From the 'astounding' reinvention of popcorn as "Millennial friendly, cool and healthy", to the proliferation of apps & devices enabling us to track our calories, sleep and bowel movements, what have we learned about the food culture...
Eating all your vegetables might be easier in 2015 than in recent years as they increasingly show up in unexpected places, including desserts and drinks, according to the International Food Network.
The biggest rise was in products making non-GMO or GMO-free claims
Non-GMO, Kosher, gluten-free, ethical, environmentally-friendly, lactose-free, vegan, no additives/preservatives, and on-the-go claims are all gaining more traction on US food labels; while growth in ‘all-natural’- antioxidant- and low/no/reduced sugar/sodium/fat...
New flavors created for a wider variety of protein sources, made possible by advancements in masking research, is expanding the consumer base for and driving sales of high protein products, such as sports nutrition drinks, according to Synergy Flavors...
Vancouver-based GLG Life Tech has developed a new variety of stevia containing “remarkably high” levels of Reb C glycosides, which it claims could “revolutionize the global food and beverage industry’s ability to utilize naturally-sourced Reb C”.
While premium juice brands hit the market every week hoping to become the next Suja, and the coconut water category is getting crowded, the company behind WTRMLN WTR (watermelon flesh, watermelon rind, lemon) reckons it has a product sufficiently distinctive...
From ready-to drink soup and nootropics to mocktails for Millennials, the beverages aisle is not short of innovation. But what distinguishes the winners from the losers, how easy is it to build distribution, and how difficult is it to finance your beverage...
Nottingham University scientists claim to have shone new light on the intra-gastric behaviour of ‘aerated’ drinks with enhanced satiating properties that they say could be used to fight obesity.
Almost half of the schools eligible for federal financial assistance to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students do not currently offer the service, despite research showing it improves academic performance and students’ physical health, according...
Consuming Bacillus coagulans GBI-30, 6086 (GanedenBC30) in combination with protein may blunt muscle damage after intense exercise and boost recovery, according to findings from a pilot study.
SPECIAL EDITION 2014, BEVERAGE SWEETENER INNOVATION
Mintel says the presence of nutritionally beneficial compounds could see stevia-based sweeteners of the future that combine functional benefits as well as calorie-free sweetness.
SPECIAL EDITION 2014, BEVERAGE SWEETENER INNOVATION
PureCircle has launched a new stevia blend called Sigma-D to target non-fermented, sweetened dairy drinks and other dairy products in what it says is a breakthrough category specific launch.
SPECIAL EDITION 2014, BEVERAGE SWEETENER INNOVATION
David Thorrold, CEO of the world’s largest monk fruit extract supplier BioVittoria insists the sweetener can complement rival stevia to achieve a better-tasting product – as the experience of successful zero-calorie US soft drinks brand Zevia shows.
Shopping for coffee and chocolate is becoming almost as interesting - and at times as intimidating - as buying wine. So why not inject some of that excitement into the tea category, says Toronto-based start-up Tea of the People, which has just launched...
An organization supporting “family-scale” farming accuses the makers of Dannon, Yoplait and other yogurt manufacturers of misleading parents to believe their yogurts are healthy, even though some products include sugar and “myriad questionably safe artificial...
Students who bring their lunch from home and their parents apparently missed the memo from Congress mandating the mid-day meal meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Enjoying a special occasion, opportunistic eating and social pressures are just some of the drivers behind unhealthy snacking – factors that could be used to drive change, researchers claim.
Breakfast remains the most important meal of the day and serving it to students for free offers significant benefits even though a recent study found it did not improve academic performance as hypothesized, health and education advocates argue.
While it used to take years for a food & beverage start-up to build a national presence, the explosive growth of brands such as Suja Juice and Way Better Snacks show that with the right product, the old rules no longer apply, says one corporate finance...
Professor: 'Congratulations to the FDA for putting public health first'
Some food manufacturers still worry that using potassium chloride to replace salt in their recipes might compromise their clean label credentials. But the FDA’s recent proposal to include potassium as one of the nutrients that must be listed on the Nutrition...
If you don’t like taking risks, don’t go into the beverage industry, says the founder of ChaiElixir, an Oklahoma City based start-up selling sparkling tea. “A significant portion of new products do not make it past year one or two, but that’s the nature...
The nutrition bar category is becoming saturated, but there are still untapped pockets of opportunity, says Ohio-based Good Greens, which claims to blow rivals out of the water when it comes to packing a nutritional punch.
Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage reported strong revenue growth for the fourth quarter of its 2014 fiscal year. Net sales grew by 17.8% over the same period in 2014 and were up by 20.9% for the fiscal year. The company notched $520.7 million in net...
Coffee leaf tea has got the 'body and full flavor of black tea without the bitterness'
By unlocking the potential of the coffee fruit, enterprising companies from Bai Brands and KonaRed (beverages) to CF Global (coffee flour) and VDF Futureceuticals (nutraceuticals) have already proved that the coffee bean is not the only thing the coffee...
Protein is hot - and big brands are piling more of it into everything from breakfast cereal to ice cream. Yet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans say “inadequate protein intake in the US is rare”. So does this trend make sense from a nutritional perspective?
To understand Functional Foods you must see it as a strategy to add value to processed foods, says the president and founder of the HealthyMarketingTeam, Peter Wennstrom, in this guest article.
Faced with mounting difficulties in their drug businesses, many pharmaceutical manufacturers are looking at getting into functional foods and beverages, notes food marketing expert, Julian Mellentin in this guest article.
While mainstream food retailers discovered kombucha later than their counterparts in the ‘natural’ channel, they are playing catch-up now, says natural soda maker Reed’s, which entered the market in 2012 with its Culture Club kombucha range and now claims...
General Mills has agreed that it will not use the term ‘100% natural’ to describe Nature Valley bars that contain certain ‘artificially produced’ ingredients in order to settle a long-running false advertising lawsuit*.
American children were exposed to significantly fewer TV ads for sugary drinks in 2013 compared with 2011. But not every soda giant got the memo, says a new report, which claims that children aged 2-11 saw 29% more TV ads for PepsiCo sugary drinks in...
Three years ago, Greek yogurt was on fire. Today, as the category has matured, its growth has slowed to a more modest pace, while one market watcher predicts dollar sales growth in the overall yogurt category (which has been driven by Greek in recent...
Bai Brands CEO Ben Weiss says the Dr Pepper allied brand will hit $50m in sales this year and puts this down to a focus on ‘distribution at the expense of brand equity’ during the early ‘basement’ years.
Pinnacle Foods has struck a deal to acquire Canadian plant-based food specialist Garden Protein International (Gardein) for C$175m ($154m) from founder Yves Potvin and private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners.
The “best” way to change consumers’ long-held perception that whole grain products taste “like cardboard” and to spur sales is to give consumers a risk-free chance to try the products and use positive, educational marketing, food manufacturers said.
A greater focus on emotional training may be a more effective way of encouraging healthy food choices than nutritional training, according to research.
What’s for dinner tonight? And could Watson - the IBM computer that trounced its human rivals at Jeopardy - have the answer? FoodNavigator-USA headed to the reThinkFood conference - a collaboration between the Culinary Institute of America and the MIT...
Unprecedented access to information about foods through smart phones and social media is a driving factor in consumers’ increasing interest in healthy eating, according to a leading food culture researcher.
Consumers underestimate calorie counts for, and consume more of, foods from companies with positive corporate responsibility programmes, say researchers.
Academic: "Anybody who thinks the world’s malnutrition problems are going to be solved without industry is dreaming."
By Shane Starling from the 3rd World Congress of Public Health Nutrition in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria
Emerging research linking vitamin E deficiency with increased risk of Alzheimer’s, miscarriages and fatty liver disease can contribute to an ongoing debate around recommended intakes, a nutrition congress was told yesterday.
John Gagliardi let his experience as a college and professional lacrosse player guide his choices when it came to formulating his new energy beverage company. Called Titan Tea, the product line is based on black tea and D-ribose as primary ingredients.
Mainstream retailers that have been slow to take up the natural and organic product mantle now are realizing the trend is not a flash-in-the-pan and are scrambling to stock more healthy options, which is good news for Hain Celestial, company executives...
Solazyme’s AlgaVia whole algal flour is now being used in eight commercially available products in the US from non-dairy creamers and powdered beverages to gluten-free baked goods, while the company is also in “late stage commercial tests with major national...
With HPP (high-pressure-processed) cold-pressed juices now an established part of any self-respecting retailer’s chilled beverage set, it’s easy to forget just how rapidly this category has moved from niche to mainstream, and that key players such as...
Consumers want to eat healthier, but when it comes to snacking a desire for decadent and indulgent usually wins out over virtuous, which is why Berkeley, Calif.-based The Good Bean wants to “reclaim fun for the better-for-you-chip space” with the launch...
