Meat, fish and savory ingredients

Plant-based meat gamechanger? Rebellyous Foods tackles two key hurdles facing the industry: cost, and quality-at-scale

16-May-2022 By Elaine Watson

While even the analysts downgrading Beyond Meat’s stock in the wake of grim Q1 figures believe meat alternatives are “not a fad” (to quote Brian Holland at Cowen), the brand’s slowing sales and elevated costs have prompted some soul-searching about why...

Study: Do vegetarian diets impact growth outcomes for kids?

13-May-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Children following vegetarian diets have similar growth and biochemical measures of nutrition compared to children consuming non-vegetarian diets, but are more likely to be underweight, according to a new study from researchers in Toronto.

Rising food costs outpace those for all goods, suggesting more inflation to come

13-May-2022 By Elizabeth Crawford

Food prices likely will remain stubbornly high as the cost of key ingredients, packaging materials, transportation and warehousing paid by producers continues to rise, albeit at a slightly slower pace – sparking optimism among some that high inflation...

SpoonfulONE enters Walgreens stores nationwide expanding access to early allergen introduction

12-May-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

SpoonfulONE, a line of nutritional products that introduces babies to 16 food allergens at the beginning of their feeding journey, has expanded distribution to nearly 5,000 Walgreens stores nationwide helping make early allergen introduction a common...

Beyond Meat CEO faces grilling from analysts after posting grim Q1 figures

12-May-2022 By Elaine Watson

Despite its grim near-term figures, Beyond Meat’s long-term prospects are good, insisted CEO Ethan Brown on the firm’s Q1 earnings call Wednesday as analysts queried how much longer the plant-based meat firm would have to speculate before it started to...

Soaring prices for food at home outpace overall inflation, signaling need for strategic shift by retailers, manufacturers

11-May-2022 By Elizabeth Crawford

Rising food prices slowed slightly in April over the prior month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics April Consumer Price Index released today, but they continue to climb at a brisk pace that is significantly faster than all items, allowing them...

Future Farm CEO says future is still bright for plant-based meat: 'We have to take responsibility for developing this category'

11-May-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Brazilian plant-based meat firm Future Farm is steadily making inroads into the crowded plant-based meat category in the US, where CEO Alexandre Ruberti still sees runway for growth.

From mush to meat? Talking edible scaffolding for cultivated meat with Gelatex and Matrix F.T.

10-May-2022 By Elaine Watson

As cultivated meat gets closer to market, more attention is being paid to enabling technologies, from bioreactors to growth media to edible scaffolding. FoodNavigator-USA caught up with two players trying to replicate the extracellular matrix of meat:...

Consumers struggle with grocery shortages and rising price of goods, report finds

10-May-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

While many consumers report struggling with product shortages and delays in online orders along with mounting concerns over inflation, demand for groceries “tends to be relatively inelastic,” according to Morning Consult, which has just surveyed 1,000...

Tyson counters labor constraints hindering volume with added benefits, automation

10-May-2022 By Elizabeth Crawford

As labor challenges continue to hold back Tyson Foods' ability to meet heightened demand, the firm is doubling down on efforts to become the ‘most sought-after place to work,’ while simultaneously investing in automation to relieve staffing needs.

Inflation triggers 3.8% decline in online grocery sales in April 2022 vs. April 2021

09-May-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Online grocery activity declined across the board last month in three main segments including pickup (in-store, curbside, lockers, etc.), delivery (first and thirst party providers such as Kroger, Instacart, Shipt), and ship-to-home (parcel carriers including...

Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: Climate Neutral helps brands calculate, offset emissions & tell sustainability story

09-May-2022 By Elizabeth Crawford

More consumers are factoring sustainability into their purchase decisions, according to data from NielsenIQ, but effectively and efficiently communicating a product’s environmental impact in less than the 10 seconds most shoppers spend deciding what to...

