Anne Palermo, a two-time founder and industry leader, brings a unique perspective to the food and beverage industry with her extensive experience in both food tech and consumer packaged goods (CPG). Her career is marked by a commitment to improving global health and ensuring that nutritious food is accessible to everyone.
By combining her expertise in innovative technologies with a focus on social responsibility, Anne works to advance industry best practices while making a positive impact on global well-being. After attending the IFT FIRST Annual Event and Expo in Chicago last week, Anne rounds up the top industry trends presented at the conference that are shaping the future of food.
Last week was the annual IFT FIRST (Food Improved by Research, Science, and Technology) conference in Chicago, where professionals, innovators, and thought leaders from around the world gathered to explore the future of food. This year’s event showcased big advancements in AI-driven product development, corporate collaboration, ultra-processed foods, innovative ingredients, and food as medicine.
With over 1,000 exhibitors and a full schedule of scientific sessions, keynote speeches, and interactive workshops, the conference offered great networking and educational opportunities. Walking through the event, it became clear how these key industry trends will shape the next 12 months.
AI for food & beverage
The first major theme of the conference was AI and its disruptive integration within the food industry. Its ability to analyze extensive data quickly and thoroughly to identify nascent trends is impressive. In fact, AI is already being implemented with remarkable results in recipe and formula optimization. By analyzing extensive data sets, AI can suggest recipe adjustments that can enhance a product’s taste, texture and nutrition. This allows companies to accelerate their timelines for product iterations and speed to market.
Beyond recipe optimization, AI is being used to improve upon organizational innovation cycles by analyzing market data and consumer preferences to help identify and iterate on emerging consumer trends to meet evolving demands in record time. Taking this proactive approach to innovation helps increase market share by adopting a continuous innovation cycle which helps to keep companies ahead of their immediate competitors.
Along the same line, AI is being used to increase overall gross margin by identifying areas of cost reduction. When fully integrated, an AI system analyzes data to optimize ingredient usage and create supply chain efficiencies by providing insights into cost-saving initiatives and identifying ways to reduce waste, ensuring that resources are used efficiently.
Corporate collaboration
The IFT FIRST conference also highlighted several collaborations between giants of the food industry and startups. These partnerships are acting as a way to accelerate speed to market for both parties and serve as a competitive advantage by enabling each company to stay ahead and drive innovation. Many of these partnerships focus on integrating cutting-edge technologies, such as AI and blockchain, as well as the novel solutions that startups provide.
Through these relationships, established corporations are able to gain fresh perspectives on technologies and pioneering ideas that serve to both enhance product offerings as well as create operational efficiencies, while providing startups with the resources that they need to scale up their innovations.
Moving away from UPFs
The trend away from ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is significantly impacting the plant-based meat sector as consumers and companies seek healthier, more natural alternatives. As expected, this shift was a major focus at the IFT FIRST conference where many exhibitors showcased innovations aimed to assist companies in the reformulation of plant-based products. There were clear signs of the industry making efforts to reduce reliance on artificial additives and emphasize whole, plant-based ingredients.
As demand for these healthier plant-based alternatives continues to grow, companies are investing in new technologies and ingredient sources to maintain product quality while minimizing processing. The technologies being developed to meet this demand aims to enhance flavor and texture without synthetic additives, with the goal to create products that appeal to not only vegans and vegetarians, but also to mainstream consumers that are actively seeking out better-for-them products.
Innovative and novel ingredients
Innovative and novel ingredients are always in focus at an IFT show, and this was no different. A bright spotlight was on ingredients that focus on health and sustainability. Sugar reduction emerged as a standout trend, with many companies presenting new ingredients and formulations specifically designed to cut sugar without compromising on taste. There were a large variety of sweeteners and sugar substitutes such as allulose, which offer lower glycemic indices and fewer calories, addressing consumer concerns over total sugar consumption and its impact on health.
With the growing interest in consuming less processed foods being a major trend, sodium reduction was another key focus. Several new technologies and ingredient solutions were marketed at the conference, providing a way to lower sodium levels while maintaining flavor and functionality. This reflects the broader effort to improve public health outcomes by reducing sodium intake as it has been linked to public health issues such as hypertension.
Other areas of interest were the development of new protein sources, such as fava, rubisco and flax protein as well as new and innovative uses for industry favorites such as pea and soy proteins. The conference emphasized exploring alternative proteins and enhancing the nutritional profile of food products. From plant-based proteins to lab-grown options, advancements showcased at the event aim to meet the rising demand for sustainable and diverse protein sources. These innovations cater to health-conscious consumers and provide potential solutions to the global need for more sustainable food production.
Food as medicine
The growing trend of food as medicine has been gaining traction. This is partly due to the increase in awareness of how nutrition impacts overall health. An area of interest that is gaining awareness is the effort to include “produce prescriptions” and medically tailored meals in insurance plans. Health-focused dietary prescription plans aim to make it easier for individuals and families to buy and prepare foods that promote better health – which reflects the broader push toward proactive health management.
As the idea of food as medicine continues to gain traction, plant-based diets, and meat alternatives will play a larger role in healthcare due to their potential to address and manage various health conditions. Personalized nutrition and evidence-based diets are showcasing how these options are seeing increased mainstream support. This emphasizes the importance of nutrition as a part of overall health management and presents new opportunities for the plant-based food sector to collaborate with healthcare initiatives to broaden its impact.
