MEET TODAY’S INNOVATION
The Better-For-You Era Has Arrived… and It’s Non-Negotiable
The shift was unmistakable at MISTA’s Growth Hack 2025 in San Francisco last week. Consumer demand for better-for-you products has officially moved from trend to mandate.
Mintel’s latest insights confirm what every brand already knows: health functionality is no longer a premium, it’s the price of entry across snacking, center plate, and beverage categories.
THE INNOVATION
The Power of Coordinated Innovation
This year’s Growth Hack showed what happens when the industry’s most advanced ingredient companies align behind one challenge.
Ingredion’s NUTRAFLORA® scFOS prebiotic fiber and HI-MAIZE resistant starch provided the foundation for metabolic and digestive health.
Givaudan’s flavor masking and anti-nausea systems, AAK’s clean-label fat systems, Bühler’s processing expertise, SIG’s packaging innovation, CJ’s fermentation platforms, Coca-Cola’s market insights, and Nestlé’s global development perspective transformed isolated expertise into a collaborative innovation engine.
Together, they compressed months of development into just a few days of focused collaboration.
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Three Categories, One Clear Direction
Beverage Innovation
PowerFuel Sport delivers 35 g of protein through AlphaBio’s soy protein and EVERY’s OvoPro precision fermentation… proof that sports nutrition is going mainstream. The GLP-1 Support Shot tackles the growing demand for appetite and metabolic support without pharmaceuticals, combining soluble proteins, prebiotic fiber, and full vitamin fortification.
Snacking Innovation
The Dubai Crown Cookie proved indulgence and function can coexist, offering cognitive and gut-health benefits alongside real protein in a format consumers crave.
Center Plate Innovation
Next-generation plant-based fish and nutrient-dense porridge systems showed how meal replacement is evolving into meal enhancement.
The RegulateCPG Advantage
Behind this rapid progress was more than great science. It was the deployment of RegulateCPG, the development platform that bridges concept to commercialization.
By validating nutritional profiles, substantiating claims, and ensuring compliance in real time, RegulateCPG turned traditional sequential development into parallel innovation sprints.
This isn’t just about speed… it’s about rethinking how products move from insight to shelf.
TODAY’S PROOF
The New Development Reality
The participation metrics tell the story:
200+ startup technologies assessed
60 startups selected to participate
9 corporate strategic partners
100+ scientists and technologists collaborating globally
18+ commercially viable concepts delivered
This wasn’t a showcase, it was proof of a new operating model for companies serious about capturing better-for-you market growth.
The brands that defined the last era of food innovation did it through scale and distribution. The winners in this next era will master functional formulation, regulatory navigation, and rapid commercialization - all powered by platforms like RegulateCPG.
Quick Poll: Which innovation category excites you most?
The Strategic Imperative
MISTA’s Growth Hack 2025 proved that when the right partners, platforms, and processes align, the industry can finally move at the speed of consumer demand.
Mintel’s data leaves no debate: better-for-you innovation is no longer optional. The question is whether your infrastructure and partnerships are ready to compete in a market where functional nutrition is table stakes and speed-to-market determines who wins.
Next month at Natural Products Expo West, brands won’t be competing on whether they offer better-for-you options. They’ll compete on how sophisticated, validated, and differentiated those options are.
The tools and collaborations demonstrated at MISTA aren’t just enabling that race, they’re defining who’s equipped to win it.
Join the Discussion
Continue the conversation and connect with innovators shaping the future of food.