More meat, more quickly: Could ProFuse Technology’s small molecule cocktail help to transform the economics of cultivated meat?

05-May-2022 By Elaine Watson

There is no silver bullet that will singularly transform the economics of cell-cultured/cultivated meat, but technology developed by Israeli startup ProFuse Technology that dramatically speeds up the muscle fiber production process and enhances production...

Smallfood targets alt seafood market with ‘wholefood’ marine organism combining high quality protein, omega-3 EPA+DHA, and seafood flavor

03-May-2022 By Elaine Watson

Halifax-based Smallfood is targeting the alternative seafood market with a novel marine-based whole food ingredient high in protein “with an amino acid profile similar to beef” and meaningful levels of the coveted long-chain omega-3 fatty acids EPA and...

‘Proudly genetically modified…’ Moolec ‘molecular farming’ co gears up to launch meat proteins from GM crops

25-Apr-2022 By Elaine Watson

Moolec Science – which has developed a ‘molecular farming’ platform to produce plants that express animal proteins – is developing genetically engineered peas and beans containing bovine and porcine proteins that it claims can improve the taste, texture,...

Potential review of ‘ultra-processed food’ by dietary guideline committee could portend trouble for packaged food industry

22-Apr-2022 By Elizabeth Crawford

Undefined and increasingly under fire for allegedly delivering low nutrition but high calories, so-called ultra-processed food could be under the microscope during the next review of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, slated for publication in 2025.

‘Historic inflection point’ for cultivated meat: UPSIDE Foods closes $400m series C round to support commercial-scale plant with production capacity of tens of millions of pounds

21-Apr-2022 By Elaine Watson

Cultivated meat co UPSIDE Foods has closed a $400m series C round that brings its cumulative funding to $608m (giving it a valuation of >$1bn before it has launched a single product on the market), money that will help support a commercial-scale facility...

Nowadays raises $7m, gears up for Whole Foods launch: 'Plant-based meat has to be delicious, nutritious, and affordable'

18-Apr-2022 By Elaine Watson

While shoppers care about animal welfare and sustainability, these things are not, yet at least, primary purchase drivers for most Americans, despite what they tell you in surveys, says the co-founder of plant-based chicken startup Nowadays. “What’s the...

Misfits Market launches private label line: 'It's clear shoppers are looking for new ways to save'

14-Apr-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Direct-to-consumer online grocer Misfits Market has launched its own private label offering of 'Odds & Ends' pantry staples specifically designed to address certain supply chain inefficiencies around sourcing, food waste, and elevated pricing,...

Record-breaking spike in cost of goods portends inflation will go higher before it levels off

14-Apr-2022 By Elizabeth Crawford

March’s staggering 11.2% year-over-year producer price increase revealed yesterday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests inflation, which reached a 41 year high of 8.4% last month, may be far from peaking and manufacturers, and consumers, should...

WATCH: Gut health soda, plant-based, and regenerative agriculture... Trendspotting with PRESENCE

13-Apr-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

With 33 years operating in the natural foods industry, national food broker PRESENCE has seen many trends come and go and others grow into long-term growth drivers for the industry.

SuperMeat CEO talks commercial viability of cell-cultured meat, plans US production facility in 2023

12-Apr-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Israeli cell-cultured meat startup SuperMeat is aiming to set up its first production facility in the US in the second half of 2023.

Annual inflation for food at home surges 10%, calling into question future elasticities

12-Apr-2022 By Elizabeth Crawford

Fueled by ongoing supply chain constraints and skyrocketing energy costs due partly to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, inflation continues its upward march with the Consumer Price Index topping out at a staggering 8.5% for all items and 10% for food...

Private label returns to solid single-digit growth while outpacing national brands, reports PLMA

08-Apr-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

After experiencing unprecedented double-digit growth in 2020 fueled by pandemic shopping behaviors, private label brands grew by a more modest 1% for the full-year 2021, but have gathered steam again in the Q1 2022 registering 6.5% sales growth compared...

