Sweeteners (intense, bulk, polyols)

DSM, Cargill open commercial scale facility to produce stevia sweeteners via fermentation: ‘This approach is infinitely scalable’

14-Nov-2019 By Elaine Watson

Avansya - a joint venture between Cargill and DSM - has opened the first commercial-scale facility in the US producing stevia sweeteners via microbial fermentation.

CSPI report: We're not making progress on junk food advertising to kids

08-Nov-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Junk food advertising on kids’ television channels has not decreased since 2012 despite uniform nutrition criteria introduced by the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) in 2013, according to CSPI’s analysis of 72 hours of kids...

Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: Chobani Incubator’s Veteran Cohort pushes boundaries of entrepreneurial ecosystem

08-Nov-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

As an influential early-adopter of the incubator model that has spread throughout the CPG food and beverage industry in recent years, Chobani continues to push the boundaries of the entrepreneurial ecosystem by fine-tuning its program and recruitment...

WATCH TeaSquares: We’re building out a new subcategory in snacking

08-Nov-2019 By Elaine Watson

The world probably doesn’t need another protein bar, but there is white space in the snacks category for lighter snacks that provide ‘mental fuel’ at key moments in the day, claims Chicago-based TeaSquares.

Siggi’s seeks to stay ahead of competition with new products & partnerships with dietitians

07-Nov-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

In the next few weeks, Icelandic-style yogurt maker siggi’s will begin rolling out a suite of new products that the company’s CEO Carlos Altschul described as “the most exciting since the launch of the brand” 15 years ago.

General Mills seizes Nutrition Facts Label update as an opportunity to ‘optimize’ cereal fortification

05-Nov-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

While many manufacturers continue to grouse about updating their Nutrition Facts Panels to comply with Nutrition Label Reform, General Mills not only has rolled out the changes for its “Big G Cereals” ahead of the upcoming deadline, it also took the opportunity...

Amyris heads into 2020 in growth mode scaling production of sugarcane-based purecane Reb M sweetener

04-Nov-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Amyris is gearing up to launch a tabletop sweetener and culinary baking mixes featuring purecane (Reb M), a steviol glycoside that's found naturally in the stevia leaf, but which Amyris says can be produced more efficiently from cane sugar by a modified...

Do non nutritive sweeteners have a place in children's diets? American Academy of Pediatrics and Calorie Control Council weigh in

28-Oct-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

As non nutritive sweeteners are consumed by at least one in four children, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued a policy statement calling for clear labeling and future research into how they affect childrens' health and taste preferences....

Eight culinary trends to watch, from carob and copaiba to the ‘climatarian’ diet

28-Oct-2019 By Elaine Watson

From a rise in interest in essential oil copaiba, which is claimed to have similar benefits to CBD (although it lacks clinical data to prove it), to a resurgence of enthusiasm for carob, food trend watcher Liz Moskow has identified eight culinary trends...

LODAAT Pharma enters sugar alternatives market with molasses-like sweetener

25-Oct-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

LODAAT Pharma, which manufactures a range of pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and botanical ingredients, has launched JAGEVIA, a lower-glycemic alternative to cane sugar made from the sap of the fruit of the Palmyra palm tree.

Kellogg agrees to settle sugary cereal class action with $20m fund

24-Oct-2019 By Elaine Watson

Kellogg has agreed to allocate $20m to a fund to settle a class action lawsuit alleging it falsely advertises some cereals as healthy and nutritious when they are also high in sugar, highlighting the risks facing manufacturers as the Plaintiff’s Bar homes...

Study urges clearer labeling and packaging in kids' drinks as sweetened drinks make up 62% of total category sales

23-Oct-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Drinks containing added sugars including fruit drinks and flavored waters, account for 62% of total kids’ drink sales ($2.2bn) in 2018, according to a new report from the Rudd Center Food Policy & Obesity at the University of Connecticut.

Cargill launches ingredient it claims could herald a breakthrough in the stevia segment at SSW

21-Oct-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Cargill is launching ClearFlo, a botanical extract ingredient, which it claims delivers a taste-enhancing breakthrough in the stevia space.

