While walking the floor of this year’s Institute of Food Technologists Expo, Chuck Dodson, director of consumer insights and marketing at A.M. Todd, took notes on some of the more interesting displays and insights—ingredients, flavor combinations and trend analyses. Here, Dodson shares his observations of flavor highlights.
Unique Ingredients
Dry powdered alcohol: Alcohol encapsulated in dextrin by spray drying. Material contains 30% dry weight alcohol. Senba USA
Featured Flavors
- Wolfberry/lime beverage; mango ginger beverage; cinnamon pear ice cream. Wild Flavors
- Lychee pineapple beverage; blackberry pomegranate beverage. AFF International/Mastertaste/Manheimer Fragrances
- Chocolate peanut butter pie milk beverage. David Michael Flavors
- Kiwi cucumber with kefir lime leaf relish; pineapple wasabi mustard; strawberry guanábana beverage. Bell Flavors & Fragrances
- Blueberry/goji/acai 100% juice blend; lychee pear tea; melon shiso candy chew; pistachio coconut candy chew. FONA International
- Sweet potato smoothie. Virginia Dare
- Maple walnut frappuccino. NutraGenesis
- Cucumber mint green tea. Blue Reef
- Horchata tea. Carmi Flavor and Fragrance Co.
Flavors/Fruits Discussed in Presentations, Discussions on Company Literature
- Bissap—African hibiscus
- Baobab
- Matcha—green powdered tea
- Fig
- Guanábana (soursop)
- Caja fruit—a strawberrylike flavor
- Prickly pear
- Buchu
- Honeybush (rooibos)
- Marula fruit
Trend Projections
1. Mintel
- Two taste trend growth areas: North Africa spices and fruits; India fruits and spices.
- Two strong growth flavor areas: goji berry (wolfberry); acai berry.
2. Innova
Key emerging trends in the flavor market:
- Super ingredients—super fruits for antioxidant characteristics.
- Sustainability will replace organic: upper limit on what can be organic; focus will be on the sustainability of flavors, ingredients, etc., with respect to the environment.
- Appetite suppression: ability to eat, drink and not be hungry while losing weight.
- Exotic fruit and extracts become more obscure; consumers will seek out the really unknown products for their flavors and possible health benefits.
- Salt will become the new “demon”: sodium worries will replace concerns about sugar, fat, etc.
