Greetings! This week, the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) held its annual meeting and food expo in Anaheim California. IFT is a nonprofit scientific society with 22,000 members working in food science, food technology, and related professions in industry, academia, and government. In short, this is the event of the food industry where you can learn about the latest trends, products, technologies and policy directions. I did not go, but I gleaned together a few interesting items from the news media. If you are interested in more, check out Food navigator-usa or the IFT09 Live website.

Top trends – functional foods, naturally sourced, flavor and color innovation

Consumer lifestyle and attitudes are changing, and the food industry is paying attention. Many more new products marketed as functional foods, which promise nutrition-on-the-go, will soon show up on the supermarket shelves. Whether it is functional flax with omega-3 or  “rejuvenating” beverages with antioxidants and other exotic ingredients, there is a clear trend to package nutrition in a box (or a bottle) by mixing up a bunch of ingredients and market it with wonderful claims! Even meat is being positioned as functional food…go figure!

Naturally sourced is very much an oxymoron in my opinion. The idea surely is to give a sense of “naturalness” to food processed by a totally unnatural process. Nevertheless, this is a trend and you will see more claims about naturally sourced ingredients – sweeteners, beta-carotene, omega-3 acids, whey protein concentrates, stevia extract, dried veggies etc.

Flavor and color innovation is also big – the logic seems to be that if you cannot fool the mind (due to regulations about nutritional facts and ingredients) just fool the tongue by adding flavors to hide the true identity of food. I must admit that the science of flavors is very challenging and the research may actually lead to a better understanding of the food-brain connection someday. For now, the research is offering the food industry a great way to continue launching new products – cha ching!

Four award-winning technologies

I am a techie, so I found these award winning technologies quite interesting. Now more than ever, I am convinced that innovation is driven by market demand, and that if consumers demand that food be food and not processed ingesitble stuff packaged in a box, the industry will find a way to deliver. But I digress – here are the 4 worthy of our attention:

1. EnWave has developed a new dehydration technology nutraRev, which uses a combination of vacuum and microwave to dry fruits, veggies, meats and seafood. The advantage compared to the traditional freeze drying technology is that it fast, cheap and consumes much less energy. They claim improved retention of color and flavor. The first use of this technology is for drying blueberries which they say are “puffy” after drying and look very much like fresh blueberries!
2. A high pressure sterilization technology from the National Center for Food Safety and Technology (NCFST) is making it possible for our soldiers to enjoy shelf-stable mashed potatoes while on duty out there! Because of high pressure, it is possible to use low temperatures during sterilization, which does not compromise the taste and texture of food.
3. Ecolab Inc. has developed an sterilization additive for plastic bottles,which sterilizes these bottles at lower temperatures than hydrogen peroxide, thereby reducing energy. These bottles can be used for beverages to make them shelf-stable without the use of refrigeration or preservatives.
4. NOVATION starches from the National Starch company also received an award.  These starches can be used to manufacture products such as salad dressings with texture attributes and process tolerance that were only possible with modified food starches. NOVATION starches, which include certified organic versions, are derived from waxy maize, tapioca, potato and other sources.

Free samples of future foods tell where industry is headed

Want to know where the food industry is headed in the near future? Just take a look at some of the free samples that were on display at the expo – the full list is posted on the IFT09 Live website:

• Healthier brownie for kids – fortified with omega-3 (who cares about sugar?)
• Omega-3 in OJ
• Beauty foods – whey protein based ingredient claiming to support skin health for drinks like OJ and other foods
• Nutricosmetic licorice – custom nutrient pre-mixes for skin care, ice-cream for boosting immunity, tonic for cognitive function
• Fiber in baked goods – beta-glucan concentrate with dietary fiber

Seems like there is virtually no limit to  combining a few nutrients with otherwise not-so-healthy foods and marketing them with glorious claims. I hope the consumers do not fall for this game for too long.

High oleic acid soybean claims the high ground

I wrote about these genetically modified soybeans from DuPont in a recent Five for Fridays – they are designed to have a high concentration of oleic acid, which does not require hydrogenation. Hydrogenation improves the stability of the soybean oil, but it also results in trans fats. Now the everybody in the soybean oil industry is jumping on the bandwagon because soybean oil is big business. This type of high oleic acid soybean oil will reach 1.6 billion pounds by 2013!

Other new soybean oil products on the horizon include high stearic, mid oleic/low saturate, and increased omega-3 fatty acid content. High stearic oil delivers a creamy texture, which is a plus for bakery products that require “hard stock” fats.

Who thought there will soon be an end to fried foods?

Fortified foods – could this be a solution to the world’s malnutrition problem?

Fortitech, Inc., a company specializing in custom nutrient pre-mixes for all kinds of food products thinks so. They have launched a World Initiative for Nutrition (WIN) through which they plan to distribute these formulations of vitamins, minerals and amino acids for use by local food processors in various countries. In partnership with NGO’s (non-governmental organizations), UN and Governmental agencies, they plan to provide fortified foods that are consistent with local cuisine and tastes. One of their focus groups is pregnant women and infants and young children at risk of malnutrition in low-income countries. I think this is a good initiative because malnutrition remains a major problem in many countries in the world. Whether this will be done for profit is not clear from their publicity material. Still, I hope it will allow the world’s children to grow up healthy and realize their full potential.

Enjoy your weekend! And let me know what you think.

Photo source – tanakawho on Flickr
©2009 Littlestomaks.com