Industry Decision-Makers Attend IFT18: “A Matter of Science + Food”

IFT18: “A Matter of Science + Food” will convene food science and technology thought leaders and decision-makers from more than 90 countries representing the most prominent organizations in the global food sector. The event is taking place July 15-18 at McCormick Place, in Chicago, USA.

Hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), IFT18 (themed this year “A Matter of Science + Food”) promises a scientific program that will highlight the latest research, innovative solutions, and groundbreaking thinking by academics and industry professionals in the science of food, including bakery.

The program includes over 100 peer-reviewed scientific sessions and 11 intensive short courses including “Launching a Food and Beverage Business,” led by food incubator The Hatchery, and “Improvise This: The Power of Collaboration,” led by Chicago’s Second City Works. 

“Attendees of IFT18 will be immersed in a community of innovative scholars, visionaries, and entrepreneurs all dedicated to transforming scientific knowledge into food-based solutions that benefit people around the world. The ideas and products introduced at the annual event are critical to supporting IFT’s vision of a world where science and innovation are universally accepted as essential to a safe, nutritious, and sustainable food supply for everyone,” IFT CEO Christie Tarantino-Dean said.

In addition, IFT18 will feature its largest exhibit hall ever, including over 1,000 global exhibitors showcasing the latest products and innovations in food science and technology. In 2017, IFT’s annual event was named one of the top 50 fastest growing trade shows in North America and obtained an IAEE Certified Exhibition, a designation that recognizes ethical practices and customer service standards.

IFT18 featured sessions include:

–  The inaugural IFTNEXT Food Disruption Challenge competition.

– Tamar Haspel, Washington Post columnist, will moderate a dynamic panel discussion entitled The Clash behind Consumer Demands and Responsible Foods. Panelists will explore the impacts and challenges food companies face when well-intentioned customer demands are in direct conflict with their eco-friendly, healthy, and sustainable intent.

– Dennis Dimick, executive editor of National Geographic magazine will present The Human Age: Confronting the Innovation Conundrum, a compilation of his environmental photographs exploring the impact of human ingenuity and the Earth’s ability to sustain it.

IFTNEXT Food Disruption Challenge Finalists

The competition is designed to help emerging and investment-ready companies in food science  and technology; it will feature six start-ups competing for the Future Food Disruptors of the Year. The USD25,000 prize will be offered by a panel of judges representing different sectors of the food and beverage. Audience members at the featured session will be able to cast their vote for an USD5,000 People’s Choice award.

The finalists in the inaugural IFTNEXT Food Disruption Challenge include:

• Rise Products – a food technology company that uses a patent-pending process to convert organic by-products into healthy, tasty, and sustainable food products, starting by turning spent barley from brewers into flour.
• C-Fu Foods – an ingredient innovation company developing novel insect-based, value-added food ingredients.
• Inductive Intelligence – a packaging technology company that makes it possible to heat foods and drinks safely in disposable packages, using the same device used to charge mobile phones.
• Nebullam – a food technology company providing new vertical farmers with High-Pressure Aeroponic systems, powered by artificial intelligence.
• Renewal Mill – a CPG and ingredient company that creates “superfood” ingredients and foods from the USD6bn of unused fiber and starch byproducts of legumes, vegetables, and fruits produced annually.
• Re-Nuble – an agricultural technology company that uses an inexpensive, patent-pending process to transform food waste into chemical-free, organic nutrients for both soil-based and hydroponic cultivation.

At the launch of the IFTNEXT Food Disruption Challenge in January, 65 companies submitted applications.

IFT Wins Award for Documentary Film

The IFT has earned 2018’s ASAE Power of A Summit and Gold Awards for its documentary film, Food Evolution, which explores global food-related challenges, the critical role that science will play in addressing them, and the public perceptions and misperceptions involving the science of food.

ASAE honored the film, which was commissioned to inspire discussion and highlight the critical role science and innovation play in building a safe, nutritious, and sustainable food supply for everyone, according to IFT.

“Congratulations to IFT for creating and implementing such a meaningful initiative to strengthen and educate society,” said Sharon J. Swan, FASAE, CAE, and CEO of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and chair of the Power of A Awards Judging Committee. “Their effort exemplifies how no other sector helps improve lives as comprehensively as the association community.”

Amid a polarized debate marked by passion, suspicion, and confusion, Food Evolution looks at one of the most critical questions facing the world today — that of food security — and demonstrates the desperate need for common sense, solid information, and calm logical deliberation. Using the often angry and emotional controversy over GMO foods as its entry point, Food Evolution shows how easily fear and misinformation can overwhelm objective, evidence-based analysis. Food Evolution takes the position that science, scientists, and a well-informed public hold the key to solving the world’s food crisis.

IFT asked Black Valley Film’s Scott Hamilton Kennedy, an Academy-Award nominated director, documentarian, and storyteller, to direct the film and entrusted him with the task of telling a provocative story about the science and the scientists that are essential to a food system that feeds a global population.

