For all the effort that goes into crafting the US dietary guidelines, including the multi-year process of reviewing the science and sifting through stakeholders’ conflicting opinions and wishes, the final product will all be for naught if it is not trusted...
‘Dieting’ and ‘reduced fat’ have become passé phrases in the world of packaged food replaced with terms like ‘clean label’ and ‘locally-sourced’, so what can explain low-calorie ice cream alternative Halo Top’s dramatic takeover of the frozen dessert...
Trader Joe's, That's It, targeted in fruit bar legal action in New York
A desire to protect its members, not consumers, is the primary motivation behind the US Cattlemen’s Association (USCA) petition to restrict use of the terms ‘beef’ and ‘meat’ to products from animals “born, raised, and harvested in the traditional manner”...
The Organic and Natural Health Association recently visited Capitol Hill to ask Congress for help reducing the more than 1,000 preterm births that occur daily in North America by supporting its FDA petition for a health claim declaring the link between...
Annie’s recent launch for Earth month of two limited edition products that are made with ingredients sourced from regenerative agriculture farmers is only the beginning of how the brand plans to build on its iconic organic values to restore degraded soil...
Americans’ long-term love affair with protein shows no sign of slowing, but new research from the full service sales and marketing firm Acosta suggests that the sources of the macronutrient that shoppers are buying is evolving as are their reason for...
‘Our platform enables us to understand and reverse-engineer all animal products’
Plant-based burger maker Impossible Foods has raised a jaw-dropping amount of money for a food company (almost $400m in debt and equity), albeit one supported by a lot of IP. So what gives its bosses the confidence they can generate the kind of returns...
Attorney: 'My client is playing by the rules but he’s not competing in a fair marketplace'
If manufacturers cannot ensure that the alcohol in their kombuchas remains consistently below 0.5% throughout the shelf life, they should stop falsely advertising them as soft drinks and compete “fairly” by selling them alongside alcoholic brands such...
Manufacturers and other stakeholders must find ways to help close the yield gap that many farmers experience when they transition from conventional to organic, or else risk domestic production of organic crops -- and the lower prices they often offer...
The US may be the largest market for organic products, but it is also highly competitive, and manufacturers looking for a leg up might consider exporting their products as a way to build sales and even become category leaders, according to the Organic...
For years pouches of baby food have been all the rage, but now concerns that they may create unnecessary waste are prompting new brands such as Little Roots Puree, to propose new packaging solutions.
The combination of astaxanthin and sesamin (AS) may help promote recovery from mental and physical fatigue, according to a study from Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan.
Campbell Soup has been targeted in a lawsuit alleging that it falsely advertises its V8 Splash flavored juice products as “healthy, natural beverages brimming with healthful fruit and vegetable juices” when in fact the brand is “artificially-flavored...
While overall US dairy milk sales are in virtual freefall, the organic industry has managed to stay one step ahead so far, but it is nearing saturation with fluid milk and needs to find new outlets to reach the “next level of penetration,” according to...
With a successful series A fundraise of $8 million announced today, nutrition-related data services and analytics firm Nutrino wants to build “the world’s largest and most adaptable nutrition insights platform” in part to help manufacturers track trends,...
Ingredient supplier DSM Nutritional Products filed a citizen petition to the FDA, suggesting an amendment to allow brands to use simpler vitamin names on pack instead of chemical nomenclature, in an effort to appease consumers looking for ‘recognizable...
As the clean label movement expands, food and beverage manufacturers should lean more heavily on science to explain to consumers how products are made and the role specific ingredients play to ensure shelf stability and safety are not lost along with...
Here, an Illinois-based company creating clean label food and beverages in the refrigerated CPG space, has closed a $4m Series A funding round led by food-focused venture fund Listen Co.
Non-profit organization the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) must improve its communication strategy, says the former program manager of the group’s North America branch.
Location is key to any business’ success, but for food and beverage startups the best place to set up shop may not be the hottest spot in town – rather it could be one surrounded by underserved populations where the community and company can help each...
As meat made by culturing cells – instead of raising and slaughtering animals – gets closer to commercialization, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Dem-CT) has asked the government accountability office (GAO) to conduct a review to determine if the technology requires...
Consumers place significant onus for ensuring the safety of food and beverages on the companies that make them, and yet their trust in manufacturers to deliver this is at rock bottom – creating a dangerous gap that can be closed only with increased transparency,...
Creating a business plan isn’t as fun as launching a new product or company, but it is fundamental to succeeding in the long term in the highly competitive food and beverage industry, according to an executive with FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Accelerator....
In the push to win consumers, woo top talent and, believe it or not, balance budgets, corporate social responsibility programs could be one of the most powerful tools in companies’ arsenals – but determining what to include and how to structure them can...
After two years of radio silence, during which some legal commentators – and several judges dealing with civil litigation on the issue – suspected it might die on the vine, the FDA has given its clearest indication yet that it will attempt to define ‘natural’...
