A Look at Food Ingredients Europe (FiE) 2024
FRANKFURT, GERMANY—From November 19-21, 2024, Fi Europe (Food Ingredients Europe), the continent’s largest and one of the world’s leading showcases of food and beverage ingredients, was held in Frankfurt, Germany.
Over 1500 exhibitors and 25,000 attendees from more than 135 countries gathered to explore trends and developments, learn from future-focused industry leaders, and participate in a community of innovation-minded companies and individuals.
Attending on behalf of Edlong were:
- Susan O’Shaughnessy—Sr. Scientist – EMEA/APAC Applications
- Pam Leddy—Business Development Specialist
- Trevor Dunne—Business Development Manager, Europe.
“One cannot understate the importance of having a presence at an event like this,” explains O’Shaughnessy.
“For Edlong, exhibiting at FiE not only gives us a unique opportunity to showcase our products, innovations, and expertise to a global audience of industry professionals but it also allows us to meet and grow a large number of existing customers in face to face interactions, something which is not always possible due the size of EMEA and APAC.”
She continues, “FiE 2024 was a little different for us in this respect. This year, we were mainly focused on fostering relationships and building business by using the show to meet with customers we rarely interact with in person.”
The expo was also a unique opportunity and environment to promote collaborative work with other ingredient manufacturers.
Several such collaborations were on display at this year’s show, with partners like Biospringer and ChickP showcasing Edlong flavours in demos at their respective booths.
These and other planned joint efforts allow Edlong to not only showcase flavours but also provide advice to customers on the potential of complete “turnkey” solutions to some of their most significant challenges and needs.
This is especially important for plant-based alternatives, which continued to be a major topic of discussion on the floor and focus of the innovations on display at the booths of FiE 2024.
However, while plant-based solutions remained at the forefront, the aims have shifted from simply offering alternatives to raising the expectations for both flavour and nutritional value.
Prominently featured were plant-based proteins, whether novel ingredients like yeast protein or the usual suspects of pea, fava bean, and chickpea with cleaner and more user-friendly versions.
Other innovative ingredients like masking agents for off-notes, texturizers for exceptionally smooth and creamy mouthfeel, and even lentil-based egg replacers put on full display everything the future of plant-based could be.
The potential for plant-based was also where Edlong’s team drew inspiration for the two demos at their booth.
The first, a Plant-Based Cream Cheese – was designed to showcase Edlong’s new SUPERMASKER™ range. Attendees were first asked to taste the base, a simple fat, starch & water formulation to which 5% of Chickpea protein was added.
Next, they were asked to try a sample with one of the SUPERMASKERS™ to show how it neutralized the beany off-notes of the chickpea without imparting additional flavour to the base. The third and final sample had a natural sour cream and a natural yogurt flavor added to create the full cream cheese profile.
The second demo was a Sour Cream & Onion Lentil Snack, which was created to showcase how Edlong’s dairy flavours can impart mouthfeel. A natural sour cream (Kosher Dairy) was added to the seasoning base along with a natural milky creamy flavor.
Attendees could taste both the unflavoured and flavoured to fully understand the improved mouthfeel and the full dairy flavor imparted into the snack.
Though only a few short days, the relationships, conversations, and innovative ideas that make Fi Europe what it is are bound to continue shaping the near and distant future of food and beverage ingredients.
Learn how you can try these delicious demos for yourself
Find out more about how you can start collaborating with Edlong on your next plant-based innovations today!
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About Edlong Flavor Solutions
Over a Century of dairy process and global applications expertise have given Edlong the world’s largest portfolio of authentic dairy and dairy-type flavors.
Our comprehensive portfolio of Edlong dairy flavors imparts the authentic taste profiles of Cheese, Butter, Sweet Dairy, Cream, and Milk, while also delivering unique functional value in the masking and mouthfeel of plant-based and fortified products. The Edlong team is agile, collaborative, and customer obsessed, ready to help accelerate product innovation and commercialization by applying the right building blocks to create delicious tasting products that uniquely differentiate a brand.
At Edlong, we believe dairy can be indulgent, innovative and inspiring, and that the tastes of dairy can be a sales booster and a game changer for our customers. Our experience and our vision is why Edlong believes in Everything Dairy Can Be.