Better Origin’s AI-powered insect mini-farms are localising the food chain for protein sustainability and security

08-Apr-2022 By Katy Askew

Ag-tech start-up Better Origin wants to fix the broken food chain through its AI-powered insect ‘mini-farms’. The group has just completed a Series A funding round. FoodNavigator catches up with CEO Fotis Fotiadis to learn more about what the future holds.

Beyond Meat expands presence in drugstore channel, entering 2,000 Rite Aid Stores

07-Apr-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Beyond Meat is rolling out its Beyond Burger and Beyond Meatballs products at approximately 2,000 Rite Aid stores nationwide as the company aims to expand its presence across all retail channels including drugstores.

Flashfood helps retailers boost EBIT 3-5%, drive store traffic by connecting shoppers to would be wasted food

07-Apr-2022 By Elizabeth Crawford

While retailers’ practice of displaying an overabundance of fresh produce, baked goods, meat and dairy alongside shelves stacked deep with staples effectively boosts sales by enticing consumers to buy more, it also costs the industry a whopping $37m a...

KeHE ‘golden ticket’ winners reveal hot trends retailers and consumers want

06-Apr-2022 By Elizabeth Crawford

In a highly competitive industry in which 80-85% of new products fail in the first two years, natural grocery distributor KeHE consistently picks winners and fosters growth among emerging brands thanks to several key initiatives, including its TrendFinder...

How is the war in Ukraine impacting the global meat industry?

04-Apr-2022 By Flora Southey

How is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine impacting meat production, consumption, and exports in eastern Europe and further afield?

Meatable CEO weighs into debate over commercial viability of cell-cultured meat: ‘What matters is the biomass accumulation rate’

03-Apr-2022 By Elaine Watson

Investing in cell-cultured meat is a calculated risk for investors, but “not a wild gamble,” says the co-founder and CEO of Dutch startup Meatable, who says he is confident that Meatable can put a “cost competitive product on the market by 2025.”

The Bumble Bee Seafood Co’s sustainability success opens unexpected marketing opportunities

31-Mar-2022 By Elizabeth Crawford

By replacing the shrink wrap around multipacks of canned tuna with paperboard cartons, The Bumble Bee Seafood Company not only achieved an ambitious sustainability goal ahead of schedule, but it also unlocked unexpected marketing, retail and consumer...

Applegate seeks to ‘democratize’ regenerative agriculture with accessible Do Good Dog, cross-industry partnerships

30-Mar-2022 By Elizabeth Crawford

While regenerative agriculture resonates with rising consumer interest in sustainability, it can be difficult to explain in snappy marketing sound bites and callouts – prompting natural and organic meat company Applegate to try a different approach through...

'Unconstitutional' Louisiana law restricting ‘meaty’ terms on plant-based products has 'chilling' effect on commercial speech, says judge

29-Mar-2022 By Elaine Watson

A district court in Louisiana has determined that a state law restricting the use of 'meaty' terms on food labels to products derived from slaughtered animals is unconstitutional, in a ruling hailed by Tofurky as "a victory for the entire...

'Everything we do is geared towards making insect protein affordable...' European edible insect firms Ÿnsect and InnovaFeed outline US ambitions

29-Mar-2022 By Elaine Watson

While animal feed and pet food present bigger commercial opportunities for edible insects in the short term, two key European players in the segment - Innovafeed and Ÿnsect, who are both planning large-scale, highly-automated production facilities in...

Wanda Fish Technologies teams up with Tufts University on cultivated seafood research

28-Mar-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Israeli food tech startup Wanda Fish Technologies has signed two agreements with Tufts University to explore the emerging field of cultivated seafood.

Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: Riding the fast-rising wave of plant-based seafood

28-Mar-2022 By Elizabeth Crawford

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...

