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by Food Processing
Food Processing’s Food For Thought podcast takes you beyond the headlines of the food and beverage manufacturing industry. Join host Erin Hallstrom and the team of award-winning Food Processing editors as they talk about issues affecting food and beverage processors.
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- 5 days ago16 min
Geopolitical Risk, Trade and Tariff Wars Continue to Impact Paperboard, Plastics Packaging
At Pack Expo in Chicago in October, I caught up with Xinnan Li and Jim Owen, both senior analysts with Rabobank’s RaboResearch Food and Agribusiness team, who spoke to us during last year’s show about the impact of tariffs on plastics and paperboard in packaging, among other things. This year, the duo talks about the impacts of tariffs that still remain this year, as well as how things like the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and high fuel prices are challenging the plastics and paperboard packaging industry. Finally, they offer their take on what the future might hold for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the plastics and paperboard industry.
- 1 weeks ago22 min
Looking Ahead at 2027 Capital Spending for Food & Beverage
At the recent Pack Expo International show in Chicago, the Food For Thought podcast sat down with Randy Godet of Industrial Info Resources, or IIR, to offer an update on where the firm thought the food and beverage industry’s appetite for capital spending sat as we fast approach the end of 2026. Godet talked about the trends driving how food and beverage capex projects are developing and how companies feel heading into 2027. He also offered his thoughts on the types of projects his firm was seeing in the industry, and what processors should be thinking about in terms of capital spending as they plan for the 2027 calendar year.
- 3 weeks ago19 min
Three Trends Driving Snacking in Conagra Brands’ Latest Report
Alie Burnet of Conagra Brands returns as a guest on the Food For Thought podcast, this time focused on the findings of her company’s second annual Future of Snacking report, which Conagra recently shared. With snacking still heavily on-trend for many consumers today, she details some of the deeper insights the report unearthed. Burnet talks through three forces heavily influencing the future of snacking — bold flavors, functional fuel, and permissible indulgence — and also how consumers seeking health and wellness options also play a part in driving snack trends.
- Sep 30, 202622 min
Reser’s Fine Foods Targets Convenience with Recent New Product Launches
In this episode of the Food For Thought podcast, Megan Torres, senior brand strategy manager for Reser’s Fine Foods, talks about the trends driving several recent new product launches and the work that brought them to market for the company. Torres explains how the company was able to lean on its expertise in potatoes to build out its deli-fresh soups and chowders line, and how its new pasta entrees focus on convenience and value for the time-starved consumer. She also details how the company targeted new consumers with the launch of its new line of classic chicken, tuna and egg salads, and how product innovation was able to nail down the perfect formulation that features about 25% more protein, up to 60% fewer calories and a significant reduction in fat content.
- Sep 16, 202618 min
Liquid I.V. Shares the R&D Behind Its Sugar-Free Hydration Product Line
Dana Ryan, senior director of scientific affairs for Liquid I.V., joins the podcast in this episode to walk through the steps that the company took to develop the proprietary blend of allulose and amino acids that sits at the foundation of the company’s innovative sugar-free product line launched a few years ago. Liquid I.V. spent several years perfecting the formulation of the product line, which claims to be sugar-free while providing better hydration, as well as vitamins and electrolytes, to consumers than water alone. Ryan explains that the company is rooted in backing these claims up with scientific and clinical testing, as it has done to prove this product line’s claims. Ryan also discusses some of the further innovation the company is working on to improve hydration solutions for consumers, and she offers her thoughts on where the sports drink, wellness and hydration segments may be headed in the future.
- Sep 9, 202630 min
Price Remains Important, But It’s Not the Only Key Driver of Grocery Purchase Decisions
Liz Miller, global client partner at Knit, joins the Food For Thought podcast to discuss the findings of a survey that the market research agency executed in partnership with McCormick’s shopper insights group. The study focuses on what’s driving consumer decision-making in grocery stores today, particularly around the various categories in which McCormick & Co. plays. Miller digs into the details of the study’s findings around how people determine value and how price is still important but may not tell the whole story.
- Aug 26, 202626 min
Consumer Trends Driving Campbell’s Foodservice Product Strategies
At the National Restaurant Association’s annual restaurant show this summer, senior editor Andy Hanacek met with Jenna Hagerich, senior brand manager at Campbell’s Foodservice, and they talked about the various brands and trends driving their product offerings currently. Many of the insights Hagerich shares easily cross over from foodservice to the retail channel, and she dives into the Campbell’s “master brand” strategy as well as detailing the ways each of the company’s brands across soup, energy drinks, beverages and snacks are trying to take advantage of the trends.
- Aug 12, 202621 min
Back-to-School Means New Routines; And Opportunities for Food & Beverage Companies
Kids of all ages are headed back to school right now, and the Food For Thought podcast has some insights on how that could impact food and beverage consumption trends from Julia Wilson, a partner in KPMG’s Strategy practice, focused on consumer clients. Wilson discusses results found in KPMG's Consumer Pulse Back-to-School 2026 Survey, which finds that families expect to spend more per child on back-to-school essentials this year, and 83% expecting to pay more for groceries alone. As a result, about half of those consumers anticipate that they will eat out less and nearly half plan to prepare simpler weekday meals.
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About Food For Thought
Food Processing’s Food For Thought podcast takes you beyond the headlines of the food and beverage manufacturing industry. Join host Erin Hallstrom and the team of award-winning Food Processing editors as they talk about issues affecting food and beverage processors.
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