Exhibitors Present Innovation at IFT18

CIRANDA will present new organic ingredients as well as its portfolio of clean label, on-trend, organic, and non-GM ingredients. Organic cassava flour has a neutral flavor and soft texture and is a preferred flour to use in gluten-free bakery applications, according to the company. Ciranda’s fine, extra fine, and toasted cassava flour varieties are certified organic and Non-GMO Project Verified.

Specialty ingredients manufacturer HB Natural Ingredients will make its worldwide industry debut at the IFT trade show.

HB Natural Ingredients’ technology-driven portfolio includes a comprehensive range of stevia extracts, such as Rebaudioside D, and licorice root extracts, such as MAG (Mono-Ammonium Glycyrrhizinate). Next generation, modified stevia extracts are planned for near-term launch, according to [source]. The company operates globally, working on the development of consumer products across the food, beverage, nutritional supplements and pharmaceutical markets. At IFT, team members will be discussing how consumer product technical and marketing teams can utilize stevia and licorice extracts to achieve their reformulation and new product development objectives. At the booth, visitors can sample beverage products sweetened with the company’s stevia extracts.

At its booth in IFT18 Food Expo, DuPont will be displaying the latest market-based innovations, including enzymes for bakery applications, plant-based protein advancements, cultures for cheese, and food protection solutions for various applications. Visitors will discover a broad portfolio of new innovative ingredients including the new POWERBake® 6000 enzymes range, new CHOOZIT SWIFT 600 and CHOOZIT AMERI-FLEX, and new GUARDIAN TOCO 30P.

Additionally, DuPont protein experts will be part of three educational sessions on plant-based protein for food and beverage applications during the event.

KPM Group will exhibit solutions such as AMS Alliance: Discrete & Continuous flow analyzers; Unity Scientific: NIR analyzers; process sensors: moisture and temperature measurement for quality control of manufacturing processes and Chopin Technologies: analysis in cereals & flours.

At IFT18, Bunge Loders Croklaan, the global business-to-business plant-based oils and fats business of Bunge, will showcase BungeMaxx sunflower lecithin, a Non-GMO Project Verified ingredient with a range of benefits for food and beverages, including emulsification, crystallization control, and more. “Non-GMO is more than a trend, with 39% of U.S. consumers saying non-GMO is an important claim they seek on foods and beverages at retail,” said Mark Stavro, senior director of marketing. “Our customers want to stay competitive in the non-GMO market, and sunflower lecithin is an excellent opportunity. According to AC Nielsen, non-GMO foods and beverages made with lecithin are an USD4bn market with 6% annual growth over the past three years.”

Diana Food will highlight natural solutions dedicated to the savory, sweet, and beverage markets. The company will present its new soft pieces in a chocolate bar and a muffin. It will highlight its natural coloring solutions in ice cream and candies. Booth visitors can also try an energy drink formulated with acerola, carrot, and coconut water ingredients.

ADM offers an ever-expanding catalog of flavorful, colorful, functional, nutritious, and whole-food ingredients. These include plant-based proteins, sweetening solutions, health and wellness ingredients, and many more. The company’s ingredient experts can help its customers develop products to get to marketfaster .

Kerry is responding with better, more authentic, and nutritious taste experiences, bringing its food heritage, global insights, marketplace knowledge, and culinary/ applications expertise to deliver solutions that meet consumers’ needs, says the company. Kerry supports clean labels, helping achieve authentic taste with sustainable ingredients, or reducing sugar in better-for-you applications.

Emsland Group is targeting the growing health and wellness segment, with production, application, and supply of plant-based ingredients. The company manufactures plant-based ingredients from renewable raw materials, vegetable proteins, clean label and modified starches, fibers, and potato flakes and granules for use in a wide variety of food formulations. These ingredients can be used in gluten-free formulations and vegan products, and they can be used to enrich the fiber content of food products. The company will showcase its Empro line of pea protein isolates, Empure range of clean label ingredients, and its latest innovation, Emden ET 50, a modified food starch suitable for vegan confectionery applications.

IMAGINE DOING MORE is the result of a collaboration to create trend- and consumer-connected. Together, Ingredion, TIC Gums, and Kerr Concentrates help their customers overcome formulation challenges in the areas of clean label, health and nutrition, sensory experience, affordability, and convenience and performance.

Visitors will experience how to formulate simpler, less processed foods and beverages with ingredients that consumers recognize with new Novation Prima organic functional native starches and Homecraft Create multi-functional rice, tapioca, and pulse flours. Other ingredients presented include prebiotic fibers, pulse proteins, and a new 80% pea protein isolate.

New product applications for the dairy, bakery, and beverages industries are planned from SensoryEffects, a Balchem company. For the beverage industry, Balchem will present “Generational Nutrition” with a special focus on children’s nutrition and will feature better-tasting plant-based options. The bakery industry can look forward to the Fall 2019 Feature Flavors launch at the booth for inclusions that bring on-trend flavors for autumn-inspired tastes.

The IFT is a global organization of 17,000 individual members from more than 100 countries committed to advancing the science of food.