Alright. Let's go ahead and get started. My name is Lydia Adams, vice president of marketing here at Treswell, and I'd like to thank you all for joining us today for our webinar on the top three challenges for food formulators and how Genesis Foods turns the tide. Today, I'm joined by our group product manager, Brielle Beaver, and we are excited to dive into three main challenges for food formulators, staying ahead of its changing regulations, coordinating across regional and global teams, and improving speed to market. But before we get started with our main topics today, I'd like to provide a brief overview of Trustwell and a quick introduction to our flagship product, Genesis Foods. So first of all, who are we? At Trustwell, we're really focused on three pillars. We're always ahead with an agile platform that is first to market and top of regulatory shifts. And, we're connected with the ability to extend product development and nutritional analysis into supplier compliance, traceability, and automated recall. And lastly, we're focused on food with products built exclusively for the unique needs of the food industry and backed by experts who understand your industry. Today, we will be sharing, some sneak peeks into one of our products, Genesis Foods. So as a quick intro, Genesis Foods helps our customers to increase speed to market without sacrificing safety and transparency. They can create recipes and formulas by leveraging our rich ingredient database and add user generated ingredients, to modify existing database ingredients. Our customers also save recipes and ingredients for use in other formulations, and they can reformulate as the need arises, which we'll be talking about a little bit today as well. And finally, just to take a look at our expertise, we have more than thirty five years of history in the food industry. Trustwell is a company of firsts. We built the industry's first nutritional database providing accurate nutritional analysis and most up to date nutrition information. We released the industry's first labeling software, Genesys, backed by that nutritional database, and we participated in the first traceability pilots conducted by the FDA. We're proud also to have, launched the first AI regulatory compliance assistant with our AskReg tool. So that's a little bit about us. So to go ahead and get us started here with our main topic, we're gonna talk about our first challenge, which is staying ahead of regulatory changes. So let's start with this first challenge. Really, it's one of the biggest pressure points for formulators right now. Just looking at what's happening, in the US. We're starting to see US states that are introducing bans on synthetic dyes, like our little gummy gummy bear there on screen, both in consumer products and school foods. At the same time, you know, we're seeing at the federal level that the FDA has signaled its acceleration, into the reevaluation of food additives. And globally, the pace is really just as fast. Europe has tight regulatory demands. Canada has updated guidance to match the EU. And in Australia and New Zealand, there's explicit allergen and additive labeling that's already mandatory. So really seeing this happening, across the board. And really, here's the kicker. Regardless of what happens with the regular regulations, consumers are often ahead of the game in terms of, what they're demanding. And so, you know, around two thirds of US shoppers are saying that they're already avoiding artificial colors. And this type of sentiment really drives that retail pressure, and it means that food companies are really, you know, even if they're not subject to these bans yet, they're starting to reformulate. And I'm sure a lot of you here today are are in that boat as well. We've already seen dozens of states, more than twenty in the past eighteen months alone that are putting forward these bills on additives specifically. And leading manufacturers are really responding. You know, I know we've all seen those big names in the news of many companies that are committing to removing dies across their portfolio of products, some by twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven. So there's really not a matter of if, these regulations are gonna affect us, but kind of when they will. Right? And so, you know, today we're gonna talk a little bit about how to, work through these challenges because the companies that succeed are really the ones that anticipate changes early, identify risky ingredients quickly, and treat reformulation as a competitive advantage, rather than that last minute scramble, to comply. So, thank you, Brielle, for for joining, and, I I'm excited to ask you because I know you're talking to customers on a regular basis, kind of what you're seeing on your end and how Genesis Foods helps teams get ahead of these these regulatory challenges that we're seeing. Yeah. Absolutely. And give me one second. I'm actually gonna share my screen as well and see here. Perfect. Alright. So knowing exactly which recipes are impacted, and and these can really vary by market, is challenging