Colorado-based MycoTechnology – which is building a functional ingredients platform utilizing mycelium, the filament-like roots of mushrooms - has raised $85m in a series E* round (taking its total funding to $200m) that will help it expand its portfolio...
“We don’t talk too much about product benefits in our marketing... that comes later,” observes Jake Karls, co-founder at Montreal-based ‘functional chocolate’ startup Mid-Day Squares. “What we think about, is how do we interrupt your day on your phone?”
Recently named incoming Organic Trade Association CEO Tom Chapman inherits a strong organization that helped make organic mainstream and double industry sales during outgoing leader Laura Batcha’s tenure of nearly a decade, but which now must address...
By replacing the shrink wrap around multipacks of canned tuna with paperboard cartons, The Bumble Bee Seafood Company not only achieved an ambitious sustainability goal ahead of schedule, but it also unlocked unexpected marketing, retail and consumer...
Doolies – the latest innovation to emerge from General Mills’ G-Works corporate venture studio – is a fruit- and fiber-packed snack for young kids designed to “help your kid go #2 with ease.”
Led by a PepsiCo alum turned beverage entrepreneur, OCA is carving out a spot for itself in the growing 'clean' energy drink category with a simple ingredient deck which includes 120mg of caffeine from green coffee extract.
While regenerative agriculture resonates with rising consumer interest in sustainability, it can be difficult to explain in snappy marketing sound bites and callouts – prompting natural and organic meat company Applegate to try a different approach through...
A district court in Louisiana has determined that a state law restricting the use of 'meaty' terms on food labels to products derived from slaughtered animals is unconstitutional, in a ruling hailed by Tofurky as "a victory for the entire...
In its largest expansion to date, Gotham Greens is doubling the size of its greenhouse capacity from 600,000 to over 1.2 million square feet this year unlocking new regions, national distribution at key retailers, and getting one large step closer to...
Koidra, an intelligent automation (IA) startup based out of Seattle, has raised $4.5m in a seed funding round to bring its data intelligence technology to precision and controlled environmental agriculture sectors.
While animal feed and pet food present bigger commercial opportunities for edible insects in the short term, two key European players in the segment - Innovafeed and Ÿnsect, who are both planning large-scale, highly-automated production facilities in...
Israeli start-up BioBetter is repurposing tobacco plants in attempt to overcome the greatest hurdle currently facing the budding cultivated meat industry: scaled production.
From reishi to lion’s mane, ‘medicinal’ mushrooms are gaining traction in foods and beverages, buoyed by growing interest in adaptogens and immunity, says Four Sigmatic CEO Tero Isokauppila, who caught up with FoodNavigator-USA at the Natural Products...
Plastic particles are ubiquitous pollutants in the living environment and food chain. For the first time, scientists evaluated the internal exposure of plastic particles in human blood.
Above Food has been quietly building a plant-based foods portfolio which spans plant-based seafood to plant-based cheese, and its market presence is about to explode with the unveiling of a disruptive, more sustainable, oat processing technology that...
While plant-based beef patties and grounds, pork sausages and chicken nuggets abound, seafood alternatives are still relatively scare – representing a significant, and fast-growing, opportunity that innovators and investors alike are moving quickly to...
The family feud over who should lead Illinois-based Lifeway Foods and how it should be run has not been resolved, with former COO Edward Smolyansky preparing for a potential proxy contest at the upcoming AGM according to an SEC filing from March 17.
The overall plant-based foods sector reported a significant slowdown (but still positive) growth for 2021 vs. 2020 with plant-based meat sales seeing flat growth while other categories grew by single-digits for the year, according to new data released...
With fresh leadership and a portfolio intended to address a consumer's every need state, Laird Superfood is on a strong path towards significant long-term growth and profitability, said the company's new president and CEO Jason Vieth at the...
Despite promising test results in small-scale trials last year, the pea-protein-fueled McPlant burger – developed with Beyond Meat – is not setting the world on fire in tests at a broader selection of McDonald’s locations, according to Peter Saleh, managing...
Billed as friendlier on the gut, The a2 Milk Co's milk comes from cows that only produce A2 beta casein protein. But how much science is behind it, and what share could it ultimately take of the US fluid milk market? We caught up with Blake Waltrip,...
Unilever is piloting new blockchain technology, GreenToken by SAP, in a bid to increase traceability and transparency in the consumer good giant’s palm oil supply chain.
While consuming saturated fats increases blood cholesterol, meta-analyses suggest this does not translate into increased risk of cardiovascular disease, say researchers.
Many indoor farming companies - while noble in their pursuit of providing consumers with access to locally-grown produce with a longer shelf life and free from pesticides and other contaminants from conventional field farming - have struggled to create...
