From savory yogurt and seaweed chips to healthy vending and protein-packed frozen yogurt, here's FoodNavigator-USA's pick of 10 entrepreneurs and CEOs to watch in food and beverage in 2014.
PepsiCo Inc. has announced plans to invest $5 billion in Mexico over the next five years in an effort to strengthen the firm’s Latin American food and beverage footprint.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has enthused about the firm’s first incursions into carbonated soft drinks, in comments that contrast sharply with the US gloom pervading a category dominated by Coke, Pepsi and Dr Pepper.
Super Bowl parties are communal snacking events where consumers are open to trying new products, giving smaller brands a fighting chance, says Euromonitor.
US consumers are now well-versed in many of the ingredients and flavor combinations of Southeast Asia and India, though Malaysian cuisine is still largely untapped. But a recent survey of 1,200 chefs by the National Restaurant Association listed Malaysian...
The FDA says it has “no reason to believe” that 4-MeI - an impurity generated during the manufacture of caramel colors III and IV - poses a health risk at current dosage levels, but says it is reviewing new data to determine whether it needs to revise...
It takes no genius to realize that if you deliver ready-made, healthy, portion-controlled snacks to the millennial snacker they’ll gobble the concept right up. What it does take a genius to do is to give that concept legs.
Chobani “continues to lead the Greek yogurt category with 37.6% of the market, despite being outspent dramatically by competitors in advertising”, said the firm after rival Yoplait upped the ante with a new ad campaign claiming Americans prefer the taste...
Flour is typically one of the main ingredients in dough- or batter-based foods and often a major contributor to overall calorie content. In a patent application published Dec. 5, 2013, General Mills outlines the composition of a dough-based food product...
Monster Beverage CEO Rodney Sacks has hit back at suggestions the firm doesn’t have any big 2014 launches and believes a new Punch Monster line could fly given broad consumer appeal.
General Mills has filed a patent for salt-flavored fat particles that enable cost effective sodium reduction and fat replacement in baked dough products.
With every man and his dog bringing out a Greek yogurt to cash in on the sector’s meteoric growth, Blue Hill president David Barber wanted to do something a bit different, and three months after launching his savory yogurts on an unsuspecting market,...
Cereals giant Post Foods has unveiled non-GMO verified Original Grape Nuts, just days after General Mills announced it had reformulated Original Cheerios to remove GMOs.
Mondelez International reached its 2015 goal of sourcing 100% RSPO-certified palm oil for all its purchases last year – two years ahead of schedule, the company has said.
Monster Energy CEO Rodney Sacks says rivals 5-Hour Energy and Rockstar are just ‘treading water’ in sales terms while his brand is outstripping fierce rival Red Bull, which he hints caters more for yuppies.
In a market with a long professed love of natural, sustainable and healthful food and beverage and an equally strong penchant for small business, a manufacturer of raw honey-infused waters found an incubator for the brand it hopes to take nationwide.
Yoplait has pulled a US TV advert that featured the Duran Duran classic ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’ following consumer complaints about the song's association with a notorious murder.
Demand for meat alternative products is growing where it’s most expected on retail store shelves—in natural food markets. In traditional markets, awareness is growing as more consumers (including the carnivorous) are starting to think of “meatless” as...
Smart Balance, best known for its heart-healthier buttery spreads, sticks and other products, has made a move into the snacks category with the launch of Smart Balance Peanut Butter Popcorn Nuggets.
Ben & Jerry’s - which voluntarily agreed to stop using the term ‘all-natural’ on its ice cream three years ago - has scored a legal victory in a case filed just before it axed the emotive phrase from its packaging.
The proportion of dairy product launches featuring omega 3 health claims has fallen in recent years as a result of “tightening" health claims legislation, Innova Market Insights has claimed.
5-minute chat with FoodNavigator-USA and BakeryandSnacks
General Mills’ move to go GMO-free on its flagship Cheerios brand has caused quite a stir. But what motivated this reformulation? And how will it play out?
Interview with Zego allergy-friendly nutrition bar founders Colleen Kavanagh and Jonathan Shambroom
The manufacturers of a soy-, nut-, dairy- and gluten-free protein bar are hoping to make allergy-friendly products more accessible for on-the-go consumers with national distribution on Amazon.com and a strong community of backers who helped the bar launch...
Gluten-free major Genuis is suitably busy with an ambitious international expansion plan as it moves into the United Arab Emirates (UAE), its commercial director says.
PepsiCo’s staff wellness program saved cash in terms of lower healthcare costs but its mainstream ‘lifestyle management’ component had little overall effect, US researchers have concluded.
As Coke and Pepsi watch their diet soda sales stagnate, the arrows on the sales growth chart on Zevia CEO Paddy Spence’s wall are going in the opposite direction, with growth of his zero-calorie sodas up in the triple digits.
Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS) has inked a deal with a Wisconsin-based biotech firm that will keep it in supply of human brain and liver cells for nutrition testing purposes with a focus on drinks, smoothies and other products targeting diabetes...
A dismissed antitrust lawsuit alleging a “conspiracy not to compete” between Dean Foods, Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) and National Dairy Holdings (NDH) has been reinstated by a US federal appeals court.
Consumers are demanding more nutritional information than ever, and yet obesity rates continue to climb, with some dietitians worrying that Americans are becoming complacent in their unhealthy weights. Kale, chia and wheat-free will stay hot in 2014,...
The struggle over GMO labeling will push the growth of certified organic products in the US in 2014, according to market research firm Organic Monitor. And at least one major discount grocery retailer is looking to cash in with the launch of a new organic...
General Mills says original Cheerios will now be made without genetically modified ingredients, citing consumers' growing preference for non-GMO food products. The change doesn’t apply to the other 11 varieties of Cheerios.
Bakers seeking to meet sodium reduction targets can take hope in new research conducted at Oregon State University that shows that consumers are willing to accept lower-salt breads and, if the reductions are small enough, may not even notice.
Both private label and national brands’ shares of sales remained unchanged during the past year, with private label share of dollar sales inching up slightly, due in large part to above-average price inflation within the private label sector.
General Mills is experimenting with a concept that ships snacks directly to consumers through a subscription service. Called Nibblr, the service offers four small boxes of various snacks for $6.
Industry attempts to self-regulate the advertising of food and drinks on children's television programs are ‘unsuccessful’ and ‘ineffective’, says a new study from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Whole Foods said Wednesday it plans to dump Chobani as a yogurt supplier at the beginning of 2014, citing a number of reasons—primarily that it has become more selective in shelf allocation with the recent explosion of Greek yogurt brands.
Probiota 2014 – relocated from Brussels to Amsterdam and organised by NutraIngredients – will bring together the finest scientific and commercial minds operating in the pre- and probiotic sector in a 2-day, 2-stream event.
