Natural Products Expo West: Top Trends 

NCFIL’s Senior Food Scientist Lisa Sand left the 2025 Natural Products Expo West in March with fresh tastes, products and ideas rooted in her mind. Below she shares some of her top trend takeaways from this annual food and beverage industry event celebrating community, education and opportunity. 

1. Jerky Options Abound: Animal-sourced jerky brand options are plentiful with many delicious flavor varieties. Multiple opportunities also exist for consumers who seek plant-based offerings, including mushroom jerky (Pan’s), fruit jerky (Solely) and vegetable protein jerky (AGRO). 
2. Canned Goods Comeback: The expo confirmed a center-store grocery refresh in canned goods. The trend is for tuna, salmon and legumes to be combined with other ingredients, creating a tasty ready-to-eat event, including Safe Catch and Heyday Canning Co brands. And watch out for elevated sardines in decorative cans or glass jars, presented with culinary sauces, oils and marinades, offered by Season and Conservas Ortiz.
3. Pervasive Playful Packaging: Expect creative packaging graphics to stimulate and capture consumer attention, just like it did for expo attendees. Vendor’s swag bags and graphics on products’ packaging were unique, fun and beautiful. The canned beverage markets are creating distinctive packaging – not only the microbrewing scene, but also the canned specialty water, soda and fruit beverage markets. Direct printing is one method to create artistic labeling, offered by Fast Track Packaging.
4. Flavors of Fermentation: Fermented foods and beverages are gaining on the flavor front. Kimchi with traditional Korean flavors, like Lucky Foods, is a mainstay, but kimchi with added onions, radish or beets, from Twins Premium Kimchi, is now on the scene. Kimchi flavor is gaining popularity, used as seasoning in sauces, snacks and entrees. Examples include Heyday’s kimchi-flavored canned navy beans and Lucky Foods kimchi mayo and Korean-style pancakes. 
5. Prebiotics + Probiotics Promo: Multiple vendors promoted the prebiotic and probiotic benefits of fermented foods, like kimchi, as well as vinegar in liquid, dry, food and supplement forms, offered by Bragg Live Food Products, LLC. Dill pickle lovers are in luck as pickle juice shots are being promoted to reduce cramps and improve hydration. If drinking pickle juice straight up isn’t desirable, use the juice in marinades or mix in cocktails.
6. NA Gaining Steam: From non-alcoholic beer and new mocktails to wines and distilled liquors, non-alcoholic beverages were on full display and appear to be gaining in popularity. Brands include Edna’s, Visitor NA Beer, The Zero Proof and Abstinence Spirits. 
7. Plethora of Pet Products: Providing pet family members with human-like treats has become mainstream, from jerky to cookies to canned whipped cream from Pup Cup!. Of course, seeing the dog attendees was a treat in itself! And yes, dogs could sample, too. 
8. Much Miscellany: Overall, strong improvements in food products in a variety of categories were abundant, like vegan cheese, plant-based meat analogs, natural sweeteners, frozen entrees and more.