for formulators. So this is where some of, you know, some companies get stuck. With Genesys Foods, we're able to take a much faster, much more precise approach. So let me show you. So first, let me start here with our AskReg restricted substances tool. When you log in to Genesys Foods, AskReg does a scan of your pantry and alerts you right here on your dashboard if you're using any potentially restricted substances in your ingredients. This can be customized by labeling authority, so you could choose to be alerted for just US substances only. Or if you wanted, you could be alerted across all US, EU, Canada, Mexico, and Australia, New Zealand labeling authorities. Now if AskReg has flagged any potential issues, you can learn more here. And on this left hand side, it will list out all of the potentially banned substances. And when you select an item, so in this case, red dye number three, it will list out all of your ingredients here, that is using that substance. Also, for ease of access, we link directly to, the regulatory documents per authority for you to reference to as well. Now say I want to replace this ingredient, let me go ahead and open it up here, with one that isn't a restricted substances substance. I'm gonna actually use our smart find and replace tool. So I'm gonna click actions and go ahead and hit replace. And this allows you to swap this ingredient in all of your formulations it's currently used in with another. So in this case, I'm gonna replace this with a natural dye of beet juice. This means no opening dozens of recipes individually and no risk of missing any skew. So in this case, I can see here that I I use my original ingredient in four of these, recipes, and I'm gonna go ahead and select and do the replacement for all of them. And so now you can replace sorry. Excuse me. Preview the reformulated recipes, update your labels, and keep a clean audit trail of every change. And just like that, I have now swapped out that ingredient. Yeah. No. That's great, Brielle. Thanks for sharing that, and kind of showing us how technology like Genesys can make the process a little bit easier. I know the teams often can cut their time in half. I can see why. Just Just it was pretty quick what you did there. But, you know, I had another question for you while you're going through this. So for teams that are constantly reformulating all the time, how can they make those changes once and really have that confidence that it's applied everywhere? You know, you don't want one of your, recipes to keep that that red color that you don't want. So how how can, teams really mitigate that concern? Yeah. And and that's really where these bulk tools like the SmartFinder or Place make a big difference. If a color additive needs to come out, you can just swap it across every formulation. It appears all at once. And our customers really love this because it eliminates the risks of overlooking a food item in their pantry. Plus, the system updates the nutrition, the allergens, the ingredient statements automatically, so they're not chasing downstream updates one by one. Awesome. Great. Well, let that brings us to our next challenge we're gonna talk about here, which is really coordinating across regional and global teams. And, you know, if anyone here has ever tried to launch a product in multiple markets at once, you know how complicated that it really can get. And so, you know, each market comes with its own labeling, promotional rules. In the UK, you know, with the h f s s rules, we're seeing that foods that are high in fat, sugar, or salts, you know, can't go into prominent store locations, for example. Starting in twenty twenty five, multi buy deals will be banned for those, types of products and, you know, even the new advertising restrictions in twenty twenty six. So lots of concerns there. You know? And in Mexico, the the black high end warning labels, are mandatory. And in Canada as well, we're seeing their own front of pack nutrient symbols that are gonna be required. Right? So, even if you're not actively selling in these markets, a lot of these rules, you know, push brands to reformulate. You know, we're one one global world really. And so, like, as these, regulations happen, outside of the US, it's it's affecting us as well. And if there is any packaging that goes global, you know, you're really affected, by it. So, certainly, front of pack is is something that we're gonna continue to see, I think. You know, there's forty four plus, countries here listed that, you know, are gonna have those types of requirements. And so, Yeah. And just to add to that, we're seeing even the US is looking about implementing its own front of pack regulations, here as well. So definitely gonna keep seeing that expanding for sure. Yeah. Absolutely. And I mean, it's it's definitely not going away. And we talked about consumer demands, in the last challenge. I think regardless of, you know, what's required, a lot of our consumers are wanting to see right there on the package, you know, what they're getting. And so, certainly, those consumer demands, make a