If you didn't make it to Chicago in October for FoodNavigator-USA's inaugural Food Vision USA event, you missed a truly awesome ensemble of industry experts covering everything from our nutritional needs on a manned mission to Mars to the challenges...
With a love of cooking and an assortment of spices at home, a New York couple experimented making snacks out of jicama, a root vegetable they learned about while on vacation in Mexico. As it proved popular in their community, JicaChips is expanding nationwide.
The broad bipartisan spending and tax agreement among Congressional leaders has been praised by nonprofits involved in fighting hunger. The bills will help alleviate the tax bills of struggling families and boost food donations at home and abroad, they...
The old adage that one person’s trash is another’s treasure is the foundation of San Francisco-based startup ReGrained, which makes snack bars from grains used to brew beer and eventually hopes to connect other manufacturers with a steady supply of the...
Nearly three-quarters of US consumers will host a meal or a party this holiday season, and to ensure their guests leave jolly and full 57% of shoppers say they will spend more on groceries during this season than last, according to a new study by Acosta.
US exports of organic produce and products are on the rise thanks to organic equivalency arrangements that ease verification requirements between some countries without compromising the integrity of organic, according to new research from the Organic...
The holidays are notorious for tempting people to indulge, but a recent poll by CivicScience found that while some consumers pay less attention to healthy eating, most stay strong and seek out better-for-you options throughout the season.
With sales already heading into the stratosphere after a successful roll-out in chains from Starbucks to Kroger, That’s It fruit bars upped the ante this week after being cleared by NASA as a snack for astronauts to munch on as they work at the International...
The Organic Trade Association in 2016 will push forward several initiatives to help industry “turn the corner” on the supply shortages currently holding it back from meeting surging demand for organic products, the group’s CEO Laura Batcha says.
There’s a widening sense of distrust from Canadian consumers against food manufacturers, especially when it comes to free-from claims on packaging. A Mintel study conducted in September found that a whopping 65% of Canadians see the free-from label as...
Special edition: Battling malnutrition. Exclusive with Nestlé head of public health nutrition
Commercial and public health gain needn’t be opposed bedfellows in the battle against malnutrition among the world’s poorest people, says the chief of public health nutrition at the world’s biggest food firm.
The ‘good for you’ trend in children’s food is growing, and small companies would do well to focus on healthy new product development in order to compete with big players who have the money to reformulate and rebrand, says one analyst.
Fresh produce provider Dole Food Co. hopes to boost Americans' fruit and veggie intake by expanding its “Get Up and Grow” healthy eating initiative and launching three new products, including “less stringy” celery.
Back to Nature Foods Co.’s revitalization of the recently acquired iconic SnackWell’s brand is an example of how established companies can refresh aging brands that are struggling to better compete with new products from disruptive startups.
A $1.1 trillion omnibus spending package released late last night does not contain a much-anticipated policy rider on federal GMO labeling that would pre-empt state GMO-labeling laws, although it does seek to block the sale of genetically engineered salmon...
There’s a new ‘shroom coming out of the storied grounds around the Woodstock Festival 1969 site. It comes in tea form, and it will hit the shelves of New York City health food stores and gourmet delis this coming January.
Go Gourmet wants to “up the ante” in the applesauce and fruit cup aisle with its “superfood snack” Slammers – premium fruit and veggie purees for school-aged children in pouches that pose a triple threat with taste, nutrition and personality, says CEO...
While the media coverage of the new SmartLabel initiative has focused on shoppers’ enthusiasm (or lack, thereof) for scanning QR codes as they shop, or whether it’s just an elaborate ruse by ‘big food’ to avoid mandatory on-pack GMO labeling, the real...
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...
This is the season of repetitive themes: Christmas carols, holly garlands, inflatable Santas. So it comes as no surprise that DuPont protein experts sound a familiar strain, too: Plant proteins were big in 2015 and they’re going to be even bigger in...
Chicago sustainable seafood purveyor Wixter Market has developed that sustainability idea further by seeking to sell every part of the fish via a line of private label salmon oil omega-3 supplements.
Specialty rice producer Amira sees significant potential for Basmati to win the hearts of Americans, who lately have been flirting more with Indian food and ancient grains.
PureCircle has developed a new family of stevia-based sweeteners designed to shine in low to zero-calorie formulations, an application area that has proved particularly challenging as formulators seek to retain a ‘clean, sugar-like’ taste at higher dosage...
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.
Social media often is a dominant – and sometimes the only – component of most food and beverage companies' marketing strategies, but as platforms continue to proliferate, advertisers must understand to whom each application appeals to maximize their...
