When PepsiCo replaced the word ‘Simply Natural’ with ‘Simply’ on some Frito-Lay lines recently, some commentators wondered if this signaled the beginning of the end of the industry’s love affair with all-natural claims. However, new data suggests otherwise.
While the number of lawsuits filed against food and beverage manufacturers over ‘all-natural’ claims appeared to peak in 2012 and drop off again in 2013, it’s too early for the industry to start cracking open the champagne just yet, say legal experts.
The new non-GMO formulations of Original Cheerios and Grape Nuts might be made without ingredients from genetically engineered crops, but they also come with fewer vitamins - although brand owners General Mills and Post Foods won’t say why.
Brazzein - a protein from the berry of the West African plant Oubli claimed to be 2,500+ times sweeter than sucrose - could play a key role in the natural sweeteners market in future as formulators look beyond stevia, says one entrepreneur intent on commercializing...
Californian natural flavors firm Blue Pacific has joined a growing number of ingredients suppliers to go through the Non-GMO Project Verified certification process.
First there was the leaked GMA discussion document; now the industry’s biggest players have put their cards on the table via the Coalition for Safe Affordable Food, which is seeking federal legislation to create an FDA-administered voluntary program to...
What do genetically engineered soybeans, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and chickens raised with the use of antibiotics all have in common? They are all in products that come with ‘all-natural’ labels.
Civil litigation over whether GMOs belong in ‘all-natural’ products will continue to clog up US courts owing to the FDA’s refusal to weigh in on this issue, says Mission tortilla chips maker Gruma Corp.
“This isn't meat,” said Phil Lapp’s nine-year-old daughter Morgan after wolfing down some home-made meat-free tacos one evening in 2011. “This is neat”.
Many big brands are “playing a waiting game” right now to see whether moves by General Mills and Post Foods to axe GMOs from iconic brands (Cheerios and Grape Nuts) will have a domino effect, say analysts at Euromonitor International.
AquaBounty Technologies - which hopes to become the first company to introduce a genetically engineered (GE) animal to the human food supply - says a legal challenge to Environment Canada’s decision to approve its technology is just the latest attempt...
Cereals giant Post Foods has unveiled non-GMO verified Original Grape Nuts, just days after General Mills announced it had reformulated Original Cheerios to remove GMOs.
While federal GMO labeling bills introduced to the House of Representatives and the Senate last year are still gaining co-sponsors, Congress does not need to pass them for the FDA to take action and fulfil a pledge Barack Obama made on the campaign trail...
THE FOODNAVIGATOR-USA BUSINESS LEADERS ROUND TABLE DEBATE
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...
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.
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...
The FDA’s proposal to revoke the GRAS status of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) in a bid to oust artificial trans fats from the US diet “is extreme… and other options should be explored”, says soybean industry collaborative Qualisoy.
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.
General Mills says original Cheerios will now be made without genetically modified ingredients, citing consumers' growing preference for non-GMO food products. The change doesn’t apply to the other 11 varieties of Cheerios.
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.
Whole Foods said Wednesday it plans to dump Chobani as a yogurt supplier at the beginning of 2014, citing a number of reasons—primarily that it has become more selective in shelf allocation with the recent explosion of Greek yogurt brands.
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...
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.
Why is your business using social media? To sell more products? Raise your profile? Change your image? Find out what key ‘influencers’ really think about your brands? Identify and target a new customer base? Or because everyone else is on Twitter and...
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...
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...
With more than 85% of the votes in on Washington State's GMO labeling initiative 522 as of Thursday night, it appears that the Yes side has an insurmountable deficit to overcome, getting 47% of votes to the No side’s 53%. (Due to the state’s unique...
The global market for non-GMO food and beverage products shows great promise in the coming years, but its success is far from guaranteed, as global consumer support for mandatory GMO labeling is mixed, and there is little indication of a surge toward...
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.
Washington DC-based non-profit the Center for Food Safety (CFS) has urged the FDA to reject calls to make an administrative determination over whether GMOs belong in products marketed as ‘natural’.
Last month, Pyure Brands rolled out organic non-GMO erythritol after seeing there was a space in the marketplace for products using natural alternative sweeteners. Now the sweetener supplier is seeing increasing demand for reformulations using non-GMO...
The proponents of Washington State’s I-522 initiative mandating the labeling of foods containing GMO ingredients claim they have a slight lead hours before tomorrow's election deadline.
A vast majority of food and beverage executives (90%) expect revenues to increase during the next year, with a third of them believing that growth will be in double digits, according to a global survey of 250 F&B companies by Grant Thornton LLP.
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...
Organic yogurt maker Stonyfield is rolling out new packaging hammering home its organic credentials with a new logo featuring the phrase ‘no toxic pesticides used here’ following research suggesting 74% of Americans would like to eat food produced with...
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...