difference as well. You know, so it's really not just about knowing these regulations. It's, from a coordination perspective. It's about the misalignment that can happen when you've got r and d, regulatory, marketing. You've got folks in various countries. And if you know teams are really working from different sets of data, those risks can multiply. A nutrition tweak in R and D may not get reflected in marketing's packaging for example. Or regulatory might flag an issue a little bit too late in the process, and then that causes redesigns. And, you know, according to industry analysis, misalignment like this can easily derail launches and lead to noncompliant products, which none of us want as well. So, you know, the teams that are staying ahead are really the ones that are building that regulatory, FOP, label checks right away in the formulation stage. No longer is r and d, you know, kind of like over here, like, it's all connected. Right? And so, you know, Brielle, you know, I know you've seen I talked with a lot of teams within r and d regulatory. You know, how do they stay aligned internally, to make sure that, you know, they're they're getting these regulatory requirements in. There's not any delays in their, in their packaging, and and they're really able to, coordinate well even globally. Oh, yeah. So one of the biggest challenge with requirements like HFSS or front of pack symbols or Mexico's warning labels isn't really just knowing the rules. Like you said, it's coordinating across teams so that r and d, regulatory, marketing, design, they're all working from that same information at the same time. So what I've actually seen work best is running compliance and scoring checks early and early in the formulation stage. So before packaging design or promotional plans even begin, that way, you know from the start if your product will meet those HFSS advertising criteria in the UK or if they're gonna require those FOP labeling in Canada or even those mandatory, you know, high in sugar warning, in markets like Mexico. So let me actually show you what that looks like in food. So let me get my screen, share it again. Alright. So let's start with, HFSS. I'm gonna open up a recipe here. And as you can see here, on this recipe, we can apply automated scoring tools right within the recipe, workspace. So for example, I'm running this HFSS calculation on a UK bound product. If the score is too high, R and D can test the reformulation options on the spot, see how the nutritional changes, update the score in real time, and then test a new ingredient combinations before anything even leaves the lab. Now for markets with, say, front of pack requirements, and I'm gonna skip to a different recipe here, Genesys can generate draft label iterations for each region. So let me jump down here. So for Canada, the front of pack symbols, like so. Let me just pull a few up. Like here. Or, those black stop sign warning seals in Mexico. These can be shared instantly with marketing and design so they can visualize how the product will appear on shelf in each market. And the real power here is the collaboration piece. Every stakeholder is looking at the same recipe data, the same regulatory checks, and the same label previews. And that means fewer last minute surprises and, you know, fewer missed deadlines and really just more confident, and compliant launches, for your products. Yeah. No. Thanks, Brielle. Those are some great examples. Coming from a marketer, I'm sure that, they really appreciate getting getting those designs early on. You know, one of the things that kinda came up while you were showing that is version control. You know? What is the best way that teams, you know, like we were talking about that are going from r and d to marketing to packaging? How can they make sure that they're working from the same data, so they're not chasing down, a lot of different versions? Yeah. Absolutely. So the key is having one shared source of truth. In Genesys, everyone from r and d to design, they work off the same recipe file. And that really means that when a nutrition tweak happens, the label and compliance tools reports update happen in real time, for everyone all at the same time. Customer solace has really cut down on so many rounds of work because and rework because marketing isn't just building mock ups of outdated specs. We're all working off the same file at the same time. Yeah. Definitely that single source of truth. Data is is so important. So thank you for for showing us that. And, that really leads us to kind of this final challenge that that encompasses everything we've talked about so far, which is increasing speed to market, you know, especially with multiple, products. And so, you know, this is a challenge that I think everyone in food development is really feeling right now. Launch timelines have compressed dramatically in the past decade, and I feel like at the same time, stakes have never really been higher. Gartner research shows us that nearly half of product launches are delayed by at least one month. And I'm sure folks here are like, oh, sometimes