Public comments on USDA’s GMO labeling rule have exposed sharp divisions about whether it should include refined ingredients from GM crops, or foods produced via modern gene-editing techniques such as CRISPR. But they have also raised questions about...
Big food manufacturers have increasingly recognized that their scale and robust supply chains aren’t enough to stay competitive and turn around years of little to no growth, and are refocusing their efforts on restoring consumer trust, says Rabobank.
The term ‘clean’ is popping up more and more in food branding and in consumer vernacular, but its definition is as foggy as ‘natural’ and ‘healthy,' according to Mintel.
Consumers will lose trust in the food industry if USDA does not mandate that refined ingredients such as oils and sugars derived from bioengineered crops are subject to GMO labeling, says the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA).
If consumers are to believe that the food industry is serious about transparency, highly refined ingredients derived from GM crops must be included in the definition of 'bioengineered' enshrined in federal GMO labeling legislation, even if they...
When Cedarlane Natural Foods launched its ‘plant-powered’ foods back in the early ‘80s, many retailers weren’t ready for hummus and tofu meals. Today, they are carving out reams of space for these kinds of items and the industry’s biggest CPG giants are...
“Much needed” federal funding for organic research, education and outreach could double in the next two years if measures in the Senate Agriculture Committee’s draft farm bill released June 8 make it into the final farm bill.
Food and beverage manufacturers and suppliers must actively reassure their partners abroad that they are reliable even as the US pulls out of key international trade arrangements and negotiations around the North American Free Trade Agreement hit the...
The US Hispanic community spends more than $94.7bn on CPG products annually, making it the fastest-growing ethnic demographic which has key nuances and attitudes when it comes to food purchases, according to a new IRI report.
Porter Road, an online whole-animal butcher shop, is working to make buying meat online a habitual purchase for consumers by providing direct-to-consumer access to high-quality, pasture-raised, hormone-free meat sourced from sustainable farms.
Finding nutrient-dense snacks becomes more of a challenge for moms once they exit the baby aisle and right around the time 'picky-eater syndrome' sets in. To fill this gap, Messy Monkeys is positioning itself as an affordable and healthy snack...
Organic stakeholders are considering how they can promote their industry and raise funds for organic agriculture research and extension efforts after the US Department of Agriculture “blindsided” them by terminating the check-off program that many worked...
Clean label seems to be as commonplace of a term as the contentious ‘natural’ moniker with many food and beverages retooling their ingredient formulations to conform to this vague industry expectation. According to Flavorchem, one thing is very clear,...
If the first wave of comments to its proposed rule on GMO labeling is anything to go by, USDA’s agricultural marketing service faces a daunting task as it seeks to nail down its national bioengineered food disclosure standard, with early feedback revealing...
Can we as a society eat our way to health by consuming fewer high-yield, mass-produced foods such as modern wheat? That’s the position taken by Bob Quinn, Ph.D., an organic farmer and founder of Kamut International – a producer of the ancient grain, khorasan...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has published a long-awaited proposed rule to establish GMO labeling standards (the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard), but still leaves most of the key questions – including how to interpret its...
Offering lunchbox products for school children is a natural starting point for companies serving those with allergies because this is one of the most challenging meals and environments, but it also is only a small part of the much-larger problem, according...
Since closing a $1.1m seed series fundraising round led by Rocana Venture Partners, Après seems to be well on its way to addressing what its founders felt was a clear gap in the market of protein nutrition: the boutique fitness-frequenting woman.
After one year as DanoneWave, to reflect the April 2017 merger of Danone and US-based White Wave Foods, the company has rebranded to Danone North America and has also become the largest Certified B Corporation (B Corp) in the world.
As the clean label movement expands, food and beverage manufacturers should lean more heavily on science to explain to consumers how products are made and the role specific ingredients play to ensure shelf stability and safety are not lost along with...
Non-profit organization the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) must improve its communication strategy, says the former program manager of the group’s North America branch.
Cellular agriculture start-up Perfect Day – which is creating ‘vegan’ dairy proteins without cows – has raised $24.7m in a Series A funding round led by Singapore state-owned investment company Temasek.
A joint venture between ingredient suppliers Cargill and PURIS announced today will allow for the significant expansion of pea protein production at a time when more consumers are looking for plant-based options that deliver health benefits, are sustainable...
Sales of high protein, low sugar Greek yogurt brand Oikos Triple Zero grew by 22% in the year to December 24, 2017, said brand owner Dannon, which has enlisted Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott to front its new ad campaign and started road testing...
Bigelow has promised to vigorously defend itself against a “frivolous” lawsuit filed by The Richman Law Group on behalf of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) alleging it misrepresented its green tea as ‘all natural’ owing to trace levels of glyphosate...
2017 has been a rollercoaster ride for the food industry, with Amazon coughing up a cool $13.7bn for Whole Foods, a flurry of M&A activity from Nestlé, Hershey, Campbell Soup and Kellogg, and an exodus from the industry’s biggest trade association,...
