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Fo o d M a g i c D a i l y S u n d a y, J u n e 2 2 , 2 0 1 4 1 0 POWDERPURE: SUPERIOR QUALITY FRUIT AND VEGETABLE POWDERS An interview with John Wong, Head of Sales and Marketing, PowderPure. FMD: Tell our readers about your com- pany. What makes your company unique? JW: Fruit and vegetable powders have been manufactured using processes that date back 50 or even 100 years or more, and not much has changed in that time to make them significantly better. Our com- pany took a fresh look at how these prod- ucts are manufactured, and found ways to improve quality every step of the way. Hand in hand with superior quality are the benefits of economies of scale, which make our powders affordable. The ulti- mate mission of the company is to help improve health through diet by making possible affordable, convenient and enjoyable products based on our fruit and vegetable powders. FMD: What distinguishes your products from the competition? JW: Our fruit and vegetable powders are a best in class product. They have complete retention of whole food nutrients, fresh flavor and the original color. They have improved characteris- tics over competing products which can make viable a new class of prod- ucts, and improve upon the existing class of products. FMD: Who are your target customers? JW: Larger manufacturers and compa- nies that sell their own branded products which require the highest quality fruit and vegetable powders. Companies which need unique solutions in develop- ing products based on whole fruit and vegetable powders. We also provide a unique solution to companies that need a cost-effective manufacturing process where good retention of quality is required. FMD: How do you see the next year in terms of sales, technology and product evolution? JW: In the 14-year history of the compa- ny, growth has been a consistent theme. The goals for the coming year are to con- tinue to broaden our product line and to develop new partnerships. Superior man- ufacturing will make viable new and truly unique products for our customers. FMD: What products do you see as being hottest this year? JW: Our beverage powders made of whole fruits and vegetables, which dis- perse readily into water to create a pleas- ant beverage with smooth consistency, complete whole food nutrition and good flavor. These beverage powders success- fully replicate the liquid beverages found in the refrigerated display case in gro- cery stores. These beverage powders will be an entirely new class of product. FMD: What do you anticipate to be your greatest challenge in the year ahead? JW: Adding capacity quickly enough to satisfy customer demand. FMD: To what do you attribute your company's success? JW: The inventiveness, flexible spirit and tenacity of those who work for the company. Creating products that redefine a class and then developing truly unique products for our customers which rede- fine their own class of products is made possible by these qualities. What we do is not easy, but those who work for the company find reward furthering the mis- sion to help improve health through diet with affordable, convenient and enjoy- able products that offer whole food nutri- tion. For more information, visit booth 1049, go to www.powderpure.com, call 541-298- 4800 or email sales@powderpure.com. INFRATAB FRESHTIME BRINGS FRESHNESS ANALYTICS TO PERISHABLES The award-winning Infratab Freshtime perishable monitoring solution, current- ly on display at booth 1056, is designed for those concerned about managing freshness – whether in new perishable research, packaging design, quality assurance, the supply chain, food serv- ice or for a concerned user. Freshtime – whose awards include Laureate, The Computerworld Honors Program 2011; Laureate, The Computerworld Honors Program 2012; Food Logistics Top Ten Innovators 2012; Food Logistics 100 2013 – has never been more flexible and accessi- ble with both its tags and software. Freshtime EPC tags are field- proven for monitoring time, tempera- ture and freshness in the cold chain as well as in sub-freezing and hot environ- ments. At IFT, Infratab is announcing two new tags: Freshtime NFC for NFC smartphones, and tablets and Freshtime Dual EPC/NFC for widespread and diverse supply chains with limited EPC installations. Although tags are the key to gather- ing data, their power and usefulness come with Freshtime metrics, called Freshtime Points™, and Freshtime's per- ishable data dictionary, called Freshtime Databook™. Freshtime Points enable freshness to be quantified, analyzed, compared, aggregated and curated. The Freshtime Databook enables business data and rules to be combined with sens- ing data in real-time. This leads to well- supported and decisive decision-making. Freshtime is used in the field by those receiv- ing or shipping perish- ables: packers, fork lift operators and those loading and unload- ing trucks. Freshtime is used in the office by tag administrators to define the data to be captured and the reports and analytics to be generated to make the data meaningful. Freshtime is used by analysts to correlate new data about freshness that, prior to Freshtime's