The Institute of Food Technologists held its Annual Meeting and Food Expo in Chicago in July, featuring more than 21,000 attendees, 1,000 exhibitors and 100 educational sessions. Exhibitors focused on flavors, colors, sweeteners, proteins and numerous fortifications at this year’s show.
Tate & Lyle featured its Promitor Soluble Corn Fiber at the show. The company now offers Promitor Soluble Corn Fiber 85 with prebiotic properties to replace commonly used polyols in no-sugar-added applications. With less than 5 percent sugar, the fiber helps beverage-formulators add fiber without adding sugar. The company also featured Promitor Soluble Corn Fiber 85L, an all-natural fiber that is easily incorporated into beverages as it does not require a dissolution step, is stored at room temperature and handles similarly to thawed fruit juice concentrate.
 
Ajinomoto announced the release of its AjiGras-Leucine, an amino acid that has been shown to help synthesize protein, at IFT. Previously, Leucine was only available in supplements, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently added Ajigras-Leucine to its list of generally recognized as safe (GRAS) ingredients, making it available to use in food and beverages. Ajinomoto manufactures the amino acid via fermentation, using vegetables as its raw material, the company says.
 
Amelia Bay highlighted its natural tea extracts, essences and aromas at IFT. Its products offer improved clarity, no sedimentation, enhanced tea flavor and increased shelf life, the company says.
 
Cargill Inc. introduced EmulTru, an emulsifying food starch developed for beverage emulsions. EmulTru is a cold water-soluble starch designed as a replacement for acacia gum. It has been shown to be more stable in cold storage conditions, and it creates less foam and provides more clarity than acacia gum, Cargill says. EmulTru can be used for liquid emulsions of flavor oils, neutral clouds and nutritional supplements in carbonated, still and juice beverages, the company says. At IFT, Cargill also showcased a Chocolate Elixir Beverage featuring its CoroWise plant sterols. The plant sterols are eligible for a FDA health claim for reduced risk of heart disease, Cargill says.
 
David Michael & Co. offered a Cocoa-Mate Milkshake formulated with its recently re-launched Cocoa-Mate cocoa extender ingredient. The milkshake contained 30 percent less cocoa due to the integration of Cocoa-Mate, the company says. The ingredient can replace up to 50 percent of the cocoa powder used in a finished product and can replace Dutched cocoa and natural cocoa, the company says.
 
BI Nutraceuticals offers a selection of functional ingredients and extracts from fruits, leaves, roots and other plants. The company offers ingredients that provide energy, relaxation, antioxidants and health benefits, including bone, heart, digestive and women’s health.
 
Embria Health Sciences featured EpiCor at IFT. EpiCor is a dietary ingredient that, when taken daily, works to support health by balancing the body’s immune response, the company says. A complex blend of beneficial metabolites, vitamins, minerals, amino acids and antioxidants, EpiCor is an ingredient that has been clinically proven to provide nutritional support to the immune system and support optimal performance.
 
Virginia Dare featured new flavors, varieties of vanilla, various masking flavors and assorted teas at IFT. Green peach and maqui grapefruit beverages were on its menu. New flavors, such as nectarine jasmine green tea and black currant raspberry black teas were featured in ready-to-drink teas. Made from tea leaves sourced from around the world, Virginia Dare tea concentrates are offered in black, green, Assam, oolong and white as well as herbal fruit and true-to-fruit flavors. Blood orange vanilla cream and mangosteen vanilla orchid beverages also were featured in vanilla tea beverages. Vanilla flavors, extracts, concentrates and oleoresins are made from beans from every commercially viable origin.
 
Known for its premixes, Fortitech now offers complete customized all-in-one powdered beverages. Experts at Fortitech can help beverage companies develop and manufacture innovative beverage concepts, complete with fortifications, flavors, colors, sweeteners and stabilizers. The drink mixes are ready to use as a market-ready powder, or as the single ingredient for a bottled beverage.
 
Jungbunzlauer featured a Berry Pomegranate Flavored Electrolyte Drink Mix at the show. Sweetened with stevia and erythritol, the drink mix was fortified with alkaline citrate mineral salts, which help to keep the body in pH balance and maintain calcium in bones, the company says. In addition, soluble calcium was added for healthy bone density, potassium to keep blood pressure in check, magnesium for generating energy and dealing with stress, and zinc for healthy skin and immune support.
 
Century Foods International, a division of Hormel Corp., offers customers complete turnkey solutions from formulation to production to packaging and labeling. The company manufactures and markets dairy proteins and nutritional products under private label and contract manufacturing agreements. For the beverage market, Century Foods offers 8-ounce to 64-ounce PET or PP bottles with shrink sleeve or wrap-around labels for non-carbonated, high-acid beverages, nutritional beverages, flavored and enhanced waters, energy drinks and weight-control drinks.
 