As the line between functional and fun blurs, foods and beverages no longer need to fit neatly into the “healthy” or “treat” categories – they can simultaneously offer the lifestyle and health benefits consumers want and serve as the rewards they crave,...
While General Mills is aggressively – and to an extent successfully – tackling supply chain challenges causing shortages of some of its beloved convenience brands, including Pillsbury dough and Totino’s pizza rolls, it likely won’t be able to fully meet...
Boston-based Motif FoodWorks says it is “very confident” it will prevail in its legal spat with Impossible Foods over a new generation of ‘meaty’ flavors produced by precision fermentation.
Often recognized for its urinary tract health benefits, a recent clinical trial also found that daily consumption of cranberries may lead to improved cardiovascular health.
Worth an estimated $1.94b globally in 2020 and slated to grow at a compound annual rate of 17.7%, according to Research & Markets data*, the plant-based yogurt category is hitting its stride, even as manufacturers struggle to balance nutrition, mouthfeel...
The EVERY Company has teamed up with upmarket west-coast patisserie brand Chantal Guillon to road test EVERY EggWhite - billed as “the world’s first animal-free egg white” - in a product heavily reliant on the unique functional properties of egg whites:...
The first product to emerge from the El Segundo-based ‘PLANeT Partnership’ joint venture between Beyond Meat and PepsiCo is a plant-based jerky, rolling out to stores nationwide across multiple channels this month.
Health and wellness positioned products may account for only a small portion of the food and beverage industry’s overall dollar share, but they are disproportionately driving dollar growth alongside organic, which often outpaced its conventional counterparts...
US retail sales of frozen meat alternatives dipped -1.7% to $722.8m in the year to February 27, while sales of refrigerated meat alternatives fell -3.9% to $475m over the same period, according to IRI data crunched by 210 Analytics. Cumulatively, the...
Three years since first debuting its ClearFlo modifying ingredient technology used to reduce sensory off notes of stevia, Cargill is debuting a single solution and combination of the two: EverSweet stevia + ClearFlo, giving food and beverage manufacturers...
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is pressuring confectionery firms Nestlé and Mondelēz International, along with other multinationals, to completely pull out of the Russian market.
A team of scientists have developed a method to effectively produce and extract plant-based oil from a common microalgae that, they claim, could be a ‘healthier and greener’ alternative to palm oil.
Tattooed Chef, a rapidly-growing plant-based frozen foods brand, is entering new categories beyond the frozen foods aisle and into refrigerated snack bars and snacking chips.
Shiru - a startup producing proteins via microbial fermentation - has teamed up with texturizing ingredients specialist CP Kelco to explore label-friendly replacements for methylcellulose and other highly functional ingredients.
After two years of lockdowns and uncertainty during the pandemic, consumers simultaneously are desperate to let loose and enjoy life and to reinstate a sense of self-control – creating a complicated marketing landscape that intelligence experts at Mintel...
While growth in US retail sales of refrigerated plant-based meat has slowed, investors are still pouring large amounts of cash into startups creating alternatives to meat, eggs, and dairy products with plant-based and fermentation-based approaches, and...
Chobani has re-hired Kevin Burns – who served as its president and COO between 2014 and 2016 – as president and COO following the departure of Peter McGuinness.
Sophie's Kitchen is gearing up to significantly expand distribution of its plant-based seafood portfolio of chilled, frozen, and shelf-stable pea-based seafood analogues including its most recent product launch -- fish burgers -- which CEO Miles...
Despite efforts in recent years to disrupt the roughly $5b fruit snack market with better-for-you options made with more, whole or only fruit, the category remains dominated by legacy products high in added sugars and fillers and low in nutritional value...
Former Chobani president Peter McGuinness – who has spent the last several years running a dairy company, albeit one that has recently launched several plant-based products - is set to take the helm at Impossible Foods, a firm on a mission to “replace...
The natural energy drink set is buzzing with activity and Rowdy Energy is gaining strong consumer traction with the highest repeat rates in the category, and a new line of thermogenic, calorie-burning energy drinks targeting female consumers, an untapped...
The total US online grocery market hit $8.7bn in sales in February 2022, an 8.5% jump from the same period last year as consumers pursued pickup/delivery (Instacart, Amazon Fresh, and the like) options in greater frequency over ship-to-home services (grocery...
EPG – a plant-based oil restructured in such a way that virtually none of it is absorbed by the body – has demonstrated intriguing properties in plant-based meat applications, where formulators have struggled to find vegan options that behave like animal...
At a time when plastic packaging is emerging as a top concern among environmentally-conscious consumers, plant-based meat company No Evil Foods' decision to switch from fully compostable packaging to paper cartons with plastic inserts may appear...
