Plant-based beverage brand Califia Farms has raised $50m+ in a new funding round led by Ambrosia Investments and existing investors, Sun Pacific and Stripes Group.
US plant-based meat firm Beyond Meat has tripled its manufacturing footprint from 30,000 to 100,000 sq ft by opening a second production facility in Missouri.
Home Chef meal kits - which roll out in selected Kroger stores later this summer in standalone coolers – will target the significant subset of consumers that buy into the meal kit concept but don’t want to commit to a subscription, says Home Chef chief...
If consumers are to believe that the food industry is serious about transparency, highly refined ingredients derived from GM crops must be included in the definition of 'bioengineered' enshrined in federal GMO labeling legislation, even if they...
When Cedarlane Natural Foods launched its ‘plant-powered’ foods back in the early ‘80s, many retailers weren’t ready for hummus and tofu meals. Today, they are carving out reams of space for these kinds of items and the industry’s biggest CPG giants are...
While the ongoing war on sugar is taking a toll on sales of conventional chocolate in the US, it is creating an opportunity for once-niche, better-for-you options, including sugar-free – as long as the taste and experience are not compromised in the trade-off,...
US meat company Hormel Foods has responded to allegations that it forced consumers to pay high prices for pork products, describing the claim as “completely out of merit”.
Plant-based meat brand Beyond Meat has opened a second production facility in Columbia, Missouri, that will more than triple its manufacturing footprint from 30,000 to 100,000sq ft and create 250 new jobs in 2018.
Stevia-sweetened zero-cal beverage brand Zevia – which first hit the market in 2007 - notched up growth of more than 50% year on year in the latest 12 weeks in conventional channels, driven almost entirely through velocity gains as consumers demand beverages...
While consumers still respond to the convenience of popping open a bag of chips, their mindset around snacking has expanded to products that promise a sense of culinary adventure, conscious-sourcing, unexpected ingredients, and satiating benefits.
Sales of salty snacks in the US continue to rise as consumers embrace smaller, more frequent eating occasions over three-square meals a day, but at the same time, rising health and wellness awareness is creating a significant competitive threat from better-for-you...
US packaged foods company Conagra Brands has reached an agreement with manufacturer Pinnacle Foods to acquire its remaining shares and debts, in a deal worth $10.9 billion.
Starbucks is introducing Teavana tea sachets in US grocery stores, expanding availability of the brand as Starbucks aims to increase its overall tea business to $3bn over the next five years.
Brazil has been flagged up as an integral part of the declining global poultry industry as trade restrictions and safeguard measures hamper the sector, according to Rabobank Poultry Q3 results.
Canada’s Ministry of Agriculture has invested CA$12.7m to Swine Innovation Porc to facilitate research into the swine sector under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership program.
HelloFresh, which recently edged ahead* of Blue Apron to take the #1 spot in the US meal kit market, has recently launched meal kits in 581 Giant Food and Stop & Shop stores and started experimenting with prepared food vending machines in Europe....
Mushroom chip brand Mudlrk (pronounced ‘mudlark’ – a term meaning a person who scavenges for objects of value) is aiming to begin online retail of its four SKUs at the end of July and hit brick & mortar stores later this year.
The combination of Conagra Brands and Pinnacle could create a new giant in the US packaged food industry with a particularly strong presence in the resurgent frozen food aisle, although there are limits to how much frozen categories can rebound, say analysts...
While entering a high growth category might be tempting, companies might actually have better luck – and longer-term success – if they launch “explosive innovation” into a “hibernating” category, according to a top executive at Kodiak Cakes.
Even though frozen pizza is notorious for being loaded with sodium, saturated fat and preservatives, plant-based brand Sweet Earth Enlighted Foods sees it as the perfect vehicle to improve the health of Americans as well as the planet.
The US Department of Agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue believes Donald Trump will defend national interests for farmers following the country’s ongoing trade war with China.
Urban Remedy – a brand specializing in ‘ultra-fresh’ organic ready-to-eat meals, snacks, and cold pressed juices – grew sales by nearly 100% vs the previous quarter in the first quarter of 2018, driven by the rapid expansion of its ‘store within a store’...
The plant-based milk segment was already pretty crowded by the time Jeff Richards quit the day job to launch Mooala in 2016. But the fact that buyers at the likes of Whole Foods, Safeway, H.E.B., Costco, and Wegmans, were willing to give him a shot this...
