IFT First 2025: American Egg Board showcases egg-based beverage and dessert innovations
28 Jul 2025 | American Egg Board
We spoke with the American Egg Board’s director of innovation Nelson Serrano-Bahri about the company’s latest applications in desserts, beverages, and savory formats.
OK, we're live at IFT first.
I'm joined with the American Egg Board.
Hi there.
Hi, could you start by just introducing yourself very briefly and what you do?
Yeah, absolutely.
So my name is Nelson Serranovari.
I am the director of innovation for the American Egg Board.
We represent American egg farmers and we're here to talk all about eggs.
Great.
And what are you exhibiting this year at the show?
So this year we have Focus on beverages.
So in the past couple of years we had, some studies that came back and we noticed that one of the spaces in the industry that was lacking or underwhelming on, egg visibility was, beverages.
So we have created two beverages this year for IFT.
One of them is, a protein drink that we're not only accounting for the protein from the.
From, the egg, but also all the micronutrients that the yolk has.
So it's actually, a very balanced protein drink.
It has about 35 g of protein, no sugar added, and then those important micronutrients from that come from the egg yolk that are mostly choline, lutein, and sasanthanine.
And then we've also created, , cold brewed chai.
That we're serving with an egg custard foam.
Another area where we thought that eggs were underplaying or not present was that area of topping, beverage and dessert toppings, and we had worked with our team, our culinary and technical team, and a coal manufacturer to create a product that would come in a can like squeezy cream or a whipped cream.
And you could top your beverage with.
Brilliant.
And then what would you say are the main trends that you're seeing in the industry at the moment and how are these products catering to them?
So I think that like the, the protein trend is one that is extremely strong and continues to win consumers over.
They're definitely a lot more mindful about their health, and not only necessarily weight, but The overall health and -being.
So protein has become kind of like a cornerstone of diets all around here in the United States with , with consumers' diet.
And then I would say, you know, that, clean label continues to reign.
They're really looking for those options that are as close as possible to what they have in their pantries with what they cook at home, they have in the refrigerators, and I think that Eggs plays very on both of those.
It's a great source of protein and, and many other nutrients, but it's, it's extremely clean label and it's, as versatile and as functional as ever.
So you can use it in many aspects.
Another thing that we have noticed is that, you know, consumers are really looking to diversify their, their, their, eating habits.
So not only, diversification in the Sense of like bringing other cultures into their kitchens or into their eating habits, but also having breakfast for dinner or using eggs, ingredients like eggs outside of breakfast and brunch and really pushing them into things that, you know, spill over for lunch and dinner as.
And what are the challenges of incorporating eggs into products like this and how do you overcome them?
Yeah, so we, one of the things is that that, inherit an innate, functionality of eggs can sometimes be a little detrimental to how we manufacture food in, in the states.
So we do and are conducting research on how to maybe, you know, control the functionality of eggs in some of these products and in many cases completely defunctionalize them so we can add more of it and enhance the nutrition of those foods in there.
Brilliant, thank you so much.
Yeah, you're very welcome, my pleasure.