they're more than one month. Right? And, when that when that happens, I think the financial hit, you know, is really real. We'll see here supply and demand, chain executive found that delays can reduce a product's net present value by fifteen to thirty percent, thirty five percent, which is pretty, pretty huge. So we're also looking at some financial impacts there as well. And especially for, you know, those that are in a fast moving category, even a two week slip can mean, you know, missing a seasonal shelf window or losing that prime placement with the retailer, or even watching a competitor kind of come in and fill those gaps, which is, you know, another thing we we definitely don't want. So what, you know, what are really causing the biggest slowdowns when we think about this? You know, it's always almost always in formulation and packaging approvals. Recipe changes can trigger cascading updates to labels and claims. And as we talked about in challenge one, you know, regulatory changes can happen, and the reviews with those can, then cause, you know, timelines to stretch out further. And especially when you're multiple jurisdictions, like we just talked about with our global authorities, according to IDC, you know, inefficient label workflows alone can extend timelines by thirty to forty percent. So, you know, when we think about workflows, you know, a lot of times that, you know, may not seem like the most important thing, but if it's really delaying those product launches, it it it can be. Late stage surprises, you know, for example, missing an allergen statement or having an outdated ingredient spec, can also then cause those delays and suddenly, you know, companies are facing reprints, extra costs, you know, and and, again, missed launch dates. So food companies, I feel like, are under a huge pressure to move faster. And almost today, it's like even if everything goes to plan, a lot of times the timelines are are crunched, and and the expectations are high. focus on building smarter workflows, that can catch errors earlier, automate label creations across regions, and give cross functional teams kind of that one source of truth like we were just talking about. So, I'd love to hear from you, Brielle, about, you know, what practices that you've, you know, heard from customers are really helping them to shorten the timelines, you know, make sure they're not gonna have those delays and, and at the same time, not not cut corners where it where it really counts. Yeah. Absolutely. One of the fastest ways to speed up a product launch without really sacrificing the accuracy is to eliminate as much of the manual work as possible from the formulation and labeling process. So let me go ahead, share my screen again. In Genesys Foods, you can actually utilize our proprietary foods database. That includes almost a hundred and fifty thousand foods from o almost two thousand different suppliers that come with prepopulated verified ingredient data. So you're not typing in nutrient profiles, allergens, or supplier details from scratch. This alone cuts out hours, even days from every recipe build. On top of that, we also have and let me open up an ingredient here. Our AI assistant allergen statement checks. So in this case, I have my mozzarella cheese, and I have a little sparkly over here alerting me to go check out my allergens. And here, our AI assisted, allergen statement check has been run-in the background. It flagged a missing or incorrect declaration before, even hit packaging review. In this case, I had a cheese type ingredient, but I have not declared milk as an allergen. So it's just letting me know, like, hey. You know, you might be missing something here. And that really helps, and that means, No surprises late in the process and no last minute redesigns. And, additionally, when you're ready for packaging go jump to a recipe here. Genesys can generate multiple different compliant label formats from a single recipe. So in this case, on these labels, go ahead and flip to all. As you can see here, with this one recipe, I've been able to generate labels for both US, Canada, EU. That also includes Mexico, Australia, New Zealand. And I can also create them in their different formats, whether that's gonna be a standard or dual column or aggregate, tabular, horizontal, what have you. So, really, this means you're just not recreating the wheel, for each market. Yeah. No. That's that is awesome to see. And I I'm so glad you showed kind of the AI aspect of that. I think that's, one of the great things that that the product team here, Trussell, to brag on you guys have been able to do is really to to bring in that piece of it in a way that just makes things, you know, quick and easy and alerts our customers. Hey. You know, don't forget. You know, you gotta declare this allergen. So now that that was great to see that as well. And, you know, why while you were talking, Brielle, I had another question, which is that, you know, kind of calling back to our our second challenge of, you know, regional and global markets. How can they avoid that same last