MeliBio, a startup developing honey without bees, has unveiled its first products at a tasting in Berkeley, California, as it gears up for a soft launch supplying food service and CPG companies with its animal-free/vegan honey as a branded ingredient...
When I began studying organic food consumption in the early 2000s, I remember one of the first problems I encountered was a misperception among prominent public firm executives.
From surging ocean freight costs to sky high corn prices and general supply chain disruptions, the last 12-18 months have been a roller coaster ride, says Nate Yates, VP Global Sugar Reduction Platform at Ingredion. But one thing has remained remarkably...
The Urgent Company – best known for Brave Robot ‘animal-free’ ice cream– is moving into new territory with the launch of Modern Kitchen lactose-free cream cheese, its second brand featuring Perfect Day’s animal-free dairy proteins (made with microbes,...
Seven months after releasing a report alleging “dangerous” levels of heavy metals in top baby food brands, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi's subcommittee on economic and consumer policy has released a follow-up report alleging that the industry “consistently...
Beyond Meat is rolling out its Beyond Breakfast Sausage Links in Canadian grocery stores nationwide marking the plant-based brand's entry into the Canadian retail breakfast category.
From 'whole cuts' of seafood from fungi, to plant-based lamb, to highly functional proteins from brewers' spent grains, here's a quick snapshot of some of the alternative protein startups participating in a virtual pitch slam at last...
Fresh food may make most consumers feel happier and capture the lion’s share of retail sales – for now – but rising prices, concerns about perishability and shifting preference are pushing more shoppers to the frozen aisle, suggests new research by Deloitte.
Berkeley-based startup Perfect Day – which makes dairy proteins using microbes instead of cows – has made its first move into the foodservice arena via a partnership with Villa Dolce to incorporate ‘animal-free’ whey into two new categories: gelato and...
New Age Meats has raised $25m in series A round* led by Hanwha Solutions of South Korea that will allow it to begin manufacturing sausage products combining cell-cultured and plant-based meat at a 20,000-square-foot pilot facility in Alameda, California,...
Plant based meat brand Tofurky has teamed up with San Diego-based Triton Algae Innovations to commercialize new ‘algae-based meat innovations’ featuring Triton’s protein-rich Non-GMO ‘essential red' algae for retail launch in Q1, 2022.
While many parents say that their family has eaten more healthily since the start of the pandemic, one in five parents reports relying more heavily on fast food as a quick fix family meal option, according to the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott...
Startup Aqua Cultured Foods is carving out novel territory in the nascent alternative seafood space with a Non-GMO fermentation-based production platform capable of delivering high-protein, nutrient-rich ‘whole cuts’ of fungi-based seafood, with the first...
Venture capital firm Lever VC has completed final close of Lever VC Fund I, with $80m raised to back early stage plant-based and cell-cultured meat and dairy companies around the world.
A keen empathy for consumers, a deep commitment to innovation and an open-door approach to collaboration helped the founder of Nissin Foods not only capture the hearts of billions of people when he invented instant noodles, but also helped build and sustain...
Sophie’s Kitchen has secured a $5.6m investment led by venture capital firm Billy Goat Brands to help it expand its plant-based seafood empire, which now extends into multiple categories including ‘toona,’ crab cakes, fish filets, smoked salmon, and shrimp....
Motif FoodWorks has submitted a GRAS notification for myoglobin, a heme-binding protein found in the muscle tissue of cows that Motif is expressing in a genetically engineered yeast strain. The protein – which the Boston-based firm reckons could be a...
For the co-founders of the better-for-you Asian American food startup immi, the most exciting part of closing their seed fundraise wasn’t the $3.8m that will help them relaunch an improved version of their low-carb, high-protein, plant-based instant ramen...
Interested in meat, dairy, and seafood alternatives? Is all the hype - and the wads of cash - truly justified? Are some formulations (think plant-based cheese and yogurt) really ready for prime time? Are the purchase drivers for plant-based seafood the...
Food tech company ENOUGH broke ground on what it says will be the ‘world’s largest’ fermented protein facility today (16 September). When fully operational the site will have the capacity to produce 50,000 tonnes of mycoprotein ingredient ABUNDA per annum.
A new platform for whole-cut texturization to produce plant-based meat alternatives and cell-based hybrids has been developed by Israeli firm Alfred’s FoodTech, Ltd.
In FoodNavigator-USA's latest roundup of new product launches, we include an eclectic mix of new products, from Chobani's first foray into peanut butter, to Hershey's new 'Oat Made' bars, an interesting new twist on tofu, and...
With soup sales beginning to cool closer to pre-pandemic levels in the last quarter of fiscal 2021, Campbell Soup Co. is heating up the category, literally and figuratively, with innovations across its Pacific, Well Yes! and namesake soup brands to maintain...
