The Editor Presents: Functional & Flavorful Beverages
07 Mar 2024 | The World of Food Ingredients
Join The World of Food Ingredients’ editor, Missy Green, in a 15-minute roundup of themes from the beverage edition. Wellness tea, no- and low-alcohol beverages and health-enhancing drinks are growing, but so are premium, higher-in-alcohol offerings. We’ll explore opportunities in adult beverages across Europe and Asia as well as “smart” ingredients for adding nootropics to energy or sports drinks.
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Welcome to the world of Food ingredients beverage edition of The Editor Presents.
I'm your editor, Missy Green, and it's my pleasure to present you with the latest in drink innovations.
So, it's mostly beverage-focused, but we'll also cover a few other topics like hybrid plant and meat products, and why the Maillard reaction is actually a misnomer.
This is a live event, so do feel free to ask questions in the comments as they come, and at the end of the session, I'll do my best to answer what I can.
So, let's jump to the food business news.
The top story is Coca-Cola unveiled a new spiced flavor, which is the first permanent flavor they've had in the last 3 years.
The company says it's a unique alchemy that blends raspberry and spiced ingredients.
And they're specifically trying to appeal to younger consumers who have dynamic taste demands.
We'll also, we also shared here some of the top trends for alcoholic beverages in 2024.
These were presented by the UK wine and spirits supplier Kingsland Drinks, and one of the highlights here was sustainable sips, and it's illustrated with a British vodka that was made with local English peas.
And they also commented that boxed wines are becoming more interesting because it's very practical and also affordable.
It reduces waste.
So this sort of builds off the the last edition, we saw these like glass dairy containers were moving also into more recyclable carton packaging because it's just so practical.
And, you know, sustainability is very important.
So, let's zoom out and take a look at where the most innovation is happening in the drink space.
So, Europe is leading in new launches with 37% share, but Asia is not far behind with 24%.
And you can read all of Enova's top five beverage trends here.
But as a general observation, I feel like the, the core ingredients, you know, whether it's like, a health position beverage or a premium, Non-health positioned beverage like a cocktail, having really quality and specific ingredients are the highlight, which is also Nova's top trend for the year, ingredients being in the spotlight.
So interesting to see that, you know, protein drinks are gathering pace with a 34% increase and prebiotics as.
So, in the last couple of years, beer has been witnessing a pretty interesting evolution.
It's still the most, the single most popular type of alcoholic beverage worldwide, but it's segmenting into these different subcategories.
And one example is in flavor.
So, the first beer here on the page on the left, it's a mixed berry sour ale.
It's fruity, tart, and sweet.
And flavor is increasingly important to Gen Z consumers, and you can see on this graph on the next page.
The growth of beer with flavors.
So, it's basically doubled since 2018 from 13% to 28%, so a little bit more than doubled.
Tea is also, an interesting category as a flavorful, healthy option, and also one that can support the no and no alcohol trend.
On the top right here, there's a, a nice looking picture of what looks like a rose champagne, but it's actually a sparkling tea that was developed by the UK company, The Real Drinks Co.
So this is their way of, you know, using fermentation to present something that is, a non-alcoholic option.
And then peach is another flavor that's continuing to trend, as as fruits and different functional ingredients like adaptogens and and also protein and tea.
So, next we take a look at hybrid products, which is something that's not really new to the industry, but the industry is still kind of figuring out how to go about it.
So, there have been some products that launched on the market.
Combining, for example, beef and pea protein, then it sort of fizzled out.
And I've seen a lot of people in the industry talking about this, you know, because there's so many benefits to having a hybrid product in terms of sustainability.
Nutrition, cost, but You know, it can also be the case that if you're mixing in meat products with pea or soy, you could be like watering down a fine wine, as one of these industry experts said.
So, despite its failures in the past, it's important to recognize that hybrid products already are becoming so important with respect to novel proteins.
If you think about cultivated technology or precision fermentation, these are already hybrid products and they're going to just continue because That's, you know, the most accessible way.
So, we talked to Katerina Bergdahl, who is very experienced in this field, and she gives some insights that are Worth a read.
Did you check it out.
All right, in the top 10 trends for Enova, once again, age 2.0 quenching the future was one that was highlighted, and this trend is all about drinking plus or water with added value, and definitely saw this in the latest launches.
Hydration is constantly being talked about, and you have brands positioning their beverage as one that will provide the ultimate hydration or optimal hydration.
Aside from that, in the flavors area, candy flavors are really coming out, especially in the energy drinks and Asian flavors.