'We’ll be incubating our own brands and investing in other early stage brands'
KRAVE Jerky founder Jon Sebastiani - who sold his business to Hershey in January – is going back to his entrepreneurial roots next year with the launch of a CPG incubator he hopes can recreate the magic he felt in KRAVE’s early days with groundbreaking...
Minnesota-based Suntava Corporation – which is best-known for its anthocyanin-packed purple corn – has been acquired by Healthy Food Ingredients, LLC, the parent company of SK Food International and Hesco/Dakota Organic Products.
Startups ranging from the maker of fine sodas to an information management firm for farmers took center-stage at Rabobank North America Wholesale’s client appreciation event in New York City earlier this month where they were recognized as the winners...
'It’s not the first or the second purchase order that really counts, it’s the third'
It won't happen overnight, but the future of babyfood is in the chiller, predicts one Texas-based entrepreneur pioneering the application of high pressure processing (HPP) in a category she claims is ripe for disruption.
A new on-pack label could be the best way to quickly reduce the use of antibiotics in the livestock industry, according to a major new report for the UK government.
America’s love affair with spicy flavors will continue in 2016, but with an evolutionary twist that also will open the door for more multicultural flavors, predicts McCormick & Co. in it is annual flavor forecast.
A self-proclaimed “sugar-fighter,” the founder and CEO of The Right Cup is taking on America’s addiction to sweetened beverages with the upcoming launch of a scented cup that tricks the brain into thinking plain water is a fruit-flavored beverage.
The shift towards cleaner, more nutrient dense foods will continue to spread in the US in the coming year with parents increasingly looking for healthy options for the whole family – including picky children, who in generations past might have been served...
Seaweed, full-fat dairy, floral flavors and mushrooms will all gain traction in 2016, according to the Specialty Food Association (SFA), which has released a list of 10 trends to watch in US food culture next year:
Portion control packaging, like the 100-calorie pack, is ubiquitous in the food and beverage industry, but new research suggests smaller options may not be enough to curb over-eating and fight the obesity epidemic.
Three years ago, Chef Jeannine Sacco was cooking Jambalaya, discovered she was out of rice, ransacked her cupboard for a substitute, and found a packet of whole grain steel cut oats. The results blew her mind; the entrepreneurial juices started flowing;...
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.
For startup Tru, Inc., a successful Kickstarter campaign is about more than raising funds to launch its TRUEnergy sports shot – it is about proving to retailers and future investors that the product concept is viable and will sell, said CEO and Founder...
Parabel – a new entrant to the burgeoning plant-based protein market - has signed a lease for 450 acres of land in Fellsmere, Florida, where it plans to build a $10m production facility for its water-lentil-based proteins.
Long-anchored in the conventional channel’s center-store with iconic brands such as Hungry Man and Wishbone, Pinnacle Foods’ $975 million acquisition of Boulder Brands gives it a better foothold in the fast-growing refrigerated and health food segments.
CEO: 'The center of the store is not generating the kind of performance that we would like'
The Fresh Market can be fixed, but it’s going to have to cut prices of key-value-items (KVIs), and “reinvent” the center of the store, says its new president and CEO Rick Anicetti, who has spent his first few weeks at the helm “looking under the hood”...
The FDA has rejected a citizen’s petition calling for mandatory labeling of foods from genetically engineered crops, arguing that labels are not warranted unless there is a material difference in the safety or nutritional profile of the foods in question.
NBTY recorded $3.23 billion in net sales in its fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2015. That total represented a razor-thin gain from the previous, disappointing year but nevertheless was a result that management said it was “generally pleased” with.
Not so long ago, pundits were predicting that the high-purity stevia extracts market would be worth a billion dollars as manufacturers ditched artificial sweeteners and embraced ‘all-natural’ alternatives.
Glanbia Nutritionals is going all in on glutamine (and gluten) with a new wheat protein ingredient line it is bringing to the US market. Called HarvestPro, the new ingredient is anticipated to have a big future in sports nutrition and functional foods.
Union Kitchen: Inside a food and beverage incubator
Fermented foods and beverages are growing in popularity as consumers learn more about their health benefits – in turn opening the door for entrepreneurs like The Sweet Farm, which sells fresh sauerkraut and is developing a line of cultured sodas and probiotic...
Just weeks after announcing its intention to sell its private label business to TreeHouse Foods, ConAgra Foods has unveiled plans to re-engineer itself again, this time by separating into independent public companies: one comprising its consumer brands...
Union Kitchen: Inside a food and beverage incubator
To make it in the highly competitive food and beverage segment, startups need to listen to consumers and evolve to meet changing demands – even if that means letting go of their “baby,” says the founder of Momme Meals.
