Parrott, a plant geneticist from the University of Georgia, discussed what he termed “the myth of natural foods,” noting that plant breeders have brought in 55 genes from wild species over the years to create the modern tomato. “So there’s really nothing natural about the tomato,” he said. “GM is a very ancient practice,” he added. “It has a very long safety record.”

“I’m passionately concerned that we’ve gotten off track with regulation of a very important technology,” said presenter Bruce M. Chassy, professor emeritus of food science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a longtime advocate for biotechnology. “We’ve been producing these crops for 18 years,” said Chassy. “There has not been a single documented incident of illness or adverse effects caused by so called GM foods since their introduction.”

Restricting the adoption of biotechnology will have an impact on the ability to feed a growing global population, said Chassy. He explained that GMOs are also an important tool to help deal with the impact of climate change, which will likely lead to increased water shortages. Genetic modification to produce drought-resistant crops is a valuable approach to dealing with this situation.

—Mary Ellen Kuhn, Executive Editor, Food Technology magazine

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Impacting Children’s Food Choices
With almost 32% of U.S. children and adolescents being overweight or obese, it is apparent that their eating behavior needs to be examined. And according to Adam Drewnowski, Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Washington, who kicked off the session “Children’s Food Choices: What Industry Can Do,” the food industry has a responsibility to be a part of the change.

There’s a lot of research being conducted in childhood brain development, behavior, and societal impact that affect what children decide to eat. According to Drewnowski, children’s decision making involves relatively few factors. The first one and perhaps the most important is taste. Most children prefer sweet, salty, and umami flavors. The second factor is energy density. The “craving” for energy-dense foods is the desire for energy. Lastly, children rely on familiarity when making their food decisions. He stressed that the role of the family is critical in shaping preferences from a very early age. And, as he reminds us, the home is, in fact, where the majority of children get their food.

From the topic of brain development, Jennifer Fisher, Associate Professor at Temple Univ., led the discussion to that of behavioral science. For children, “preference trumps all,” explained Fisher. “Children eat what they like and leave the rest.” According to Fisher, at the top of the list of what children want to eat are fat and sugar. Fruit is also closer to the top, probably because of the innate sweetness of most fruits. What’s at the bottom of the list? Vegetables. In fact, humans are programmed to not like bitter taste, and so children do not naturally like some healthy foods such as vegetables.

While a lot of the responsibility for exposing children to new and healthy foods falls on the shoulders of the parents, there is plenty of work that the food industry can do. As Drewnowski said in the conclusion of his presentation, “We must start creating rewarding foods with fewer calories, less sugar, fat, and sodium. It does no good to create foods that children won’t be interested in eating.”

—Kelly Hensel, Senior Digital Editor, Food Technology magazine

 

Karen Nachay, a Member of IFT, is Associate Editor of Food Technology magazine ([email protected]).

Mary Ellen Kuhn, Executive Editor, Food Technology magazine, contributed to this article.