Bay area start-up Finless Foods – one of a new wave of cellular agriculture companies producing meat by culturing cells (without raising or slaughtering animals) – has slashed production costs by 50% since September and is aiming to achieve price parity...
Consumers are looking for cues signaling ‘clean’ and ‘natural’, but they don’t necessarily expect to see those words on food labels, and may even be suspicious of brands that use them on pack, says Hartman Group.
Frito-Lay North America – which has already removed ‘made with all natural ingredients,’ claims on some corn-based foods – has agreed not to use this or other natural claims on the products in future unless the FDA officially gives companies the green...
While kale remains popular, increasingly it must share the limelight with other dark, leafy greens, hot peppers, ‘superfoods’ and produce linked to Hispanic culture, all of which are gaining popularity, according to a new report from Packaged Facts that...
Food and beverage manufacturers must work with the government and other stakeholders to overcome significant, but not insurmountable, challenges if they want to use QR codes or other digital technology to convey when products include genetically modified...
Natural food colors: expensive, unstable, muted, and weird-tasting, right? Wrong, says Sensient Food Colors, which caught up with FoodNavigator-USA to address some common concerns about natural colors and highlight growth opportunities, from caramel color...
Courts should dismiss the ‘daisy-chained’ logic underpinning a new wave of ‘natural’ lawsuits looking beyond the ingredients list to factors such as animal feeding and rearing practices, says cheesemaker Sargento.
If consumers are to believe that the food industry is serious about transparency, highly refined oils and sweeteners derived from GM crops must be included in the new bioengineered food standard (the federal GMO labeling law), even if they are indistinguishable...
Contrary to suggestions in a federal lawsuit filed against USDA earlier this month, the agency currently is reviewing a feasibility study exploring how electronic or digital disclosure, such as QR codes, might impact consumers’ ability to easily identify...
While it's probably still best known for its iconic condensed soup, Campbell Soup has been quietly re-engineering its portfolio in recent years via a series of strategic acquisitions and investments spanning everything from hummus and dips to organic...
Impossible Foods – a Bay-area-based start-up on a mission to precisely replicate the taste and texture of meat – has closed a $75m financing round,* bringing its total investment to date to a jaw-dropping $257m, a reflection of the belief investors have...
How deep into the supply chain do consumers expect food manufacturers to delve when it comes to label claims about genetic engineering (or its absence), and do they realize that not all non-GMO claims mean the same thing?
By Jay W. Connolly, Edward F. Maluf and Owen Wolfe, attorneys, Seyfarth Shaw
One of the hottest topics in the food, beverage and dietary supplement industries, for both producers and advertisers, remains the disclosure of genetically modified organisms, or ‘GMOs,’ in these products.
By Charlie Arnot, CEO, The Center for Food Integrity
If you care about GMO labeling, you only have a few more days to respond to USDA's 30 questions* about how to implement the new law. The looming deadline is both a stark reminder of the controversy around GMOs that brought the food industry to this...
The number of class action filings against food and beverage companies dipped from 158 in 2015 to 145 in 2016, largely due to a drop off in ‘natural’ lawsuits, but food manufacturers remain vulnerable to legal action on a host of other fronts, from slack...
Sargento attorney: This case is without legal basis and speculative
Should dairy brands using milk from cows that may have consumed GM feed or been treated with rbST be allowed to market their wares as ‘natural’? Not according to the latest in a new wave of false advertising lawsuits arguing that products utilizing genetic...
Will the July 2018 deadline for compliance with the new Nutrition Facts panel stand? Will federal GMO labeling regulations stop GMO-related lawsuits? And will the FDA nail down ‘natural’ anytime soon? FoodNavigator-USA headed to the American Conference...
The challenges of clean label formulation might hit hardest at the humblest of ingredients, texturizers and preservatives—those behind-the-scenes stage hands that do the dirty work of making food formulations palatable and shelf stable.
Specialty ingredient supplier Tate & Lyle will launch 17 non-GMO starches in order to meet a growing global demand, particularly in North America and Eastern Europe, it says.
CANADA: House of Commons to vote on GMO labeling bill on May 17
Members of the Canadian Parliament will decide whether to approve mandatory labeling of genetically modified foods in a vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
The private equity arm of global CPG giant Unilever, called Unilever Ventures, led the $9.2m Series C-2 funding of organic meal kit company Sun Basket.
In many ways, the conversation about GMOs has been a debate about good versus evil, but ingredient supplier Cargill wants to shift the discussion to one simply about choice – a goal that one executive says can only be achieved if manufacturers and suppliers...
The clean label movement may have started as industry’s response to consumers who wanted foods and beverages made without artificial or “chemical” sounding ingredients, but overtime as brands continued to one-up each other, the concept morphed and metastasized...
