Conference Day Two
Wednesday, October 16 2024
Disclaimer: Workshop Schedule Update
Please be advised that Workshop A and Workshop B have swapped their scheduled conference days. Workshop A will now take place on Wednesday, October 16, and Workshop B will be held on Tuesday, October 15. Thank you for your attention to this change.
WORKSHOP A
7:45 am Evaluating 5 Clean Label Sugar Reduction Strategies: Replace, Reduce, Remove, Boost & Block – Overcoming Reformulation Challenges in New Applications
Synopsis
Join industry experts in this workshop to help overcome major hurdles and bottlenecks in the reformulation and reduction pipeline for new high-sugar food areas. This session will help you evaluate what limitations exist on product categories that could inhibit the viability of reduced sugar product lines, and which food and beverage areas show promise for reduction. Discuss the impacts of reducing sugar for stability, shelf-life, and appearance, and what that means for application areas.
Make the most of the exclusive opportunity to collaborate with your peers to:
- Discuss what technological breakthroughs facilitated the reformulation and reduction toolboxes developed for beverages to be applied in foods
- Assess the viability of promising product categories outside of beverages and food, such as supplements, functional ingredients, vitamin gummies, or infant formula
- Evaluate what technological, developmental, or regulatory advances would be required to facilitate successful sugar reduction in food and beverage markets
9:00 am Check In, Morning Coffee & Light Breakfast
10:00 am Chairs Opening Remarks
Dissecting Perceptions Within the Low Sugar Space to Understand the Consumer
10:05 am T-A-Smell: Enhancing High-Intensity Sweeteners Utilizing New FMPs by Retronasal Sensations for Superior Reduced Sugar Beverages Taste
Synopsis
- Taste stimuli can be smelled: Non-volatile taste compounds, such as sweeteners, can be perceived in both the orthonasal and retronasal cavities in the form of aerosol particles, challenging the traditional separation of taste and smell. The retronasal sensation of taste stimuli significantly impacts sensory perception, influencing taste discrimination, sweetness intensity, and overall preference. This has substantial implications for food and beverage design
- Brain science is key to decoding the perception of sweeteners: The first series of taste and flavor modulators validated by fMRI can bridge the gap in brain responses between sugar and sucralose
- Innovating stevia is a long journey: The new innovative stevia extract, combined with taste and flavor modulators, makes it possible for natural zero-calorie beverages to taste better than sugar
10:35 am Striving for Both Sustainable & Natural Ingredients for Sweetening & Bulking Consumer Products
Synopsis
- Considering modern consumer demands, can alternative sugars and bulking agents be made at high volumes sustainably without compromising on taste?
- Evaluating a range of sustainability metrics for conventional sugar, and stevia-based alternatives
- Assessing the scalability of sustainably produced sugar alternatives
11:05 am Morning Coffee & Networking Break
Synopsis
Make the most of this morning networking session to connect with your industry and meet fellow pioneers. Use this opportunity to form important connections for expediting your platform development!
11:35 am Mastermind: Assessing Consumer Opinions on Sweet Proteins to Diversify Potential Product Applications
Synopsis
Watch a short, data-led presentation, followed by a moderated open discussion about consumer opinions of novel sweetener technologies.
- Analyzing consumer opinion data on the potential for proteins to be used as alternative sweeteners
- Do consumers associate fermentation-enabled or protein-structure-engineered products with being ‘genetically modified,’ and could that negatively affect the sweet protein sector?
- Discussing potential labeling differences between non-caloric sweeteners, low-calorie alternative sugars, and protein-based sweeteners from the consumer’s perspective.
- How to undo the negative perception of ‘sweeteners’ in the public eye
12:30 pm Networking Lunch Break
Identifying Effective & Commercial Scale-up Pathways to Increase Low-Sugar Ingredient & Product Availability
1:20 pm Exploring Methods to Increase Scale-Up Effectiveness for Continuous Processing Sugar Reduction Technologies
Synopsis
- Considering how to foster good supplier-food and beverage company relationships to effectively incorporate new sugar reduction technologies into production and processing
- Identifying past challenges in the rollout of enzymatic bioprocessing to reduce sugar and reviewing lessons learned
- Discussing potential new areas for continuous enzymatic sugar reduction
2:00 pm Accelerating the Development & Application Pipeline from Novel Technologies to Profitable & Popular Products
Synopsis
- Identifying hurdles along the development and supply chain; from lab, to pilot, to full-scale production and the importance of regulatory approvals, ingredient labeling and claims
- Key factors to be addressed early in the process: cost in use and taste performance
- Fostering better cross-industry partnerships to meet consumer taste expectations for a successful sugar-reduced food development pipeline
- Summarizing: What would a successful action plan look like to minimize the chance of ‘dead tech’ and get healthier products onto shelves faster
2:30 pm Afternoon Refreshment & Networking
Staying Ahead of the Innovation Curve to Understand the Future of Sugar Reduction
3:00 pm Optimizing Protein Design to Increase Favorable Traits of Sweet Proteins to Provide a More Robust Sweet Protein Toolbox
Synopsis
- Discussing computational methodologies to enhance protein structure and function for use in food and beverage products
- Exploring the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing designer proteins as part of your sweetener portfolio
- What can be improved about sweet proteins at a protein level to provide a better taste and sensory experience in reformulated foods
3:30 pm Panel Discussion: Necessary Considerations for Emerging Technologies in Sugar Reduction & Reformulation
Synopsis
- Exploring novel ingredients and technologies that can help replicate sugar’s sensory and functional properties from a crossfunctional and cross-industry perspective
- Addressing regulatory differences, costs, production capability, and consumer preference criteria when considering avenues for sugar reduction innovation
- Analyzing the economic viability, sustainability metrics, and clean labeling compliance that sugar alternatives will need to fill to ensure consumer trust and mass market appeal
- Investigating cutting-edge technologies in sugar reduction methods, and defining the criteria necessary for these methods to enter mainstream product categories