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...
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.
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,...
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:...
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...
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...
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...
Nature’s Fynd - a startup growing protein-packed food from microbes with a fraction of the environmental footprint of meat or dairy – is launching refrigerated breakfast patties featuring its ‘Fy’ nutritional fungi protein in selected Whole Foods stores...
Plantish has raised $12.5m in seed funding to scale up the production technology for its plant-based whole-cut salmon fillets, which will first enter fine dining restaurants by late 2023.
Tate and Lyle - which has been marketing its PROMITOR soluble corn fiber for several years as a prebiotic that can support bone health by boosting calcium absorption and retention - says it is also exploring its potential to support cognitive health,...
Ten years after its debut, upcycling pioneer Barnana continues to push the boundaries of would-be wasted bananas and disprove naysayers with a trio of diverse, savory snacks launched in as many years while simultaneously navigating the uncertainty of...
From a flurry of keto snacks and functional-but-fun beverages, to firms making more proactive claims about their impact (or lack thereof) on the environment, check out our first trendspotting gallery from the Natural Products Expo West show in Anaheim,...
DSM is gearing up to launch commercial quantities of upcycled canola protein isolate extracted from Non GMO rapeseed at a new facility in Dieppe, France, later this year, and says it is seeing interest from firms spanning plant-based meat and dairy, to...
Relocating current croplands to ‘optimal locations’ - while allowing ecosystems in then-abandoned areas to regenerate - could turn back the clock on carbon emissions, according to a team of international researchers.
For the father and son behind start-up Planet Based Foods, declining sales of meat alternatives that closely mimic animal products is not a harbinger of dwindling consumer interest in plant-based options, but rather a natural evolution of the trend that...
Two more high-profile players in the alt meat space are clashing over IP, with Impossible Foods accusing Motif FoodWorks of infringing a patent it secured in 2020 covering the use of its flagship ‘heme’ ingredient in meat substitutes.
Compounds from hemp hulls called N-trans caffeoyltyramine (NCT) and N-trans-feruloyltyramine (NFT) may support liver and metabolic health, according to new data from AI-phytonutrient pioneers Brightseed.
If churning out milk from lactating bovine mammary epithelial cells in a bioreactor seems a bit, well, unnatural, ask yourself what’s ‘natural’ about the life of a dairy cow in an industrial-scale dairy farming operation, says Opalia co-founder Jennifer...
Big Bold Health, a company bent popularizing the immune health benefits of a particular legacy crop, has announced $4 million in funding from a venture capital firm.
While many consumers may be aware of the drawbacks of a high sodium diet, fewer are actively reducing their sodium intake and believe it is the responsibility of food manufacturers to provide products that are both flavorful and low in sodium, presenting...
Fat is mission-critical to the appearance, smell, taste, mouthfeel, and texture of meat. And if you want to formulate meat alternatives that look, cook, smell, and taste like the real thing, plant-based fats will only get you so far, claims San Francisco-based...
Consumers’ ongoing efforts to kick the sugar habit and select better-for-you, nutrient-dense foods and beverages unexpectedly may be helping to fuel a rise in Asian-inspired flavors, beverages and dishes across categories, according to recent research...
Despite laudable progress in recent years to create a more circular economy for plastics, the food industry still has a long way to go to meet ambitious and fast-approach goals to reduce the use of total and virgin plastic and incorporate more post-consumer...
While scientists are still unlocking the secrets of the gut microbiome, consumers increasingly understand that what we feed the armies of microbes that line our digestive tracts may be intimately connected to our physical – and mental - wellbeing. So...
Plant-based proteins continue to dominate the so-called ‘alternative protein’ category, but will this still be the case in 10 years’ time? And which emerging plant proteins – from canola, barley and hemp to Pongamia, lupin, and chickpeas – will become...
Coca-Cola is reinvigorating growth in its once-stale core sparkling beverage portfolio and earning accolades from investment analysts by leveraging consumer-led innovation, revenue growth management and personalized marketing.
Plant-based meat alternatives are getting 'meatier' by the day as brands reverse engineer animal products and put them back together with plants. But getting plant-based fat to behave like animal fat has been a major stumbling block for the...
Launched less than a year ago by a mix of entrepreneurs, investors, fitness industry veterans, and celebrity Dwayne Johnson, ZOA Energy claims it has quickly become the fastest-growing energy drink and #2 brand in the healthy energy drinks category (per...
Natural colour maker Phytolon is collaborating with Ginkgo Bioworks to take its biological production to the ‘next level’. FoodNavigator asks Phytolon co-founder and CEO Halim Jubran how its novel production technology works.
PepsiCo is already hitting notable milestones and reaping financial benefits from its ambitious pep+ plan announced last fall that places sustainability at the center of how the CPG giant says it will create value and drive growth, according to CEO Ramon...
Santiago-based NotCo - which entered the US market in 2020 with plant-based NotMilk - is gearing up to enter the ultra-competitive US meat alternatives category with NotBurger, a brand that has rapidly gained traction in Latin America with high-profile...
Through a combination of rapid innovation, investing in growth platforms, ongoing “prudent” M&A and strategic paring down of labor and factories, Nestle is on track to deliver solid mid single-digit organic growth in 2022 and into the foreseeable...
What are consumers looking for when it comes to healthy and functional beverages? Is it sparkling water to kick a sugary soda habit or a daily wellness shot with ginger and turmeric for an immunity boost? Find out in the third and final session of FoodNavigator-USA's...
Spring is around the corner which means diet food and fitness marketers will soon begin pressuring women to swap favorite foods with low-calorie, low-carb and low-sugar alternatives to help “get their beach bodies back,” and encouraging men hit the gym...
While skeptics maintain cell-cultured meat faces “intractable technical challenges at food scale,” and Impossible Foods CEO Dr Pat Brown dismisses it as ‘vaporware,’ Wildtype has just persuaded investors to part with a cool $100m to help it scale up its...
The draw of industrial biotechnology is compelling: beef without the cow, eggs without the chicken, almost every animal-based product that society has relied on for centuries having a non-animal replacement in the works. Maybe it’s just me, but with...
Upcycled food products (made from ingredients that would otherwise not have gone to human consumption) are the most straightforward and scalable path to reducing and preventing food waste, says Upcycled Food Association CEO Turner Wyatt.
Perfect Day – one of a new breed of startups deploying synthetic biology to coax microbes into expressing animal proteins such as whey – has teamed up with new brand betterland foods to launch a ‘cow-free’ milk it claims is “virtually indistinguishable...
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