Face it, the IFT Food Expo floor at McCormick Place in Chicago is huge, and you will never see everything. The same can be said for the lists of talks, sessions and posters, no matter what your field and area of expertise may be.
Below, you will find Food Dive's notes from the show. We have some writeups about news and speakers you might have missed, as well as some noteworthy stops on the floor, because, after all, one of the best parts of the IFT Food Expo is sampling products.
1. The 2013 IFT Food Expo Innovation Award Winners
Nine jurors judged more than 60 qualifying entries to select the following innovators, who were honored on Sunday. These were the winners, and where you should still be able to find them on the floor:
- Glanbia Nutritionals for its Optisol 3000 Egg Replacement (Booth 1029)
- NIZO Food Research for its Acoustic Tribology (Booth 1310)
- PerkinElmer for its DSA/TOF Mass Spectrometry System (Booth 4019)
- Tate & Lyle for its SODA-LO Salt Microspheres (Booth 1640)
2. Fareed Zakaria's opening general session address and concerns about water use
During the opening general session on Sunday, Fareed Zakaria, the host of CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS," spoke on the impact of rising world powers, including the challenges and opportunities that arise due to water use in the system and improved global communications.
3. David Robson's Beacon lecture (also about water)
This was a great talk, and we noted the highlights. He posed three questions that may change how you think about food.
4. Greek Flavored Chicken Sliders
David Michael & Co. has been serving up Greek-inspired offerings that might be slightly off the beaten path from what you have tasted before. They're hard to miss at booth 200 as you walk in the door.
5. Gelita's gelatin dessert flowers
You may have seen Gelita's announcement ahead of the expo, stating they would be showing off their gelatin and collagen peptides. The press release, however, didn't say that they would look too nice eat.
6. Figs
The nice people at the Valley Fig Growers booth will be the first to tell you that figs can go into more than just cake cookies. Have you ever considered fig gelato?
7. Almonds
The versatility of almonds may be a little more widely known, but if you're walking the show floor in search of a snack, the Almond Pizzelle Cookie Sandwich with Spiced Almond Butter from the Almond Board of California scored big points with Food Dive's taste buds.
8. Pop Rocks
If you didn't already know that Pop Rocks were being marketed as ingredients, you do now.
9. The decline of salmonella in Europe
This chart shows one of the highlights from Dr. Hubert Deluyker's Beacon lecture on Sunday. The trend is impressive.
Dr Hubert Deluyker shows a chart tracking the decline in EU salmonella cases from 2004-2011 #IFT13 pic.twitter.com/ZO8eNYDBaF
— Food Dive (@FoodDive) July 14, 2013
10. Dow's new resin kit
In case you missed it, we spoke with Jon Fisher of Dow Water and Process Solutions about the company's new Specialty Nutrition Resin Kit. The resins have uses for producers in juice, dairy, beer and wine.
11. IFT's new Global Traceability Center
IFT's board of directors has a approved the establishment of this new global food center, which stands to do a lot of good, bringing together different perspectives to solve big problems. We're looking forward to seeing how things develop with this project, which will be an ambitious international undertaking.
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