US retail sales of refrigerated kombucha and other fermented beverages edged up 2.4% to $703.2m in measured channels* in the year to July 12, 2020, with dollar sales up 5.1% in the conventional (MULO) channel but down -6.1% in the natural channel, delegates...
Public health advocates fear Congress will adjourn for fall break without first extending emergency food assistance that is set to expire at the end of the month – potentially leaving millions of families whose children rely on free or reduced school...
Plant-based meat maker Upton’s Naturals and the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA) have fired the latest salvo in the battle over the labeling of plant-based products in a lawsuit* challenging Oklahoma’s new ‘Meat Consumer Protection Act.’
Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR) and Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) have introduced the Hemp and Hemp-Derived CBD Consumer Protection and Market Stabilization Act of 2020 to allow hemp and hemp derived CBD to be legally marketed in dietary supplements.
As many schools negotiate how to teach children safely during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, they also must navigate how to feed them – a challenge that will require creativity and cooperation from regulators, legislators, and school nutrition professionals...
A call for a “radical revision” of caffeine consumption guidelines for women who are pregnant or trying to conceive based on analysis of observational research published in the BMJ Evidence Based Medicine journal last night is “radically wrong about coffee...
A judge handling a high-profile lawsuit* over the use of dairy terminology on plant-based products has blocked attempts by the State of California to prevent Miyoko’s from using the terms ‘butter,’ ‘lactose-free’ and ‘cruelty-free’ on its vegan products....
Beyond Meat has fired the latest salvo in a legal spat with former co-manufacturer Don Lee Farms with an amended complaint accusing it of misappropriating trade secrets, defrauding Beyond Meat, and infringing its trademarks.
The Federal Trade Commission has sent another round of warning letters to marketers making unsubstantiated COVID-19 health claims. The FTC’s message is simple: Prove it or remove it.
Stevia supplier PureCircle USA says it “strongly refutes” claims from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials that it imported shipments of stevia that had been processed in China with prison labor, but claims it “made financial sense for our...
Likely fighting an uphill battle, some nutrition experts, health care providers and professional athletes want the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans to demote dairy from its long-held position as a standalone and recommended food group to a discretionary...
Seafood industry stakeholders and public health advocates want more clarity in the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans around how much seafood children and pregnant women should eat to reap its potential cognitive developmental benefits, but they diverge...
Members of the House Agriculture Committee are demanding USDA take a closer look at and provide additional relief for the coronavirus pandemic’s “disproportionate toll on farmers and ranchers,” and the specialty crop sector.
An unexpected partnership between one of the largest dairy cooperatives in America and a technology powerhouse that is more often associated with cubical farms than actual farms is taking on some of the biggest threats to the US food system to help farmers...
Confronted by trash and recycling bins overflowing with food and delivery packaging during the pandemic as well as near daily stories of essential workers risking exposure to the coronavirus to help keep them fed, consumers are placing more pressure on...
Responding to increasing fraud threats to the organic industry, the US Department of Agriculture seeks to strengthen oversight and improve the transparency and traceability of organic food through a four-prong plan that praises and mirrors actions already...
As lawmakers argue whether COVID-19 liability shields for employers should be built into the next stimulus package, Tyson Foods has told a court in Texas that it can’t be held liable for the death of one of its employees because his family can't...
How should meat grown from cultured animal cells be labeled? In a joint FDA/USDA webinar, officials said they would work together to come up with joint principles to govern the labeling of products under their respective jurisdictions (FDA: seafood; USDA:...
A bill before the California State legislature would open the country’s largest market to dietary supplements and foods containing CBD, but advocates say time is running out while the machinery of state government is preoccupied with pandemic concerns.
As the ongoing coronavirus pandemic continues to drive up food prices alongside unemployment, food insecurity in the US is reaching new heights that far exceed those experienced during and since the Great Recession – spurring calls for increased government...
The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s recent recommendations that children under 2 years avoid all added sugar to ensure they consume the nutrients they need without excessive caloric intake may not go far enough to drive a significant change in...
Legislation proposed yesterday to provide all children free school meals not only would help feed the increasing number of children who face food insecurity due to the pandemic and associated economic downturn, but it would also ease financial strain...
The US Food and Drug Administration may be willing to sit down with a company about a possible NDI submission for full-spectrum hemp extracts, says Steve Mister, president and CEO of the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN).
