A week ago, I attended the annual Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim. This is the biggest event in the natural CPG industry. There were 70,000 attendees and 3,200 exhibitors. Everything from startups to legacy brands exhibited. Many exhibitors introduced new packaging and new products while others were exhibiting there for the first time. I loved getting to connect with all of them and sample their delicious foods.
I learned about a great combination of innovate products at Expo West both by new brands I learned about there and some of my favorite existing brands. In alphabetical order, here are my 10 most innovative discoveries at Expo West 2024:
Belvas Belgian Chocolate
There were many categories I saw this year at Expo West in which regenerative agriculture had large growths. One of those was chocolate. The country of Belgium is well known for its chocolate, so it’s exciting to see a brand from there focusing on regenerative. Belvas Belgian Chocolate offers multiple flavors of milk and dark chocolate, all free of preservatives, colorings, flavor enhancers, flavorings, GMOs, and hydrogenated fats. Belvas is also fair trade and certified organic by the European Union.
Fresh Fizz Soda
Products using natural sweeteners was a major theme with exhibitors at Expo West. Also, brands concocting a better soda (or having grown up in the midwest, I call it pop) was more popular than ever this year. Fresh Fizz Soda falls into both of those categories. Their organic soda pops are sweetened with honey. Fresh Fizz can be found in the bold flavors of hibiscus ginger, mint lemonade, and jalapeno limeade. They also have a cola sweetened with date syrup.
Hundy!
Loyal readers of my blog and listeners of my podcast know how much I love popsicles. Over the years, I’ve seen many popsicles using real fruit. Hundy! is the most unique popsicle I’ve seen yet. Hundy! contains only one ingredient, organic fruit. Their two flavors so far are pineapple and mango and consist of 35 and 45 calories, respectively.
Jovial
Jovial is well known for its wide variety of organic offerings from tomato products to pastas to einkorn. A number of their einkorn products are now Regenerative Organic Certified. Einkorn is an ancient grain which is easier to digest. At the 2025 Expo West, Jovial was serving pancakes for its upcoming pancake and waffle mix. It was great tasting and inspiring to see a pancake mix which is both Regenerative Organic and made from einkorn flour.
Origin Nutrition
At this year’s Expo West, there were a great number of regenerative products on the crops side of farming. The livestock side continues to add its share of regenerative brands and products as well. Origin Nutrition is another excellent option for regenerative milk products, as well as being A2. Origin had a wide variety of their amazing tasting cheeses there. They also offer fluid milk, ghee, and butter.
Rumiano
Rumiano has added a product which has been on my wish list for a number of years. I hadn’t seen any grass fed cheese dips on the market. I tried making my own, but found it’s not an easy dish to cook. Thanks to Rumiano’s new pepper jack queso and three cheese dip, there are now options for me. In addition to their cheese dips being organic and pasture grazed, they’re also gluten free. Flour is typically needed in cheese dip to avoid the dip from becoming too runny. Rumiano was able to make this work using tapioca starch.
Safe Catch
Burgers have always been one of my favorite foods. I love burgers made from all types of animal protein. Safe Catch reeled me in with their low mercury wild caught tuna in the form of a burger. They individually check each fish to make sure that it stays well below the FDA mercury limits. It was a pleasure consuming their tasty tuna burgers at the Safe Catch exhibit booth.
Sustain-A-Grain
Sustain-A-Grain promotes the perennial grain Kernza to consumers and promotes family farms growing it. Being perennial, Kernza is naturally regenerative. It doesn’t need to be replanted, meaning fewer procedures done to it in the field, protecting and building healthy soil as a result. Sustain-A-Grain sells Kernza as grains, flours, and noodles. They’ve also provided the grain to breweries.
Wild West Chocolate
Wild West Chocolate is a women led company crafting chocolate bars sweetened only with fruits, such as dates, mulberries, peaches, and mangos. They’re also in the process of becoming Regenerative Organic Certified. In addition to be a regenerative chocolate and a naturally sweetened, they had the best booth at the show. I love how they went all in on their name and turned the convention into the Expo Wild West.
ZĒGO
Grains are proving to be another subcategory with huge expansion into regenerative agriculture. For regenerative oats, ZĒGO is now a provider of them. In addition to becoming Regenerative Organic, ZĒGO prides themselves with offering a QR code of the test results on their products and for being processed in a facility free from all of the major allergens.