How Kerry’s 2026 Taste Charts Guide Product Development

Live from Natural Products Expo West, Nutritional Outlook interviewed Shannon Coco, Senior Sales and Marketing Director with Kerry. Here, Coco shares more details of the company’s new 2026 Taste Charts and how they align flavor profiles with current trends and consumer needs. She also highlights the new sampling platform, which aims to support customers in product innovation.

For a deep dive into Kerry’s probiotic BC30 and the versatility of the postbiotic Plenbiotic, watch the interview with Katy Kinsella, Senior Business Development Manager, ProActive Health with Kerry, live from Expo West.

Transcript

Erin McEvoy: Hello everyone. I'm here with Shannon Coco, with Kerry. Thank you for joining us.

Shannon Coco: Yeah, thanks for having me.

McEvoy: So can you share more about how the sample concepts presented at Expo West are shaped by Kerry’s new 2026 Taste Charts, and how are they aligned with current trends?

Coco: That's a great question, and we're always really excited to show what we're doing that's new and innovative, especially at Natural Products. This year we really leaned into a wide range of trends, and we're seeing a ton of protein and fiber and adaptogens here at Natural Products. In particular, some of our samples really lean into key flavor profiles that we find resonate with certain audiences. So one example is for our everyday optimizer, who is the person that's obsessed with protein, which we've seen a ton of here at the show. They're really focused on spicy chili flavors and smoke profiles. So we've created an incredible high protein, low sodium campfire jalapeño chicken meat stick to really embrace that trend. A little bit of an elevated staple, which is one of our taste trends at Kerry as well.

McEvoy: Very nice. Yeah, so building off those Taste Charts, can you elaborate on how the KerryNow sampling platform turns insight into action for customers lying to them to connect trends with product innovations?

Coco: Yeah, we're so excited to really be able to take the breadth of Kerry and make it a very accessible digital format that our customers can access 24/7. So think of it as your Amazon for Kerry. It allows you to search our product catalog real time. Allows you to check your samples, order status, ask inquiries to our regulatory and technical experts directly, and is not to replace our incredible commercial team, but ultimately as a way to put the ownership and opportunity in our customers’ hands, because so many of them have their own ideas and want to just be able to really discover as well what could be possible as they think about what innovation can look like for them. So it's a real time 24/7, full access way to partner with us.

McEvoy: Very nice. for sharing your insights.

Coco: Thanks so much for having me.