New products were showcased at Expo West in the Food Category, from products made with ancient grains to products fortified with probiotics.
Ancient Grains
Sometimes plain wheat just won’t do anymore. Foods are now including ancient grains and supergrains to add nutrition to old standby products, such as cereal and breakfast bars.
From Hain Celestial, the Arrowhead Mills® brand offered a new cereal, Organic Maple Morning Blend, featuring Kamut® and lentil flakes, as well as spelt clusters with sunflower seeds and chia seeds. The Organic Vanilla Sunrise Blend contains Kamut flakes and amaranth clusters with almonds and flaxseeds. The new cereals offer 6 g of protein and 5 g of fiber, and they are organic and Non-GMO (genetically modified organism) Project Verified.
Nature’s Path’s Qia Superflakes are cereals made with ancient grains. Varieties include Cocoa Coconut and Coconut Chia. They include chia, sprouted grains, coconut and Fair Trade cocoa, and call out that they contain 6 to 7 g of fiber; 5 to 6 g of protein, 6 g of protein and 35 g of whole grains.
KIND®’s new Breakfast Bars feature five supergrains (oats, millet, buckwheat, amaranth and quinoa). They offer 21 g of whole grains per serving and are gluten free, dairy free, low sodium and GMO free. Varieties include Blueberry Almond and Raspberry Chia. KIND’s dark chocolate whole grain clusters have the same five super grains with 10 g of protein and 25 g of whole grains per serving. Additionally, the company’s Popped snack bites have six super grains (oats, sorghum, amaranth, millet, quinoa and buckwheat) and popcorn. With 18 g of whole grains per serving and no genetically engineered ingredients, these low-sodium snacks are available in Salted Caramel or Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt.
Plum Organics’ Mighty Mealtime features organic oatmeal and ancient grains. It has no added sugar, eight vitamins and minerals, 70 mg of omega-3 (alpha linolenic acid, or ALA, from chia), 3 g of fiber and 3 g of protein.
Probiotics Populating the Food Aisles
Probitoics have been in foods for a while, but the shelves are getting more filled. Probiotics are now in veggies, nut butters and chia seeds.
Ganeden® partnered with more than 20 food and beverage companies to announce over 60 new product SKUs at Expo West, many of them in food, each fortified with the patented probiotic strain GanedenBC30®. Products included Brad's Raw Foods: Brad's Broccoli Poppers and Brad's Crunchy Kale —Made from dehydrated whole broccoli florets and dehydrated, crunchy, organic kale chips that deliver vitamin C and probiotics; Naturally More Nut Butters with Probiotics—Almond, peanut and chocolate hazelnut butters with added probiotics and flaxseed for more essential nutrients. The packaging calls out the yogurt as well as the amount of ALA (384 mg/serving); Nomva Snack HPP (high-pressure processing) Fruit and Veggie Pouches—Organic, blended snack pouches made only with whole fruit and vegetables, plus billions of probiotics. Varieties include Kale pack, Apple pack, Strawberry and Carrot; Forager Project Cashew Smoothies—Cashew milk-based probiotic smoothies available in Banana Date and Strawberry Banana. They also contain chia seed; Baxco Sinfree Sugar Probiotic Pouch and Pre-Mix Cans—Proprietary blend of naturally occurring sugars with zero calories and added health benefits of GanedenBC30 and gluten-free drink mixes with no trans fats, cholesterol or hydrogenated oils, and available in hot cocoa, mocha cappuccino and spiced chai.
But GanedenBC30’s wasn’t the only probiotic in the food aisles. From PRANA, ProactivCHIA contains 6 billion live microorganism of probiotics per serving of the whole black, organic and gluten-free chia seeds. The probiotics are Lactobacillus helveticus LAFTI® L10 and Lactobacillus helveticus Rosell-52 BD from Lallemand Health Solutions. The package calls out the omega-3s and calcium content.
Telling the Brand Story on Packaging
Consumers want to know the “why” behind a product, and brands are delivering by telling the stories about how the products were conceived and created or who the people are behind the ingredients.
Cascadian Farm’s Organic Honey Oat Crunch cereal features a Cascadian farm profile highlight with Gene Kahn who started his farm in 1975. The product is non-GMO, has no artificial colors and carries the Bee Friendlier™ certification. Perfect Bar’s line of refrigerated nutrition bars features a story about the founder’s dad, Dr. Bud Keith, on the packaging. It also notes the soy-free products contain more than 20 “expertly hidden” whole foods and 17 g of protein, and are a good source of fiber. At Expo West, the company showcased its complete line that is now Non-GMO Project Verified with the accompanying seal. Perfect Bar’s Peanut Butter, Fruit & Nut and Cranberry Crunch flavor recipes joined the Almond Coconut bar with the USDA Organic seal, all of which will begin shipping May 2016.
CLIF Bar’s new Nut Butter Filled Energy Bar displays a story on the back about how the company founder did a 16-day bike tour in the Alps in 1986, inspiring him to create the product, which is an organic, non-GMO chocolate hazelnut butter bar.
Suja: Pressed Probiotic Waters™ are enhanced waters made with organic fruits, vegetables and 2 billion colony forming units (CFUs) of probiotics per bottle. Among the flavors, crushed raspberry is organic, non-GMO and cold pressured. On the back of the package, the company explains that cold pressure helps maintain essential vitamins, minerals and enzymes that could be lost during HPP.
Coco for Coconut
Coconut was the “it” flavor this year, appearing in a variety of foods offering not only great taste, but healthy fats, as well. One of LARABAR’s new Larabar Organic with Superfoods offerings includes coconut, along with kale and cacao. The nutrition bar also contains dates, almonds and cocoa powder.
On the beverage side, COCO5 is a coconut water available in several flavors: coconut, lime, orange, pineapple, passion fruit and cherry. It contains five essential electrolytes—calcium, sodium, chlorine, potassium and magnesium—in a beverage with all-natural flavors, sweeteners and colors, no artificial dyes or high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), gluten, GMOs or BPAs (Bisphenol A).
Tu-Me’s natural turmeric-infused sport water expands on the turmeric trend seen at last year’s Expo West and adds in the coconut trend form this year. The Coconut Water flavor (35 calories) is sweetened with cane sugar, while the other varieties—Mango (5 calories), Citrus (10 calories), Berries (10 calories) and Pomegranate (10 calories)—are sweetened with stevia.
