Somewhat serendipitously, I opted to read the May 16 edition of The New Yorker featuring an in-depth profile on PepsiCo’s food and beverage innovation plans while traveling to last month’s IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo in New Orleans. The “Snacks for a Fat Planet” article by John Seabrook details PepsiCo’s plans for innovation across its portfolio of products with insight from senior PepsiCo executives, including Jonathan McIntyre, senior vice president of R&D global beverages, who was featured in Beverage Industry’s April cover story.

 Tate & Lyle, Decatur, Ill., launched its new Beverage Optimize formulation service in the United States.  

 More than 18,000 attendees flocked to Las Vegas to attend the Institute of Food Technologists’ (IFT) 2012 Annual Meeting & Food Expo, June 26-28 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.  

PepsiCo, Purchase, N.Y., announced the opening of a new food and beverage innovation center in Shanghai. The state-of-the-art, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) facility, which is PepsiCo's largest research and development (R&D) center outside of North America, will serve as a hub of new product, packaging and equipment innovation for PepsiCo's businesses throughout Asia.