Crop improvement company Benson Hill has contracted 30,000 acres of land in the US to grow its non-GMO ultra-high protein soybeans, which it claims deliver high nutrient density while maintaining competitive yields.
With the typical consumer managing an average of 3.3 individual dietary preferences and 64% of the world’s population following some sort of exclusion diet (Nielsen), grocery retailers will need to adapt their online and physical stores to provide a hyper-personalized...
Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) is teaming up with baby and kids food manufacturers, early childhood educators, and other key stakeholders under its 'Shaping Early Palates Initiative', which aims to disrupt the marketplace of childhood...
Israeli startup Equinom is bringing its non-GMO seed-breeding technology to the US to serve the North American market, where it will connect food and food ingredients companies directly to its plant protein supply chain.
Häagen‐Dazs will be the first major food brand to carry the Xerces Society's Bee Better Certified Seal on its ice cream products containing almonds, communicating to consumers that its almonds were grown and harvested in a 'bee-friendly'...
Factor_, a fully-prepared meal delivery service based in the Chicago area, believes the way to get consumers to eat more healthily on a consistent basis is to remove the time and mental barriers around cooking.
Natural and organic cereal pioneer Barbara’s, which makes the popular Puffins line, is breaking free of the “dull … white and neutral tones” that dominate packaging in its category, with a bold redesign that favors oversaturated colors and “a more minimalist...
Former global president of Catalina, Todd Morris, has taken over as CEO of Chicago-based Label Insight seeking to fix the 'broken' online consumer shopping experience.
Arcadia Biosciences, a publicly-traded biotechnology firm focused on value-added food ingredients, has developed a non-GMO reduced wheat flour that contains 65% less gluten than traditional flour and performs like regular flour in food formulations.
Chicken is the world's most popular animal-based protein, but when it comes to a plant-based version, the market is due for some innovation, said CEO of Daring Foods, Ross Mackay.
The grocery retail landscape is hyper competitive with conventional and discount retailers stocking organic and natural options, yet Whole Foods Market continues to push the envelope in terms of product quality, particularly in the area of sustainability...
When it comes to the health of the planet and social wellbeing of the population, consumers feel they have less of an impact as an individual and that large companies and government organizations have a bigger role to play, according to new research from...
Many consumers subscribe to a basic understanding of ‘clean label’ – for most, it loosely means products with fewer, recognizable ingredients free from preservatives and artificial additives – however, new research from Kerry shows that this definition...
Future Meat Technologies is one of the few players in the nascent space to have shown how cell-cultured (a.k.a. ‘cultivated’) meat could move from the lab to an industrial scale, claims one of the lead investors in a $14m Series A round that will support...
A lawsuit alleging that Nestlé USA is misleading shoppers with its ‘No GMO Ingredients’ seal has been allowed to proceed, although legal experts stress that this doesn’t mean that the plaintiffs will ultimately prevail.
Subtle changes to Theo Chocolate’s packaging that debuted at Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore earlier this month aim to better communicate the bean-to-bar brand’s commitment to fair trade and organic ingredients as well as help it standout in an...
With consumer fear of genetic engineering nearing a fever-pitch, the founders of startup ZBiotics want to “dispel the fear of the unknown” and transparently show consumers the technology’s value by delivering GMOs that offer a visceral benefit starting...
San Francisco startup New Culture – which is making animal-free dairy cheese with casein proteins made from microbial fermentation (instead of cow’s milk) - has closed a $3.5m seed round led by Evolv Ventures, a $100m venture fund backed by Kraft Heinz.
Quality is driving millennial food shopping more than ever with nearly 70% of respondents to a national online survey by Whole Foods stating that they are willing to spend more on "high quality food items" that are responsibly sourced and have...
Online natural products retailer Thrive Market has teamed up with The Detox Project to ask suppliers - where applicable - to go through the Glyphosate Residue Free certification process.
Each year, millennials spend about $2,242 at the grocery store and $1,672 dining out adding up to around 1,140 hours devoted to food (time spent meal-prepping, cooking, and eating out), a survey of 2,000 millennial consumers commissioned by plant-based...
Cargill has invested an additional $75m in North American pea protein producer, PURIS, which will double production of its proprietary pea proteins, starches, and fibers for the food and beverage industry.
HelloFresh will start offering Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger in its meal kits next month as part of its premium ‘craft burger’ collection, addressing a growing consumer interest in plant-based eating and meat reduction.
Gardein has quadrupled in size over the past four years and is now the second largest brand in the meat-alternative space behind Morningstar with annual retail and foodservice sales topping $170m. And there is still a significant opportunity to grow in...