Tips from Packaged Facts to boost cereal sales from reformulating to repositioning it beyond breakfast

18-Oct-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Americans may be eating less cereal now than in years past, but that doesn’t mean manufacturers in the category should give up on the US, which remains the largest consumer of cereal per capita globally, according to a new report from Packaged Facts.

HB Natural Ingredients' Vitosa stevia sweetener gains FDA GRAS 'No Objection' status

09-Oct-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

HB Natural Ingredients has received a "Letter of No Objection" for its stevia sweetener portfolio, Vitosa, confirming that the FDA has "no questions" regarding the self-affirmed GRAS status of Vitosa.

VMG Partners acquires popchips to anchor new branded snacking platform

09-Oct-2019 By Elaine Watson

Private equity firm VMG Partners is betting big on the snacks category with the formation of a new division – Velocity Snack Brands (VSB) – set up to buy, incubate and grow snack brands, beginning with the acquisition of the popchips* brand from majority...

Peet's launches an elevated version of the RTD 'Frappuccino': 'We've been eyeing this segment for a while'

08-Oct-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

As a specialty, responsibly-sourced national coffee brand, Peet's is launching four blended, shelf-stable RTD coffee products intended for unabashed indulgence, said Peet's senior director of marketing & innovation, Gretchen Koch.

Hershey deal will accelerate distribution, take ONE Brands into new categories, says CEO

03-Oct-2019 By Elaine Watson

Joining forces with Hershey will help protein bar maker ONE Brands reach new audiences in club, foodservice and international markets; help support moves into new product categories; and crank up marketing; says ONE Brands president and CEO Peter Burns.

Embracing the weekend warrior: Top 10 highlights from our Sports & Fitness webinar

30-Sep-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

The sports and fitness consumer has expanded beyond hard-core body builders and elite athletes to a more general profile of someone looking to transition to a more active lifestyle and eat healthier, noted panelists from last week's Sports &...

Soup-to-Nuts Podcast: 6 trends spotted at Expo East from cauliflower & hemp to ‘going digital’

27-Sep-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Hemp and CBD continued to reign as one of the top food and beverage trends at Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore last week, just as they did at the event’s counterpart Expo West last March – but also just like at West they were far from the only...

Herbalife Nutrition: 'We’ve gotten to the point where we’ve demonized carbohydrates without adequate education'

26-Sep-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

You don’t need to be an elite athlete to benefit from the basic principles of sports nutrition, says Dr Dana Ryan, Herbalife Nutrition’s director of sports performance and education.

Startup Flightfūd launches beverage mix to alleviate physical stress of flying

25-Sep-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Modern airplanes can take people across the world in a matter of hours, rather than the days, weeks or even months once required, but flying also can take a toll on travelers’ health – a side effect that the co-founder of startup Flightfūd hopes to offset...

Theo Chocolate rebrands to highlight dedication to Fair Trade, show organic always means non-GMO

24-Sep-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Subtle changes to Theo Chocolate’s packaging that debuted at Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore earlier this month aim to better communicate the bean-to-bar brand’s commitment to fair trade and organic ingredients as well as help it standout in an...

Medical and nutritional organizations weigh in on what children should drink in first five years

18-Sep-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Children under the age of 5 years should skip flavored-, toddler- and plant-based milks as well as caffeinated beverages, and instead stick to breast milk, infant formula, water and plain milk depending on their age, according to a joint recommendation...

Atlas Bar cuts through the clutter of the protein bar category, readies for launch into brick-and-mortar

16-Sep-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Building off its success as a direct-to-consumer business, emerging brand Atlas Bar will soon enter brick-and-mortar retailers nationwide, carving out a space in the competitive protein bar category with its low-carb, keto-friendly bars.

Expo East trendspotting: From all things keto and jackfruit to new uses for eggs, bison & more

13-Sep-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

More than 29,000 members of the natural and organic food and beverage industry descended on Baltimore last week to showcase and scout products at the forefront of the health and wellness trend at Natural Products Expo East. Among the products exhibited...

