Ajinomoto has defended the safety of flavor enhancer MSG against claims made in a citizen's petition filed by the nonprofit Truth in Labeling Campaign that urges the FDA to rescind the ingredient's GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status.
AppHarvest -- an indoor vertical farming ag tech company based in Morehead, Kentucky -- is shipping out its first harvest of beefsteak tomatoes to national and regional grocery store chains including Kroger, Publix, Walmart, Food City, and Meijer.
Speaking at Expo West in 2015 two years after selling his coconut water brand to Coca-Cola, ZICO founder Mark Rampolla observed that his nine years running the business had been “absolutely brutal.” Six years later, he’s back at the helm, after buying...
With in store sampling off the table during the pandemic, the non-alcoholic spirits brand Ritual Zero Proof drove “explosive” growth in 2020 and has high hopes for 2021 with help from partnerships with established CPG brands, including most recently Campbell’s...
By Robert Guite and Abby Meyer, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
If your company sells any vanilla-flavored food or beverage product, then you are probably aware of the innumerable class action cases that have been filed over the last 18 months attacking these products – 67 cases by our count. Here, we trace the history...
Black Lives Matter supporters may not be taking to the streets or grabbing headlines as often as they were last summer, but the social and racial injustices that drove them their persist, which is why KIND Healthy Snacks is deepening its commitment to...
For food & supplement brands hoping 2021 might be the year the FDA unveils a long-awaited regulatory framework for CBD, its Jan 7 progress report citing the need for more safety data does not provide much encouragement, with the Council for Responsible...
Federal regulators could do more to protect consumers by using existing import authorities as well as moving forward on hemp/CBD regulation, the National Products Association has said.
Supplement manufacturer Zarbee’s Naturals has been advised to qualify some of its claims in a National Advertising Division case that bears on the question of what is meant by the term ‘natural.’
While cutting prices when demand is “skyrocketing” is somewhat unorthodox, Impossible Foods’ latest double-digit price cut to foodservice distributors reflects its growing economies of scale and mission to make plant-based meat a more accessible and affordable...
If some consumers – and state regulators - are paying more attention to the living conditions of the nation’s hens, many shoppers are still bewildered by the plethora of welfare-related claims in the egg category, says the CEO of Egg Innovations, a leading...
Purveyors of acacia gum have submitted a new petition to the FDA with additional scientific data to support their contention that it should be classified as a dietary fiber on food labels, highlighting its positive impact on glucose and insulin levels...
The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines advise Americans to watch their sugar and alcohol consumption but fall short of recommending the drastic cuts recently suggested by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC).
By the year 2030, trend forecaster Dr Morgaine Gaye predicts much will have changed in terms of how food is consumed: supermarkets will be forced to diversify, urban areas will be transformed by biodiversity legislation, and we will be on our to using...
More good news for the CBD industry. The European Commission has abandoned its plans to classify non-synthetic CBD a narcotic and resumed Novel Food applications for edible CBD products.
Within the next decade, trend forecaster Dr Morgaine Gaye predicts we will have moved beyond the current protein craze, be eating food made from ‘the biggest ingredient of the future’, and variety will play a greater role in all things fruit and veg.
Indoor farming? Cell-cultured meat? The rise of DTC e-commerce? FoodNavigator-USA quizzed food & beverage business leaders to find out what trends they are monitoring, and what is keeping them awake at night as we approach 2021...
While digestive health remains the leading health position for probiotics in the US, immune support is the second most popular positioning with online reviews growing 26% in the first half of 2020 to hit 179,000 in July, says Lumina Intelligence.
Will 2021 be the year the FDA finally weighs in on CBD regulations? Will the industry be hit with a wave of liability lawsuits over COVID-19? Will we see a framework for the regulation of cell-cultured meat? FoodNavigator-USA quizzed leading food law...
Four years after receiving a petition urging it to permit a more consumer-friendly name, the FDA has issued final guidance allowing companies to use ‘potassium salt’ as alternate name for ‘potassium chloride’ on ingredient labels.
From ‘futureproof’ foods claiming to support immune health or manage stress, to the ‘ketotarian’ diet: a plant-based spin on keto, Kroger has released seven food trends it believes will gain traction in 2021, which it predicts will be a "breakout...
From upcycled ingredients and plant-proteins to a thirst for ‘flavor exploration’ after months of being stuck at home, Flavorchem highlights some trends to watch in its 2021 trends and flavor forecast.
“Every person in the next five years is going to ask for foods that are personalized for them, and every ingredient is personalized for them,” said Naveen Jain during a recent webinar hosted by NutraIngredients-USA.
