Category Archives: Uncategorized

EP 73: Decoding Consumers’ Food Behaviors, African Food Trend Heats Up, A Food Scientist Processes Nova and UPFs | BEST OF 2025

December 1, 2025UncategorizedConsumer and Marketplace Trends, Culinary and Ingredient Trends, Ultra-Processed FoodsOmnivore

In this “Best of 2025” episode of Omnivore, Food Technology revisits the top food science and thought leader interviews of the year. June Jo Lee explains how food ethnography works and how it can help food companies anticipate the kinds of culture shifts that will shape the marketplace in the years ahead. We chat with ‘Yemisi Awosan, founder and CEO of Egunsi Foods, a Harlem, New York-based food company focused on producing ready-to-eat African food derived from classic West African dishes, to find out more about this flavorful and trending cuisine. Food scientist Matt Teegarden offers a thoughtful take on the high-profile food classification system Nova and its characterization of ultra-processed foods.

Plus: This episode of Omnivore is brought to you by CoDeveloper, from IFT. CoDeveloper is the first AI-powered co-scientist built BY food scientists FOR food scientists, and leverages IFT’s 85+ years of scientific excellence – accelerating your R&D processes and helping solve your toughest challenges. Learn more and book your free demo at CoDeveloper.IFT.org.

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EP 72: Trend Talk with Maeve and Mike: Breaking the Trend Cycle, Inside IFT’s New Open-Source Traceability Driver

November 24, 2025UncategorizedOmnivore

What happens when every menu and grocery aisle starts to look the same? Menu Matters’ Maeve Webster and Mike Kostyo discuss the push for simplicity, the pitfalls of trend chasing, and where real innovation will come from next. Blake Harris, managing director of IFT’s Global Food Traceability Center, talks about how the new Traceability Driver came to life, what makes it different, and why open-source solutions like this could be a game-changer for the global food system.

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Omnivore Presents: SciDish | Hot Takes on Cool Tech Innovations for Food Security | NOV 2025

November 17, 2025Uncategorizedfood security, Fruits and Vegetables, Innovation & InsightsOmnivore

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Rohit Karnik, Director of Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS) at MIT—a pioneering research hub that tackles global challenges in water and food systems, and since 2014, has invested more than $25 million in transformative solutions that address food security, water scarcity, and climate resilience. One of J-WAFS’ standout collaborations is with CoolVeg. Led by Dr. Eric Verploegen, he speaks on how CoolVeg develops forced-air evaporative cooling chambers designed to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables in off-grid, low-resource settings—offering a low-cost, energy-efficient alternative to traditional refrigeration, helping smallholder farmers reduce post-harvest losses and improve food access.

Plus: This episode of Omnivore is brought to you by CoDeveloper, from IFT. CoDeveloper is the first AI-powered co-scientist built BY food scientists FOR food scientists, and leverages IFT’s 85+ years of scientific excellence—accelerating your R&D processes and helping solve your toughest challenges. Learn more and book your free demo at www.CoDeveloper.IFT.org.

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EP 71: Understanding the New Mainstream Consumer, Gene Editing Tomorrow’s Crops

November 10, 2025UncategorizedBiotechnology, Consumer and Marketplace Trends, Innovation & InsightsOmnivore

Consumer insights guru Liz Sloan unpacks the latest consumer demographic trends and how they will shape food and beverage market opportunities. Tom Adams, CEO of Pairwise, discusses the potential of the gene-editing technology CRISPR to advance agriculture and deliver better-tasting fruits and vegetables.

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EP 70: Flavor Trends for 2026 and Beyond, Why Biodiversity Matters

October 27, 2025UncategorizedConsumer and Marketplace Trends, Culinary and Ingredient Trends, flavorsOmnivore

Flavor trend expert Melanie Zanoza Bartelme of Mintel shares how social media, Gen Z curiosity, and a craving for comfort are redefining the tastes of 2026 and beyond. Food scientist Abbey Thiel breaks down the concept of biodiversity, drilling into why it matters in terms of sustainability, nutrition, and food security.

