A pop-up city of 80,000+, Natural Products Expo West, once again proved its worth: a dizzying array of innovation shared and leveraged under a sparkling California sun.
The 2017 show, produced by New Hope Network, was held March 9-13 at the Anaheim Convention Center and brought together 3,100 exhibiting companies, including more than 500 first-time exhibitors.
“Each year, longtime attendees band together with first-timers to push the natural products industry to new heights. We quickly see its impact as groundbreaking new healthy products show up on store shelves across the country.” said Adam Andersen, Managing Director, New Hope Network.
The New Hope Network tracked the major forces and consumer trends this year:
- Erosion of trust: One hundred years of chemicals and processing are being rejected as consumers buy products with fewer ingredients and ones they can source and maybe even pronounce.
- Climate of Change: Disrupting the status quo is a long tradition in California and winds of change are blowing extra strong this year as protection and preservation incite activism, evident in product innovation.
- Prioritizing health: Beans, beets and lots of greens are piling into unlikely suspects like beverages, chips and even desserts. Protein, fat and carb management has always been in play, but micromanaging the modules is more common now.
- Consciousness rising: Products emphasize contributions—or lack of damage– to the environment or communities near and far. Consumers want that.
As for our favorite here at IPA, the probiotic category grows every year. Monica Watrous wrote for FoodBusinessNews:
“Peanut butter, popcorn and lollipops are among dozens of new products fortified with probiotics on display at Expo West. Ganeden, a Cleveland-based developer of probiotic ingredients, partnered with top companies to debut more than 125 items infused with its patented GanedenBC30 probiotic at the show.”
Stay tuned for more insights and taste impressions.