The Wright Group developed Pomegranate Cranberry Clear Nutrition Drink for IFT, showcasing its SuperCoat Vitamins ADE Clear. The combination of proprietary microemulsion and the company’s Smart technology enables application-specific microencapsulation of fat-soluble vitamins. SuperCoat Vitamins ADE Clear is developed specifically for nutritional clear beverages and eliminates the cloudiness and ringing usually associated with fat-soluble vitamins. The microencapsulated powder is non-GMO and organic compliant in addition to being kosher and halal certified.
 
Bioenergy Life Science Inc. presented Bioenergy Ribose, a natural, energizing compound for use in food and beverage products. Bioenergy Ribose stimulates the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the essential energy compound found in every cell in the body. Since ATP is critical for maintaining energy-related functions, ribose is a functional ingredient well-suited for adding energy and athletic performance benefits to consumer packaged goods, the company says. Ribose also provides healthy levels of cardiac energy needed to maintain normal heart function as well as increased tolerance to cardiac stress.
 
Hilmar Ingredients featured its whey protein for beverages in a protein-fortified orange juice. Whey protein has all of the amino acids that humans need to stay healthy and is a lean protein to help with better body composition, the company says. Beverages and foods that contain whey protein can help curb the hunger feeling that leads to overeating, Hilmar Ingredients says. Whey also has a lower glycemic response, which means it does not cause a spike in blood sugar levels.
 
Fonterra featured applications of its dairy ingredients, including a sports recovery beverage made with its ClearProtein ingredient. Fonterra’s ClearProtein is made from whey protein and is formulated to provide a clean, clear and neutral taste, the company says. The sports recovery beverage application was designed for post-workout occasions with a blend of electrolytes for hydration, carbohydrates to refuel and protein for muscle recovery.
 
GLG Life Tech Corp. featured its BlendSure ingredient that combines several components of the stevia leaf, including stevioside and rebaudioside A, for a well-rounded, sucrose-like taste profile. BlendSure is approximately 200 to 300 times sweeter than sucrose and well-suited for teas, juices, carbonated and non-carbonated beverages, the company says. The sweetener blend also can be combined with other natural sweeteners, such as sucrose, for reduced calorie products, such as the 50 percent reduced calorie carbonated soft drinks featured at the show.
 
Sethness Caramel Color highlighted its array of caramel colors, ranging from light yellows to reddish-browns to the darkest browns. The company manu-factures more than 50 liquid and 20 powdered caramel colors for use in even the most challenging beverage systems, Sethness says. It also offers three caramelized sugar syrups that provide flavor and color in one blend. The caramelized sugar syrups can be labeled as “sugar” and have a high-alcohol solubility, which makes them suitable for spirits and liqueurs, the company says.
 
DöhlerGroup exhibited its joint venture with Milne Fruit Products, Döhler-Milne Aseptics (DMA). DMA offers fully integrated solutions, such as juice blending and compounding services that use aseptic processing and packaging technologies. The joint venture uses the DöhlerGroup’s expertise in blending and compounding to develop and produce fruit concentrates and purees for juices, nectars, sparkling juices, smoothies, fruit and vegetable drinks. At IFT, DMA sampled a range of beverages made with its fruit products, such as Water Plus range of enhanced water, energy drinks made with 25 to 50 percent juice content, still drinks with fruit pieces, malt beverages, and beer mixes featuring raspberry or exotic fruits.
 
Symrise presented concepts developed around its updated Taste for Life platform. Previously focused only on consumers’ desire for health, Taste for Life now is organized around the cornerstones of Holistic Health and Pure Pleasure with five pillars: Stay Vital, Lighten Up, Be Natural, Just Enjoy and Get Excited. The company featured a Citrus Energy Ice Tea with Symlife Mask from its Stay Vital category. In addition, Symrise hosted a Happy Hour each day during IFT that featured a Just Enjoy-inspired Mango Mojito and Get Excited-flavored Pomegranate Raspberry Martini.
 
D.D. Williamson featured its new acid-proof, class one caramel color, the darkest class one caramel color in its product line, at IFT. Typically, class one caramel colors are not stable in acidic conditions, the company says, but Caramel Color 520 is stable below pH 2.5, making it ideal for the soft drink industry. The product remains stable in beverages that are up to 65 percent alcohol by volume as well. D.D. Williamson also showcased natural caramelized flavors, including Caramelized Sugar 830 and Caramelized Apple 810.
 