Plant-based foods sales: Plant-based meat sales stall while eggs, yogurt, and cheese gain ground, GFI, SPINS, PBFA

25-Mar-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

The overall plant-based foods sector reported a significant slowdown (but still positive) growth for 2021 vs. 2020 with plant-based meat sales seeing flat growth while other categories grew by single-digits for the year, according to new data released...

McPlant not setting the world on fire at McDonald’s, claims analyst: ‘A wide-scale launch seems a ways off at this point…’

25-Mar-2022 By Elaine Watson

Despite promising test results in small-scale trials last year, the pea-protein-fueled McPlant burger – developed with Beyond Meat – is not setting the world on fire in tests at a broader selection of McDonald’s locations, according to Peter Saleh, managing...

Meat, chicken and seafood alternatives: Latest retail sales data shows slowdown

22-Mar-2022 By Elaine Watson

US retail sales of frozen meat alternatives dipped -1.7% to $722.8m in the year to February 27, while sales of refrigerated meat alternatives fell -3.9% to $475m over the same period, according to IRI data crunched by 210 Analytics. Cumulatively, the...

WATCH: EXPO WEST 2022 'We’re on a rocket ship...' Tattooed Chef expands into new categories beyond frozen

21-Mar-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

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.

EXPO WEST 2022 trendspotting: Meat, egg, and dairy alternatives, from 'cow-free' milk to plant-based cottage cheese

19-Mar-2022 By Elaine Watson

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...

Sophie's Kitchen bolsters position in plant-based seafood category: 'There's going to be a big shift for us this year'

18-Mar-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Sophie's Kitchen is gearing up to significantly expand distribution of its plant-based seafood portfolio of chilled, frozen, and shelf-stable pea-based seafood analogues including its most recent product launch -- fish burgers -- which CEO Miles...

Former Chobani president Peter McGuinness to join Impossible Foods as CEO: 'This isn’t a business that needs fixing, I’m here to help turbo charge growth...'

17-Mar-2022 By Elaine Watson

Former Chobani president Peter McGuinness – who has spent the last several years running a dairy company, albeit one that has recently launched several plant-based products - is set to take the helm at Impossible Foods, a firm on a mission to “replace...

Online grocery sales continue to climb along with customer expectations

17-Mar-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

The total US online grocery market hit $8.7bn in sales in February 2022, an 8.5% jump from the same period last year as consumers pursued pickup/delivery (Instacart, Amazon Fresh, and the like) options in greater frequency over ship-to-home services (grocery...

EXPO WEST 2022: ‘It’s something we discovered serendipitously…’ EPG modified plant-based oil has exciting potential in meat alternatives, says Epogee

16-Mar-2022 By Elaine Watson

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...

Plantish raises $12.5m seed funding round to scale novel plant-based, whole-cut salmon production technology

16-Mar-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

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.

DoorDash launches accelerator program for early-stage startups and local entrepreneurs

14-Mar-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Third-party meal delivery service DoorDash is debuting its DoorDash Accelerator for Local Goods, a program designed to support local packaged food brands owned by women, BIPOC, immigrant, and transgender entrepreneurs.

The Real Good Food Company ramps up production of frozen food portfolio with ambitions of becoming a $500m brand

11-Mar-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Better-for-you frozen foods brand The Real Good Food Company is on course to hit between $140m and $150m in net sales by the end of the year with a long-term goal of becoming a $500m brand, owing to a new production facility coming online this month and...

Sodium intake ranks as low-priority for most consumers despite known health risks, survey

08-Mar-2022 By Mary Ellen Shoup

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...

Finless Foods raises $34m to build cell-cultured seafood pilot plant, support national foodservice launch of plant-based tuna

08-Mar-2022 By Elaine Watson

Emeryville, CA-based Finless Foods has closed a $34m series B round* to fund pilot-scale production of cell-cultured bluefin tuna, and support the national foodservice launch of its first product: plant-based tuna.