On Tuesday, the food safety body of the European Union released its long-awaited report on aspartame, concluding that that artificial sweetener is safe for humans consume at the current levels that it is used in food and beverages. As expected, the European Food Safety Authority's opinion was praised by the American Beverage Association and infuriated some consumer watchdog groups. But will the decision have an affect declining sales of aspartame-sweetened drinks?

At BevNET Live in Santa Monica earlier this week, retailers restated the theme: they understand the potential for emerging brands and they’re looking for partnerships. Representatives from 7-Eleven, Costco and Life Time Fitness, Inc. were on hand to discuss their interest in identifying the next wave of innovation and stocking their shelves with the buzzworthy brands of the next few years.

The idea that a beverage company can spike or sink at any time carried over at the conference, indicating that entrepreneurs recognize the often uncontrollable factors at play. CEO Jeff Church knows that, even now, Suja could continue to reach new levels of prominence or have about the same shelf life as the juice itself.

With a spate of innovative, polished and well-executed products launching in 2013, judging this year's BevNET's Best of was perhaps the toughest task we've had in the 11 years of awards. Nevertheless, we are pleased to present what we believe are the top new brands in the beverage industry, and on a path to lead their respective categories for years to come.

BevNET.com, Inc., the beverage industry's leading source for news and reviews, has introduced BevNET Food and Beverage University (FBU), the next iteration of the company's highly successful BeverageSchool.com platform. Featuring a lineup of resources and media geared towards early-stage professionals, BevNET FBU covers a wide range of vital and relevant topics from which users will be able to get rapidly immersed in everything they'll need to know about the food and beverage industry.