Senomyx has “achieved a fermentation strain proof of concept” for the production of siratose, a new zero-calorie, high-potency sweetening compound found in trace levels in monk fruit.
Earlier this week meal kit company Chef’d announced that it had ceased all operations and issued layoff notices to its employees, citing "unexpected circumstances with the funding for the business." While there is still speculation over what...
JUST (formerly Hampton Creek) has struck a deal with Italian egg producer and distributor Eurovo Group to bring its plant-based scrambled egg alternative Just Egg to consumers across Europe, and says it is also in talks with CPG companies interested in...
American regulators have wrestled over how to deal with musicians’ use of the F-word in songs. News organizations have debated how to cover President Trump’s use of the S-word when talking about certain countries. But these days, the big debate seems...
Highlights from day one at the Digital Food and Beverage conference
Selling food & beverage brands online has some obvious advantages: you can get to market more quickly, get rapid feedback, and find out who your customers are. But it’s not all plain-sailing. Here are some takeaways from day one of the Digital Food...
Sensient Technologies has acquired Mazza Innovation Limited, a botanical extraction technology firm based in Vancouver, Canada, strengthening its “seed to shelf” business strategy to innovate across the value chain for natural and organic ingredients.
The rumored Campbell Soup sale to Kraft Heinz has sparked debate among industry analysts on whether or not it would be a smart move for both CPG players. Taking a closer look at the potential deal some benefits for both companies start to emerge.
The FDA’s July 12 public meeting on cell-cultured (aka ‘clean’ meat) exposed sharp differences of opinion over how meat grown from cells outside an animal should be labeled and regulated. But there was also real excitement about the potential of a technology...
Primal Kitchen – a lifestyle brand spearheaded by former endurance athlete Mark Sisson (strapline: ‘Eat like your life depends on it’) - is on course to double sales this year as it adds new lines to its Paleo-fueled food portfolio from unsweetened ketchup...
The first time Innova Market Insights’ director of innovation, Lu Ann Williams, heard the term 'clean label' was in 2008, long before the term 'clean' started to infiltrate business to consumer marketing.
Supplementing the diet of three- to six-year-olds with chicory root fiber may improve their gut microbiota composition and strengthen their immune defenses, says a new study.
Naturex is launching a natural alternative to EDTA suitable for lipid emulsions such as mayonnaise and salad dressings at the IFT show in Chicago next week to meet growing demand for clean label food preservatives.
Artesa chickpea protein: 'It's as close to dairy as any plant protein we've tested'
Plant-based proteins are hot property, but organoleptic and functional challenges continue to hold the market back, claims Virginia-based Nutriati, which says its new chickpea protein concentrates can open up new application opportunities and give soy,...
It wasn’t too long ago when locally-grown produce evoked images of backyard gardens or roadside produce stands many miles outside of city limits. Now, the local produce movement has morphed into an urban-centered industry thanks to the rise of hydroponic...
Plant-based meats and clean-label are two of the most influential trends in food currently, but often they run counter to each other with many mock-meats made from highly-processed ingredients and protein isolates that most consumers would never find...
Just Egg - a plant-based scrambled egg alternative from JUST made with mung bean protein - is rolling out to all 30 Veggie Grill restaurants next week, and has secured approvals at a raft of retailers including Fresh Thyme, Wegmans, Gelson's Market...
There's a lot of hype around 'big data' and 'data analytics', but how can you cut through the noise to distill these buzzwords down into something that is useful to your startup or established company?
Public comments on USDA’s GMO labeling rule have exposed sharp divisions about whether it should include refined ingredients from GM crops, or foods produced via modern gene-editing techniques such as CRISPR. But they have also raised questions about...
The term ‘clean’ is popping up more and more in food branding and in consumer vernacular, but its definition is as foggy as ‘natural’ and ‘healthy,' according to Mintel.
Consumers will lose trust in the food industry if USDA does not mandate that refined ingredients such as oils and sugars derived from bioengineered crops are subject to GMO labeling, says the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA).
Cold pressed juices helped put HPP (High Pressure Processing) on the map. Now the technology is gaining consumer acceptance and understanding in other categories including meat, seafood, and ready-to-eat, prepared food items.
We’re searching for trailblazing, entrepreneurial start-ups or established brands with new products to present their red hot food and nutrition innovations targeting expectant Moms, babies, toddlers, kids or teens at FoodNavigator-USA’s FOOD FOR KIDS...
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...
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.
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....
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.
Urban Remedy partners with Kate Upton to develop meal plans
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’...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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.
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.
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...
Plant-based food options continue to win over Americans’ share of stomach and wallets accounting for nearly 20% of food and beverage dollars spent last year, according to a new report by Nielsen.
When it comes to marketing on social media it is easy for companies to spread themselves too thin by trying to be everywhere and reach everyone, which is why the public relations experts at Konnect Agency recommend that firms pick one or two platforms...
Another start-up in the burgeoning cultured meat arena has emerged from stealth mode this month in the form of San Diego-based BlueNalu, which aims to make a splash in the cellular aquaculture field with cell-cultured seafood products after raising an...
With a clutch of start-ups getting closer to commercialization of cell-cultured meat (aka ‘clean meat’) the FDA has announced a public meeting to give stakeholders the chance to comment on the technology and the terminology used to describe it, and suggested...
US packaged food companies have been “frantically buying up new challenger brands at escalating deal multiples to offset the weakening sales trends in their core businesses,” says a new report from Bernstein. But success rates have been hit and miss,...
No matter how fast entrepreneurs hustle or how good their products are, all companies inevitably hit plateaus that threaten to stall or even kill their businesses, and how quickly they can push through depends in large part on the strength of their branding.
Long-awaited guidance from the FDA spelling out which isolated or synthetic non-digestible carbohydrates it believes should be classified as ‘dietary fiber’ on the Nutrition Facts panel brings to an end a period of extended uncertainty for companies supplying...
Over 60 organizations including the GMA, the Independent Bakers Association, the National Potato Council, and the Natural Products Association have joined together to ask Congress to amend the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act.
Chobani’s mission to deliver better food to more people is about more than creating finished goods that are more nutritious and more accessible – it also is about making those products in a better way, which is one reason why it is adding a Food Tech...
Which cooking oils are growing most strongly and why? Is ghee trending and has coconut oil lost some of its luster? Is butter outperforming vegetable-oil-based spreads?