So here are a couple of examples from around the world.
There's the CBD water.
From the US.
There's a branch chain amino acid water from Denmark with specific amino acids, a, a boba tea, make your own boba tea kit, and this last one is a, a yuzu and lime flavor.
Here we have 8 more product highlights, too many to talk about right here, but one that is worth mentioning is number 4, which is the lupine plant-based milk, and that comes from Andean lupines and supports indigenous women communities in Ecuador.
OK, so, in this article, we heard from the father of molecular gastronomy, Herve Tiss, who did a really thorough deep dive into Louis Camille Maillard and his work, and also his predecessors to discover that, the Maillard reaction, first of all, was not discovered by Maillard.
And also, it gets thrown around like really haphazardly to sort of encompass any sort of enzyma non-enzymatic browning.
But what he argues is the real reaction has to be between a reducing saccharide and an amino group.
So, one of the common confusions you might see is with caramelization, which only involves sugars, right?
So there's no protein involved.
And then the article also goes into Some of the ways the term has been misused in previous scientific articles and the history of chemistry, Which, you know, where this all began, which was in 1856, about 20 years before Maillard was born, and he follows the different paths that it that it took.
And surprisingly, There is still a lot of mystery on the subject.
So, on the subject of revisiting the past, I spoke with Marlene Chambeau, who is a sensory research scientist at Camden BRI in the UK, and she brought up the point that there's so much hype about AI and how it can be used to optimize formulations that some of these tried and true methods from the past are sort of falling to the wayside, like the use of experimental design.
And this is a way of modeling that allows you to find synergistic relationships as.
And it, it allows you to adjust, you know, to optimize in that way.
So, in this article he talks about an experiment that they did where they compared They had a task to reformulate a sugar-free chai latte from just a regular chai latte to sugar-free.
And they had two groups.
One was doing experimental design, and one was doing sort of like a trial and error test.
And in the end, the one with the experimental design was able to improve the cost and nutrition a bit.
Although the final sensory qualities were the same, it allowed this, you know, better picture.
So, it is definitely worth a try.
And it's also a low-cost investment.
You just need, you know, some statistical skills and software.
Or a statistician.
All right, so, This month has been an exciting time for the organic sector.
The USDA is strengthening organic enforcement final rule kicked in, and this is an overhaul to increase supply chain transparency of organic products in the US.
It's also, going to help reduce fraud and bring the US organic regulation up to closer to international standards.
And there's certainly been some hiccups on the way to it, which you can read about in the article.
But overall it looks like it'll be a very positive change to the National Organic Program, which was really long overdue for an update.
In the opinion ed, we talked to suppliers about where they see opportunities in the beverage market.
And flavor-wise, fruits, like peach and kiwi were really standing out, and botanicals, it was lavender and hibiscus with more like a calming and energizing effect.
And then sugar reduction also on trend.
And there's also some discussion about plant-based milk.
And transparent supply chains for green tea.
In regulatory news, there's some upcoming regulations in Europe and Asia, which are both set to spur innovation in both these areas, but in very, you know, actually opposite ways.
So, the most dramatic is Ireland's move to put these, kind of cigarette-style warning labels on alcohol products.
And this was under this was due to the WHO's recommendation.
That, yeah, alcohol is a carcinogen, and it should be known like that.
So, they are planning to bring that into force.
And also in the UK they want to They want to make the thresholds for something for a product that's non-alcoholic.
They wanna change that from 0.05 to 0.5, so that would make it a lot easier to manufacture.
So, a lot of no low alcohol opportunities will be coming up in Europe, and at the same time in Asia, there's an easing of previous restrictions and particularly that will be in China.
But , There's also some different options like for healthier.
Beverages in Japan and also in South Korea.
All right, so Vita Foods is coming up.
It's gonna be in Geneva this year, the last year it's in Geneva.
Next year it'll be in Barcelona.
And here exhibitors share a little bit about what they're gonna be presenting ahead of the show.
Some of them are really exciting.
There is, a new one from Friesland Campia ingredients presenting an algae-based micro-encapsulated DHA powder.
And amoebale biochemistry has a new longevity ingredient that has shown some really interesting properties in in an in vitro study.
So definitely wanna follow that.
In the health and wellness news, Kerry entered the postbiotic space for the gut skin access with a rice-derived ingredient, and that's for both humans and pet nutrition.
For a while they had their.
There's spore spore forming probiotic, which you know is also a heat stable, but Now it's the next phase.