NSF International has just updated its Non-GMO certification scheme and logo. FoodNavigator-USA (FNU) caught up with Sarah Krol (SK), global managing director of food safety product certification to find out what this means... and whether firms are ready...
US retail sales of organic food continue to increase (reaching nearly $50bn in sales last year) but at a slower pace than years past, according to a Rabobank report.
Besides spending more money at the grocery store, affluent shoppers show noticeable differences in their food choices compared to those with tighter budgets, according to a recent Packaged Facts report.
Startup New Culture is seeking to raise $2.8m to develop ‘real’ cheese with casein proteins made from microbial fermentation (instead of cow’s milk) that its founder claims can deliver taste, functionality and nutrition that plant-based cheeses simply...
'Clean label' is a strong purchase driver for health-conscious millennials, but according to new research from strategic communications agency, Charleston|Orwig, individuals over the age of 55 are increasingly interested in the purchasing 'clean'...
RightRice has landed in nearly 2,000 Kroger stores nationwide giving the brand access to a broader consumer audience as demand for a shelf-stable, better-for-you rice alternative heats up.
The Ingredient House (TIH) and Renmatix are scaling up the production of a plant-based egg replacement ingredient made from maple fiber and water using a patented water-based extraction process.
Ingredient supplier Puris’ Texturized Pea Protein can help manufacturers meet the rising consumer demand for plant-based meat that rivals the mouthfeel and taste of animal-based options, but without compromising clean-label and non-GMO or organic standards.
Paragon Pure, a New Jersey-based ingredients company, has developed a powdered flavor carrier made from brown rice flour which can meet the growing demand for cleaner labels.
The bulk of Impossible Foods’ $300m series E funding round will go into aggressively scaling up production of its plant-based burgers to meet 'unprecedented' demand, but the company is also working on a suite of other meat products, and has...
Organic snack company Evolve Brands is built around "mindful snacking," a concept which informs every business decision the founding partners make, says partner Cindy Poiesz.
While the plant-based protein category is booming, none of the top-selling ingredients dominating the space offer a perfect solution in terms of function, nutrition, sustainability and consumer-experience – a gap in the market that the CEO of Israeli...
Canadian startup Yellofruit is using the same principles of ice cream food science to make its non-dairy frozen banana desserts that founder Andrew Kinnear says closely mimic the experience of eating traditional dairy ice cream.
Emerging and new-to-market brands are all vying for precious shelf space at retail, so where should founders focus their time and energy to secure a spot in their desired store area?
While terms such as a 'natural' and 'clean label' may not have a regulated definition attached to them, these particular descriptors do motivate over half of US shoppers to purchase a product, a new survey of 1,000 adults conducted...
In the past five years, online grocery retailer Thrive Market has grown its business to 500,000 paid members shopping its 6,000+ products, allowing the company to dive head first into new projects around regenerative agriculture, and "dramatically"...
If areas of the grocery store were to be placed in a figurative bracket based on annual volume growth over a three year period (2015-2018), which departments would come out on top? According to Nielsen's "Total Store Bracket" ranking 16...
Since launching exclusively at the Whole Foods Market Pearl Street store in Boulder, Colorado, in late 2017, Beyond Meat's Beyond Sausage has expanded its distribution to over 4,000 grocery stores, restaurants, and sports stadiums across the US....
Over half (61%) of Americans following an exclusion diet (e.g. vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, keto) believe that following a restrictive diet means having to pay more for food and nearly half (47%) say that it takes a toll on their social life, according...
Brooklyn-born Square Roots, an urban indoor vertical farming startup, is taking its ultra-scalable, modular model to new markets through an exclusive partnership with Gordon Food Service (GFS).
The number of class action filings against food and beverage companies rose 9% to 158 in 2018, with firms vulnerable to legal action on a host of fronts, from slack fill to natural claims, says law firm Perkins Coie.
Ingredion has acquired privately-held potato starch producer Western Polymer in Washington state, expanding the company's potato starch manufacturing capacity and processing capabilities.
‘We’ve had pushback [over genetic engineering] for years now, but the conversation has to change’
If printing out DNA sequences that instruct yeast or bacteria to express proteins identical to those in eggs or milk in big fermentation tanks sounds a little ‘unnatural,’ consider how natural, sustainable, or indeed ethical, it is to continue to produce...
Introducing the FoodNavigator-USA online event: Natural and clean label trends
Consumers and food marketers alike are increasingly referencing ‘clean’ eating – and clean living. But what does this mean in practice, do expectations vary by brand and category, and are definitions of clean-label moving beyond the ingredients list to...
The frozen food category has been a core grocery purchase for nearly all consumers. However, the frozen food aisle can benefit from an image overhaul, leaving behind its reputation as back-up food stockpiled in the home freezer for weeks, to a quality...