Plus: This episode of Omnivore is brought to you by IFT Membership. It’s where you belong. As a member, you’ll enjoy a global community united by purpose and driven by science ready to make a lasting impact on the global food system. Visit ift.org/join.

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Omnivore Presents: SciDish | Myth Busting Misinformation: How to Counter Science Denial | OCT 2025

October 20, 2025UncategorizedOmnivore

Scientific misinformation has become a defining challenge of our time—fueling consumer confusion, eroding public trust, and influencing policy in ways that can undermine health outcomes and industry credibility. From nutrition myths and food additive fearmongering to unscientific claims from influential voices, food professionals now face an imperative to engage with science denial—not just ignore it. In this special live podcast recording from IFT FIRST 2025, Science communication experts Charlie Arnot and Veronica Jaramillo unpack why misinformation spreads, how it shapes public attitudes, and what the science community can do to push back.

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EP 69: UPFs and the Queston of Hyper-Palatability, Revisiting Reusable Packaging

October 13, 2025UncategorizedFood Policy, Food Processing and Packaging, Ultra-Processed FoodsOmnivore

Purdue University’s Richard Mattes chats with consulting nutrition scientist Lisa Sanders about the concept of hyper-palatability—foods designed with specific combinations of fat, sugar, and salt that may override natural satiety signals—and discuss what makes a food hyperpalatable, how researchers identify and test for it, and whether evidence exists linking hyperpalatable foods to increased consumption and poor health outcomes. Packaging expert and contributing editor Claire Koelsch Sand about why reuse is worth reconsidering as the industry struggles to keep pace with the demand for more sustainable packaging.

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EP 68: How Plantible Foods Is Unlocking the Power of Plants, IFT FIRST 2025 Trendspotting

September 29, 2025UncategorizedCulinary Trends, IFT FIRST, ingredient trends, New Ventures, startupsOmnivore

Entrepreneur Tony Martens shares the story of IFT 2025 pitch competition winner Plantible Foods—from the early rough days living on-site in a trailer to the company’s recent success commercializing its plant-based protein ingredient. Food Technology’s editors talk about the hot topics and trends they discovered at IFT FIRST 2025.

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Omnivore Presents: SciDish | Delivering Nutrition in Every Bite: The Science of Healthier, Tastier Foods | SEPT 2025

September 22, 2025Uncategorizedfood ingredients, Health and Nutrition, sensory scienceOmnivore

In this episode, we bring together three food and nutrition experts to talk about the latest science behind foods and ingredients that pack a nutritional punch while tasting great. Dr. Kirstie Canene-Adams, director of Ingredion’s Nutrition Center, Global Scientific and Regulatory Affairs, Dr. Lisa Sanders, owner and principal scientist at Cornerstone Nutrition, LLC and consulting nutrition scientist for IFT, and Angela Cauley, cofounder and executive director of the George Washington Carver Food Research Institute, give practical insights into how to make food and beverage products as healthy as possible without losing the sensory attributes that consumers love.

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EP 67: Scaling Food As Medicine, Redesigning the Way We Eat

September 15, 2025Uncategorizedfood as medicine, Health and Nutrition, product developmentOmnivore

In a special segment, recorded at the Hot Topics Studio stage at IFT FIRST 2025, we’re listening in as The Rockefeller Foundation’s Dana Thomas talks with IFT’s Anna Rosales about scaling up food as medicine programs into sustainable models that can reach millions of people. Michiel Bakker, president of the Culinary Institute of America and former head of Google’s Global Workplace Programs, including Food at Google, calls on food and beverage companies to innovate with greater intention. In his keynote at IFT FIRST, he urged industry leaders to move beyond taste, convenience, and cost—and embrace food as experience design to better support human and planetary health.

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