Tea Drops – which specializes in bagless, organic, pressed tea ‘drops’ that ‘disintegrate in your cup’ - has closed a $1.9m seed round led by New York-based early stage venture fund AccelFoods and supported by Halogen Ventures and Cue Ball Capital.
For Crop One Holdings the sky isn’t the limit – it is just the next stopover – thanks a $40 million joint venture with Emirates Flight Catering that will more than double the vertical farm’s daily production of leafy greens and expand the Massachusetts-based...
PepsiCo Venture Group is on the lookout for emerging brands offering premium, functional products that also offer consumers benefits that they can easily understand and “feel” – two key indicators of long-term success, according to a company executive.
Investors in early stage food companies are constantly searching for the ‘what’s next?’ in food, and many fundamentally agree that the ideas and people worth investing in are the ones that are fulfilling an unmet consumer need in a "unique way that...
A month after being hit with a lawsuit alleging it made false and misleading representations about its light ice cream, Halo Top has been targeted again, this time with a proposed class action alleging it routinely under-fills its pints, “and has been...
Finless Foods – one of a new wave of start-ups in the rapidly heating-up cultured fish* arena - has raised $3.5m in a seed round that cofounder and CEO Mike Selden says will “bring us to the end of our initial R&D phase, meaning we’ll have the tools...
‘We tell you what’s on the inside on the outside’ protein bar brand RXBAR has been hit with a proposed class action lawsuit* by the same law firms challenging the minimalist ingredients declarations of fellow bar brand That’s It.**
Colorado startup FoodMaven has an ambitious goal to reclaim some of the estimated $200 billion of revenue lost annually in America due to food waste by redirecting oversupplied food from manufacturers and producers to restaurants and institutions through...
At the intersection of the crowded cold-brew coffee category and the highly competitive energy drink segment, the founders of startup Bold Brew Coffee saw an opportunity to bring something new to each space.
BENEO – best known for its chicory root fibers, low glycemic carbs, and rice ingredients – has opened an application center in Parsippany, New Jersey, to help it get closer to customers in the North American market looking to add fiber, reduce sugar and...
Urban greenhouse developer and local produce grower Gotham Greens closed $29m in Series C equity funding last month from existing investors including the Silverman Group along with a new investment from global, family-run private equity firm Creadev.
Frozen kids food brand Kidfresh has carved out a solid spot for itself in the frozen foods aisle, an area that’s re-heating with consumer interest after years of flat growth.
After more than a decade of explosive overall growth, year-over-year sales of gluten-free products are starting to slow, according to some consumer data, but industry insiders suggest manufacturers could breathe new life into the segment by pairing gluten-free...
Magellan Life Sciences says its patent-pending fermentation process to scale up the sweet-tasting protein brazzein will make it the first company to market the natural, zero-calorie sweetener.
The US meat industry has welcomed US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) efforts to secure approval for 20 additional facilities that are now eligible to export beef to China.
Beyond Meat has struck a deal with A&W - Canada’s fastest growing national burger chain – to add its plant-based Beyond Burgers to the menu at 925 outlets, boosting its overall distribution in the foodservice sector to 10,000+ restaurants, hotels,...
It’s easy to look at the Annie’s brand now – which achieved double-digit household penetration during former president and CEO John Foraker’s tenure – and think the company never took a wrong turn on its path to center-store ubiquity.
Large food corporations growing through bolt-on acquisitions isn’t anything new and will continue, but what is changing are the structures and programs big companies are putting in place to tap into the mindset of emerging startup brands.
General Mills has led a funding round that poured $12 million into Boulder,CO-based functional food firm NextFoods and its GoodBelly brand via its venture investing arm 301 Inc.
One in every five dollars spent at online natural and organic membership club Thrive Market is likely to be on private label products by the end of the year, predicts merchandising chief Jeremiah McElwee. “But we’re definitely not trying to be an online...
Growth prospects for US plant-based meat manufacturer Field Roast Grain Meat has led to an agreement with distribution company Essen Foods to expand its product range across the Australasian market.
The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) has reiterated its call for Thailand to end its ban on US pork as it aims to combat retaliatory tariffs imposed from Mexico and China.
Snack delivery firm SnackNation has acquired EdgiLife, the consumer insights and data analytics company behind Love With Food, one of the nation's largest direct-to-consumer snack subscription services, for an undisclosed sum.