Spicy ice cream, sweet and salty flavors and frozen treats that mimic cakes and pies are a few of the possible flavors that could be competing for the title of 2015 Most Innovative Ice Cream Flavor at IDFA’s Ice Cream Technology Conference next month. The popular competition, sponsored by Dairy Foods magazine, offers participants an opportunity to showcase their latest ice cream flavors and novelties for a chance to take home top, second- and third-place honors in three product categories.
The annual conference and competition will return to the Renaissance Vinoy in St. Petersburg, Fla., March 31-April 1, but this year’s contest will offer more opportunities for attendees to taste, judge and win.
Because IDFA received a record number of entries in the past two years, this year’s competition will be split into two judging sessions on March 31. IDFA invites all attendees to enter one product for each of the three categories:
- Most innovative ice cream flavor currently in the market;
- Most innovative prototype flavor not yet in the market; and
- Most innovative novelty currently in the market.
“The contest is a great way to spot new trends and highlight the industry's creativity,” said Cary Frye, IDFA vice president for regulatory and scientific affairs. She noted that last year’s winners featured “flavors that captured the taste of popular snack foods such as peanut butter s’mores, caramel popcorn, mini doughnuts, vanilla malted pretzels and cotton candy.”
For competition guidelines and shipping details, email a completed entry form to Elizabeth Cookson, IDFA senior director of meetings and educational services, to ecookson@idfa.org or fax to 202-331-7820 no later than Thursday, March 26.
Information on the conference agenda and registration is available here.