NEW YORK — With sales surging to a record $120.5 billion last year, the specialty food industry is “quite healthy,” said Louise Kramer, communications director for the Specialty Food Association, which hosts the Summer Fancy Food Show. The 62nd annual event, held June 26-28 in New York, drew more than 47,000 industry professionals to view the latest innovations from 2,670 exhibitors.  

“It’s our largest show ever,” Ms. Kramer told Food Business News in an interview before the event. “Our first show was in 1954, so this is our 62nd year, and demand has been extremely strong from the small food companies that make up the membership of the Specialty Food Association to be part of the show. We have a waiting list. The industry is doing very well.”

Driving product development in the specialty food industry are consumer issues of health, transparency and sustainability, Ms. Kramer said.

“We’ve been seeing protein-packed products and protein being called out, non-G.M.O. labeling and non-G.M.O. products that have been reformulated,” she said. “Healthy snacks is a big trend.”

Click for a slideshow of product trends at the Summer Fancy Food Show.