exis- tence, was not easy or inexpensive to capture. Freshtime is your freshness optimiz- er. Freshtime helps you discover where freshness is lost and correlates human inspection reports with real-time temper- ature and freshness data inside the Freshtime tag. Freshtime acts as a digital tracker when used on journeys, flags hot and cold zones in containers, and com- pares ambient temperature of your space with the product temperature of your per- ishable. Freshtime lets you compare dif- ferent additives and their effect on the freshness of your per- ishables, and adds freshness to your SPC (statistical process control) quality systems. Most important- ly, Freshtime records outcomes at the time an event occurs so you can reward success and pinpoint failures. Optimizing with Freshtime, collect- ing data could not be easier: Set up a tag knowing the data you want to collect; push the button on the tag to start; push the button or use a reader at different business steps to record activity; add business data or inspection data through the tagging; record the outcome; push a button for a compliance report; analyze the data. All this for under $500, with a hand- ful of tags, a software dashboard and a monthly subscription to a cloud database. Visit Infratab at booth 1056. For more information, go to www.infratab .com, call 805-986-8880 or email info@infratab.com. more in mainstream sodas. One craft soda company that has broken new ground in producing a beverage made entirely from the natu- ral ingredients so popular among 21st century American consumers is Spindrift. All Spindrift sodas and seltzers are made with fresh, raw, unpasteurized juice combined with sparkling water and cane sugar. By focusing on making a product with juice, squeezed from freshly harvested, regionally grown produce, Spindrift is able to capitalize on another consumer trend, popular among modern con- sumers: the push for seasonality. Perhaps a first in the industry, Spindrift recently debuted a seasonal pomegranate flavor, produced from fruit harvested on a small California farm. The soda was available on the West Coast only for a short time while the pomegranates were in season. Joia All Natural Soda has found its own unique way to appeal to modern bubbly beverage enthusiasts, creating a product line that creatively combines fruit, herb and spice flavors in ways not erstwhile seen in the soda aisle. "Our point of difference is we are a fruit, herb, spice company, so it's g r a p e f r u i t - c h a m o m i l e - c a r d a m o m , blackberry-pomegranate-ginger, lime- hibiscus-clove," said Johnson. "Because of the fruit and herb/spice combinations, they're less sweet. It's all natural, so they've just got a nice, much fresher, cleaner taste. They're a little more complex. We talk about lay- ers of fresh flavor." GuS Grown-Up Soda has taken a different approach in crafting its prod- ucts, opting to appeal to adults' nostal- gic affection for classic American fla- vors like cola, root beer and ginger ale. "It's enough of a broad range that we're not trying to create really esoteric fla- vors that are maybe not as approachable and that you'd need to educate someone about," said Hersh. "One doesn't need Craft Soda ( Cont'd. from p. 7) to be educated about cola, root beer, ginger ale or lemon soda. For the most part, ours is an adult-oriented, natural twist on everyday soda flavors." With craft sodas growing increas- ingly popular among today's con- sumers, more and more restaurants are now offering their clientele the option of these lower calorie, all-natural arti- san sparkling drinks. According to Hersh, his company's products are par- ticularly good for pairing with food, as they are not particularly heavy on sugar and thus do not overwhelm the palate. Today, GuS sodas are available in restaurants around the country, includ- ing a number of famed American eater- ies such as The French Laundry, Per Se and Bouchon Bakery. Haygood similarly argues that her company's products are a perfect addi- tion to any restaurant menu. For her, the care that goes into crafting Spindrift products more accurately reflects the care that restaurants put into their menus. "Where we're doing really well, and where our focus has been, is fast casual restaurants or where people eat lunch," she said. "We go in and we see that there is incredible care taken with ingredients for salads, sand- wiches, beautiful breads. And then at the end there's a beverage that doesn't really match. I go in and I say we make our beverages like you make your food, and there's this instant connection." For gourmet soda companies, mak- ing specialty sparkling beverages is truly a craft in the most essential defi- nition of the word. Just as innovative food companies have transformed the landscapes of beer, ice cream and chocolate, taking the products to a truly gourmet level, craft soda companies are doing the same with soda. "With craft beers and other craft types of things, people are looking for more complex flavors," said Johnson. "You see herbs and spices going on in ice creams and crackers and all sorts of stuff. I think people's palates are just becoming more and more complex."