A paragraph on page 34 of the 206-page 2017 House Agricultural Appropriations Bill - spotted by Hampton Creek’s eagle-eyed new VP of policy Tiny May yesterday - proposes to exempt industry-funded commodity research and promotion programs such as the American...
Ripple is a new plant-based ‘milk’ made with yellow pea protein that promises to blow dairy milk and current milk alternatives out of the water in the taste, nutrition and sustainability stakes. But did it impress members of Carpe Diem, a Santa Barbara-based...
Whether it’s choosing a car, or deciding what to wear, Millennials display a “pronounced proclivity for bold and confident individualism,” according to Packaged Facts. But how does this impact their food choices, and how can manufacturers, retailers and...
Snack maker KIND – which faced a wave of false advertising lawsuits* last year over its use of the terms ‘healthy’ and ‘all-natural’ – has urged a New York court to stay or dismiss the cases on primary jurisdiction grounds until the FDA official weighs...
Why are the top 100 CPG brands underperforming in most of the categories in which they operate? Lots of reasons, many beyond their control, says Dr Kurt Jetta, founder of TABS Analytics. But some the wounds are self-inflicted, he argues: “We are holding...
Fear not – nine billion people can be fed by 2050 without further deforestation. The claim comes from researchers at the Global Institute of Social Ecology in Vienna, Austria.
While interest in many food trends tends to ebb and flow, consumer demand for ‘local’ food – which taps into many other movements, from organic to specialty – continues to rise. But what does ‘local’ really mean, which consumers are most interested in...
BraunHagey & Borden LLP sets up practice group to target emerging food brands
Failure to seek legal advice when you launch your business can prove ruinous later on - especially when you are trying to raise money, or engineer an exit - says law firm BraunHagey & Borden LLP, which is setting up a new practice group to provide...
Sucralose “is safe and does not cause cancer, despite what you may have seen in some headlines,” Ted Gelov, the CEO of Splenda brand owner Heartland Consumer Products Group, has insisted in an open letter blasting what he argues is “flawed” data from...
Organic and Non-GMO claims are both gaining strong traction on US food and beverage labels, while there has been a slight decline in the percentage of new launches featuring 'natural' claims, according to Mintel.
By Jacob Harper, attorney, TroyGould PC, Los Angeles
Eating Parmesan is not going to leave you swallowing splinters. But you’d never know it after reading articles such as, ‘The Parmesan You Sprinkle on Your Penne Could be Wood,’ ‘FDA Warns the Parmesan You Eat May Be Wood Pulp,’ and ‘Yes, Parmesan Cheese...
As 301 Inc’s recent investment in start-up Good Culture demonstrates, large CPG companies are placing bets in promising food companies earlier than ever as the natural & organic food market heats up, says general manager John Haugen, who is looking...
Bill requires mandatory GMO labeling but would not require front of pack ‘warning’ statements
Two days after Senator Pat Roberts’ voluntary GMO labeling bill got the green light from the Senate agriculture committee, Senator Jeff Merkley* (D-OR) has introduced a ‘common-sense’ alternative he claims will please supporters of mandatory GMO labeling,...
Bricks & mortar retailers that don’t embrace online food delivery services such as InstaCart risk being left behind in the new on demand economy, says the CEO of San Francisco-based specialty food retailer Andronico’s.
Supporters of the 'Paleo' diet (a hunter/gatherer-style approach to eating) urge us to eschew grains, dairy and legumes - among other things. But any diet that eliminates major food groups should be treated with caution, argue two high-profile...
It’s purple, intriguing from a nutritional perspective owing to its anthocyanin content, and poised to create a completely new category in the US beverage market, says one man on a mission to make Kenyan purple tea a household name in the US.
Two out of three Americans are overweight or obese, but sales of 'diet' foods have dropped in recent years, even if the pounds haven’t. So is 'dieting' now a dirty word? Canadean, Hartman Group and the International Food Information...
“We have delivered food from the best shops, farms and artisans. It was a wonderful journey, and while we learned a lot from it, it has come to its end,” says a message on the homepage of online delivery service Artizone, which closed its doors on February...
By Keith Anderson, VP, strategy & insights, Profitero
According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), a quarter of Valentine’s shoppers went online to shop and/or buy gifts in 2015, up from 16.3% the prior year.
Dannon and General Mills are claiming victory in their legal spat with rival Chobani over the latter’s provocative new ad campaign for its Simply 100 Greek Yogurt after a judge granted their requests for a preliminary injunction to stop Chobani making...
A recent online article that labeled the science backing probiotics as “shaky” was criticized by the International Proibiotics Association as lacking context and a basic understanding of the industry and the evidence behind it.
60-second interview, Dr Liz Sloan and Dr Catherine Adams Hutt, Sloan Trends
What do US consumers think health and wellness means, and how is the food industry responding? Is low-carb still a thing, does the paleo diet have legs, and is non-GMO being used as a proxy for ‘healthy’?
From Cabernayzyns (dried Cabernet grapes) to bakkwa, a meat snack sold in street markets in Singapore and Malaysia that's just hit the West Coast of the US, the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco was jam-packed with unusual new products. FoodNavigator-USA...
