As organic continues to go mainstream with broader reach outside of the natural channel where it began, it faces increased competition from other attributes and production methods as well as skepticism about the certification’s veracity and value, new...
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:...
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...
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.
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...
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...
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...
As higher prices due to inflation continue to squeeze consumers’ budgets, shoppers at Spouts Farmers Market are beginning to pull back on spending, opting for “slightly fewer units in the basket” – prompting the retailer to reconsider its in-store experience...
The IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) has revealed animal protein production is under significant and accelerating pressure from climate change – representing a significant material risk for investors. This is according to the FAIRR Initiative, an...
Tate & Lyle – a global ingredients company best known for sweeteners, fibers, and texturizing ingredients – has moved into the burgeoning plant-based protein arena with a deal to acquire Virginia-based chickpea protein and flour co Nutriati, six months...
Food & beverage class actions surged in 2021, driven in part by a tsunami of cases over heavy metals in baby food, but judges are wearying of cases that assume consumers have zero common sense, according to a review by law firm Perkins Coie.
Elanco Animal Health Incorporated has secured the exclusive US licensing rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize Royal DSM’s methane-reduction product Bovaer for beef and dairy cattle.
The ingredients supplier is investing €50m in the new facility to make protein concentrate, starch rich flour and hulls from faba beans – a crops that comes with ‘convincing sustainable credentials’, Beneo’s Christoph Boettger tells FoodNavigator.
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,...
As Earth Day month draws to a close, food and beverage manufacturers are celebrating efforts to reduce food waste, in their factories and in consumers’ homes, through increasingly creative and data-backed initiatives, including Hellmann’s ‘fridge night’...
As rising temperatures push American spinach farmers farther north, late blizzards threaten US corn and soy crops and a prolonged drought in the southern plains weakens wheat production and pushes up prices, it is clear that BlackRock CEO Larry Fink was...
Dutch food engineers at Vaess have developed an innovative biotech solution that can replace the controversial use of nitrites in meat products like bacon, while maintaining a stable pink appearance.
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.
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...
Motif FoodWorks has upped the ante in a high-stakes legal dispute with plant-based meat co Impossible Foods over meaty-tasting ‘heme’ ingredients by filing a petition with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to challenge the validity of a patent it argues...
Entrepreneurs at startups and emerging brands often innovate and build their businesses based on their intuition or anecdotal feedback from loved ones and early adopters, but as they scale so do their need for detailed data and analysis -- not just about...
While consumers may be searching for ways to reduce their sugar intake, products that provide a sense of sweetness are still in high-demand, positioning certain natural sweeteners for continued success, says SPINS.
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...
Despite skyrocketing inflation that reached a 40-plus year high of 8.5% for all goods year-over-year in March, and ongoing supply chain challenges that are driving up production costs and out-of-stocks, US consumers continue to spend what it takes to...
“Maligning plant-based meats and milks because of the processing they undergo is nutritionally unjustified and counterproductive to achieving the health and environmental goals of the World Health Organization,” claims one academic who has been studying...
Consumer spending remains strong – for now – despite historic inflation increases, but new data from the Census Bureau released Thursday suggests the gains in grocery last month may not be as significant as they appear and an overall slowdown could be...
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,...
ADM has made a $300m investment to expand existing production capabilities of its soy protein concentrate and open a new protein innovation center in Decatur, Illinois.
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...
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.
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...
Even if the conflict in Ukraine were to end tomorrow, the impact on the global food supply chain could last for months, if not years, say analysts at Mintec, while Rabobank predicts “national average farm prices in the US over the next decade will remain...
Beyond Meat has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by common stockholders alleging that top executives breached their fiduciary duties in their dealings with former co-packer Don Lee Farms. Company executives named in the complaint do not admit any wrongdoing,...
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...
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.
In the face of ‘unprecedented’ inflation and transportation troubles, Slim Jim and Birds Eye maker Conagra Brands is raising prices – again – but executives are confident that sales, market share and household penetration will remain strong thanks to...
Hemp, barley, chickpeas, and Pongamia (a.k.a. ‘vertical soy’) are four plant-based proteins to watch in the next decade, according to panelists at FoodNavigator-USA's recent ‘Plant-based protein in focus’ webinar, who predicted advances in crop breeding...
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.
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...
New chickpea varieties with 75% more protein could transform the legume from a niche to a mainstream player in the plant-based protein arena, says San Francisco-based startup NuCicer, which is also developing varieties with specific functional attributes...
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...
We are nowhere near on track to keep global warning below 2°C, was the stark conclusion of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. But hope was also on offer. FoodNavigator looks at how food system transformation can help mitigate...
The US labor market continues to grow at an unprecedented clip with a near full recovery from the devastating drop early in the pandemic and with more women and retirees returning to the workforce – but a slowdown may be on the horizon even as the consumer...
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.”
In FoodNavigator-USA's latest roundup of new product launches, we include an eclectic mix of new products, from shelf-stable 100% cheese sticks, to chocolate bars featuring 'animal-free' whey protein, to keto crackers made with almond flour,...
Colorado-based MycoTechnology – which is building a functional ingredients platform utilizing mycelium, the filament-like roots of mushrooms - has raised $85m in a series E* round (taking its total funding to $200m) that will help it expand its portfolio...
Recently named incoming Organic Trade Association CEO Tom Chapman inherits a strong organization that helped make organic mainstream and double industry sales during outgoing leader Laura Batcha’s tenure of nearly a decade, but which now must address...
