Agua Bonita Real Fruit Aguas Frescas: pineapple cucumber, watermelon chile, mango habanero.Runa Clean Energy with Guayusa (a super leaf found in Ecuador’s Amazonian Rainforest): tropical passionfruit, peach paradise, wild black cherry.Cloud Water Brands: Beverages with 25mg hemp extract in blood orange & coconut, grapefruit mint & basil, half tea & half lemonade, watermelon & ginger, blackberry lemon & rosemary, dark chocolate & strawberry.Plant People Sunsup Metabolism and Focus Mushroom Coffee Mix.Ripple Soft Serve Ice cream (currently planned for food service, but don’t be surprised if this product finds its way to retail someday).Rebel Stacked Cold Brew Coffee with 'premium functionality': café mocha, vanilla latte, hazelnut latte, straight black.Vina Prebiotic Soda: grapefruit, lime lemon, pomegranate, ginger fizz, cherry pop.3 Cousins Foods: Upcycled Fresh Coffee Fruit Drink: apple, classic, citrus.Some of the products were launched during the pandemic (but had not been seen before), while others may not be on shelf until the second half of 2022. Below see what I consider some of the more interesting products that hope to be the next breakout stars in our industry. Similar to what was reported on attending Natural Products Expo East, NPEW had plenty of novelty and a large array of intriguing products. These programs were generally very popular with long lines waiting to enter the sessions due to the limitations NPEW placed on room size for Covid protocols. There was a vast array of presentations and panel discussions many of which were presented to attendees that were in Anaheim, but also available to a virtual audience that couldn’t be in California, but wanted to take part in the program. Two years later, NPEW was back, welcoming 57,000 attendees (down from approximately 85,000 in 2019) and more than 2,700 exhibitors (including over 600 first time exhibitors) March 8-12 in Anaheim, Calif. Natural Products Expo West (NPEW) was the first food trade show to be canceled in 2020 due to COVID concerns.

Expo west 2022 schedule