26,000 people attended Natural Products Expo East in Boston last proving the effects of the troubled economy have yet to be painfully felt in the natural products industry. Though time will tell how the nutrition industry manages through this economic downturn, some companies are still doing well. Case in point, large conventional food manufacturers are outpreforming the market with growing sales and profits. General Mills, Campbell Soup and Kraft are just a few CPG firms that have found a way to profitably manage price increases, commodity price increases and changes in consumer shopping behavior.

Servicing the needs of the food industry, the Healthy Foods Conference was held on October 14th and 15th in Boston, MA, just prior to the start of Natural Products Expo East. About 100 executives in the healthy food and ingredient supply market attended the event, which delivered on its aim to bring together though leaders in the supply and manufacture of healthy foods (natural/organic, functional and lesser evil) in the U.S.

Tuesday’s “Delicious Predictions for 2010″ session was particularly notable.

Keynote Jeremy Gutsche of TrendHunter.com laid out a compelling new way to approach innovation and product development, utilizing his experience in online media and how new products capture the attention of various audiences in today’s cluttered media landscape.

Jeremy challenged all in attendance to rethink innovation for today’s online population based on his studies and experiences as the head of TrendHunter.com, challenging the attendees in the audience to a number of “team” challenges.

Jeff Grorr defended Kellogg’s acquisition of Kashi, noting that since the acquisition, Kellogg hasn’t reformulated any of the Kashi products for health reasons. He also thought there was a future for branded ingredients, but at this time, the consumer brands hold more value than the ingredient brands and thus don’t add much incremental value in consumer marketing. Jeff also noted that “the tide” is moving towards healthy foods, in that that the greater populations IS moving towards health and as an industry we need to keep our standards high and hold each other accountable to acceptable standards so not to undermine the growing consumer healthy food opportunity.

Robin Roderick of Ocean Spray noted the special needs of the aging and growing population of baby boomers over 65, detailing the low level of healthy food education and high needs for nutritionally rich products.

Laryn Calloway of Organic Bistro explained that the average American has the equivalent of a 6th grade education when it comes to nutrition. Laryn’s original mission was to reach unhealthy consumers by making her products “cool” and make it cool to eat well. There’s no magic bullet for wellness, she said, but a whole suite of life changes.

Wednesday’s sessions were also very informative, but as a nutrition industry researcher, the “Delicious Predictions for 2010″ was excellent.

-Patrick

I was pleased to learn last week that Kimberly Stewart, Editorial Director of Functional Ingredients Magazine, was named chair of the Healthy Foods Conference. Kim is the bright and thoughful leader of FI’s editorial team and a progressive thinker when it comes to healthy foods. In fact, she’s the author of Eating Between the Lines: The Supermarket Shopper’s Guide to the Truth Behind Food Labels.

In addition, Kim is a former contributor for Natural Home Magazine and editor-in-chief of Dining Out Magazine. She is also the recipient of two Association of Food Journalists awards for Food News Reporting in 2004 and the Jesse Neal Business Journalism Award in 2002. Before joining FI, Kim regularly contributed to Alternative Health, Better Nutrition, Delicious Living, Denver Post, Eating Well, Vegetarian Times, and numerous other publications.

Kim will make the Healthy Foods Conference a truly unique event for food brand managers and formulation experts, but don’t take it from me, here’s Kim discussing what you will learn at the Healthy Foods Conference on October 14th and 15th at The Westin Boston Waterfront in Boston, MA.

Consumers understand the connection between healthy food and a healthy life. As a result, they are driving mainstream food companies to offer healthier foods with quality ingredients, good taste and health authenticity.

Right before Natural Products Expo East, the Healthy Foods Conference will address business and product development issues related to healthy foods on October 14th & 15th.

To learn more about why you should attend the Healthy Foods Conference, watch the video below from Len Monheit, President & Editor of NPICenter.com.

I hope to see you there.

-Patrick

The mystery of Coca-Cola’s recipe remains, but Coke has revealed that it’s flagship product is “natural” in an advertising campaign launched in the U.K. The New York Times story, “Campaign Reveals Just a Little Bit of Coke’s Secret Formula“, goes into further detail about this uncloaking, but it appears this move is a market test to see how young consumers react to this new messaging.

If successful, this marketing will mark a significant shift in Coke’s lifestyle and attitude presentation, to one boosting its health credentials.

Clearly, health is no longer viewed as a passing fad by big food & beverage companies, as they experiment with changing the way they position their legacy brands and products.

Consumers aren’t stupid, however, and NBJ expects that the beverage that will help take rust off nails will struggle to be seen as a natural product.

Still, my favorite is the “science” of combining mentos and coca-cola. For anyone that’s attended SupplySide West, you’ll appreciate this video.

If you are a subscriber to Nutrition Business Journal, you can now access all of the 2008 Nutrition Industry Overview online at nutritionbusinessjournal.com. No need to sort through your over flowing mailbox, search your desk and interrogate your co-workers for your copy of NBJ. Just go to nutritionbusinessjournal.com.

To see all the articles, go to the current issue page. Here you will see the entire overview issue laid out in an expanded table of contents view. From here you can link to every article if you are signed in as an NBJ subscriber.

If you do not know your NBJ subscriber username and password, call Rachel Dederich, NBJ’s Subscriber Services Coordinator, at 303.998.9263.

-Patrick