Ripple Foods launches ‘superfood’ milks, relaunches yogurts (‘we messed up’), explores new low-cost plant protein sources

13-Sep-2019 By Elaine Watson

Ripple Foods has debuted a new, improved line of creamy plant-based yogurt alternatives (following an abortive launch of a Greek-style product last year); unveiled a new line of ‘superfood’ plant milks infused with matcha, turmeric and acai; and built...

Keto-friendly cereal Magic Spoon raises $5.5m in seed funding

12-Sep-2019 By Elaine Watson

Direct to consumer cereal brand Magic Spoon has raised $5.5m in a seed funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners as it seeks to take its keto-friendly wares to a wider audience.

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Sports and fitness webinar: From weekend warriors to hardcore athletes, how has the sports and fitness market evolved?

30-Aug-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Discover how consumers are approaching the sports & fitness category and where the market is headed next by tuning into our FREE-TO-ATTEND, LIVE online webinar on Sept. 25, 2019.

KBI enlists consultant to review proposed kombucha standard of identity

27-Aug-2019 By Elaine Watson

Kombucha Brewers International (KBI), has contracted with EAS Consulting Group independent consultant April Kates to review a proposed standard of identity for kombucha designed to help preserve the integrity of the category as it grows.

FOOD FOR KIDS: What matters to Mom: Revelations about mealtime

22-Aug-2019 By Elaine Watson

What motivates Moms as they shop for food for their kids? What are they looking for on labels? Are they looking for foods containing certain key nutrients?

Simply Good Foods buys Quest Nutrition for $1bn to create low-carb snacking powerhouse with Atkins

22-Aug-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

With the $1bn cash acquisition of the fast-growing, protein-focused brand Quest Nutrition, Simply Good Foods Company adds muscle to its already strong portfolio of healthy lifestyle brands, which includes the complementary low-carb brand Atkins Nutritionals....

PureCircle launches branded line of stevia-sweetened ice cream, tapping into light ice cream trend

20-Aug-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Global stevia supplier PureCircle has launched a branded gourmet ice cream line sweetened with its next generation stevia sweeteners, which will initially be sold from food trucks throughout Chicago.

Keto-friendly cereal Catalina Crunch generating almost a million in direct to consumer revenues a month, a year after launch

19-Aug-2019 By Elaine Watson

If super low carb, zero-sugar, keto-friendly cereal sounds like a super niche opportunity, think again, says Catalina Crunch founder and CEO Krishna Kaliannan, who is already generating “close to a million in monthly sales” via his website just a year...

Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: Health conscious frozen desserts breathe new life into a stagnant category

16-Aug-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

As the dog days of summer drag on, people nationwide are reaching for frozen desserts to help stay cool, but unlike in the past when the promise of providing a moment’s respite from the heat in the form of a sweet treat was enough to land a product in...

General Mills prevails in false ad lawsuit over sugar content in cereals… after three-year battle

14-Aug-2019 By Elaine Watson

General Mills has finally prevailed in a false advertising lawsuit* over sugar levels in its cereals after three years of legal wrangling, with the judge concluding that the plaintiffs "cannot plausibly claim to be misled."

Chocs away! Sir Kensington’s cofounder Mark Ramadan joins Hu Products as CEO

09-Aug-2019 By Elaine Watson

Sir Kensington’s co-founder Mark Ramadan is joining upmarket vegan chocolate maker Hu Products (pronounced ‘hue’ as in ‘human’) as CEO following the departure of Rita Hudetz, who left a week ago to pursue other opportunities.

Zeek kids’ protein bar founder: 'The first thing moms look for on the label is sugar'

08-Aug-2019 By Elaine Watson

The inspiration for Zeek – a line of protein bars for children - was less of a Eureka moment than a dawning realization that for sporty kids, pre-game options were basically granola bars “that were not much better than candy,” or adult-oriented nutrition...

The Bubbies mochi brand is on fire, says CEO: ‘This year our business will be 4x larger than when we acquired the company two years ago’

08-Aug-2019 By Elaine Watson

If growth in the frozen novelties category has not set the world on fire in recent years, one shiny bright spot in the market has been mochi: portable ice cream bites encased in chewy sweet rice dough that are lighting up retailers’ freezer cabinets,...

