SupplySide Global 2026 preview: Suppliers tackle taste and stability in functional F&B

Functional ingredients are finding their way into savory snacks, protein shakes, and refreshing beverages as food and beverage brands seek more ways to combine added benefits with everyday consumption. 

Ahead of SupplySide Global 2026 in Las Vegas, US (Oct 28–30), Kerry, dsm-firmenich, and Cargill are preparing to showcase concepts and formulation support that address taste, serving size, processing, and shelf life. 

“Consumers are increasingly looking beyond nutrient counts to consider how food and beverages equip them for their lives, from how they feel after eating to how products support their energy and appearance,” Karlis Nollendorfs, consumer insights manager at Cargill, tells Food Ingredients First. 

“These concepts address a major market opportunity: the expansion of functional nutrition into convenient, everyday formats,” says Amy Smith, senior director of medical affairs at Kerry. “Consumers want clinically substantiated health benefits, but they do not want to sacrifice enjoyment.”

Familiar formats carry added functionality

Kerry’s food and beverage concepts include a BC30 savory snack, a Plenibiotic easy-digest protein shake, and a Plenibiotic beauty-from-within hydration concept. The wider showcase features seven concepts across foods, beverages, and supplements.

“The showcase directly connects our science-backed ingredients with Kerry’s taste, masking, and applications expertise across women’s health, digestive health, and immune health,” Smith says.

Kerry’s Wellmune Ready to Go Protein Drink (Image credit: Kerry).“However, integrating these functional ingredients into everyday foods and beverages presents complex formulation challenges. Developers must ensure that an evidence-aligned dose fits within a realistic serving size and sensory profile. They must also navigate ingredient compatibility, taste masking, processing conditions, and shelf life stability — factors that behave very differently across a gummy, a snack, or a beverage.”

“Ultimately, customers come to Kerry to help them translate increasingly sophisticated clinical research into focused, credible products that align a substantiated benefit with an exceptional consumer experience.”

The concepts also give brands different ways to position the same ingredient platform. Kerry is featuring Plenibiotic in both a protein shake and a beauty-from-within hydration concept, placing it within two beverage briefs. Cargill’s drinks likewise span digestive and beauty positioning, each with a different combination of ingredients.

“As consumers pay closer attention to how products make them feel after consumption, digestive considerations become an important part of the product experience. Cargill’s Blackberry-Flavor Shrub Spritz concept, made with EpiCor postbiotic and soluble corn fiber, illustrates how brands can support gut health in refreshing beverage formats,” Nollendorfs says.

“I expect the ‘Beyond Nutrition’ macrotrend to be a primary theme on the show floor, with food and beverages positioned to help consumers feel and function well, in formats that make those benefits easy to access. It’s about equipping people with options that support what they want to achieve in their daily lives,” he says.

Combining benefits in a beverage

Cargill’s Zero-Sugar Passionfruit Hydration Refresher with Collagen offers another example of how several product attributes can come together. Its formulation combines collagen and electrolytes, with EverSweet stevia sweetener and ClearFlo natural flavor providing the sweetening and flavor approach.

“Food and beverage products are expanding into areas traditionally associated with beauty, as consumers prioritize internal nourishment to support visible vitality over time,” explains Nollendorfs.Cargill combines collagen, electrolytes, and sugar reduction in a hydration beverage concept (Image credit: Cargill).

“By combining collagen, electrolytes, and no-sugar formulation, the prototype stacks multiple benefits in a single beverage, with EverSweet stevia sweetener + ClearFlo natural flavor delivering a refreshing, sweet taste.”

The prototype links beauty-focused positioning with hydration and sugar reduction in one drink. It also illustrates the sensory work that accompanies added functionality. The finished beverage needs a flavor and sweetness profile that supports the overall concept.

For dsm-firmenich, the commercial opportunity similarly involves bringing several benefits together while maintaining an enjoyable product. Its SupplySide Global experience, “The Longevity Shift 2.0: The Gut Effect,” uses gut health and healthy aging as the context for its ingredient and concept portfolio.

“Today’s consumers increasingly want products that deliver multiple benefits in convenient, enjoyable formats, while brands need strong scientific substantiation and differentiated claims,” Seletha Periman, senior director, Marketing, Innovation & Business Development, Health, Nutrition & Care at dsm-firmenich, tells Food Ingredients First.

“Our showcase highlights how we combine ingredient innovation, application expertise, formulation know-how, and consumer insights to help customers create solutions that meet evolving market needs without compromising performance, sensory experience, or convenience.”

Taste and application support

Alongside its nutritional ingredients, dsm-firmenich is highlighting taste modulation as part of its showcase.

“Featured solutions include concepts powered by Humiome Post LB, life’s Omega life’s DHA, Fruitflow, resVida, Quali-D, and taste modulator, ModulaSense to ensure a positive consumer experience,” Periman says.

“Brands want to deliver more health benefits in a single product while keeping development efficient and maintaining a great sensory experience.”

“As a result, we’re seeing growing demand for integrated ingredient systems, premixes, and application expertise that simplify complex formulations and help brands move faster from concept to commercialization.”

For manufacturers, this places greater emphasis on how ingredients work together within the chosen food or drink. Kerry’s comments on processing and shelf life point to development considerations that sit alongside taste and serving size when brands assess a functional concept.

dsm-firmenich supports multifunctional formulations with nutritional ingredients and taste modulation.“Our goal is to demonstrate how to remove the traditional trade-off between health and taste, translating complex clinical science into products that are practical to formulate, responsibly positioned, and enjoyable enough for daily use,” Smith says.

Starting with the consumer and application

Kerry says demand for more targeted products is changing the support customers request, including the choice of ingredient technology. Its approach starts with identifying the consumer before selecting the appropriate solution.

“They rely on our expertise in defining the target consumer and selecting the appropriate technology, whether a probiotic, prebiotic, or postbiotic, with clinically relevant dosing, strain specificity, and proven stability,” explains Smith.

dsm-firmenich also sees brands seeking ingredients they can use across a range of formats as interest in gut health broadens.

“Customers increasingly want solutions that leverage the gut-health connection and are seeking differentiated microbiome-supporting ingredients that can be incorporated into mainstream supplement, food, and beverage formats,” says Periman.

Nollendorfs adds that the most compelling ideas will bring multiple trends together, and that reflects a change in what customers ask of us.

“We’re being brought into projects earlier and asked to help solve more complex formulation challenges,” he says. “But when we align real-world needs with functional benefits, convenience, comfort, and great taste, we know that we are developing recipes that will resonate with consumers.”