Food and beverage brands with ambitious sustainability goals to create more packaging with post-consumer materials face significant challenges, including supply shortages due to limitations of the fractured US recycling system, increased competition for...
The National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard – which requires firms to label ‘bioengineered’ foods and beverages - is unlawful and should be nullified and then revised, according to a lawsuit filed by a coalition of retailers and nonprofits who...
Decrying the US food system as “fundamentally broken and worsening the challenge of justice in our country,” Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., is on an mission to block and dismantle corporate consolidation in agriculture, which he argues places profits over...
Even as the pandemic continues to strain the food system and pressure manufacturers to balance increased demand with restricted supply, companies must still pursue sustainability goals, including minimizing their environmental impact and improving the...
In a Citizen’s Petition filed today, children’s health advocates are ramping up pressure on FDA to address the labeling of so-called ‘transition formulas’ or ‘toddler milks,’ which they say offer “no unique nutritional value,” threaten the health of young...
An amendment to a military funding bill would make it possible for military personnel to openly use hemp/CBD products for the first time. While advocates welcome the development, there is little prospect that CBD products will become part of standard...
The US must strengthen and increase funding for federal nutrition research to accelerate critical discoveries, and most importantly, improve public health, say a group of research, policy, and government experts in a new report.
The US needs a more integrated nutrition security system to help fight the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which disproportionately impacts people with underlying health conditions – often related to poor diet, according to an expert from The Rockefeller...
The US Food and Drug Administration will not object to the use of certain qualified health claims regarding consuming certain cranberry juice and supplements and a reduced risk of recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) in healthy women.
As with other aspects of American culture, racism has both deep and multiple roots in the food system, which CPG companies must address holistically, ranging from how they source materials and services to their hiring practices, marketing strategies and...
As consumers settle into living with the threat of the coronavirus and better understand their grocery needs while staying at home, their priorities inevitably will shift from panic purchasing any and all products to stocking their pantries more selectively...
The United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) recently issued a precedential decision that would control future rulings on whether a company could register a trademark for a dietary supplement or food containing cannabidiol (CBD).
‘Lab-grown’ seafood is a food marketer’s nightmare. ‘Clean’ seafood carries the tacit implication that the regular stuff is dirty. ‘Cultivated’ seafood – a term that performed well in recent research on meat & poultry – could be confused with farmed...
After years of debate - and a wave of lawsuits - over what kombucha is and how it is made, trade association Kombucha Brewers International (KBI) has released a code of practice outlining quality standards it claims will help “protect the integrity of...
The US Food and Drug Administration yesterday launched a website portal it calls a ‘blueprint’ for the full implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act. The document lays out a plan for actions over the next decade.
While the coronavirus has hit hard the food and beverage industry over the past four months, players across the supply chain have worked closely with federal agencies and the government to improve manufacturing processes and temporarily ease what the...
An FDA report on the CBD marketplace reveals that many of the products tested contain THC that was not identified on the labels. In addition, a majority of the products did not meet label claim for CBD content, with either too little or too much CBD.
“More rigorous methods” are necessary for developing, communicating, and disseminating recommendations for feeding children from birth to 24 months -- arguably the most critical window for nutrition for a child, according to new report by the private,...
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced it is allowing the use of milk protein concentrate (MPC), milk protein isolate (MPI) and whey protein concentrate (WPC) in products labeled "high protein milk."
Miyoko's has won round one in its legal fight with the State of California over its use of the term 'butter' on a plant-based product after a court rejected the State's bid to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the brand in February.
The US dairy industry is calling for the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) to include “all relevant scientific studies” related to the fat content of dairy products before it delivers its recommendations to USDA and HHS for the 2020-25 Dietary...
Japanese stevia pioneer Morita Kagaku Kogyo Co has taken the unusual step of issuing a press release highlighting the extent of its intellectual property around sweet tasting steviol glycoside Reb M and naming the three partners to which it has licensed...
With the regulatory path forward for hemp-derived CBD in foods and supplements no clearer a year after the FDA’s May 2019 public meeting, trade association The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) has filed a citizen’s petition urging the FDA to regulate...
Children under the age of 2 years should avoid all added sugars in order to better make “every bite count,” according to the Dietary Guidelines advisory subcommittee tasked with creating the first ever dietary guidelines for children younger than 24 months....
Stevia specialist SweeGen has started commercial production of Reb B, a lesser-known and “highly soluble” steviol glycoside (stevia sweetener) that it says works particularly well in beverages.
