Topic Menu at Food Tech Expo: Simple, Healthy, Generic

(July 26) -- More than 20,000 superfoodies gathered at the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting and Food Expo last week in Chicago to chew on Pretzel M&Ms, generic brands, food in a war zone and more.

They weren't typical yuppie home cooks or would-be gourmets. Instead, the conference convened most of the world's top research chefs, scientists, food-safety experts and creators of new flavors and innovative eatables.

The menu of topics was almost as varied as the products on display, which included pretzels that tasted like a Chicago hot dog and luxurious chocolates that vendors insisted had zero calories.

"Clean label" was among the buzz phrases echoing through the sprawling McCormick Place convention center.

The clean label that health-conscious shoppers want is a list of ingredients that won't frighten them. No multisyllable, unintelligible additives that never saw a farm, but rather came from an oil refinery or a chemist's lab.

One shopper for a national chain of big-box stores pointed out dealers who admitted that they were selling the same less-expensive, better-living-through-chemistry stuff, but with new, less-intimidating, friendlier-sounding names.

But there were even more dealers who demonstrated sweeteners, thickeners, texture modifiers, salt replacements and other additives made from natural ingredients.

In fact, Innova Market Insights reported that the clean label, or simplicity, was the No. 1 trend it found among new products.

The research agency said it tracked 987 new products using "simple" or "simplest" in their labeling. For instance, Lay's Classic Potato Chips uses the claim "made with three simple ingredients," and Pillsbury Simply ... Cookies are advertised as being "made with just the simple, whole ingredients."

A full list of Innova's top 10 trends is on the conference website.

In the meantime, AOL News dropped in on a few of the other most discussed topics at the convention.

Where Does Our Food Come From?

No one should believe that most of the food in U.S. stores was grown or processed here. A couple of hours weaving through the maze of 2,100-plus booths in the hall and it was obvious that far fewer than half of those touting their wares were North American companies.

China, with red banners marking the scores of government-sponsored chemical and food suppliers, clearly dominated the pack. India, pushing its spices, synthetic flavorings and teas, was a far second, followed closely by South Korea, Taiwan and other Asian countries offering up more chemical seasonings and farmed seafood.

Many scientists -- government, academic and industry -- spoke on how and why to protect the food chain from the skyrocketing amount of foreign-produced food flooding across U.S. borders.

Representatives of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Food Safety Agency and several civilian experts lectured throughout the conference that there must be improved screening of imports with enhanced targeting to prevent the entry of adulterated, misbranded or otherwise illegal food products.

Food for Those in Uniform

Several sessions were held on food in the war zone and on the final frontier.

The food-in-a-pill and powdered sweet drinks that were the traditional space meals during the birth of the space program 50 years ago have been replaced with a more eatable fare, said Michele Perchonak, NASA's advanced food technology manager.

"Today's astronauts are eating meals that are thermo-stabilized and irradiated for safety, shelf life and quality," Perchonak told the gathering, explaining that the space program is developing a variety of safe, appealing foods with a five-year "shelf life for future manned missions to Mars."

The U.S. military has adopted high-tech everything, but its food scientists told attendees that the Army still travels on its stomach.

However, significant and varied obstacles must be overcome to ensure the safety of what the troops eat, whether in the almost indestructible individual pouches of "meals ready to eat" or the bulk canned foods shipped halfway around the globe to supply hastily erected combat mess halls.

Andy Senecal, program adviser for the food safety and defense team at the U.S. Army Research Center in Natick, Mass., explained that the Defense Department tries to find supplies of perishable foods like fruits, vegetables, dairy and bakery items produced in or near war zones.

The problem that Senecal and other military health and safety specialists have to confront is that many of these countries have different food-safety standards than the U.S.

"The No. 1 nonbattle injury outside of bullets is diarrhea," Senecal said.

How Safe Is Our Food?

Food safety was paramount to many of the participants.

Passionate debates were sparked over what Congress is going to accomplish to make food safer. The House's Food Safety Enhancement Act and the Senate's Food Safety Modernization Act -- both introduced in 2009 -- have passed their respective committees with bipartisan support. The full House approved its bill.

The painful reality to those most concerned about food safety is that if the laws are not passed before this session of Congress adjourns, the entire effort must start again from the beginning.

Many at the conference said they were resigned to the new law and that it was long overdue. Others, however, especially those importing food, said were worried about meeting the requirements of the law, should it pass.

What's New?

Consumers' tastes became more sophisticated and adventurous over the past decade, and the number of new food products brought to market escalated. But because of the recession, growth dropped 22 percent as food producers stuck with less risky, established products.

The downward spiral has ended, Lynn Dornblaser, director of Chicago consulting firm CPG Trend Insight, told the attendees in one lecture session.

The introduction of new foods and beverages is up about 15 percent, she said, with much of the increase coming from manufacturers creating new products to meet consumer demands like "treat foods" such as Greek yogurt and Pretzel M&Ms. There is a rush to those items that allow consumers to create restaurant-type food at home, such as specially flavored mayonnaise, oils and vinegars, and ethnic collections of spices.

"Because food science is so advanced today, when we combine that with the culinary arts, we can give people food that's good for them and tastes delicious," said Leda Strand, director of technology applications for seasoning maker Wixon. The Wisconsin company has developed more than 7,000 flavor groups and says it adds a couple dozen new ones each month.

Not all product development is based on surveys and consumer analysis.

Ed Hirschberg, the 82-year-old creator of San Francisco-based Innovative Foods, says the answer to successful new products "is winning over the kids."

"You've got to give out a lot of samples of the new products at large grocery chains and big-box stores, but once the kids are hooked, their parents will follow," Hirschberg said, waving a bag of his new plump, sweet, preserved, sugar-free blueberries.

Is It Really Organic?

Several food industry analysts said the interest in organic or natural foods has leveled off and even dropped in some markets. This is in part because of growing consumer skepticism over the authenticity of those claims. New organic offerings are largely driven by products from smaller companies or by private labels, which allow consumers to purchase organic products but pay less than the premium organic brand, Dornblaser said.

What's Cheapest?

Private-label foods from smaller packers are attracting many food and beverage consumers trying to cut dollars from their grocery budgets, Barbara Katz, president of HealthFocus International, told AOL News.

"Popularity of store or private labels have been growing, fueled by the excellent job that retailers are doing turning what used to be just cheaper products into brands that provide value and can compete head to head," Katz said.

The trend survey that her firm conducts in the U.S. every two years has seen an increase of as much as 37 percent of shoppers who said they prefer to buy generic or store-brand products.

"This attitude is fueled by the 18- to 29-year-old shoppers who tend to be less brand loyal then the [baby] boomers," Katz said.

She also cautioned the major food retailers that brand loyalty, which they have counted on for generations, doesn't mean much today, with only one in 10 shoppers saying they wouldn't change brands to save money.

Baby formula was the one item parents said they would be reluctant to switch to save money, she said.