Are investors throwing silly money at so-called 'alternative' proteins right now, or is it just more efficient and sustainable to grow protein in bioreactors vs crops or animals?
Outer Aisle Gourmet – which makes sandwich thins, pizza crusts, and wraps using fresh cauliflower as the #1 ingredient – is gearing up to open its third manufacturing facility to meet growing demand for its grain-free, low-carb products.
When it comes to packaging, is it always clear which is the most environmentally-friendly choice? Mixed material packaging combining high levels of paperboard, for example, is often touted as a greener choice than plastic, but if most of it ends up in...
Retailers struggling with labor shortages are offering higher pay and better benefits to fill vacancies – but according to one industry player they also should embrace automation to ease the burden on and maximize the efficiency of existing staff to maintain...
We all know plant-based foods increase our wind. But with the take up of this kind of diet seen as one of the best ways for individuals to combat climate change, could these gasses potentially bode badly for the atmosphere?
Cargill has opened a $150m pectin production facility in Bebedouro, Brazil, to meet growing global demand for the label-friendly texturizing ingredient.
While investors and journalists are pretty excited about a new wave of startups growing food in fermentation tanks, it’s easy to forget that we’ve been eating a filamentous fungus grown in big metal vats (a.k.a. ‘mycoprotein’) since the 1980s, says the...
Like many CPG players, Kraft Heinz has leaned heavily on pricing to offset inflationary pressures, and is willing to do so again, but it is not the only weapon in the company’s arsenal to protect its margins and balance consumers’ needs, executives said...
By Daniel Fabricant, PhD, Natural Products Association
NPA president and CEO Daniel Fabricant, PhD, argues that FDA does not need new authorities to regulate the CBD market and that determining a safe daily intake level for the substance should be an integral part of that process.
Seven months after releasing a report alleging “dangerous” levels of heavy metals in top baby food brands, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi tells FoodNavigator-USA that the report – criticized by some commentators as alarmist - provided a necessary jolt...
The FDA has approved an aqueous extract of the blue petals of butterfly pea flower (Clitoria ternatea) – a plant native to Southeast Asia – as a color additive exempt from certification following a petition from Sensient Technologies, which described...
Impossible Foods will start rolling out plant-based Impossible Chicken nuggets to the frozen aisle at grocery chains including Walmart, Safeway and Kroger later this month, with a view to reaching 10,000 stores by the year end, while restaurants nationwide...
The Gardein plant-based meat brand notched up retail sales of $170m in measured channels* in the year to July 25, up 33.5% versus two years ago, says brand owner Conagra Brands, which says it's particularly encouraged by the 'growth that is...
Ongoing labor challenges are a double-edged sword for Hormel Foods Corporation, which struggled to fully meet consumer demand in its third quarter due to staffing shortages, but which also saw its food service business rebound significantly thanks to...
Provectus Algae – an Australian startup developing an automated growing platform it claims can unlock algae’s potential as a source of high-value ingredients – is building a large-scale manufacturing facility in Noosaville, Australia, that will start...
Kellogg is bracing for at least another six to nine months of volatility as it continues to grapple with supply chain constraints, inflation and labor shortages, but it also is optimistic about upcoming innovations and opportunities embedded in new consumer...
Ari Raz - who helped introduce Americans to fresh baby food via the Once Upon a Farm brand – has taken the helm at The Coconut Cult, another California-based startup attempting to carve out a new category in grocery.
While many retailers and CPG manufacturers are implementing price increases to their product assortments, online fresh food retailer FreshDirect said it will be rolling out price savings to consumers on a wide variety of its products.
Beyond Meat has won the latest round in its bitter four-year legal dispute* with former co-manufacturer Don Lee Farms triggered by the early termination of an exclusive five-year supply agreement between the two parties. But the case is far from over,...
B&G Foods is selling its Portland, Maine, manufacturing facility to the Institute for Digital Engineering and Life Sciences to cut costs and boost efficiencies at a time when the overall food and beverage industry is struggling with inflation and...
Messaging around dairy alternatives often focuses on health, sustainability, animal welfare, or food allergy/intolerance, which motivates shoppers that want to feel good about what they put in their baskets and their bodies. But ‘plant curious’ consumers...
Whether it is in-person, online or a hybrid of both, children across the country are returning to school – bringing relief to some caregivers and triggering anxiety in others, but either way almost everyone is headed to the store for classroom essentials,...
Thanks to blockchain and other advances in traceability, it’s tempting to think that in the event of a problem (foodborne illness, adulteration, contamination, child labor question marks), we can trace everything in the food supply chain back to its source...
Food prices across categories are predicted to rise low- to mid-single digits this year and again next year – adding on to already higher prices in 2020 fueled in part by the pandemic and raising questions about how consumers will react in the long term,...
