Antibiotic use for promoting growth of food producing animals plays a role in drug resistance and should be “phased out”, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Consumer perceptions of store brands are continuing to improve in the US as retailers move beyond cheap me-too products. But perceptions of quality still vary considerably across different categories, says a new survey.
60-second interview: Mark Clausen, VP sales, Quaker Maid Meats
BBQ season might be winding down, but Quaker Maid Meats - the firm behind the top-selling Steak-Umm brand - is on a mission to inject fresh excitement into some mature categories, its new VP of sales Mark Clausen tells Elaine Watson.
One in five Americans now grazes on snacks throughout the day instead of eating three square meals or even several ‘mini-meals’ a day, according to new research suggesting the line between meals and snacks has become increasingly blurred.
Cereals giant Post Holdings has made its fourth major acquisition since it was spun off from Ralcorp last year, splashing out $370m for private label pasta maker Dakota Growers Pasta Co.
ConAgra Foods has sold Lightlife - a manufacturer of frozen and refrigerated meat alternatives it acquired in summer 2000 - to private equity firm Brynwood Partners for an undisclosed sum.
US retail sales of non-GMO foods and beverages are projected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.9% in the next five years, and could represent 30% of the market with a value of $264bn in 2017, predicts Packaged Facts.
Although federal efforts have led to “modest improvements” in food quality and marketing practices in recent years, “commercial interests have consistently overridden the health concerns of children”, according to one former government health expert.
AquaBounty Technologies - which is hoping to become the first company to introduce a genetically engineered (GE) animal to the human food supply - has posted a net loss of $2.05m for the six months to June 30, 2013 - down from $2.4m in the same period...
It is not currently possible to make a package completely from plant-based materials, says Cascadian Farms, as it launches a bio-based cereal liner for its Cinnamon Crunch line.
Aside from people with celiac disease, which is estimated to affect less than 1% of the US population, why do so many other Americans buy gluten-free products, and will they carry on buying them, or are current growth rates unsustainable?
Big interview: Josh Tetrick, founder and CEO, Hampton Creek Foods
Egg replacers have been around for years, acknowledges the entrepreneur who has persuaded everyone from Bill Gates to the co-founder of PayPal to part with some serious cash to fund his plant-based egg alternatives. “But wait till you try ours.”
Is it too risky to label products that may contain ingredients from genetically engineered crops as ‘all-natural’? And will the FDA step in and decide this issue so consumer class action lawsuits over this issue stop clogging up the court system?
Natural colors expert Chr. Hansen has been exploring whether it is commercially viable to produce carmine - a natural red food color currently made from crushed cochineal insects - via a controlled fermentation process.
60-second interview, Kristen Mercure, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
The recent growth of the single serve coffee market has been nothing short of meteoric. But is 'fresh-brewed' soup a bridge too far, or could Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) and partner Campbell Soup have stumbled upon CPG gold?
On paper, it looks like a winner. Why not put Campbell soup in a K-Cup? It’s worked for coffee, tea and hot chocolate. And it beats donuts if you get the mid-afternoon munchies and don’t want to be consumed with guilt for the rest of the afternoon.
Are reasonable consumers being misled by companies using the term ‘evaporated cane juice’ (ECJ) to describe dried sugar cane syrup (aka sugar) on product labels? And should this issue be determined by the FDA or the courts?
The ‘exceptional momentum’ of Campbell’s Chunky soup range looks set to continue as the company launches three more ‘pub-inspired’ soups to coincide with the kick-off of the new NFL season.
Riding the wave of continued strong consumer demand for gluten-free food options, Canada’s gluten-free market reached $458.9 million in 2012, according to a recent report from Packaged Facts entitled 'Gluten-Free Foods in Canada'.
Food companies that only use certified sustainable palm oil have been accused of “certifying destruction”, according to a Greenpeace report released to coincide with the first European Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) summit in Berlin this week.
Jif peanut butter to Folgers coffee maker J M Smucker is on track to launch 100 new products this year and says its innovation success rate “exceeds industry norms”.
Greek yogurt manufacturer Chobani has asked grocery retailers to pull selected yogurt cups from shelves after quality concerns surfaced over certain cups experiencing swelling or bloating.
Hillshire Brands has entered the dried meat snacks category after striking a deal to buy California-based premium pork and beef jerky maker Golden Island Jerky for an undisclosed sum.
Vinegar (acetic acid) should be ‘purposefully’ integrated into more food matrices, say the researchers behind a new study which reports the potential blood sugar management potential of a vinegar beverage.
