After a four-year delay, FDA has at last released a final version of its guidance on liquid dietary supplements. The document doesn’t much change the line of thinking offered in the draft version but does offer more detail and clarification and in general...
It might have enraged those in favor of mandatory GMO labeling, but a leaked document outlining the Grocery Manufacturers Association’s (GMA’s) ideas for a federally regulated 'voluntary' approach to this issue has been praised by one ex-FDA...
A survey of American, British and French consumers by Truvia Natural Sweetener found that French consumers claim to eat the healthiest, while American and British consumers are more likely to reward themselves with food and drink. But all three consumer...
Ben & Jerry’s - which voluntarily agreed to stop using the term ‘all-natural’ on its ice cream three years ago - has scored a legal victory in a case filed just before it axed the emotive phrase from its packaging.
For the first time, the United States Pharmacopoeia is proposing a monograph on a probiotic organism as a food ingredient in the latest series of draft monographs put forward for inclusion in the Food Chemicals Codex.
Kraft Foods has vigorously defended the way it labels its Crystal Light lemonade and iced tea mixes after receiving a letter from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) threatening legal action if it does not stop promoting them as ‘natural’.
AlixPartners survey highlights the potential of health category 'super' consumers
Despite that they comprise just 26% of the population, Americans who spend more than 40% of their food and beverage budgets on health and wellness-related products account for 61% of total spending for the sector, or more than $161 billion annually, according...
As Coke and Pepsi watch their diet soda sales stagnate, the arrows on the sales growth chart on Zevia CEO Paddy Spence’s wall are going in the opposite direction, with growth of his zero-calorie sodas up in the triple digits.
The FDA has written to three federal judges handling civil cases vs food manufacturers over natural claims to “respectfully decline” their request to come to an administrative determination of whether GMOs belong in ‘all-natural’ foods.
One of the most emotive - and politically-charged - claims in food labeling, ‘all-natural’ is also one of the most hotly disputed from a legal perspective.
Anti-GMO activists have reacted with fury to leaked proposals by the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) to develop federal rules governing GMO labeling that would pre-empt state-driven initiatives.
The struggle over GMO labeling will push the growth of certified organic products in the US in 2014, according to market research firm Organic Monitor. And at least one major discount grocery retailer is looking to cash in with the launch of a new organic...
The Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents some of the largest food and beverage manufacturers, is seeking approval to label foods containing GMO ingredients “natural”, according to a Dec. 5 letter the GMA sent to the US Food and Drug Administration.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest defended the news media’s "First Amendment rights" in a statement issued Wednesday urging a circuit judge to dismiss the defamation lawsuit Beef Products Inc. filed against ABC News over its coverage...
Industry attempts to self-regulate the advertising of food and drinks on children's television programs are ‘unsuccessful’ and ‘ineffective’, says a new study from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The debate rages on over whether government should have a say in what consumers eat and drink, as the high-profile proposed cap on soda sizes brought the issue into the limelight in 2013. For the trade associations representing the beverage and snack...
What will 2014 bring on the regulatory front for the food and beverage industry? From the stagnant farm bill to the ongoing debate on biotech to consumer confusion on the various forms of sweeteners, trade associations representing the sugar, HFCS and...
NutraClick, a Boston, MA-based nutritional products company, has found success building its business model on a targeted online advertising strategy. The company was so successful, in fact, that a major chain came to them to request they place their products...
The FoodNavigator-USA business leaders round table debate
What are the hottest trends in food and beverage? And are the big bucks really in blue-sky innovation, or have the most successful firms played with an existing concept and just done a better job at executing, marketing and selling it?
Post Holdings continues its aggressive push into the private label and active nutrition categories with the acquisition of Gold Boy Foods Ltd. and Dymatize Enterprises.
What might give the food and beverage industry's regulatory affairs teams sleepless nights in 2014? From more evaporated cane juice lawsuits to proposed changes to the Nutrition Facts panel, stay up to date with this FoodNavigator-USA gallery…
Amid mounting false advertising lawsuits and increased pressure from consumer advocacy groups, the future of the historically vague marketing term "natural" is in question.
As the FDA prepares to conduct consumer research into whole grain labeling statements before it issues finalized guidance for industry, the debate over precisely what should constitute a ‘whole grain’, as well as how the amount of whole grain should be...
