By Judie Bizzozero, Senior Editor
In a record-setting 15th anniversary event, more than 9,700 food, beverage, supplement and cosmeceutical executives from 64 countries met Oct. 10 to 14 at The Sands Exposition Center and The Venetian Resort Casino for SupplySide West 2011. This year’s exhibit hall featured 1,340 booths—a 9% increase over the record set in 2010.
“SupplySideWest 2011 marked two milestones for VIRGO—the 15th anniversary of SupplySide West and the 20th anniversary of VIRGO’s Food Product Design magazine franchise," said Bob Weeks, publisher, Food Product Design. “These two vibrant and growing entities are an absolute reflection of the strength of our industry. We thank everyone in our industry for their long-standing and continuing support of our efforts."
Professionals from Clif Bar, Dairy Queen & Orange Julius, Danone Research, Hansen Beverage Company, Kraft Foods, Nestlé, NOW Foods, Sara Lee and many more leading manufacturers attended.
“It was a great show. We had over 29 scheduled meetings over the two days and many more that took place spontaneously on the floor. We saw many senior executives from our customers and it is often so hard to get face time with them," says Moira Watson, vice president, marketing and communications, Watson Inc., West Haven, CT. “The show offers us a wonderful opportunity to meet with so many customers in a two-day period. It would never be possible otherwise."
“Great experience, good show, great networking opportunities. I certainly believe Hershey will continue to participate in this show," says Kim McLucas, commodities operations, The Hershey Company, Hershey, PA.
Taste of SupplySide
The food ingredients filling the aisles of SupplySide West this year reflected key categories, including digestive health, immunity, energy, healthy aging, heart health and weight management.
Beverages, as always, remain strong players in functional foods, and figured prominently in the Taste of SupplySide program, which allows attendees to sample prototypes incorporating specific ingredients. This year’s program included almost 60 booths. Biothera took on immune health with a beverage, candy and snacks formulated with Wellmune WGP, and Ixoreal Biomed introduced a beverage and snacks formulated with KSM-66® to support immune health and brain function.
In the heart-health category, ADM formulated a beverage with isolated soy protein, and BASF formulated a juice-based beverage containing antioxidants and carotenoids. Viterra/21st Century Grain Processing formulated granola with high-fiber oat bran, BI Nutraceuticals offered reduced-fat brownies enriched with omega-3s, and HP Ingredients incorporated citrus bergamot juice concentrate into a RTD beverage. Energy-boosting prototypes abounded, including Danisco’s coconut water with BetaPower™ purified anhydrous betaine, Synergy Flavors offered RTD protein sports drinks in strawberry, vanilla caramel and banana flavors, and ConAgra offered an energy bar with Ultragrain and Sustagrain. Addressing the weight-management trend was Glanbia, with a reduced-sugar granola bar, Tate & Lyle, with sparkling water made with monk fruit extract. In the digestive category, Ocean Nutrition Canada formulated beverages with prebiotics, and Caravan Ingredients offered fruit-punch flavored Nutrivan probiotic stick packs. Penford Food Ingredients formulated fiber-enriched beverages and dairy products, as well as a gluten-free fiber-enriched scone.
Workshops
The two-day, pre-conference workshop, “Functional Food Product Development: Market, Regulations, Bioactive Compounds and Their Utilization," presented by Smart Short Courses, focused on the use of bioactives in functional foods and beverages, including market and regulatory aspects, and how to develop novel products.
Other pre-conference workshops addressed two hot topics: superfruits and palm fruit bioactives. The “Superfruit Update: Science, Consumers and the State of The Category" half-day workshop dug into various aspects of the superfruit category, including analysis of existing and emerging fruits, the validity of ORAC scores, and an analysis of the existing and potential markets for these ingredients. Another discussion touched on various ways that superfruits can perform “brain housekeeping" to remove cellular clutter, improve synaptic response, foster better brain “plasticity" and more. The second workshop, “2nd Annual Palm Fruit Bioactives Workshop: Advancing Market Potentials of Palm Bioactives through Scientific Discoveries," developed and sponsored by Malaysian Palm Oil Council, was an all-day event that provided an in-depth look at the market potential for palm fruit bioactives. A full slate of speakers addressed topics ranging from market tends to formulation opportunities, covering not only well-known ingredients such as palm oil and tocotrienols, but lesser known bioactive compounds such as palm oil phenolics and carotenoids.
Nearly 150 executives stayed around after SupplySide West for a post-conference workshop on EPA and DHA omega-3s, developed with the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s. Titled “GOED Exchange Update: Regulatory and State-of-the-Market Issues for EPA and DHA Omega-3," the workshop addressed market trends and the supply chain, national and international regulatory issues, and a look at the present and future of clinical research related to omega-3s.
