Immersed in Our Healthy World

I’m currently in the throes of healthy ingredient nirvana here at SupplySide West in Las Vegas (and still reeling from the outstanding breakfast I had at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon this morning—a baked egg and veggie gratin swimming in deliciously decadent Mornay sauce with thick toast for dipping and a side of perfectly executed potatoes Lyonnaise). The show is gearing up to really blow the doors off—lots of excitement surrounding it this year (and a delightfully high turnout—kudos to Virgo’s marketing department for that). Already getting lots of great feedback.

This morning I sat in on a packed session led by William Barrier, VP of R&D over at Dairy Queen and Orange Julius, and DeAnn Liska, director of nutrition science for Kellogg. Health is cranking on all cylinders at Orange Julius, and some cool products Bill discussed include a strawberry-banana probiotic smoothie (with probiotic actually noted in the name of the item on the menu—we’ve come a long way in a short period of time with probiotic awareness) and some white tea smoothies. Got to try those someday soon. He also expounded on the potential for enriched milk products. Watch for more of those to hit the market soon. DeAnn rounded out the discussion with a look at how we are progressively—as an industry—moving more toward the center of the grocery store from the perimeter and noted that “everything is being seen these days through the eyes of obesity.” Quite true.

Stay tuned for more updates from the (temporarily) healthy side of Vegas.