CPG companies and retailers should brace for softer sales in 2023 by leaning into the strategies they used during peak-pandemic as the US tiptoes around a recession and the shields protecting consumers from feeling the full brunt of the current economic...
After previous plans to boost Kraft Heinz’s profit margins and add value by aggressively cutting costs and practicing zero-based budgeting went awry and caused the company’s stock and consumer trust to plummet, Miguel Patricio was focused on the basics...
Regular consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is associated with higher mortality from certain cancers, partially mediated through obesity, according to a study by researchers at the American Cancer Society.
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.
Barely registering in the US plant-based milk category five years ago, oatmilk now occupies the #2 spot in the retail market behind almondmilk in a subsegment with offerings from deep-pocked multinational beverage and dairy companies to pure-play plant-based...
ADM and PepsiCo have entered a 7.5-year strategic commercial agreement to expand regenerative agriculture across its North American supply chains, reaching up to 2 million acres by 2030.
The FDA’s stance that CBD is not legal as a dietary ingredient as it was first investigated as a drug has not hindered consumer interest in CBD-infused food and beverage products, claims Matt Oscamou, co-founder of CBD sparkling water brand Weller, which...
UK research sheds fresh light on the presence of organophosphate esters (OPEs) in food products. “This should be a wake-up call to industrial users of OPEs,” the researchers say.
A ‘potential direct’ link between artificial sweetener intake and increased cardiovascular disease risk has been suggested by researchers, but industry is fighting back: “There is no causal evidence that low/no calorie sweeteners could increase the risk...
The alternative costs up to 50% less than the real thing but delivers the functional benefits that ice cream makers have come to expect from the sought-after natural stabilizer.
Precision nutrition: What is it? And could it be a gamechanger that could move the needle on public health, or is this just about pricy biomarker testing kits and apps enabling a small group of affluent and highly engaged consumers get even more granular...
Where’s the smart money in food tech? Tackling food waste? Precision nutrition? Cell-cultured meat? And where can investors have the biggest impact on human and planetary health… and make a return? FoodNavigator-USA caught up with Nadav Berger and Yoni...
Equinom has partnered with AGT Food and Ingredients Inc. to bring commercial quantities of its non-GMO ultra-high protein yellow pea protein ingredients to market and co-create a portfolio of functional plant-based ingredients.
Multivitamin supplements may improve cognition, episodic memory, and executive function in older people, and slow cognitive decline by 60%, according to data from the high-profile COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study for the Mind (COSMOS-Mind).
Rising food prices may have slowed slightly in August, but the year-over-year increase continued to rise higher into the double digits than it has in more than 40 years, according to new data from the Department of Labor.
Nanoplastics can be transferred from contaminated soil to plants. When those plants are fed to insects, who are themselves eaten by fish, a potential health risk is presented to humans, according to fresh research out of Finland.
The Coca-Cola Co.’s decision early in the pandemic to dramatically restructure, including consolidating 17 business units into nine, laying off thousands of employees and discontinuing a slew of SKUs, may have appeared “slightly quick off the middle,”...
New York-based indoor farming firm Gotham Greens has raised $310m in a series E round* bringing its cumulative funding to $440m since 2009. While the sums are pretty jaw-dropping, the hydroponics firm has demonstrated it can make money and deploy its...
Mondelez is ready to go all in on core chocolate and biscuits with plans to divest most, if not all, of the 20% of its business that falls outside of the categories in the next two to five years while simultaneously pursuing acquisitions in the spaces...
Early-stage food brands hold at least one thing in common with large, publicly held brands near them on the shelf. It’s not household penetration averages, that’s for sure. The tendency is to lean on Year-over-Year (YOY) comps as a public-facing performance...
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...
BioBetter is a food tech start-up that aims to address one of the biggest bottlenecks facing the cultured meat sector: the high cost and low availability of growth factors. A fresh round of funding positions it to do just that.
Knowing entrepreneurs often dramatically underestimate the time it takes to validate their business models, are more likely to lose money or break even than make a profit and face abysmal failure rates, one successful founder is offering a helping hand...
