From early morning yoga classes to a well-timed GMO labeling announcement by Whole Foods Market, Natural Products Expo West 2013, the largest natural products expo in the country, delivered once again on its reputation as the epicenter for all things “natural”. If you read my previous post, you’ll know I love to make predictions about the show and that I’d marked a few different brands I was looking forward to connecting with.
While I predicted pea protein would be the “it” ingredient of the show, I realize my prediction may be a bit premature. Versus highlighting this ingredient specifically, a major focus for food brands was on “soy free” proteins and claims. Although pea was certainly in the ingredient mix, other soy alternatives such as grass-fed whey and brown rice were often part of the protein blend as well. Focusing on “soy free” claims versus the ingredients themselves may be a reflection of a need to shift more gradually with consumers…stay-tuned as I think we will see more specific ingredient callouts in 2014 and beyond.
A new brand I disco
vered at the show and fell in love with is Elli Quark. Quark is a German form of soft cheese (think pureed cottage cheese minus the sodium). The company was founded by a woman, who with the help of her husband, created a higher protein, lower sugar competitor to the booming Greek yogurt market. With 80-90 calories, 14 grams of protein and clean ingredients, I’m super excited to see what happens with this brand.
The topic of GMO was a theme across categories throughout the show this year. Whereas the Non-GMO Project, the leading 3rd party certifier of Non-GMO Verified products, felt as though it was still working to get on the radar in 2012, this year their verification label could be seen everywhere. And the announcement by Whole Foods Market to enforce GMO labeling at their stores starting in 2018 managed to officially light the topic on fire. Although I doubt Whole Food’s threat to electively label in their stores will be necessary by 2018 (federal labeling will likely exist before then), the changes it will create throughout the food and agricultural community as brands shift ingredients to organic and identity preserved sources will have a major impact on our food supply.
And although my fears regarding a lack of transparency around ingredient sourcing and processing were confirmed within the dietary supplement side, I was incredibly impressed by a relatively new traceability program, Meet Your Herbs, by Gaia Herbs. As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve always respected Gaia Herbs for their transparency when it comes to their ingredient standards. They’ve now taken it to a whole new level where consumers can enter an ID code located on each product into a program on their website to trace each ingredient back to its source. It’s an amazing demonstration for not just the dietary supplement industry, but all industries for what is possible when it comes to providing transparency. I look forward to other brands in the natural health and medicine community following suit.
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