Children between the ages of two and 18 should consume fewer than six teaspoons of added sugars daily, the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends.
While the SmartLabel initiative has been dismissed by some as an elaborate conspiracy by big food companies to avoid mandatory on-pack GMO labeling statements, it will ultimately have far broader significance – and potentially a huge impact on how consumers...
For boomers at ingredients suppliers seeking to engage with a new generation of Millennials within their customer base, b2b ad and marketing communications agency Anderson Partners Food Ingredient Marketing has come up with some tips designed to help...
While the word ‘natural’ still appears on the label of 11% of new food and beverage introductions in the US according to Mintel data, brands that are part of the so-called natural foods industry need to embrace a new form of conscious capitalism if they...
From teas enriched with medicines to programmable tea taps, the humble brew could see a dramatic evolution over the coming years, says Tetley. Even the concept of tea consumed as a liquid could be challenged.
New FDA rules clarifying the process by which ingredients are deemed generally recognized as safe (GRAS) have been welcomed by some stakeholders, but harshly criticized by others, who say any system allowing firms to self-determine the safety of their...
Danone’s proposed acquisition of WhiteWave Foods will “have a serious anti-competitive effect on the organic yogurt and organic fluid milk markets in the US,” the Cornucopia Institute has told the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice.
The Olympic Games in Rio has been branded a “carnival of junk food marketing” as campaigners published new research on advertising tactics used by Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Mars brand M&Ms. Kellogg’s were also singled out as sponsors of Team Great...
'America is becoming a nation of par-cookers, snackers and meal assemblers'
As supermarkets continue to lose market share to high- and low-end rivals, they must fully embrace consumer demand for fresh, stock more premium products and behave more like specialty retailers if they are to survive in today’s climate, according to...
Is the food industry working for or against the consumer? Find out at Food Vision USA 2016
The Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) has urged the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to stop enforcing a San Francisco ordinance requiring sugary drink ads to include health warnings, on the grounds that they violate manufacturers’ First Amendment...
Sprouts Farmers Market is aggressively expanding its private label program, particularly in the deli area in order to “enhance our position as a ready-to-eat destination,” CEO Amin Maredia said this week.
Health Warrior CEO to join CEO panel at Food Vision USA 2016
Chia-fueled brand Health Warrior will be unveiling new products next year that utilize other nutrient-dense whole foods, says CEO Shane Emmett, who is predicting a 40-60% rise in revenues in 2016 “depending on where certain orders land.”
Manufacturers have been ‘cleaning up’ food labels for years, but the pressure to oust 'unpronounceable' ingredients has now become so great that important vitamins and minerals (which often have chemical-sounding names) are also being ditched...
New NGS DNA testing methods will replace PCR, predicts Clear Labs
As the Non-GMO Project states on its website, ‘GMO-free’ claims are “not legally or scientifically defensible due to limitations of testing methodology" coupled with cross-contamination risks. In future, however, that could change as testing methods...
Is food marketing awash with bad science? If so, who is to blame?
There was plenty of handwringing at the IFT show this year about the lack of scientific literacy characterizing the debate around food and farming, backed up by scores of press clippings about ‘franken-foods.’ But is the media solely to blame, and what’s...
It’s a bold move given how highly-charged – and extremely polarized - the debate has become, but Los Angeles-based start-up Soylent has weighed into the conversation over genetically engineered food crops with a blog post entitled: 'Soylent: Proudly...
New data from Nielsen reveals that private label’s dollar share of the US CPG market has hovered stubbornly below 18% since 2011 before declining very slightly in the latest 52 weeks, while a breakdown of purchasing habits by ethnic group reveals that...
Michael Conway: Senate GMO bill is 'riddled with ambiguity'
Industry groups are lobbying leaders in the House of Representatives to allow a vote on a GMO labeling bill next week before they break for the party conventions, after the proposed legislation was passed in the Senate in a 63-30 vote last night.
Whole Foods Market – which has not shared its sales data with syndicated data providers for a decade –is returning to cooperator status. But why now, and what does this mean, both for Whole Foods and the wider industry?
USDA addresses concerns about the narrow definition of 'bioengineered'
The US Senate has voted to proceed to final debate on a federal GMO labeling bill in a cloture vote of 65-32, with the Senate set to vote on final passage as early as Thursday (July 7).
An industry-backed survey of 1,665 online primary shoppers suggests that Vermont’s mandatory GMO labels “strongly mislead consumers,” claims the Corn Refiners Association (CRA).
Allowing companies to label potassium chloride as ‘potassium salt’ on food labels would ‘demystify’ the ingredient for consumers and help the industry achieve the dual goals of lowering sodium and increasing potassium, argues a citizen’s petition filed...
In 2015, the top 25 food and beverage companies generated 45% of category sales in the US but drove just 3% of total category growth from 2011 to 2015, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of just 0.1%, according to Nielsen data. So if they are not...
Rising food prices, watered-down safety standards, food law dictated by big businesses and a disastrous impact on public health. Professor in food policy Tim Lang looks at the options of a post-Brexit UK but sees little light at the end of the channel...
For the first time the European Union has lost a member after the British people yesterday voted to leave the bloc which began life as the European Economic Community in 1951.
