Bottled water, energy and iced tea are expected to win big in 2014 as C-store operators predict a ‘banner year’ in packaged beverages led by brands including Sparkling Ice, Monster and Lipton.
CytoSport has developed an organic variation of its popular, high-protein Muscle Milk RTD to meet increasing US consumer demand for organically-certified products.
The vast majority of sodium reduction activity in the US food industry is now being conducted by ‘stealth’ in order to avoid alienating shoppers, according to Tate & Lyle.
US retail sales of gluten-free products surged 47% in 2013, with a significant chunk of the growth coming from snacks, according to flour milling giant Ardent Mills.
Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) and its marketing arm Dairy Marketing Services (DMS) have agreed to pay a total of US$50m (€37m) to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged a conspiracy to drive down raw milk prices in the Northeast United States.
The CEO of Drazil Kids Tea thinks this unusually named (lizard spelled backwards!), ready-to-drink tea brand has what it takes to become the industry leader in the growing tea for kids segment.
Hormel & Virun help ease omega-3 F&B fortification headaches
While food & beverage manufacturers have been fortifying their wares with omega-3 fatty acids EPA + DHA for years, few have been able to include anywhere close to the efficacious doses contained in many supplements without running into technical or...
Consumers are tired of bars, says quinoa 'snack in a bottle' founder
While a scary percentage of new food & beverage brands end up quietly disappearing when their backers run out of cash, luck, or endurance, a small number succeed. But what distinguishes the winners from the losers?
FoodNavigator-USA takes you through the latest and greatest in new product launches, from affordable healthy snacks and chia energy drinks to all-purpose stevia and dairy-free desserts.
Trader Joe's 'purposefully railroaded business relationships', alleges lawsuit
Trader Joe’s move to ditch a broker and a vendor it had been working with for years and deal directly with key suppliers of ice cream and other dairy products left the pair “high & dry”, says a lawsuit accusing the retailer of “systematically eliminating...
Fourteen years after Unilever spent $2.3bn (€1.7bn) to buy Slim-Fast, it has sold up for an undisclosed sum to a private equity player. Analyst and author Julian Mellentin tracks the decline of a mega-brand and considers what he sees as a category in...
In the latest installment of FoodNavigator-USA’s What do you do series, we talked with Kai Sacher, head of global product development at leading yogurt manufacturer Chobani, about his roots on Austrian dairy farms, the importance of timing in new product...
A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Hain Celestial over the marketing of its BluePrint high-pressure-processed (HPP) juices on the grounds that the plaintiff derailed his own case by submitting scientific papers to the court which contradicted his...
European dairies Nestlé, Danone and Lactalis made up the podium in the latest Rabobank Dairy Top 20. Can you guess how the likes of Fonterra, Saputo, Yili and Mengniu lined up?
An FDA inspection of Chobani’s yogurt production facility in Twin Falls, Idaho, conducted after it recalled some products last fall, found “minor” deficiencies in good manufacturing practices (GMPs), but nothing to warrant issuing a ‘483’ letter, the...
So Delicious Dairy Free brand grew at a 30% CAGR over past five years
While gluten-free gets all the glory, dairy-free products such as almond and coconut milk are growing at an equally explosive rate, says So Delicious Dairy Free, which has notched up a compound annual growth rate of 30%+ over the past five years, and...
Mars has flagged health as a leading priority and has named Debra Sandler, former Mars Chocolate North America president, as chief health and wellness officer for the global company.
General Mills - which has just unveiled a host of new protein-packed product launches - is seeking to patent a way of ensuring certain protein particulates can be incorporated into snacks containing moist fruit pastes but stay crunchy.
DIGGING INTO WHEAT TRENDS WITH ARDENT MILLS: PART II
The grain-based industry is late to the protein game and they need to catch up because opportunities are vast, says Ardent Mills’ director of consumer insights.
Dr Alejandro Mazzotta - the microbiologist heading up food safety at Chobani - says he is disappointed by the publication of a “highly irresponsible” paper in the peer-reviewed journal mBio alleging that the fungal contaminant found in some of its yogurts...
The publication of a paper alleging that the fungus in yogurts voluntarily recalled by Chobani last fall is more virulent than originally thought could prompt a new wave of civil lawsuits against the Greek yogurt maker, although product liability cases...