Atlast Food Co – a New York-based startup unlocking a new category in the meat alternatives market (whole cuts) by growing huge slabs of fungi-based ‘meat’ from mushroom mycelium – expects construction to begin on a new production facility early next...
If many people feel that their vote won't make much difference given the sclerotic nature of the US Congress, a growing number of consumers believe they can exercise power and enact social change via their purchasing behavior, which has big implications...
Plant-based meal options are becoming more common at family dining tables this holiday season as 70% of households plan to have at least one plant-based dish on the table, according to results from a OnePoll survey commissioned by Eat Just, Inc.
What does a ‘healthy gut microbiome’ look like? And is an ‘unhealthy’ microbiome a corollary of poor health, or directly responsible for certain health conditions? If the latter is true, to what extent can we address these health problems by modulating...
The USDA is proposing to update rules allowing firms using celery salt or other natural sources of nitrates or nitrites, to make the claims ‘No Nitrate or Nitrite Added’ on labels (something they're not allowed to do if they use synthetic nitrites/nitrates)...
Postbiotics is a term we’ll likely be hearing a lot more of in 2021, predicts ADM, which says the fermentation byproducts - which don’t require refrigeration or special processing conditions to maintain their viability - make an attractive addition to...
While the food supply chain bent to accommodate weaknesses revealed and intensified by the coronavirus outbreak earlier this year, next time an unexpected threat arises the industry might not be so lucky unless it increases transparency and digitization...
Displaying health warnings on sugar-sweetened drinks could be an effective way of reducing consumption, suggest US researchers, who found a 14.5% decline in consumption among students when warning labels were displayed on drinks in a college cafeteria....
While the terms 'plant-based' and 'vegan' might appear to be interchangeable (they both exclude animal products), consumers do not view them in quite the same way, claims Foodchain ID, which has just launched separate 'vegan,'...
Research revealing how the starch structure of potato flakes impacts oil uptake during deep frying could enable snack makers to slash the fat content of Pringles-style potato chips by up to a third, say the authors of a new study.
Kraft Heinz is pulling back on innovation in favor of renovating well-established, iconic brands to which consumers have flocked during the coronavirus pandemic in an effort to maintain household penetration gains made in the last nine months of lockdowns,...
Faced with rising food prices and stagnant or reduced income during the pandemic, Americans are embracing a more DIY-approach to sourcing and cooking food to save money, and are less tolerant of waste that they believe could help feed the hungry, according...
Unilever is targeting annual sales of €1bn ($1.19bn - or around five times what it's selling today) from plant-based meat and dairy alternatives within five to seven years as part of a broader plan to make plant-based options more accessible, affordable...
As America continues to struggle with the fallout from widespread, prolonged systemic racism, including its impact on the food system, intentionally designed co-ops could provide a path forward for traditionally disenfranchised groups to improve access...
Children’s dietary patterns are mostly set by the time they turn 2 years old, which doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room for indulging picky eaters if caregivers want their kids to grow up eating – and liking – a wide variety of healthy, nutrient-dense...
Despite ongoing economic uncertainty, “anticipated recessionary spending behavior” such as increased spending on private label and value brands and a shift towards value channels, “hasn’t occurred to date,” claims IRI in a new report exploring the opportunity...
A new study that asserts that multivitamin use is based mostly on positive thinking and not on health outcomes has been criticized for structural limitations that contribute to unfounded conclusions.
Joe Biden’s presidential victory projected this weekend could open the door for the CPG industry to play a more dynamic role in America’s economic revival, including shaping new consumer protections and food safety measures, as well as pursue a more industry-friendly...
A weak performance in foodservice and slower than-expected growth at retail combined to deliver a modest 2.7% increase in Q3 revenues to $94.4m at Beyond Meat, a figure “lower than we expected,” CEO Ethan Brown told analysts Monday. However, he insisted...
Protein-fueled organic snack brand IWON Organics has raised $500k in a new funding round and is gearing up to launch a new product in 2021 that will take it into new territory, says founder and CEO Mark Samuel, who has just picked up some new distribution...
As illustrated by the diversity and record number of entrants to FoodNavigator-USA’s 2020 Food For Kids Trailblazers Challenge, innovation abounds in the children’s food and beverage segment, but funding and shelf space in stores – even digital ones –...
Brands’ acquisition and retention of new customers – and investors – increasingly hinges on their ability to provide experiences and a sense of community that can help relieve customers’ emotional strain due to limited contact with others during the drawn-out...
As consumers settle into pandemic-living and establish new shopping and cooking habits, they increasingly are looking for more than nutritional sustenance from food and beverage products – they also want a deeper, emotional connection that one branding...