DSM Nutritional Products highlighted its line of health benefit ingredients along seven platforms: Essentials for Life, Power Your Performance, Empower Your Mind, AOX water, AgeWell, Xcel and Genivida. The Essentials for Life platform offers ascorbic acid, vitamin E, niacin, vitamin B6 and biotin, and it can be tailored to fit different market segments. The Power Your Performance platform features vitamins B6 and B12 along with inositol, taurine and caffeine for energy. DSM provides cognitive benefits with choline in its Empower Your Mind category. AOX Water includes the antioxidants Teavigo EGCG and resVida resveratrol, which the company says can aid in healthy aging, cardiovascular health and antioxidant protection. AgeWell, a blueberry-pomegranate beverage, uses DSM’s Beauty Blend, which includes several vitamins, resveratrol and co-enzyme Q10. DSM offers Xcel with the company’s Visual Performance blend, which includes lutein and zeaxanthin for improving visual performance. For menopause symptom relief and bone health, Genivida can help reduce the number and duration of hot flashes and increase bone mineral density.
 
Ethical Naturals highlighted its functional ingredients, including AlphaWave in Purified L-Theanine and Calming Blend varieties and ORAC-15M antioxidant. AlphaWave Purified L-Theanine can dissolve into a tasteless and odorless solution, and Calming Blend includes L-Theanine with standardized extracts of chamomile, lemon balm, passion flower, hops and valerian root. ORAC-15M is a highly concentrated extract of grape skin and seeds, which is rich in polyphenols and other natural antioxidant compounds. The company says ORAC-15M has a mild taste profile. Ethical Naturals also offers a Standardized Fruit Blend derived from concentrated extracts of fruits and rosemary extract.
 
Food Ingredient Solutions LLC’s expanded line of natural food colors was on display at IFT. The company now offers its Vegetable Juice Color 6000 series, a powder form yellowish-red color that is sourced from radishes and has “excellent” light and heat stability. The company offers a full line of vegetable juice colors, including those sourced from purple sweet potatoes, black and purple carrots and grape juice concentrate.
 
Innophos Inc. highlighted its line of functional phosphates for several beverage categories at IFT. For calcium fortification, the company offers its VersaCal line with versions for fruit-based beverages, milk- and soy-based beverages, and acidic clear beverages. Innophos also offers Mono- and Di-potassium Phosphate FG for potassium fortification in isotonic, enhanced water and sports beverages. The use of calcium phosphates promotes improvement in bone mineralization and bone strength versus calcium alone, the company says.
 
JK Sucralose Inc., which expects to produce 800 metric tons of sucralose by 2012, offers its high-intensity sweetener for beverage and beverage mix applications. The company’s sucralose is 600 times more intense than sugar and is ideal for energy drinks and protein beverages, it says. JK Sucralose’s product is packaged in a 10 kilogram fiber drum or can be customized.
 
Northwest Naturals, a subsidiary of Tree Top Inc., highlighted its line of fruit-based solutions at IFT. The company’s product line includes fruit juice concentrates, juice concentrate with other natural flavors, juice with other natural flavors with puree, and organic concentrate with other organic flavors. Organic concentrates with other organic flavors have the same benefits of the natural ingredients, but meet the 95 percent organic labeling standard.
 
Sensient Flavors LLC highlighted its beverage flavor offerings in several categories, including superfruit flavors, Asian fruit flavors and masking technology. Sensient has developed a portfolio of superfruits to complement the growing health movement. For a balance of sweet, sour, salty, umami and spicy, the company has developed Asian fruit flavors. To mask the off-notes of sweeteners, caffeine and beverage bases, Sensient offers its Smoothenol portfolio of natural masking technology systems, which can be optimized to fit with any base, the company says.
 
Vegetable Juices Inc. featured its new line of juice concentrates, which are concentrated at low temperatures to avoid a flavor of cooked vegetables and retain a greater percentage of vitamins and minerals. The company’s Advance Concentrate Technology helps preserve volatile top notes and makes it easier to add vegetable and fruit servings to beverages by keeping the flavor profile low, it says. The company offers butternut squash juice concentrate, cucumber juice concentrate and sweet potato juice concentrate.
 
ADM/Matsutani LLC featured its Fibersol-2 soluble dietary fiber in a variety of applications at IFT, including a new series of beverage mix stick packs. The stick packs contain 5.6 grams of resistant maltodextrin to provide 5 grams of dietary fiber as well as powdered flavor, acidultant and high-intensity sweetener. The mixes were made to be added to 16.9-ounces of water and were formulated in Orange, Lime and Piña Colada flavors. Fibersol-2 also can be incorporated into coffee, teas, juices, protein drinks and soy beverages.
 
AIBMR Life Sciences Inc. offers full-service natural products and nutraceutical consulting, specializing in scientific research coordination, technical writing, regulatory compliance and product development. The company can offer assistance with developing protocols for clinical trials, self-affirming a product for GRAS and researching, developing and marketing dietary supplements. BI