Articles by Robert Garrison

A majority of grocery shoppers believe that packaging can leave undesirable chemicals in their foods and beverages.

There’s no better way to introduce Prepared Foods’ upcoming 17th annual Spirit of Innovation Awards. These distinctive awards recognize new foods and beverages in retail, foodservice and alternative channels—all those items introduced from January 2018 through March 2019.

I realize you already may be in the middle of fiscal 2019, yet I believe there’s something noteworthy in turning the page on a calendar year. Perhaps it’s simply that holidays and vacations (hopefully) offer respite, a moment to downshift, an opportunity to pause and hit “refresh.”

Our Prepared Foods team recently shared the same experience when we deconstructed and recast our annual New Products Conference (now in its 36th year). We hired an outside meetings and marketing specialist who challenged us to re-examine every aspect of our conference goals, planning and decision making.

For its part, Prepared Foods believes new product development is a team sport and PF's 16th annual "Spirit of Innovation" (SOI) awards honor those food and beverage manufacturer teams collaborating and creating distinct new products that stand out in their respective markets.

Of the 36 NRA Food and Beverage Awards (FABI) issued this year, eight winners were new sauces, spreads and dressings and nearly all those of featured an ethnic twist—particularly with Indian, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influences.

Despite the rise in interest in plant-based or lab-grown protein, market researcher Packaged Facts finds that actual consumption is very low compared to demand for beef, pork, chicken and turkey.

From coffee to "crafted" and floral to functional, this year's National Restaurant Association (NRA) Show featured a wide variety of foodservice beverage trends.

When it comes to foodservice menus, it's clear that milks, cheeses, cultured products and frozen desserts carry function, flavor, texture and on-trend tastes.

Here's an example of flour power. When the National Restaurant Association (NRA) announced its 2018 annual Food and Beverage (FABI) award honorees, nine of the 36 winners were bakery products and/or baking companies.