The marketers of a cactus drink have agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle false advertising charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission. Such charges could be levied against many companies, said Denver-based attorney Justin Prochnow.
Hormel & Virun help ease omega-3 F&B fortification headaches
While food & beverage manufacturers have been fortifying their wares with omega-3 fatty acids EPA + DHA for years, few have been able to include anywhere close to the efficacious doses contained in many supplements without running into technical or...
Despite tight margins and even tighter competition, it’s a great time to be in the food and beverage industry—and an even better time to be a seller, according to New York accountant and advisory firm, Anchin, Block & Anchin.
Consumers are tired of bars, says quinoa 'snack in a bottle' founder
While a scary percentage of new food & beverage brands end up quietly disappearing when their backers run out of cash, luck, or endurance, a small number succeed. But what distinguishes the winners from the losers?
FoodNavigator-USA takes you through the latest and greatest in new product launches, from affordable healthy snacks and chia energy drinks to all-purpose stevia and dairy-free desserts.
Crumbs' closure could spell trouble for the cupcake category
The struggling retail cupcake chain Crumbs Bake Shop closed its doors for good this week as it mulls filing for bankruptcy. Analysts from market research firm NPD Group weigh in on what went wrong, and whether this signals the end of the cupcake’s reign.
While many cardio health products are still focused on reducing 'bad' LDL cholesterol, the next generation will cover a broader range of benefits from improving endothelial function to protecting LDL cholesterol from oxidation, predicts tomato...
So Delicious Dairy Free brand grew at a 30% CAGR over past five years
While gluten-free gets all the glory, dairy-free products such as almond and coconut milk are growing at an equally explosive rate, says So Delicious Dairy Free, which has notched up a compound annual growth rate of 30%+ over the past five years, and...
General Mills - which has just unveiled a host of new protein-packed product launches - is seeking to patent a way of ensuring certain protein particulates can be incorporated into snacks containing moist fruit pastes but stay crunchy.
DIGGING INTO WHEAT TRENDS WITH ARDENT MILLS: PART II
The grain-based industry is late to the protein game and they need to catch up because opportunities are vast, says Ardent Mills’ director of consumer insights.
H.U.M.A.N., the company behind better-for-you vending machines and healthy micro markets, has taken its business-to-business healthy snack distribution model into corporate offices with the launch of SnackNation.
Plant waters are all the rage - at least that’s what trend watchers keep telling us - but can artichoke water emulate the meteoric success of coconut water? Or is Arty Water - an intriguing mix of artichokes, mint and pandanus leaf sweetened with monk...
The US food and beverage industry anticipates continued sales growth in 2014 on the heels of strong performances the past two years, according to the second annual "US Food & Beverage Industry Study" from accounting, tax and advisory services...
Lackluster sales of packaged bread & ready-to-eat cereals might suggest that years of carb-bashing and changing lifestyles have finally driven some grain-based categories into terminal decline. However, flour milling giant Ardent Mills begs to differ.
At $88.3bn in 2013, the size of the US specialty food prize is already mouthwatering, and if current trends continue (sales grew 9.6% in 2012 and 8% in 2013), it will blast through the $100bn barrier in 2015. But which categories are growing most rapidly?
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi says she didn’t want a short-term ‘cut, slash and burn’ policy that would have seen the company make enormous earnings from 2006 despite the upset her long-term nutritional foods focus caused some investors.
What is the future of ‘naturality’ on product labels? Are sin taxes and warning just policy tools disguised as a consumer advocacy? And should health and wellness be part of every brand’s messaging?
Health-related buzzwords such as “heart healthy”, “organic” and “all natural” can lead consumers to rate unhealthy foods as healthy, according to a study of college students at the University of Houston (UH).
More and more consumers rely on the internet for their news, and stories can go viral within minutes, so it’s unsurprising that certain food ingredients have become the subject of fear and avoidance in this information age.
Tea isn’t just for grown-ups anymore, as instant and ready-to-drink teas are paving the way for strong positioning among families, children and teens, according to a recent report by market research firm Packaged Facts.
A lot of food manufacturers are not happy with FDA proposals to revoke the GRAS status of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs). Meanwhile, the soybean industry is urging the agency to hold off until larger quantities of new high oleic soybean oil are available....
If the cover of TIME magazine earlier this month (headline: Eat Butter) is anything to go by, it would seem that the conversation about fat, and saturated fat in particular, is changing, at least in the media. But are policymakers sitting up and taking...
Snacking is becoming more of a lifestyle than simply a between-meal indulgence for time-strapped US consumers, which means more opportunity to innovate in flavor, nutrition and delivery formats for snack food manufacturers like Snyder’s-Lance Inc.
New York’s highest court has refused to reinstate New York City’s controversial limit on the sale of large sugary beverages, effectively killing the city’s final appeal.
