The Editor Presents: The Beverage Issue
16 Mar 2022 | The World of Food Ingredients
Join The World of Food Ingredients’ editor Missy Green in a 15-minute roundup of themes from this beverage-themed edition. Healthier reformulations of drinks, alongside a rise in ultra-indulgent ice creams, are boosting NPD activity. Meanwhile, environmentally sustainable innovation comes to the fore in a breakdown of enzymatic recycling and Coca-Cola’s plant-based bottles. Microalgae and gut health supplements are also spotlighted in this issue.
Welcome to the world of food ingredients beverage edition of The Editor Presents.
I'm your editor, Missy Green, and thank you for joining me as we walk through some of this edition's beverage highlights.
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So, this is a live event.
If you have any questions at any time, you can just go ahead and put them in the comment box and we will get to a Q&A at the end of the session.
So let's go.
The top story we have in our food business news.
Is Coca-Cola, who is paving the way for eco-friendly bottles.
So, Coca-Cola recently launched a 100% plant-based bottle, and what was so unique about it was it could also be recycled in traditional pet streams.
On top of this, they also launched a new Sprite bottle in South Korea, adding to their labelless bottle collection.
So this is, this is a way to improve recyclability in its products.
As always, we got some great stats from Anova Market Insights who shared with us what's going on in the beverage space.
So you can see at the bottom left hand corner as an example, that green bar is showing that hard seltzers have grown tremendously with an average annual growth of 173% and that's been since 2017.
So it started in the US, the hard seltzer craze, but it's really become global and the the example they give there is actually from Finland.
On the right hand side you can see some of Vinova's top 10 trends in the context of beverages.
So be sure to check those out.
So what is driving beverage innovation in the world?
We see some really impressive launch activity in the iced tea category and you can see that from the graph below, and this is focused on North America, but iced tea is also becoming the most active or it was the most active category in soft drinks within Asia as in this past year.
So here you can see that.
As of 2020, that's when it started leading in activity.
And Moira Hillam, one of our great writers who is actually retiring this year, she also touched on some interesting plant-based waters.
So plant-based water that includes aloe vera drinks, coconut water, and even cactus water is becoming very popular.
So while beverages may be getting more healthy, ice cream is becoming very indulgent and the term ultra-indulgent is even being used here.
We saw during the pandemic that the demand for comfort food went up and that definitely includes ice cream.
So a lot of sensory innovation is happening, including savory offerings and also inclusions.
Also some non-traditional meal occasions like Jenny's maple soaked pancakes ice cream.
So this was a limited edition that encouraged consumers to eat ice cream in the morning and share pictures and videos of themselves on social media with the hashtag ice cream is breakfast.
The latest beverage MPD highlights new drinks that offer both refreshment and rejuvenation.
So there was a lot of health positioned options coming to the market that offer a clean refreshment, but also several marketing towards boosts, and that could be a boost through the immune system or in terms of energy.
Natural caffeine continues to be very important.
You see it in Tea, guarana, coffee or coffee extracts.
And then on the following page, you'll see our lineup of beverages launched in the last 12 months, and some of our top highlights.
Next, within the coloring space, we have some, we have a writer who focused on some interesting challenges that are happening, as as new technologies that are emerging to be able to create more stability, more solubility, so you'll see.
Carrots and beets, they of course have a very important role in coloring plant-based foods, but we're also looking at things like microalgae that can create a bleeding effect in burgers.
Another small company, really a startup that's scaling up now out of Argentina, used gene editing to create a dye secreting fungi, and this produces a heat stable red color like you can see in the gummy.
And other technologies, plastic waste, still a huge problem worldwide.
But there are some scientists currently working on enzymatic recycling, so they found new ways of breaking down plastics with the use of enzymes.
Industry is also doing their part to ensure that these technologies are being developed and utilized, and one example is Woolworths who partnered with Samsara Eco, an Australian company that uses hydrolases to break down polymers into monomers in less than an hour.
So this is the technology that started out very slow, but now it's really accelerating, and those monomers provide the building blocks to create new food grade plastic.
So within the next years, you can expect to see some of Woolworth's house brand products already using this packaging that comes from this enzymatic recycle technology, and they're going to start with their mini tomatoes.
Now you can see the CEO of Woolworths and the CEO of Samsara Eco on the right.
What will be next?
Vita Foods show preview.
So I know you guys are all excited to go back to trade shows.
I'm very excited, and this May, you are invited to bring your copy of the World of Food Ingredients with you.
And you'll be able to see all the key suppliers with their booth numbers, so very convenient during these paperless events.
And while trade shows may be back in full swing.
Everything is not back to normal, and I'm sure you are all too familiar with the supply chain disruptions that have been going on throughout the globe with really little relief in sight.
So, this article sheds light on some of the key factors that happened, that led up to these disruptions, apart from obvious COVID situation and Brexit.
There have been some super high energy costs in China.
High increases in freight costs as as a shortage of truck drivers in the US and that all created a sort of perfect storm.
That industry has been navigating through.
Next we hear from hydrocolo expert Nisha Zalesni, who describes some of the solutions that beverage formulators can use to suspend cocoa particles and high protein beverages and obviously on trend, high protein beverages from plants or from dairy, especially in dairy, there's an interesting synergy as as she also touches on how to stabilize functional oils like CBD and water.
You may be familiar with check all that applied testing.
But there is now a temporal check all that applied testing.
This is a relatively new technique that Camden BRI is using to determine how consumers, not like taste experts but just regular people, can experience the food or beverage over time, and this is really helpful for understanding where improvements need to be made if you're trying to recreate food.
So for example, here she compares a plant-based chicken nugget to a conventional chicken nugget and tracks the experience over time.
You can see from the first graph that the sensory experience of the chicken lasted.