H.U.M.A.N., the company behind better-for-you vending machines and healthy micro markets, has taken its business-to-business healthy snack distribution model into corporate offices with the launch of SnackNation.
Plant waters are all the rage - at least that’s what trend watchers keep telling us - but can artichoke water emulate the meteoric success of coconut water? Or is Arty Water - an intriguing mix of artichokes, mint and pandanus leaf sweetened with monk...
The US food and beverage industry anticipates continued sales growth in 2014 on the heels of strong performances the past two years, according to the second annual "US Food & Beverage Industry Study" from accounting, tax and advisory services...
Americans don’t eat a third of the food they produce. But while this shocking statistic might alarm consumers, many still don’t see themselves as part of the problem, and mistakenly believe that food waste is less damaging to the environment than other...
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi says she didn’t want a short-term ‘cut, slash and burn’ policy that would have seen the company make enormous earnings from 2006 despite the upset her long-term nutritional foods focus caused some investors.
Since it was created in 2012, Chapul Inc. has been on a mission to integrate edible insects into Western diets, using its cricket energy bars as the vehicle.
The concept of “energy” is a multifaceted one, to be sure: it can come in bursts or slowly; via beverages, shots, biscuits or bars; with appeal that spans sports nutrition, weight management and even kids.
Sales of specialty snacks, chips & pretzels surged 19.1% between 2011 and 2013. To get up to speed with the latest snacking trends, from seaweed to spelt, FoodNavigator-USA headed to New York for the summer Fancy Food Show...
In the latest of a string of acquisitions for TreeHouse Foods, the private label manufacturer said it will acquire private label health snacks maker Flagstone Foods for $860 million from Gryphon Investors.
Women, protein blends, and the ‘anti-wasting’ market are all areas of significant opportunity in sports nutrition, says Jeff Hilton, co-founder and CMO of BrandHive.
US sales of specialty foods & beverages topped $88.3bn in 2013, up an astonishing 47% since 2008. To find out what all the fuss is about and get up to speed with the latest beverage trends, from tart cherries to blossom water, FoodNavigator-USA headed...
Snacking is becoming more of a lifestyle than simply a between-meal indulgence for time-strapped US consumers, which means more opportunity to innovate in flavor, nutrition and delivery formats for snack food manufacturers like Snyder’s-Lance Inc.
Relaxation Solutions, a subsidiary of Bebida Beverage Company (BeBevCo), has partnered with 80s comedy duo Cheech and Chong to launch a hemp-infused relaxation ice cream in the US.
If artificial sweeteners have an image problem, then General Mills’ move to replace one artificial sweetener (aspartame) with another (sucralose) in its Yoplait Light yogurts might seem like an odd move.
Starbucks will launch ‘handcrafted’ Fizzio soft drinks in US cafes this summer, and one analyst says the brand represents ‘potential for bubbles everywhere’ and thinks the Seattle chain and Pepsi may take it to grocery stores.
While the percentage of groceries purchased online remains significantly below that of books, TVs and pretty much everything else, e-commerce sales of food and consumables (food, beverage plus home/personal care items bought via online grocers) rose 13.7%...
Starbucks-owned brand Evolution Fresh is test marketing a new range of co-branded smoothies made with cold pressed, high pressure processed juice and Dannon Greek yogurt in 200 Starbucks stores in San Jose and St Louis.
You'd think that pro-science,'molecular gastronomists' such as Chef Homaru Cantu would be all in favor of genetically engineered foods, especially if they can add nutrition, or reduce the environmental impact of food production, right?...
Hawaii-based coffee fruit beverage maker KonaRed has teamed up with at-home carbonation expert Sparkling Drink Systems International (SDS) to develop a line of powdered beverage pods.
Will Keurig Cold really turn the soft drinks market on its head? Can natural sweeteners pull diet soda out of its funk? And what’s the next coconut water?
Growing consumer interest in positive nutrition, demographic shifts, new eating patterns, recent scientific findings, and the recommendations from the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans all point to a bright future for protein-rich foods and beverages,...
Potential buyers of Monster Energy including Coke and Anheuser-Busch may be ‘waiting on the sidelines’ until the firm’s potential liabilities on outstanding legal issues have been settled.