On November 10th, the U.S. Cranberry Marketing Committee (CMC) hosted a U.S. Cranberry Beverage Forum at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre on the first day of the Food & Hotel China 2020 trade show. More than 70 attendees participated in the seminar, most of whom were traders, retailers, bakers, and manufacturers, among others.

Both Erik W. Hansen, director of ATO Shanghai, and Mark Hazel, deputy director of ATO Shanghai, attended the forum. Erik Hansen delivered welcome remarks to all attendees. In these remarks, he noted that cranberries have been recognized by consumers as a U.S. super fruit, possess a variety of applications, especially dried cranberries, and that more and more activities are being held to promote the many health benefits of cranberry beverages. Dr. Huanglong, a food expert, delivered a presentation on the features and innovative applications of U.S. cranberries in beverages. This speech was aimed at improving awareness as to cranberries, educating attendees on the various applications for cranberries, and encouraging wider use of cranberry juice across the industry. Dr. Huanglong’s talk was divided into five parts:

1. Introduction to U.S. cranberries and CMC
2. Active ingredients and health benefits of cranberries
3. Development and application of the versatile forms of cranberries
4. Cranberry beverage trends
5. The use of cranberries in coffee and milk tea

The seminar ended with a lively Q&A session, during which attendees were very eager, engaged and asked many technical and scientific questions about cranberries.

52 attendees completed post-forum questionnaires. Of these, 100% of respondents stated that the cranberry presentation helped them to increase their technical knowledge of cranberries. Some of the participants indicated that they would like to receive more information about the various applications for cranberries and were interested in attending additional cranberry seminars.

A video on cranberry harvesting as well as three videos on cranberry daily drinks made by Eddy Yang were played before the forum. CMC prepared a series of cranberry brochures, power banks, as well as small packaged dried cranberries to give away to all attendees with the intent of continuing to educate attendees about cranberries following the forum.