Swiss giant Nestlé is one of the most praised global corporations by NGOs - but also one of the most criticised food companies in the world, according to a survey by research organisation SigWatch.
KRAVE Jerky founder Jon Sebastiani - who sold his business to Hershey last year – has already identified some entrepreneurs he hopes to mentor – and fund – as part of his new incubator, Sonoma Brands.
While Unilever has made strong gains in premium ice cream and gelato – with Talenti (which it acquired in late 2014) generating a 40% surge in sales in 2015 – it has not been able to arrest the decline in its spreads business, CEO Paul Polman told analysts...
Campbell Soup has broken ranks with the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) on the GMO labeling front and declared its support for the enactment of “federal legislation to establish a single mandatory labeling standard for foods derived from GMOs”...
'The huge disparity between what the guidelines advocate and what Americans actually eat is beyond alarming'
What do registered dietitians and nutritionists think of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and how much do they ultimately matter, since the gulf between what Americans are told to eat – and what they actually eat - remains huge?
While the US egg supply is rebounding well after last year’s devastating avian flu outbreak, it is too early to say whether manufacturers that reformulated products to reduce or replace eggs will revert to using the same amount of eggs they were using...
Upmarket meat snacks maker EPIC Provisions has been wooed by several suitors, but ultimately agreed to tie the knot with General Mills because it would help it achieve its goal of making high-quality grass-fed animal protein available to a broader audience,...
A California judge has refused to certify a class of consumers in a lawsuit accusing Yakult USA of misleading shoppers about the digestive health benefits of its fermented drinks.
People tend to overeat food marketed as healthy because they assume it is less filling but food companies can counter this by portraying food as 'nourishing' or 'wholesome' instead, researchers have found.
As part of our Food Vision USA program, FoodNavigator-USA quizzed food & beverage entrepreneurs on the trends they are tracking, plus what keeps them awake at night, from fundraising to recruitment. Here's part 2! (Best viewed on your desktop.)
As part of our Food Vision USA program, FoodNavigator-USA quizzed food & beverage entrepreneurs on the trends they wll be tracking in 2016, plus what keeps them awake at night, from fundraising to recruitment. (Best viewed on your desktop.)
I can't believe it's Just Mayo ... so will Just Butter be next?
Just weeks after telling Hampton Creek it was playing fast and loose with food labeling regs by branding its flagship egg-free spread ‘Just Mayo’, the FDA says Hampton Creek can now keep the ‘Just Mayo’ brand name - as long as it makes minor tweaks to...
The FDA has just cranked open Pandora’s box with its surprise bid to explore a working definition of ‘natural’ on food labels. As part of our Food Vision USA program, FoodNavigator-USA quizzed food & beverage CEOs to find out what they think it means,...
Dollar sales of Plum Organics surged 44.2% in measured channels* in the past 52 weeks, 3.8 times the average rate of growth for brands in the organic baby food segment, says the company, which has secured a 7.2% share of the $1.6bn US baby food and snacks...
Will 2016 be another bumper year for food-labeling class action lawsuits, or has the FDA’s surprise decision to weigh into the ‘natural’ debate put a spanner in the works for plaintiff’s attorneys? We quizzed leading food law attorneys to find out (gallery...
Brands are blowing a major opportunity to communicate their sustainability initiatives to millions of consumers with social media updates that are “inane, safe and saccharinely artificial in their bonhomie”, says a report.
Is it lawful to use terms such as ‘almondmilk’ and ‘soymilk’ to describe plant-based beverages? Yes, according to a ruling from a California court this week, which has dismissed claims in a long-running class action lawsuit* v retailer Trader Joe's...
The Organic & Natural Health Association will reveal more details about its ongoing effort to define “natural” – a much-used but dangerously ambiguous marketing term – at its inaugural national conference Jan. 26-27.
Lancaster, PA-based Neat Foods – a small, but rapidly-growing player in the plant-based foods category – has been acquired by Atlantic Natural Foods LLC, which makes canned vegetarian products under the Meatless Select and Caroline’s brands.
KIND has filed a citizen petition with the FDA to update 'outdated' regulations governing the use of the term healthy on food labels and address the disconnect between what Americans are encouraged to eat in the Dietary Guidelines and the criteria...
The FDA will have its work cut out when it comes to coming up with a workable definition of ‘natural’, if the comments submitted to the FDA thus far are anything to go by.
From NatureBox to VEGA Coffee, BeanGenius, and LoveWithFood, new online subscription services targeting snack lovers, coffee aficionados, and foodies are popping up almost every week. But what will distinguish the winners from the losers in this market?
Cocoa farmers operate in a chocolate supply chain that perpetuates poverty and bear the bulk of the risk, claims Cacao for Change as it proposes an alternative model.
Chocolate makers can draw on coffee industry grading standards to develop a common quality system for cocoa, says Lutheran World Relief’s manager of coffee and cocoa.
![Unilever CEO Paul Polman: 'I can get rid of [the spreads] business tomorrow by giving it away to someone, but that's criminal'](/var/wrbm_gb_food_pharma/storage/images/_aliases/news_teaser_medium/6/1/5/8/2558516-1-eng-GB/Unilever-FY-2015-We-can-t-stem-ongoing-decline-in-spreads.jpg)