Food and beverage manufacturers are holding their collective breath in anticipation of the proposed changes to the Nutrition Facts panel put forth by the Food and Drug Administration and likely to be finalized next year.
A new player is poised to enter the burgeoning plant protein market with new protein and fiber ingredients produced via a novel fermentation process from heat stabilized defatted rice bran.
While the percentage of groceries purchased online remains significantly below that of books, TVs and pretty much everything else, e-commerce sales of food and consumables (food, beverage plus home/personal care items bought via online grocers) rose 13.7%...
As protein appears primed to continue its meteoric rise, buoyed by a strong health halo among US consumers, where is there still potential for this macronutrient?
Starbucks-owned brand Evolution Fresh is test marketing a new range of co-branded smoothies made with cold pressed, high pressure processed juice and Dannon Greek yogurt in 200 Starbucks stores in San Jose and St Louis.
It's hot, it's sweaty, and it's the place to be if you're interested in what's next in the weird and wonderful world of food ingredients. Check out our first gallery of highlights from the 2014 IFT annual meeting & expo in...
Following on the success of ReishiSmooth, a trademarked all-natural fermentation process that uses mushrooms to remove the bitterness from chocolate and coffee, food technology firm MycoTechnology is betting on the nutritional appeal of green coffee extract...
The number of Americans aged 65+ will double in the next 25 years. But manufacturers of products that could have strong appeal to this demographic (Greek yogurt, protein bars) are not doing enough to target them, says IRI.
A novel ‘enzymatic enhancement’ process that can convert low grade stevia extracts into high purity Reb A could transform the economics of stevia production and help California-based Stevia First stand out in the market, claims its boss.
Will Keurig Cold really turn the soft drinks market on its head? Can natural sweeteners pull diet soda out of its funk? And what’s the next coconut water?
While tocopherols have historically grabbed the limelight, the other members of the antioxidant-packed vitamin E family - tocotrienols - offer exciting benefits for cardiovascular and cellular health, says the firm behind annatto-derived delta-tocotrienol,...
Dannon is looking to drive incremental growth to the dairy category with the launch of a new indulgent dessert brand called Dannon Creamery that targets a day-part US yogurt marketers have traditionally struggled to corner: the evening.
The Honest brand could extend well beyond the ready-to-drink tea category into a wider array of beverages and even foods, says the co-founder of Honest Tea, which posted a 27% surge in sales to $112m in 2013, and is growing even faster this year.
Celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz has admitted that the biggest disservice he has done for his audience is not identifying where to buy the quality products he talks about on his show.
Can anything top protein? What’s a “silver consumer” and why should we care? Would salty caramel work in a soft drink? Innova Market Insights teased a very full agenda of trendwatching presentations at next week’s Institute of Food Technologists’ (IFT)...
Cargill has unveiled IngreVita, a proprietary blend of high oleic canola oil, antioxidants and long-chain omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) from fish oil that it claims will take omega-3 food and beverage fortification from the niche to the mainstream.
Not only are today's consumers less likely to rely on a primary store for food shopping, but they're sharing shopping duties and planning for specific meals rather than stocking up on food, according to the Food Marketing Institute (FMI)’s annual...
Alpha-linolenic acid-rich canola oil, in combination with a low glycemic index diet, may help improve blood sugar control and other measures of heart health, says a new study from Canada.
“My background is in sales, so I’m used to dealing with disappointment,” observes the founder of quinoa-based snacking brand eatKeenwa. But for every door that’s been shut in Blake Niemann’s face in the past 18 months, another one has opened. And his...
Ahead of the 2014 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Food Expo in the Big Easy next week, representatives from DSM Nutritional Products, which will be among the presenters in a June 22 session titled “Innovations in Functional...
United Natural Foods Inc. the dominant force in organic and natural food distribution in North America, says its acquisiton of Tony’s Fine Foods will help it stave off competition in the space from more mainstream distributors.
Nearly 3% of global food and beverage launches and 6% of US food/bev launches were marketed on a ‘high-protein’ or ‘source-of-protein’ positioning in the year ending March 31, 2014, according to data from Innova Market Insights.
The evidence has grown so strong for the best-documented probiotic strains that a generic digestive health claim should exist, according to a consensus statement from leading international researchers published this week in Nature Reviews: Gastroenterology...
Merchandizing gaps in convenience stores need to be plugged and snack makers must collaborate to drive progress forward, says the category development head at General Mills Convenience as it launches Nature Valley c-store tailored products.
The US ready-to-eat popcorn category has been “growing in the double-digits for the past 3-4 years” and is now worth “north of $600m in annual [retail] sales”, according to Diamond Foods CEO Brain Driscoll, who says new launches under the Kettle and Pop...
The neuropsychologist behind cognitive health beverage Nawgan reckons his latest innovation 'ON powered refreshment’' - which combines caffeine and the fatigue-busting amino acid ornithine - has more mainstream appeal, bringing a fresh twist...
