Monk fruit, a high-intensity sweetener, is gaining popularity across premium applications as a clean-label alternative that blends well with others. While it costs more than stevia, tech innovations may bring prices down.
Beyond Meat is rolling out its latest innovation - Beyond Steak - at Kroger and Walmart stores nationwide, as well as at select Albertsons and Ahold divisions and other retailers across the country.
SPINS data shared with FoodNavigator-USA ahead of our Futureproofing the Food System virtual summit (Nov 15-17) shows a mixed picture for US retail sales of plant-based cheese, with overall dollar sales down -2.3% to $218.94m and unit sales down -3.6%...
Researchers are calling on clinicians and the healthcare system to screen for food insecurity and better promote food access programs after discovering that Americans with limited or uncertain access to adequate food is on the rise and they are more likely...
The long-term imperative behind reducing our reliance on animal agriculture seems fairly compelling: The planet can’t sustain it. But with less engaged consumers dipping in and then out of the meat alternatives category as budgets tighten, and a subsegment...
To keep pantries stocked and food on the table – especially during the upcoming holidays – more Americans are cutting back on spending in other areas and modifying how they buy groceries as well as the types and amount of products they place in their...
From avocado oil “going mainstream” in packaged foods, to date sweeteners and Yaupon tea, Whole Foods has just unveiled its annual list of 10 trends to watch in the year ahead.
Seen as the economical and convenient option for preparing meals at home during the height of the pandemic, the affordability of frozen food has slipped with the average per unit price up 17% vs. one year ago. But consumers still believe it provides good...
Nourish Ingredients – one of a new breed of startups deploying synthetic biology to program microbes to produce more animal-like fats - has raised $28.6m in a series A round led by Horizons Ventures and supported by Main Sequence Ventures and Hostplus...
Beyond Meat and former co-packer Don Lee Farms have agreed to settle an ugly five-year legal dispute prompted by the early termination of a supply contract in spring 2017.
Kraft Heinz is making progress towards several of its environmental and sustainability goals including cutting the amount of waste sent to landfill by 15% in 2021 and converting 84% of its global packaging portfolio to fully recyclable materials.
Plant-based seafood brand unMeat is rolling out its fish-free canned tuna products to 250 Harris Teeter stores capitalizing on the consumers' search for more affordable protein options.
The baby food landscape has changed drastically in recent years with an emphasis on fresh products and a flurry of DTC brands coming to market. So which trends present the biggest growth opportunities for brands and manufacturers?
PURIS - which recently opened a facility in Dawson, Minnesota that more than doubled its production capacity, cementing its position as the leading supplier of pea protein in North America - has moved into new territory with its first consumer brand dedicated...
Supermarket giant Kroger is merging with Albertsons Companies Inc. (Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco), bolstering its position as the second largest food retailer in the US with an estimated 11.8% market share behind Walmart at 17.1%.
Loss-making plant-based meat co Beyond Meat - which is currently squaring up to former co-packer Don Lee Farms in a trial in L.A. - has unveiled plans to lay off approximately 200 employees (19% of its global workforce) in a bid to cut costs and achieve...
The nation’s leading meat companies all got in on the action on meat alternatives, with investments in plant-based and cell-cultured meat startups and their own dedicated consumer brands. But with category sales weakening in recent months amid surging...
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is indirectly pressuring children’s food manufacturers to elevate the healthfulness of their products sold at retail by incentivizing schools to improve the quality of the food they serve and prioritizing the reinstatement...
While consumers today are exploring more money-saving strategies such as choosing lower-cost items and cooking from scratch, their personal values around health and well-being and the planet have not wavered, according to research from Innova Market Insights.
Nature’s Fynd - a startup growing protein-packed food from microbes with a fraction of the environmental footprint of meat or dairy – is rolling out dairy-free cream cheeses to Sprouts nationwide.
Former executive chairman Seth Goldman, CEO Ethan Brown, Mattson CEO Justin Shimek and a cluster of senior Beyond Meat executives, past and present, are listed among 64 potential witnesses in the plant-based meat co’s trial with former co-packer Don Lee...
Revival Einkorn – a new organic consumer brand dedicated to einkorn, a protein-packed ancient wheat variety with a gluten profile billed as ‘easier on the gut’ than modern wheat – is making its debut direct to consumer and in the pasta aisle at natural...
The FDA will host a stakeholder webinar on October 21 (1pm ET) to provide an overview of its proposed rule to update the definition of the nutrient content claim ‘healthy,' which for the first time restricts the amount of added sugar firms can include...
In its pursuit to become a top player in the grocery e-commerce space, Walmart has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire grocery automation firm, Alert Innovation.
While plant-based is still one of the hottest trends in food and beverage, sales and consumer engagement with alternative proteins have slid in recent quarters – prompting some players in the space to rethink their strategy.