More than a third of new products launched in the US yogurt market in the year to September 2013 featured protein claims, according to new data from Innova Market Insights.
Preservatives have a poor reputation among consumers – but that doesn’t mean that natural options are completely off the menu, says Nicole Patterson-Lett, principal analyst at Leatherhead Food Research.
A proposed bill introduced last week by Sens. Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Angus King (I-ME) is calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to amend the calorie disclosure requirements enacted under the Affordable Care Act to exclude grocery stores and...
Just a third (36.4%) of US adults read calorie information when it is available at fast-food and chain restaurants, but 95.4% of those that do read it use this information at least sometimes when making their food choices, according to a new study.
AquaBounty Technologies - which is hoping to become the first company to introduce a genetically engineered (GE) animal to the human food supply - is another step closer after Environment Canada concluded the salmon are not harmful to the environment...
Crisco oil maker JM Smucker says the FDA’s proposal to look again at the GRAS status of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) in a bid to eradicate artificial trans fats will not materially impact its business.
A new study showing a correlation between high dietary phosphorus intakes and increased all-cause mortality has reignited the debate over the extensive use of phosphorus additives in packaged foods.
HSBC has said that despite challenges market tides deciding the sustainability of the palm oil industry are changing - although an environmental group has published a damning report of the bank’s investment practices.
UPDATED -The campaign urging voters to say ‘YES’ to Washington State’s GMO labeling initiative 522 has acknowledged that it will not pass, but said the latest results show the tally was so close that had more young ‘progressive’ residents turned out to...
Long the victim of an outdated image problem—canned beef and barley soup anyone?—barley has the nutritional profile, cost and versatility that should catapult into the realm of super grains like quinoa and kamut. And yet, barley often ends up buried on...
Hain Celestial has been targeted in a first-if-its-kind putative class action lawsuit alleging that it falsely advertised Celestial Seasoning teas as 100% natural when they in fact contain “potentially dangerous” levels of pesticides, herbicides, insecticides,...
Coca-Cola has been targeted in another proposed class action lawsuit alleging that it misrepresents Coke as being free from added preservatives and artificial flavors, despite containing phosphoric acid, an 'artificial flavoring' and 'chemical...
While many grocery brands are struggling to generate any growth right now, top gluten-free brands Udi's and Glutino notched up combined net sales growth of 53% in the latest quarter, bosses at brand owner Boulder Brands have revealed.
Demonization of ingredients and a lack of consumer understanding has fueled clean label, but it remains niche among a small group of consumers, DuPont Nutrition & Health says.
With early results from Washington State’s ballot on GMO labeling (I-522) suggesting voters may narrowly reject it (click here) legal experts predict that while this particular battle may be lost, the war is far from over.
Initial returns indicate that voters in Washington State have given the thumbs down to GMO labeling proposal I-522, in similar proportions to the vote on California's GMO labeling proposal Prop 37.
Kraft Foods will pull the artificial yellow coloring from five of its character-based shapes macaroni and cheese product lines starting in January 2014.
Whether a food product contains genetically modified organisms, and whether the disclosure of that information should be mandatory on the label has dominated public discourse in recent years. But that focus may have obscured a more basic concern about...
Special edition: Tackling diabetes. Formulating for healthy blood sugar
Given that one in three American adults is expected to develop type 2 diabetes by 2050, and poor diet and lack of exercise may be largely to blame, what can food and beverage manufacturers do to tackle this epidemic?
The number of consumer fraud class actions brought in federal court against food and beverage companies skyrocketed from 19 cases in 2008 to more than 100 in 2012, according to the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR)*.
From the risks and rewards of energy drinks to what Americans eat for breakfast, strategies to tackle mindless eating and the next generation of gluten-free foods, Houston was the place to be this week as 8,000+ nutrition professionals gathered for the...
Food policy must meet the needs of the rapidly growing global population, as well as urban elites in developed nations with “organic window boxes” promoting an ‘Old McDonald fantasy’, claimed one high-profile speaker at the Academy of Nutrition &...
Despite recent renewed efforts, the food industry does not appear to be winning hearts and minds when it comes to persuading the public of the merits of GM crops, or why mandatory labeling of ingredients derived from them would be a bad idea.
UPDATED: The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) says it will file paperwork with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) establishing a political committee and will disclose the source of all of its contributions to the ‘NO’ campaign...
