Nth Degree Innovations Inc. launched a line of performance drinks with a low glycemic index.

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.

The Institute of Food Technologists’ (IFT) 2011 Annual Meeting & Food Expo took place June 11-14 in New Orleans. The event attracted food professionals from around the world as well as 900 exhibiting companies. At the keynote panel, journalist Michael Specter and panelists representing the food industry tackled the question about how to go about changing the image of food science in the marketplace. Specter, who is a staff writer for The New Yorker, stated that U.S. consumers tend to mistrust science, which includes a wide-ranging — although unsubstantiated — mistrust of genetically modified foods.