The Whole30 Approved logo has become a shortcut for consumers looking for products made with real, simple and nutritious ingredients, and as such it is giving products that bear the certification a huge market boost, as Applegate recently discovered....
Health-Ade Kombucha has been sued for the second time in a month – this time in a complaint alleging its fermented beverages contain four to six times the sugar levels stated on pack.
“I wish we had as much energy around a regenerative, climate-smart Farm Bill as we did around the marketing of regenerative, because now is the time to craft a Farm Bill that could actually improve climate and the quality of our farming,” says Clif Bar’s...
After decades of a slow build, the regenerative agriculture movement is finally taking off, thanks in part to the Savory Institute, which has launched the Land to Market verification program, which is designed to help stakeholders not just sustain the...
A recent study shows that pecans, when substituted into a higher-fat diet resembling the average intake of Americans, improved cardiometabolic risk factors in older, overweight subjects.
The omnibus spending bill just passed in the House directs the FDA to strengthen and enforce dairy standards of identity in a bid to crack down on plant-based 'imitators,' claim milk producers. But the Plant Based Foods Association says the...
Industry newcomer Em+Pact is carving out an underserved niche in the $600 million protein bar category by targeting women with products that are crafted to meet their specific nutritional needs and by working with nonprofits to empower them to be “goal...
EverSweet - the hotly-anticipated ‘next-generation’ Reb D and Reb M sweetener from Cargill and Evolva produced via fermentation – is now available in commercial quantities, say the partners, who have also struck a deal to explore whether other high intensity...
'I think you’ll see a mass exodus of CPG companies moving from polyols to allulose...'
Allulose is the sweetener generating the most buzz among food formulators right now, although many are waiting to see if the FDA exempts it from sugar labeling (it’s technically a sugar, but it’s not metabolized like one), before launching products featuring...
Kashi hopes that other brands will follow its lead in paying more for crops from farmers transitioning from conventional to organic to encourage more producers to make the switch and ensure there is sufficient ingredient supply in the future to meet the...
The latest in a series of lawsuits filed against kombucha brand Health-Ade challenging sugar and alcohol levels stated on pack underscores an ongoing area of legal vulnerability for makers of the fermented tea product.
Emerging trends that have helped fuel the natural and organic industry’s “multi-decade tear” with growth that far outpaces that of the conventional channel are now crossing over to the mainstream with increasing speed thanks in part to an influx of funds...
Ancient Nutrition is ready to “grab the proverbial tiger by the tail” with a $103 million investment that will allow it to reach and educate more consumers about its on-trend powdered bone broth, collagen products and a recently launched and already hot...
FDA commissioner: 'We will have more to say on the 'natural' issue soon'
By Charles Sipos, partner; and Lauren Staniar, associate, Perkins Coie
While defining ‘natural’ for the purposes of food labeling has not appeared to be high on the FDA’s priority list since it announced its 2015 probe, things could be about to change, predict Perkins Coie attorneys Charles Sipos and Lauren Staniar.
New research showing organic farming more effectively restores soil carbon and reduces the cause of climate change compared to conventional techniques could sway more shoppers to buy organic – especially as conscious consumerism continues to rise.
An infusion of nearly $1 million in seed funding is helping three students from Yale offer consumers the ultimate convenience: a nutrition bar that combines sustenance and caffeine, and a novel text-to-purchase option that allows shoppers to place an...
Despite double-digit increases in the amount of organic corn and soybean grown domestically in recent years, imports of the crops are increasing twice as fast – raising questions about the quality of the product allowed in from overseas and underscoring...
Conscious consumerism continues to rise in America with more shoppers saying they want to reward companies that “do good,” unfortunately for companies that are embracing this trend a recent survey found many people don’t know how to find socially responsible...
The FDA has unveiled guidance on added sugars, serving sizes and dietary fibers to help manufacturers implement the new Nutrition Facts label, and says it’s working on a plan to incentivize manufacturers to make healthier products and “provide consumers...
Cellular agriculture start-up Perfect Day – which is creating ‘vegan’ dairy proteins without cows – has raised $24.7m in a Series A funding round led by Singapore state-owned investment company Temasek.
New packaging that positions SeaPack Shrimp & Seafood Co.'s frozen seafood products as the “ultimate resource for hassle-free cooking” will make the brand more relatable to modern shoppers who want healthy options and are pressed for time, according...
With today’s launch of a new line of dairy-free, probiotic yogurt drinks, Califia Farms hopes to repeat the success it had when it entered the nut-milk category, and at the same time increase the transparency of marketing probiotics.
The steady growth of Kashi’s Certified Transitional program in the past two years along with positive consumer and retailer response to the protocol shows how paying more for ingredients from farms in the process of becoming certified organic can also...
“At the beginning I thought our audience would be mostly vegans, but what I’ve realized is that a lot of people are just looking to try new things, especially high-quality alternative, premium, or gourmet food products,” says the chef behind dairy-free...