Longer in real chicken than the plant-based variety, so if you want to really replicate the taste of chicken, then you'll have to put something in that can keep the flavor lingering just a little bit longer.
In our opinion edge, we heard from suppliers with their view on beverage innovation.
So key themes that jumped out here were high protein, functional ingredients, and more than anything, there were, there's a lot of talks about on the go drinks, so people are really back in action following so long of a time at home.
Next we move on to our health and wellness page, and we see that more brands are expanding into the functional realm and that includes a recent collaboration between PepsiCo and Starbucks.
So they launched Bia Energy drink, which is made from natural caffeine derived from coffee, but there's no coffee taste and it also contains vitamin C.
So more boosts.
Here we take a dive into 3 types of microalgae, and microalgae is increasingly being added to supplements and also to foods.
We specifically looked here at Clorella, spirulina, and xanthin.
These tiny ingredients are constantly being explored for their myriad of benefits and their sustain as a sustainable power ingredient.
So some of the latest technologies.
Are creating different colors for for for lorella.
So you can see at the top of the 2nd page, there's a golden variety compared to the the standard really green one, and you also have companies now which have come out with white varieties.
And that makes it more acceptable in food and beverages.
Right, so this article breaks down some of the important findings from a Nova Market Insights report on holistic health.
So they asked 11 consumers from 11 different countries.
What aspects would you include when thinking about holistic health?
And you can see that physical and mental health are at the top, but not far behind it, you also see emotional -being, spiritual being, and even environmental -being are becoming relevant, and this is reflected in NPD that promotes mood, emotion, and self-care.
Including a beer here, yonder beer called self-care.
Moving on.
We also see that gut health continues to be a very important area and here we've got some new approaches to formulating supplements for the microbiome.
So one example is by combining them with omega-threes and Doctor Chen also goes into the different types of gut bacteria that are typically associated with dysbiosis or disease and those that are associated with health.
Of course there's still so much to be explored.
And he also points out, you know, there's no real definition of, of health or what is a healthy microbiome, so.
But here are some new approaches.
And then lastly, we spoke with Patrick Neils from DSM.
He's the executive vice president of the newly consolidated Food and beverage Unit.
This January DSM merged its food specialties, hydrocolloids, and part of its nutritional products businesses together, and now they bring a host of ingredients and expertise under one roof, and he said this is really to accelerate product development, which is so needed right now.
Mr.
Neils also shared that DSM's joint venture with Avril Olaine will be rolling out its first commercial canola protein isolate later this year.
And that more is being done to find local sourcing of raw materials.
They're looking into sort of the more niche alternative proteins, so like chickpeas and their canola, so.
Lastly, I would say subscribe today.
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And I will now open up the floor to questions, which I see we have some.
So that's great to see everyone engaged.
All right, Benjamin Fair, thanks for your question.
What kind of functional ingredients are trending in beverages?
So we mentioned previously that.
A lot of boosts are on trend and so definitely.
Anything that's going to give you like an energy boost like caffeine or an immune boost, vitamin C continues to be very popular, but there's also a lot of focus on enhancing mood, which can also be, you know, not necessarily boosting but maybe calming you down.
So looking at different botanicals, also adaptogens continue to be really on trend.
Thanks for that question.
All right, it's from Bailey.
What types of iced teas are gaining the most traction?
OK, so we saw that in North America and Asia, a lot of innovation is going on.
In North America, at least, black tea and green tea continue to be the most popular in the iced tea category, and that could be because of their energy content or because they're so known.
But what's really interesting is that Yerba Ma is also really coming to the fore, and you'll see that a lot in our NPD spread.
There's maybe 4 or 5 that launched, and they're also playing off of this sort of.
You know, traveling through your food and beverages type of trend.
One of them has a llama.
They really focus on its South American origins and also of course the great energy that you get that is naturally occurring in yerba mate.
So definitely look out for that one.
From Catherine Durrow.
Any tips on beverage flavor trends would also be interested in your thoughts on mouthfeel slash textures role in drinks.
Thanks for that question, Catherine.
For beverage flavors, natural is not always trending, so fruits and botanicals tend to be.
Just like continual winners.
We also got a note from a company that you'll see in the Opinion edge that hibiscus is one to really keep your eye on.
That one has this really powerful color and also has.
You know, sort of this, unique taste that you can, you can bring to beverages and then also at was it FIE we saw that Celestia is launching some like wild botanical ranges, so they had like marigold and nettle.
Clover blossom.
So those are also ones to look for.
In terms of mouth feel and texture.
I think that that might be the most relevant in something like, you know, plant-based alternatives to dairy drinks, and that's something that is continually continually being worked on.
I would definitely check out some of Nisha's articles.
She, she writes a lot about how you can use different texturizers and hydrocoloids to get.
To get a good, not chalky feeling.
All right, from Isabella Gomez, so exciting to interact with everybody from the industry who we've been in touch with for so long.
Are beauty drinks trending, and if that's the case, with what functional ingredients?
Beauty drinks also continuing to trend, the one that really pops out is collagen, of course, and that's mostly happening, I would say in Asia still, but It is expanding into Europe and North America for sure.
And last question.
Before we run out of time from Mindy Herman, also nice to see you.
Anything happening in kombucha?
Kombucha was mentioned in the Nevermarket Insights page, so check that one out.
I believe the top flavors were still in fruitiness, like in lemon, but also expanding into different You know, peach flavors and what's interesting about kombucha is it's also being combined a lot with iced tea, right, because it is tea and so those trends are sort of merging together the whole soda replacement into something that's healthy for you, something that's gonna feed your gut flora.
That's all the time we have for today, and feel free to send me an email if you want to give any feedback or.
Just to say hello.
See you next time.
