At the CBST2017 the 8^th China International Beverage Industry Exhibition on Science & Technology, the “2017 China International Beverage Science and Technology Seminar” received the participants’ attention. Representatives from beverage production and equipment companies presented their technological innovations and development trends in respective industry and explored new ideas for industry innovation and development.

Health, Convenience and Taste Innovation Being the Main Appeal of the Ready-to-drink Market

According to Tetra Pak's researches and observations in more than 200 countries’ markets: the global market of bulk soy milk, soy milk powder and ready-to-drink soy milk is growing rapidly and is now equivalent to 80% of global milk consumption. China ready-to-drink soy milk market is currently working hard. Adding chia soy milkshake, juice soy milk and other mix-and-match products are welcomed by consumers because of more comprehensive nutrition, better taste, more novelty, etc.

In recent years, ready-to-drink paper-packed soy milk products have grown rapidly in Vietnam, mainly benefits from the two-stage promotion strategy of the Vietnam soy milk market: before 2010, soy milk promotion was concentrated in consumers’ category education, advertising the long-term preservation, the higher production process, and the better portability of soy milk; after 2010, the market operations and brand communication strategies of strengthened nutrients, taste diversity and people segmentation have achieved good results.

At the same time, Tetra Pak also analyzed the three major trends of functional, natural, fruit and vegetable blending in the juice market and brought a processing technology with safer non-concentrated reduced juice structure design, higher energy efficiency, greater product flexibility and lower heat treatment temperature.

In addition, Mellowe Coffee pointed out that coffee has become one of the most popular beverages in the world. For the consumer groups who were born in 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, the consumption focus has been changed from “satisfying material needs” to “pursuing spiritual needs”. Innovations of coffee beverage are needed such as cold coffee, nitrogen coffee, fortification coffee, high protein coffee, low calorie coffee, and taste innovative coffee.

Innovative Processes Help the Beverage Industry Move Towards Energy Efficiency

Siemens introduced the digital application of the food and beverage industry and proposed the key factors affecting the food and beverage industry in China: on one hand, cost-effectiveness and mass production; on the other hand, increasingly diverse tastes and innovative packaging concepts. Siemens' innovative digital process - "Digital Twins" technology realizes the digital coverage of the whole process and the efficient driving of information data to production and processing from the aspects of satisfying the customized needs of users, optimizing the production process and strengthening the integrated management.

Leister had proposed that the use of hot air circulation and insulation materials by recycling hot air or keeping warm the air nozzles and heaters can not only save costs for the enterprise but also reduce the greenhouse effect, which is conducive to low carbon environmental protection. The new air heat exchanger system developed by Leicester can exchange heat with 100% air, which not only makes the heating efficiency higher and faster, but also makes the heater service life longer.

Flavourtech described how to produce high quality tea and coffee products by using the rotating cone technology. As consumers pay more attention to the "natural" demand, the natural ingredients volatilized in the production process of tea, coffee, juice and other products are extracted and recycled into the beverage products, which can better meet the needs of consumers. Rotating cone technology helps to extract these substances more thoroughly and can adjust the collection of different components by setting different parameters. On this basis, the integrated extraction system can form an integrated production line for extraction and concentration, which helps enterprises extract natural aroma substances quickly and scalable.

Newamstar provided innovative production solution for soda beverages to solve problems such as floc suspension or sediment in the bottle, color browning, bottle mouth molding, pH and flavor changes.

Combined with the on-site demonstration of exhibitors at the CBST2017 exhibition, this year's Science and Technology Reporting Conference provided a more in-depth reference for the industry's innovation and development, helping the participants directly understand the frontier development trend of the beverage industry, which played a positive role in promoting the future healthy development of the industry.