This past October 8-9, over 500 exhibitors from around the world gathered at Centro Banamex in Mexico City, Mexico, for one of Latin America’s premier food and beverage industry events, the 17th annual THE FOOD TECH® | SUMMIT & EXPO 2025.
As always, members of the Edlong’s LATAM team were there to showcase our authentic and cutting-edge flavor technologies and how they can help companies not only survive but thrive amidst constantly changing consumer and regulatory demands.
While there wasn’t one consistent theme at this year’s show, the industry’s evolving approach towards health, wellness, and cleaner products was on full display.
“In my opinion, there was a major focus on health and wellness from both a consumer and regulatory perspective,” says Alicia Vega, Edlong LATAM’s Director of R&D & Applications.
Vega continues, “This ranges from sugar reduction and alternative sweeteners to functional and personalized nutrition products, especially probiotics, as well as food supplements. In what’s been a common trend and many of this year’s shows, there was a much larger presence of companies offering natural coloring options as substitutes for artificial colors.”
Adding to this, Jaime Osnaya, Sr. Digital & Brand Communications Specialist, notes, “One thing that definitely caught my eye was booths displaying solutions for GLP-1 patients. It shows this is coming faster than we think, in fact, I think it’s already here! This is a topic that is only going to grow more important, and we need to be addressing it head-on.”
In an effort to help developers adjust and get ahead of the shifting consumer and regulatory landscape, Dr. Lourdes Mato, Associate Principal Scientist – Applied Research at Edlong, and Jesus Osorio, Edlong’s Business Development Manager—Mexico, held a talk at a technical conference titled “Technologies that can Comply with New Regulations Without Sacrificing Flavor”.
“In this presentation, we wanted not only to speak to the real challenges food manufacturers are facing due to an increased interest in better nutrition from consumers, and enforced by food and beverage regulatory agencies, but also to solutions that can help them deliver on these without sacrificing taste,” says Dr. Mato
“Placing a special emphasis on our innovative masking technologies, we guided through our practical internal studies on the functionality of dairy flavors and their effectiveness in masking or reducing off notes, balancing flavor profiles, and improving the overall eating experience.”
She adds, “During the talk, we provided examples of common off notes that could benefit from masking. Some of which include the lingering bitterness from sugar reduction, the bitter or metallic notes of new ingredients or salt reduction, as well as other off-tastes that often accompany already known ingredients utilized in different applications and for specific nutrition claims.”
“We had a full house and received very positive feedback and some interesting questions from the audience. In fact, for some in attendance, it was their first time hearing about Edlong, leading them to our booth to get help with current existing products, as well as some developmental work.”
In addition to the presentation, attendees were able to taste some of these solutions for themselves at Edlong’s consistently crowded booth.
“All of the demos this year had people leaving our booth very satisfied and impressed,” says Osnaya.
“One of the biggest hits was the plant-based chocolate milk beverage with high-protein and reduced sugar. This was also the featured sample for participants on the Top Buyers Club tour.”
He continues, “We first had attendees try a control sample, which, of course, was filled with plant-based off-notes from the pea protein. However, when they tasted the sample with our flavor technology, they were shocked by how well it masked the off-notes. Still, many were even more blown away by how a plant-based beverage could have such an authentic dairy mouthfeel. Not to mention that our chocolate flavors helped reduce cocoa by 50%.”
The Food Tech Summit & Expo 2025 was an incredible opportunity to experience and taste the innovations and solutions that are shaping the industry. Yet, it also provided a chance for Edlong to demonstrate why we are one of the world’s leaders not only in the taste of dairy but also in cutting-edge flavor technologies. Solutions tailored to solve the struggles developers are facing now, and designed with an eye on the future.
Hungry for more? Get in touch with our international team of experts to experience these incredible technologies for yourself!
Topics: Better For YouCharacterizing FlavorsCheese applicationsDairy flavorsDairy-freeMasking & mouthfeelPlant-BasedSeasoningsSweet SpotValue-Driven
Resource Type: Article