Nestlé is dipping a toe into the increasingly crowded but still highly fragmented and nascent animal-free dairy category by teaming with startup Perfect Day to use synthetic biology to create a milk-like beverage from genetically engineered microflora...
Nextferm, an Israeli company focused on fermentation technology, has announced a production deal for one of its flagship ingredients branded as ProteVin vegan protein.
North Carolina based Elo Life Systems aims to commercialize a new natural high-intensity sweetener “inspired by monk fruit” in 2025 that boasts a “cleaner” taste profile, more affordable price tag, and a higher sweetness intensity than monk fruit extracts...
What is a snack? A treat, a mini-meal, a mid-afternoon pick me up? What do consumers look for – and avoid - on labels, and how has the pandemic influenced eating habits and snacking behaviors?
As inflationary pressures continue to strain household budgets, Kroger has launched a new private label line called Smart Way spanning multiple categories from canned vegetables to napkins to help shoppers more easily identify “opening price point items.”
The first 1000 days of life—from conception to two years of age—represents a crucial period in which maternal diet and other exposures might influence children’s health.
Wicked Kitchen – a plant-powered brand with a distinct culinary bent developed by chefs Derek and Chad Sarno – has acquired plant-based seafood brand Good Catch (also founded by the Sarno brothers), which CEO Pete Speranza says is “100% accretive” and...
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is an agreement to build a facility for the cultivation and production of microalgae-based protein and related products for the food and beverage industry.
A Japanese-style sauce brand with a history of personal connection with customers has parlayed that authenticity into a $13m cash infusion in a funding round led by a prominent consumer brands investment firm.
More than four years after Nestlé sold its US confectionery business to Ferrero, the CPG giant is dipping a toe back into the bite-sized sweets segment but through a better-for-you “snacking” lens with the national rollout of Rallies Nut Butter Bombs.
Panda Express is rolling out Beyond: The Original Orange Chicken – a “plant-powered” entrée co-developed with Beyond Meat – to 2,300+ US locations until November 30, while supplies last, following a successful small-scale trial in 2021.
Since the launch of its strategic ‘end-to-end’ transformation agenda, dubbed Pep+, the company has hit a number of milestones on topics ranging from regenerative agriculture to reformulation. FoodNavigator catches up with Katharina Stenholm, Chief Sustainability...
While many CPG companies understandably spent the last three years putting out fires, General Mills simultaneously prioritized introspection – taking on projects that CEO Jeff Harmening acknowledged are “hard to put in a spreadsheet and algorithm,” but...
Supplementation with taurine – perhaps best known as an additive in energy drinks – may help control oxidative stress during the aging process, says a recent study published in the journal Nutrition.
As children nationwide return to the classroom this week, many caregivers are worried about providing them nutritious food amid rising inflation and the expiration of pandemic-era waivers for universal free school meals – prompting General Mills, Orgain...
“12-18 months ago, refrigerated plant-based meat was growing at three times frozen and we were thinking should we try and jump into that?” recalls Bob Nolan, SVP demand science at Conagra Brands, which acquired alt meat brand Gardein in 2018 via the acquisition...
Forsea Foods has developed cell-cultured fish leveraging its patented organoid technology. FoodNavigator hears how this novel approach is simplifying the process of growing animal cells in bioreactors and assembling them into whole cuts and fillets.
Campbell Soup Co. reported a 6% net sales increase to $2bn in Q4 2022 (three months ended July 31, 2022) vs. the prior year, while volumes declined (-4%) for the quarter, revealing consumers may be rethinking some of their name brand purchases in favor...
“I see all these emails going around saying once the [2018] Farm Bill passes, CBD is legal in all 50 states… and that’s just not true,” observed one attorney in December 2018. Four years later, while a lot has changed, the FDA maintains that CBD is not...
Gatorade is preparing for a massive 2023 rollout of energy drink brand Fast Twitch, designed for athletic performance with 200mg of caffeine, B vitamins, and electrolytes.
Organic pasture-raised dairy co Neutral Foods – which is billing itself as a ‘carbon neutral’ brand through a combination of carbon reduction initiatives and offsets - has raised $12m in a series A round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
