NielsenIQ Names Food and Beverage Innovation Winners for 2022

Nov. 1, 2022

Twenty-one food and beverage products new to the U.S. have been named as “breakthrough innovations” by NielsenIQ.

Twenty-one food & beverage products new to the U.S. have been named as “breakthrough innovations” by NielsenIQ.

The products were among 36 consumer products sold in the U.S. and Canada that were tabbed as 2022 North American Breakthrough Innovation Award winners. Nielsen says that due to the pandemic, inflation and supply chain pressures, the pace of innovation has slowed, leading to a 19% decrease in the number of innovations from 2019 to 2021.

“This year’s award recognizes great products from established brands and new players that have successfully disrupted the market,” Ramon Melgarejo, managing director for NielsenIQ BASES, said in a statement.

The food & beverage winners with U.S. distribution are:

Fairlife Nutrition Plan fortified milk (Coca-Cola)
Bud Light Seltzer (Anheuser-Busch)
Topo Chico Hard Seltzer (Coca-Cola/Molson Coors)
Impossible Beef/Burger plant-based analogue meat (Impossible Foods)
Takis Blue heat savory snacks (Grupo Bimbo)
Blue Buffalo Tastefuls pet food (General Mills)
Hornitos Teremana tequila (Beam Suntory)
Chick-Fil-A Bottled Sauces
Sargento Balanced Breaks Cheese & Crackers
Kit Kat Duos (Nestlé/Hershey)
Dr Pepper & Cream Soda (Keurig Dr Pepper)
High Noon Hard Seltzer (E&J Gallo)
On the Rocks Premium Cocktails (Beam Suntory)
Horizon Organic Growing Years milk (Danone)
Oreo Gluten Free (Mondelez)
Mtn Dew Baja Flash & Baja Punch (PepsiCo)
Aha sparkling water (Coca-Cola)
DiGiorno Croissant Crust frozen pizza (Nestlé)
:ratio Keto-Friendly Dairy Snack (General Mills)
SmartSweets candy
Black Girl Magic wine (McBride Sisters Wine Co.)

About the Author

Pan Demetrakakes | Senior Editor

Pan has written about the food and beverage industry for more than 25 years. His areas of coverage have included formulations, processing, packaging, marketing and retailing. Pan worked for Food Processing Magazine for six years in the 1990s, where he was operations editor (his current role), touring dozens of food plants of every description. He has also worked for Packaging and Food & Beverage Packaging magazines, the latter as chief editor, during which he won three ASBPE awards. He is a graduate of Stanford University with a BA in communications.