PepsiCo has been experimenting with ingredients from unpeeled heat-treated green bananas and plantains to serve as everything from a gluten substitute to a sugar replacer in products from oatmeal to smoothies, crackers, bars and cookies, a recent patent...
Consumer demand for hotter, spicier, foods has continued to increase on both sides of the Atlantic, says natural extracts specialist Kalsec, which has tied up with Mintel to develop ‘heat indexes’ measuring usage of peppers in retail and foodservice.
Hundreds of illnesses from Cyclospora in Texas do not show a connection to Taylor Farms’ salad mix, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
What have you heard lately about Michigan? That its biggest city (Detroit - once the wealthiest city in the world) recently filed for bankruptcy? Or that from December 2009 to March 2013, it was the #1 state in the nation for creating manufacturing jobs,...
Do college students eat like the rest of us? Broadly yes (washed down by a lot more energy drinks), but there are some notable differences, according to online ordering expert GrubHub, which says students are significantly less likely to place ‘healthier’...
While there’s been a lot of buzz around the FDA’s recent approval of spirulina extract as a natural blue food color for candy and gum, WILD Flavors says its fruit-juice-derived blue color - which has been on the US market since 2009 - has broader applications...
Unilever has announced plans to pump $152.5m into its New Century margarine and spreads manufacturing plant in Gardner, Kansas, increasing its size by 50% to 447,929 square feet and creating 100 new jobs.
You can’t paint a horse like a cow and expect people not to notice – but grind their meat into patties and it may be a different story. So what makes an ingredient vulnerable to food fraud?
‘Eco-eating’, which encompasses everything from edible packaging trends to sustainable seafood, is moving from natural stores and fancy restaurants to the mainstream of food culture, according to a new report.
Early stage algae company Heliae has taken a quiet approach to business development. While the Arizona-based company is close to coming to market with a range of nutraceutical ingredients, not much has been said about them in the marketplace or the press,...
It’s been a good week for JM Smucker: The company just announced the ‘small but important’ acquisition of Enray Inc., reported its ‘strongest first quarter earnings ever’, and continued to see stellar growth for the Uncrustables brand.
With more than half of consumers in developed countries over the age of 14 now classified as overweight or obese, and obesity rates in China and India expected to double by 2020, global interest in weight management products “will likely remain high for...
The American Heart Association (AHA) has fraudulently certified as ‘heart healthy’ scores of products from Campbell Soup that contain far more sodium than the FDA - and the AHA itself - recommends for people on a heart-healthy diet, alleges a lawsuit.
Sales of organic products rose 13% to $11.2bn in the year to July 6 in the US retail market, with the highest growth found in shelf-stable meats, poultry and seafood (+61%); followed by baby food (+34%); and shelf-stable functional beverages (+33%); according...
While just 7% of Americans identify themselves as vegetarian, more than a third of shoppers (36%) buy meat alternatives, suggesting the category is appealing to a far broader demographic, according to a consumer survey conducted by Mintel.
Unilever has announced plans to sell its Wish-Bone and Western dressings brands to Pinnacle Foods in a $580m deal as it continues to shed non-core brands.
With state fair season in full swing and deep-fried Oreos on the menu, online food ordering service GrubHub embarked on a study of ‘extreme foods’ to determine who is ordering jumbo corn dogs and Big Gulps (spoiler alert - it’s men…)
Is your brand getting some decent bang for the bucks you spend on paid-for (‘promoted’) tweets? The answer, according to a new trial with 35 big names in consumer packaged goods (CPG) including Mondelez, is YES.
Booming consumer desire for GMO-free products has been the driving force behind Barbara’s efforts towards non-GMO certification, says its vice president of marketing.
Many US supermarkets are stuck in a timewarp, and their market share will continue to decline unless they makes radical strategic changes, according to a provocative new report from Hartman Strategy.
A Minnesota-based firm making waves with anthocyanin-packed purple-corn ingredients says it has had significant interest from the snack food market, but is also talking to microbrewers, confectioners, and firms manufacturing everything from sourdough...
Kellogg has confirmed there will be further job cuts at its cereals factory in Memphis in the coming weeks as part of a round of layoffs first announced in April, but says the plant as a whole has a viable future.
The media frenzy surrounding AquaBounty’s GE salmon and the accompanying ‘Frankenfish’ headlines obscure the fact that it is "just a fast-growing fish”, according to one animal biotechnology specialist.