In a restructuring announced days after meat giant JBS revealed plans to close its Planterra Foods plant-based meat division, impacting 121 jobs, Impossible Foods is eliminating approximately 6% of roles at the company (under 50 staff) in a move it claims...
As the brand name suggests, none too subtly, SlimFast is a brand you tend to think of when you want to lose weight, fast. But in a food culture where ‘wellness’ is in, ‘dieting’ is out, and even the word ‘slimming’ can make you sound like an ‘80s throwback,...
Beyond Meat has been testing its much-anticipated plant-based Beyond Steak and a new variant of Beyond Chicken – ‘Beyond Popcorn Chicken’ – in select stores ahead of a wider launch.
Meat giant JBS has pulled the plug on its US plant-based meat division Planterra Foods just over two years after debuting the ‘OZO’ brand at Kroger in summer 2020, and is closing a 189,000 square foot factory it opened in Denver in December 2021.
The western diet – and the food system that underpins it – is becoming increasingly unsustainable, for the health of humans and the planet. So how do we futureproof the food system to deliver healthier, more sustainable products that nourish our bodies...
Record-high levels of food inflation are impacting different segments of the population differently, with those over the age of 50 who rate their physical or mental health as 'fair' or 'poor' struggling the most, a recent poll conducted...
Plant-powered culinary brand Wicked Kitchen has raised $20m in bridge funding from backers including actor and vegan activist Woody Harrelson, Ahimsa VC, and NRPT (Thailand's leading food producer and innovator).
Ending its fiscal year on a strong note, grocery wholesaler UNFI is ramping up investment in warehouse automation and robotics as part of its long-term growth plan to enhance efficiencies and long-term profitability for its customers.
The FDA has issued a proposed rule updating the criteria for the ‘healthy’ nutrient content claim on food labels that for the first time restricts the amount of added sugar firms can include in products bearing the claim.
Santiago-based NotCo - which claims to offer superior products in the alt meat set through the use of an artificial intelligence platform called ‘Giuseppe’ - is gearing up to enter the increasingly crowded US plant-based chicken category with NotChicken,...
The Biden administration is exploring steps the federal government could take to reduce intake of added sugars “such as developing targets for categories of foods, similar to the voluntary targets FDA developed for sodium,” as part of a National Strategy...
Food prices at near forty-year highs now overshadow most other consumer concerns about grocery shopping – including fears of contracting COVID-19 or experiencing violence in stores – prompting many to rethink where they shop, what they buy and what product...
With many consumers fixated on the price of their grocery bill amid ongoing inflation, mass and club channel retailers such as Costco are seeing increased foot traffic and higher shopper spending at its stores.
Days after suspending COO Doug Ramsey following an alleged assault, Beyond Meat says chief supply chain officer Bernie Adcock – who joined the beleaguered plant-based meat co with Ramsey in December 2021 from Tyson Foods – has informed bosses of his plans...
Advocates arguing for greater transparency about the use of GMOs in food scored a minor victory this month after a district court told USDA to re-work the digital disclosure portions of the bioengineered food labeling law, which came into effect in January....
Some commentators fear ‘regenerative’ could become the new ‘natural’ in food marketing – a buzzword without a clear definition enabling the industry’s biggest polluters to sustain an unsustainable status quo while presenting a more eco-friendly face via...
HOWTIAN has grown stevia plants with up to a 12% average Reb A yield this season, the “highest ever in the industry,” says the firm, which described the news as a “milestone not just for the company, but for the food and beverage industry at large, as...
Sue Garfitt has been appointed the new CEO of Dutch alternative protein start-up The Protein Brewery. FoodNavigator catches up with Garfitt to ask what factors influenced her decision, what expertise she plans to bring to the company, and what’s next...
Billed as a “first-of-its kind, category-disrupting product,” the Beyond Carne Asada Steak – the fruit of an 18-month partnership between Beyond Meat and Taco Bell - will be tested in Taco Bell locations in Dayton, Ohio, from October 13 for a limited...
Mycoprotein supplier ENOUGH is opening its flagship production facility in a move the company says will deliver ‘game-changing’ additional production capacity in the animal-free protein market.
The “extreme obstacles” that food retailers have navigated the last few years will likely become “even more complex” in the coming year as unpredictable inflationary pressures, ongoing supply chain and labor challenges along with global unrest continue...
Plant-based meat alternatives continue their downward slide with sales, units and volume all dropping in July from a year ago – a trajectory that IRI data crunched by 210 Analytics shows was set in motion months ago, but which doesn't shake at least...
It’s been a “rollercoaster year” for meat alternatives, acknowledges Quorn Foods USA president Judd Zusel. But flagging sales in some parts of the market do not mean we should throw the baby out with the bathwater.
The long-term imperative driving meat alternatives is clear: We only have one planet, with a growing population and finite resources, and raising animals to feed them all just takes up too many of them, says Tom Mastrobuoni, chief investment officer at...