And in energy drink formulation, there are some pretty interesting ingredients coming into the market that are positioned as alternatives to caffeine.
They have different mechanisms of action, and more often than not, they're being presented as a slower or more steady release of energy.
There's one, though, it's by TSI group that is a metabolite of caffeine.
So they say that it has decreased toxicity and anxiety compared to caffeine.
And then another ingredient is cynamite made from mango that provides mental energy without the increased heart rate or crashes of caffeine.
So, there's definitely a sort of fine tuning of energy drinks, which is also mixing with sports nutrition to develop products that are very targeted.
And, you know, they wanna yield a very specific effect on the body.
And then with metabolic health ingredients, Metabolic health is something that was talked about a lot, I feel like maybe 2 years ago, but always relevant, you know, and it's, it's kind of multiple systems in your body, but it's also in the consumer mind directly linked to weight management.
So, Mindy Herman, who's a dietary expert, she looked into some of the recent ingredients in the space, which Does have You know, it's like heart health, but also looking at your metabolism in general.
And then, there's also a couple of short articles here about pulsed electric fields to extract high-value ingredients from microorganisms like yeast or algae.
Now, these, these very tiny organisms are sort of like an egg that you have to crack open to get their, like, high-value ingredients, and this technology can help, you know, make it more, like, a higher purity yields.
So interesting to look at.
And then also pre-mixed solutions for fizzy beverage tablets, cause that is a very tricky thing to formulate.
And lastly, we spoke with Frederick Hook at GNG Group.
His father founded the coloring foods business in 1978, and it's one of the last standing family-owned coloring businesses.
And he shares how You know, in the, the coloring industry, natural coloring industry, it used to be about replacing artificial colors, but now it's so much more about using color as the differentiator.
And GNT has been looking really closely into color trends, and they've found that the digital world has had this big impact on consumers and And the digital world is becoming sort of more Normal, right?
So, it's normal to see, like, these bright landscapes filled with purple and things that we wouldn't normally see in the natural world.
Other things that they're working on is making supply chains more resilient, and Sustainability always gonna be an important focus, also for a plant-based company.
And that is it.
So feel free to subscribe if you haven't already.
And I will now open the floor for any questions that may be around.
Just pull up questions.
OK What terminology should be used in place of the Maillard reaction?
Yeah, it's a good question, because obviously, you don't wanna use the wrong one, but what should you use?
So, So, of course, if it's just sugars then caramelization, I'm also saying glycation when it's specifically protein.
But the combination of the reducing saccharide and amino group was aminoc carbonyl reaction.
That was the one that was suggested by, like, the most recent person who was studying these types of reactions, and the one that the author also agrees is the most scientifically descriptive.
Also good to point out though that You know, some things are just destroyed by heat, and that's And that's something else.
OK, next we heard from Min An Tran.
What are some of the top trending flavors in tea?
So this is something that I just saw recently.
The top contenders are Not that surprising.
It's ginger and lemon.
But some ones that are emerging are are actually the fastest growing was kombucha.
And then coffee was sort of unusual as a tea flavor.
But that one was growing, Quite fast.
All right, and then Leah counters.
What type of hybrid products do you think have the most potential?
I think You know, the types of hybrid products that are definitely gonna have the most potential are gonna be the ones that All seem tasty.
And, and we really know that as an industry, that taste is like the number one thing that we wanna make sure that food has.
But I think it's really easy to just think like, oh, this is gonna be more sustainable, so let's add Some kind of Plant-based substitute, but you really have to watch out for that diluting the product.
So, if you think about Maybe like a milk milk-based product, instead of having, like, almond.
Yogurt, and yogurt, if you just had some, like, fruits or grains, something that people are already trying to get more of in their diet anyway.
Like, everyone wants to have more fruit in their diet or more vegetables in their diet.
Then I think I have the the highest success.
And then from Lars, Ara Holton, is yerba mate trending in Europe.
Thanks for your question, Lars.
I would have to get back to you to get some official stats from a Nova Market Insights, which I can check with an analyst for you on that one.
But I will say that definitely in the past few years, when we put together the product page, that one was definitely there.
I think it was, 2 or 3 years ago that there were several launches.
So, I know it has been.
I know Europe has been exposed to it, but let me get back to you with with some more hard data on that.
And that's all the questions, I believe, I'll do a last refresh.
Yes, that's all the questions.
So thank you very much for joining us today.
This is Misty Green signing off.
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Missy
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