In a letter to Nestlé, the world’s largest food company by revenue, Third Point, a New York-based asset manager with $18bn in capital ($3bn in Nestlé), called out the food and beverage giant for falling short on its long-term, sustainable growth mission.
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...
Specialty food used to be reserved for special occasions and accessible only to those who could afford its premium price, but increasingly specialty food is becoming everyday food sold at everyday prices that are accessible to more people.
Big food manufacturers have increasingly recognized that their scale and robust supply chains aren’t enough to stay competitive and turn around years of little to no growth, and are refocusing their efforts on restoring consumer trust, says Rabobank.
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).
While sales of plain dairy milk have been declining for years, and US yogurt production has dropped off after peaking in 2014, new data shows the continued growth of cheese, butter, and ready-to-drink coffee, yogurt drinks and protein beverages featuring...
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.
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...
While the ongoing war on sugar is taking a toll on sales of conventional chocolate in the US, it is creating an opportunity for once-niche, better-for-you options, including sugar-free – as long as the taste and experience are not compromised in the trade-off,...
Stevia-sweetened zero-cal beverage brand Zevia – which first hit the market in 2007 - notched up growth of more than 50% year on year in the latest 12 weeks in conventional channels, driven almost entirely through velocity gains as consumers demand beverages...
While consumers still respond to the convenience of popping open a bag of chips, their mindset around snacking has expanded to products that promise a sense of culinary adventure, conscious-sourcing, unexpected ingredients, and satiating benefits.
While entering a high growth category might be tempting, companies might actually have better luck – and longer-term success – if they launch “explosive innovation” into a “hibernating” category, according to a top executive at Kodiak Cakes.
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.
A month after being hit with a lawsuit alleging it made false and misleading representations about its light ice cream, Halo Top has been targeted again, this time with a proposed class action alleging it routinely under-fills its pints, “and has been...
‘We tell you what’s on the inside on the outside’ protein bar brand RXBAR has been hit with a proposed class action lawsuit* by the same law firms challenging the minimalist ingredients declarations of fellow bar brand That’s It.**
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...
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...
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.
Following a strong backlash from consumers and industry on a proposal to label sugars on the label of a jar of honey or pure maple syrup as 'added sugars', the US FDA has announced it will “swiftly formulate a revised approach”.
For many consumers the idea of instant tea evokes nose-wrinkling rejection due to its extensive processing, long ingredient lists and a flavor unlike a freshly brewed cup, but startup Cusa Tea wants to change this with a version made in an all-new way...
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...
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...
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.
Wanting everything to be perfect when launching a new brand is understandable – but it is also a huge detriment that can delay the initial takeoff or hold back a product or company from reaching its full potential long-term, according to the CEO of ice...
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...
Rising consumer interest in the high-fat ketogenic diet, and the subsequent frustration many feel trying to adhere to the restrictive approach, could prompt a new wave of people to turn to the low-carb Atkins diet as a more flexible option that shares...
“Much needed” federal funding for organic research, education and outreach could double in the next two years if measures in the Senate Agriculture Committee’s draft farm bill released June 8 make it into the final farm bill.
FDA proposals that the sugars in a jar of honey or pure maple syrup should be listed as 'added sugars' on food labels (albeit with an explanatory note) is “absolutely ridiculous,” according to the vast majority of stakeholders commenting on...
Food and beverage manufacturers and suppliers must actively reassure their partners abroad that they are reliable even as the US pulls out of key international trade arrangements and negotiations around the North American Free Trade Agreement hit the...
It’s been one year since German grocery chain Lidl made its US debut, and according to global consulting firm Oliver Wyman, American shoppers seem to have a growing appetite for the hard discounter’s prices and assortment.
The US Hispanic community spends more than $94.7bn on CPG products annually, making it the fastest-growing ethnic demographic which has key nuances and attitudes when it comes to food purchases, according to a new IRI report.
Big institutions (schools, hospitals, colleges) buy processed meat products such as chicken nuggets because they’re familiar, convenient and affordable, says Seattle Food Tech So if you can offer a plant-based alternative that tastes the same, looks the...
'It’s more about a lifestyle and philosophy of eating ...'
If some of the trends Soozy’s is tapping into – Paleo, gluten-free, grain-free – lack universal appeal, its broader philosophy of “clean eating,” minimally processed foods with “ingredients you can pronounce” and no “fillers, stabilizers and additives,”...
'Clif Bar never affirmatively represented that its products were healthy...'
Clif Bar has hit back at allegations made in a recent lawsuit* that it is duping consumers by presenting bars that are “loaded with sugar” as wholesome and nutritious, and urged the judge to toss the “absurd” and “implausible” case.
Label Insight has worked with the American Heart Association (AHA) to provide a new data-driven Heart Check Standard Certification Industry View to help brands, retailers, government agencies, and researchers better understand which products are heart...
Sales of refrigerated almondmilk grew 9.8% in the year to April 22, while sales of shelf-stable almond milk rose 4%, offsetting sharp declines in sales of refrigerated and shelf-stable soymilk over the same period (down 10.5% and 9.6% respectively), according...
Since making its US debut nearly a year ago, Huel has reached $10m in sales and found that its company mission of providing complete, convenient, and sustainable nutrition resonates with a global audience.
Americans’ obsession with dieting is nothing new, but which diets are in and which ones are out is constantly shifting – creating a marketing nightmare for food and beverage brands that want to link their products to consumers’ desired outcomes.
Organic stakeholders are considering how they can promote their industry and raise funds for organic agriculture research and extension efforts after the US Department of Agriculture “blindsided” them by terminating the check-off program that many worked...
Record organic sales of $49.5 billion last year are overshadowed by a slowdown of organic dairy and egg sales, which the Organic Trade Association attributes partly to USDA’s abrupt withdrawal of a widely popular rule that would have strengthened animal...
An infusion of $12 million in Series B funding will help better-for-you snack delivery service SnackNation connect emerging CPG brands with more of their key consumers “at their most engaged moments” by expanding its distribution and fine-tuning its insights...
The US Department of Agriculture has launched a comprehensive and aggressive three-prong approach to detect and prevent fraud in the organic industry, after the discovery last year that some imports from Eastern Europe were falsely labeled as organic,...
Starting next month, a small but diverse group of organic stakeholders from across the supply chain will test-drive a rigorous set of fraud prevention, detection and mitigation strategies that once fine-tuned will become subject to the annual inspection...
Members of the Organic Trade Association went on the defensive last week when they met with Congressional leaders and their staff on Capitol Hill to lay out their legislative priorities for the coming year, and to ask for help protecting the integrity...
Demand for local food is climbing, yet our modern food distribution system is ill-equipped to handle small supply from local independent farmers, according to the founder of Foodshed.io, a new app using blockchain technology to solve for inefficiencies...