minute, surprise like you talked about specifically when they're, you know, creating labels for various regions and and maybe across the globe? Yeah. Absolutely. So, you know, the way to avoid that scramble, in my opinion, is really to generate all regional label versions at once. Genesys can output those compliant labels, as I said, for the US, Canada, EU, Mexico, and Australia, New Zealand directly from one recipe. You know? And one customer told us that what what used to take her six to eight weeks now really takes her three to four because they can prep all versions simultaneously and then catch and fix those issues early. It's faster, it's cheaper, and it's way less stressful. Yeah. I agree. I mean, I think that peace of mind, especially with the complexity you just described, is, is definitely golden. And, it's nice to see kind of your your demo showing how we mitigate all of those challenges in one, whether it's the regulations, you know, the global, authorities, or, you know, getting, products to market faster. So, thank you so much, Brielle. And yeah. As we as we wrap up here, just to kinda cover what we've talked about, it's been a lot. So, you know, first, we talked about staying ahead of regulations. As we know, the pace of change is not slowing down. Teams that are are doing the best at this are really the ones that are acting quickly, staying ahead, and using tools and processes that give that visibility and control and have that single source of truth in that that strong data. And then secondly, we talked about coordination. Right? So launching across multiple markets means marketing, regulatory, r and d. Everybody internally really needs to be pulling from that same playbook. And Brielle gave us some really great examples of how to do that. But definitely bringing everyone in early and working from that same dataset keeps things moving, and avoids and avoids any last minute surprises. And thirdly, we talked about speed. Time to market is critical, I think, for any food formulator today. And really the biggest gains come from cutting out that manual work, saving time, using verified data, automation, some of the AI tools we we talked about today, and generating multiple label formats really at once, rather than reinventing the wheel. So, you know, at the end of the day, whether you're using Genesys Foods or another system, you know, the principles that hold true are centralize your data, get your teams working together and on the same page and build flexibility into your work flows. Don't ignore your work flows. They can they can be a saver for you. And, as companies, you know, move faster, stay compliant and and keep products on the shelf, we're here at Trustwell helping to make that happen. Lastly, just wanted to share some resources that we have, First off is our food labeling one zero one ebook. Whether you've been doing this for a long time or you're just getting started, if you're involved in packaging, new product launches, or labeling, this is really a go to guide. It breaks down the fundamentals of compliant labels, and it's helpful, across the board. So, take a look at that one. And next is our AI powered tool, AskReg. Brielle showed us a couple of things within products that are are driven by AskReg, but we do have a standalone product. It is like having a regulatory assistant built right into your workflow. It's purchasable on our website. You can ask Reggie, our little bot, questions across global authorities as you're formulating and reformulating, and it links directly to the original regulation. So you can see exactly what's driving that alert. Unlike a lot of other tools, it's, it doesn't pull from the Internet. It has is backed by our very human regulatory team here at Treswell and links back to those regulatory authorities. If you'd like to give it a try, you can head over to trustwell dot com slash ai or scan that QR code there on the screen. And for everyone joining our webinars, we've set up a special twenty five percent discount code that you can use, there on the website. And finally, we've included a link to our latest ebook on future focused food tech trends. Now this is a really comprehensive resource that goes into everything that's changing, everything that's, advancing in food tech, and so you wanna get your hands on that one as well. So to take advantage of these resources, definitely go to our website and check out our resource section. And we'll also share here, that QR code on the screen. can make sure that you're subscribed to trustful notifications by scanning that QR code on the screen to updates, just like more of what we went over today. And if you have any questions at all, feel free to reach out to us at sales at trustwell dot com, or my LinkedIn, profile is there on the screen as well. Love to link up with you guys on LinkedIn. thank you again, Brielle, for joining us and sharing your insights. Yeah. Absolutely. This has been lovely. Thanks to you, Lydia, for putting this all together. Yeah. Absolutely. And thanks for our our audience as well. We'll see you at the next Trustwell webinar.
