BALTIMORE — All eyes are on the natural and organic marketplace, where several landmark deals have occurred in the past year. In particular, plant-based food and beverage brands are capturing the appetites of investors and packaged foods companies, including Danone, Nestle and Dean Foods.
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| Carlotta Mast, senior vice-president of content at New Hope Network |
“I don’t think there’s a strategic C.P.G. or investment company in this space that isn’t looking at building a platform in the plant-based food and beverage category,” said Carlotta Mast, senior vice-president of content at New Hope Network.
The plant-based foods movement is underscored by a handful of emerging trends seen at Natural Products Expo East, held Sept. 13-16 in Baltimore. The event is produced by New Hope Network and features the latest innovations from more than 1,500 natural and organic companies.
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| Deanna Pogorelc, senior content producer at New Hope Network |
“One trend we saw … was an evolution of meat and dairy substitutes,” said Deanna Pogorelc, senior content producer at New Hope Network. “There’s a ton of activity in that space right now… (with companies) filling empty spaces where there aren’t currently good non-animal alternatives.”
Prior to this year’s show, Ms. Mast and Ms. Pogorelc highlighted product concepts to watch in an interview with Food Business News. Among them are vegan seafood, biodynamic ingredients and high-pressure processing.
Read on for 10 product trends at Natural Products Expo East.
