Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Protein bars are seemingly now a staple in the American diet. This packaged food is a preferred snack of everyone from athletes to those who work in the office all day. As a rock climber, I’ve chomped down more protein bars than I would have liked to, but they are truly a convenient approach to fueling up on a strenuous day. After trying countless new bars on the market, I’ve come to realize that many taste the same, and don’t actually provide the satiation promised. A start-up called SOUND Nutrition is stepping in to disrupt the idea of what a protein bar is through the creation of its product called a SOUND Bite.

SOUND Nutrition takes a radically different approach to making protein bars; the company uses high-frequency, low-amplitude ultrasonics, or sounds waves, to form its bars. Roberto Capodieci, the CTO of Sound Nutrition, invented the technique of ultrasonic cutting as a way to eliminate waste in food production for a major snack manufacturer. Later on, he discovered this technology could be used to gently vibrate dry ingredients into a shape without the use of high heat. Now, this is what Sound Nutrition uses to shape its powdered ingredients into an oval-shaped bar.

I spoke with David Cho, the CMO of SOUND Nutrition, and he said one benefit to using sounds waves to form the bars is that no fillers or binders are needed. Other bars use ingredients like dates or brown rice syrup to bind the bar together, but this is not necessary for Sound Bites. Cho said that this technology also affects the flavor and texture of the ingredients, and provides a rich, buttery flavor. Because the bars are never baked or heated, this supposedly also preserves the nutritional quality and flavor of some of the ingredients.

SOUND Bites comes in four different flavors: Coconut Surprise, Vanilla Lime, Mocha, and Chocolate Raspberry. Different protein isolates, like soy or whey, are commonly incorporated into protein bars, but Sound Nutrition uses whole egg crystals and cream cheese powder instead to up the protein content. Rather than added natural or artificial flavors, ingredients like lime juice powder, ground vanilla, and raspberry powder are used to create the different flavors of Sound Snacks. Each bar contains only 1 gram of sugar, and the only sweetener used is allulose, a sugar-free sweetener.

The protein bar market is huge, and it is expected to reach $7 billion USD by 2027. Out of all of the protein bars in existence, as far as we know, Sound Nutrition is currently the only company using sound waves to produce a food product. Cho did say that the company has plans to use this technology to create additional product lines in the future.

SOUND Nutrition officially launched a few months ago, and its bars are currently available for purchase only on its website. SOUND Bites come in packs of two, and each pack is available in a case of 12, costing $72. The company is offering a special sample case for a limited time, which includes four SOUND Bites packs in each flavor for a total of $24.

Update: SOUND recently dropped the product price, and SOUND Bites are now $20 for the sampler EP and $60 for the case of 12 packs. 

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