WATCH... Amyris: 'Our Reb M has the highest purity on the market today, and the best taste profile'

07-Aug-2019 By Elaine Watson

Synthetic biology specialist Amyris says it remains confident it can capture 30% of the global stevia sweeteners market by 2022 with purecane, a Reb M sweetener produced from cane sugar by a modified yeast strain, that it claims gives it a competitive...

60-second interview: NSF International updates Non-GMO certification program

05-Aug-2019 By Elaine Watson

NSF International has just updated its Non-GMO certification scheme and logo. FoodNavigator-USA (FNU) caught up with Sarah Krol (SK), global managing director of food safety product certification to find out what this means... and whether firms are ready...

Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: What should the 2020 dietary guidelines for children under 2 years include?

02-Aug-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

The US Dietary Guidelines, which are updated every five years, were created more than 40 years ago as a way to help all Americans eat healthier based on current scientific data, but since its inception a large and vulnerable group has been left out –...

Better-for-you brands need to coax consumers to make healthier choices via incremental changes, says Honest Tea co-founder

01-Aug-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Better-for-you brands and policy makers who want to redirect mainstream Americans to healthier food and beverage choices likely will be more successful if they meet the consumer first where they are and then guide them through change incrementally, according...

The Cereal School disrupts category with a healthier spin on childhood favorites

23-Jul-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

The Cereal School sugar-free cereals have taken off in online sales (selling out of stock multiple times since launching in November last year). Now the brand is hitting its stride ready to take on the wave of new customers, says co-founder Dylan Kaplan.

Bobo’s raises $5.5m to expand oat bar empire, predicts 40% growth in 2019

22-Jul-2019 By Elaine Watson

The bar category is awash with increasingly sophisticated functional offerings engineered to deliver a fixed amount of protein, net carbs, or the latest on-trend ingredient, says the CEO of Bobo’s, which makes oat bars he readily admits “anyone could...

‘Sales of aspartame should be suspended’: EFSA accused of bias in safety assessment

22-Jul-2019 By Katy Askew

EFSA’s decision-making process may have been biased by ‘conflicts of interest’ and the distribution and sale of aspartame in the EU should be suspended, says the author of a new research dossier calling the safety of the sweetener into question.

Initial sales of low-carb cereal Magic Spoon have exceeded expectations, say founders

12-Jul-2019 By Elaine Watson

Sales of new keto-friendly cereal Magic Spoon have exceeded expectations, say founders Gabi Lewis and Greg Sewitz, who claim to have sold “far more than we projected even in our most aggressive projections,” in the first three months.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Malt Products Corp. sees surge of demand for malt extract sweetener in beverage category

09-Jul-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Malt Products Corporation (MPC), manufacturer of malted barley extract, is seeing an uptick in beverage-related inquiries for malt extract sweeteners driven by increased consumer demand for functional beverages, specifically sports recovery and fermented...

Oatmilk brands to update Nutrition Facts panels in light of FDA guidance on added sugar labeling

09-Jul-2019 By Elaine Watson

Oatly and some other oatmilk brands have confirmed that they will be changing the way they list sugars on their Nutrition Facts panels following conversations with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Hear from Chobani, Freeli Foods, Mondelez, Kraft Heinz, Ocean Spray, SPINS, Euromonitor, Raised Real, Mattson, AccelFoods, Brainiac Kids, Yummy Spoonfils, Serenity Kids, Peekaboo, Fresh Bellies, KRa, Beansprouts Cafe, The Clean Label Project

How is the plant-based trend impacting the kids’ food market? New topics, speakers, announced at the 2019 FoodNavigator-USA FOOD FOR KIDS summit

05-Jul-2019 By Elaine Watson

How is the plant-based trend impacting the kids’ food market? When and how are children’s flavor preferences developed (and can we really train kids to love broccoli)? And what’s the sweet spot for sugar levels in beverages that kids enjoy and parents...