Sweet and savory snacks will be among the hardest hit UK food categories as a result of the Brexit vote, according to analysts Euromonitor International.
Britain has voted to leave the European Union and Prime Minister David Cameron has resigned as a result. Across Europe and the UK, the food industry is coming to terms with the outcome.
Attempts to reach a federal GMO labeling solution have failed miserably to date. However, a bipartisan deal requiring mandatory GMO labeling (via smartlabels, symbols or as yet undetermined wording) thrashed out in the Senate on Thursday looks like it...
Properly applied, intellectual property law is flexible enough to protect creative food designs from substantial copying, but with built-in limitations that safeguard against stifling collaboration in the food industry, says Foley Hoag attorney Natasha...
Millennials - people born between 1980 and 2000 - are as diverse and hard to pin down as any group of consumers. But they do have certain things in common when it comes to food shopping, according to market researchers...
The ingredient known as ‘evaporated cane juice’ should instead be declared as ‘sugar’ on food labels, says the FDA in new guidance that attorneys predict will unleash a wave of civil litigation as ECJ-related false advertising cases that had been put...
There is no evidence that foods from genetically engineered (GE) crops are less safe to eat than their 'conventional' counterparts, according to a new report from The National Academies of Sciences, which will "provide fodder for friends...
Fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kombucha, kimchi and yogurts containing ‘live and active cultures’ are healthy and tasty, but they are not necessarily packed with probiotics, says Ganeden Inc, the Ohio-based firm behind one of the best-known probiotic...
By Kristen E. Polovoy, Esquire, of counsel, Montgomery McCracken
‘Fat-free,’ ‘non-dairy,’ ‘all-natural’, ‘sugar-free’, ‘gluten-free’ . . . are all in recent history’s hit parade of terms perceived by many consumers as a sign that that a product is somehow ‘better’ or ‘healthier.’ The most recent term to join this...
While some people plan a grocery shopping trip like a military campaign, many others are not thinking much beyond what’s for dinner tonight, says Mike Savage, VP Non Perishables at Fresh Thyme Farmers Market, and retailers are not making things easy for...
A paragraph on page 34 of the 206-page 2017 House Agricultural Appropriations Bill - spotted by Hampton Creek’s eagle-eyed new VP of policy Tiny May yesterday - proposes to exempt industry-funded commodity research and promotion programs such as the American...
Ripple is a new plant-based ‘milk’ made with yellow pea protein that promises to blow dairy milk and current milk alternatives out of the water in the taste, nutrition and sustainability stakes. But did it impress members of Carpe Diem, a Santa Barbara-based...
Whether it’s choosing a car, or deciding what to wear, Millennials display a “pronounced proclivity for bold and confident individualism,” according to Packaged Facts. But how does this impact their food choices, and how can manufacturers, retailers and...
Snack maker KIND – which faced a wave of false advertising lawsuits* last year over its use of the terms ‘healthy’ and ‘all-natural’ – has urged a New York court to stay or dismiss the cases on primary jurisdiction grounds until the FDA official weighs...
Why are the top 100 CPG brands underperforming in most of the categories in which they operate? Lots of reasons, many beyond their control, says Dr Kurt Jetta, founder of TABS Analytics. But some the wounds are self-inflicted, he argues: “We are holding...
Fear not – nine billion people can be fed by 2050 without further deforestation. The claim comes from researchers at the Global Institute of Social Ecology in Vienna, Austria.
While interest in many food trends tends to ebb and flow, consumer demand for ‘local’ food – which taps into many other movements, from organic to specialty – continues to rise. But what does ‘local’ really mean, which consumers are most interested in...
BraunHagey & Borden LLP sets up practice group to target emerging food brands
Failure to seek legal advice when you launch your business can prove ruinous later on - especially when you are trying to raise money, or engineer an exit - says law firm BraunHagey & Borden LLP, which is setting up a new practice group to provide...
Sucralose “is safe and does not cause cancer, despite what you may have seen in some headlines,” Ted Gelov, the CEO of Splenda brand owner Heartland Consumer Products Group, has insisted in an open letter blasting what he argues is “flawed” data from...
Organic and Non-GMO claims are both gaining strong traction on US food and beverage labels, while there has been a slight decline in the percentage of new launches featuring 'natural' claims, according to Mintel.
By Jacob Harper, attorney, TroyGould PC, Los Angeles
Eating Parmesan is not going to leave you swallowing splinters. But you’d never know it after reading articles such as, ‘The Parmesan You Sprinkle on Your Penne Could be Wood,’ ‘FDA Warns the Parmesan You Eat May Be Wood Pulp,’ and ‘Yes, Parmesan Cheese...
As 301 Inc’s recent investment in start-up Good Culture demonstrates, large CPG companies are placing bets in promising food companies earlier than ever as the natural & organic food market heats up, says general manager John Haugen, who is looking...
Bill requires mandatory GMO labeling but would not require front of pack ‘warning’ statements
Two days after Senator Pat Roberts’ voluntary GMO labeling bill got the green light from the Senate agriculture committee, Senator Jeff Merkley* (D-OR) has introduced a ‘common-sense’ alternative he claims will please supporters of mandatory GMO labeling,...
