The packaged food industry has removed roughly three-quarters of the 8 billion pounds of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) that abounded in the marketplace at the heyday of trans fats in 2004-‘05, though a few problem areas and holdouts remain—particularly...
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.
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...
POM Wonderful scored a big win on Thursday after the Supreme Court gave it the green light to sue juice rival Coca-Cola for false advertising. But don't expect the floodgates to open with scores of similar lawsuits, says one attorney.
While POM Wonderful’s Supreme Court victory over Coca-Cola doesn’t have any direct impact on the wave of consumer class action lawsuits over false advertising engulfing the trade, it still makes uncomfortable reading for regulatory affairs bosses at food...
You can have an FDA-compliant label, but still face a false advertising lawsuit brought by a competitor, concluded Supreme Court justices today in an 8:0 opinion described by legal experts as a “resounding victory” for POM Wonderful in its spat with Coca-Cola...
'OUR LABELS COMPLY WITH ALL LAWS & GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS': CAMPBELL'S
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) today threatened to sue Campbell's Soup Company alleging that it makes misleading statements about the juice content, nutritional value and healthfulness of V8 juices sold in the US.
SCIENTIST INSISTS PEN NANO INVENTORY 'MISREPRESENTED' STUDY CONCLUSIONS
PepsiCo and Coke insist they do not use titanium dioxide in SoBe and Powerade drinks after a controversial report warned they use the colorant in a 'potentially dangerous' nano-sized form.
US bakery, snack and cereal manufacturers should look to Europe for lessons on clean label and better-for-you products that don’t scream health, says Mintel’s innovation head.
Three months after a federal judge in California gave the preliminary thumbs up to a $3.4m settlement of a class action lawsuit accusing Trader Joe’s of falsely advertising products as ‘all natural’, a fellow judge has allowed most claims in a similar...
The hot market for functional foods shows no signs of cooling off, according to longtime industry consultant Jeff Hilton. In his view a number of factors will combine to drive continued growth.
Becoming a target of opportunistic lawsuits is the price you pay for being successful, says Chobani’s marketing boss, who says he is “baffled” by a complaint filed by Dov Seidman accusing the yogurt firm of infringing his trademarks with its ‘How Matters’...
Although fewer than one in 100 (0.9%) of US consumers is afflicted with a peanut or treenut allergy, the purchasing power of that group extends far beyond those with allergies, according to the recent Nut Allergy Ecosystem survey by Rich Products Corp.
From drinkable grains to Non-GMO verified, Sterling-Rice Group has identified 10 natural and organic food trends that are starting to influence the mainstream grocery market. Are you up to speed?
PLT Health Solutions will debut a new vegetarian source of vitamin D with a whole food mushroom powder at the Institute of Food Technologists trade show later in June in New Orleans. The new ingredient brings together several developing skeins in the...
A lawsuit filed by bestselling author and corporate ethics consultant Dov Seidman accusing Chobani of infringing his trademarks with its 'How Matters' campaign is "baseless and without merit", says the Greek yogurt maker.
The Organic Trade Association says that third-party certification under the USDA National Organic Program is sufficient for non-GMO label claims, calling organic production is the optimal solution to US agriculture, according to a statement from its board...
Several food manufacturers have been let off the legal hook recently as lawsuits filed against them for using ‘evaporated cane juice’ (ECJ) on labels have been dismissed or stayed following the FDA’s decision to look again at its guidance on ECJ. But...
A bill that would have required firms to label genetically engineered foods in California has failed to secure sufficient votes in the state senate to pass into law.
The two-year proposed window for manufacturers to change nutrition labeling is not enough, snack makers need four to six years, says the CEO of the Snack Food Association (SFA).
The US Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) submitted a public comment letter to the FDA urging it to revisit its strategy for addressing economically motivated adulteration (EMA) of food ingredients, noting that the current framework doesn’t sufficiently address...
In line with the goals set forth by FDA’s proposed Nutrition Facts updates, consumers find proposed labels easier to read in less time and perceive food and beverage products with larger serving sizes to be less healthy, according to a study from the...
There’s a reason why beef burgers are so popular, says Cluck ‘n Moo founder Steve Gold. They taste great and they are really succulent. But what if you could have the same great taste with less than half the saturated fat and 32% fewer calories?
Guest article: Steven Hoffman, managing director, Compass Natural
Pointing out problems and flaws in organic farming and certification is constructive in that they need to be addressed. But using the imperfections of the organic production system to defend why GMOs are a preferred way to produce food - as Mischa Popoff...
Four US Senators have written to Food & Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Margaret Hamburg to express their concern about the agency’s use of draft guidance documents to make “substantive policy changes”.
US retail sales of organic products grew 11.5% to $35.1bn in 2013, the strongest growth the industry has seen in five years, according to new data from the Organic Trade Association (OTA), which is predicting even higher growth of 12% this year.
If biotech’s big guns want to seize the initiative in the GMO debate, they should ditch their defensive strategy (telling consumers why they don’t need GMO labels) and go on the offensive, launching a positive campaign about the merits of GM crops, according...
The majority of the leading US supplement companies are working on using non-GMO ingredients in their formulations, said Cal Bewicke, CEO of Ethical Naturals Inc (ENI), as the company launches non-GMO vitamin C.
As anti-GMO activists celebrated their first major victory in Vermont this week with the passage of GMO labeling bill H112, the GMA said it would mount a legal challenge within weeks. But while big food companies may well win the courtroom battle ahead,...
The FDA’s “flawed” 2009 draft guidance on ‘evaporated cane juice’ has put food manufacturers and retailers between a rock and a hard place when deciding what to put on their labels, says a group of leading manufacturers.
Kellogg subsidiary Kashi has joined a growing list of big food companies that have agreed to stop using the term ‘all-natural’ to describe certain products in response to a tidal wave of civil litigation over the controversial term.
84% of US consumers buy organic food sometimes, and 45% of them buy it at least once a month, according to a new national survey of 1,016 adults. However, there is a disparity between what they think the organic seal means and what they think it should...
While calorie labeling on restaurant menus is still in its infancy - as is academic research attempting to measure its impact - a new study suggests it is not driving a significant change in consumer behavior.
A judge has certified a class of consumers accusing Twinings North America of misbranding its teas as a ‘natural source of antioxidants’, but said they cannot seek monetary damages because they have not come up with a viable legal theory for how to calculate...
An Abbott Laboratories shareholder proposal to label genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) in its Similac infant formula range received about 5% of the vote, and has been rejected by the company.
Just over three months after launching in the US market, grocery coupon app Checkout 51 has attracted an eye-boggling 1.4 million users, and expects to attract tens of millions more. Why? Because it’s really easy to use, says co-founder Noah Godfrey.
General Mills found itself at the center of a bad PR storm this month after a seemingly routine change to its online legal terms to include an arbitration clause. Food & beverage attorney Ron Levine talked with FoodNavigator-USA on the good and bad...
Consumers are confused about what evaporated cane juice (ECJ) is, but the FDA’s preferred term - ‘dried cane syrup’ - is not much better, according to one of the first groups to respond to the agency’s new request for comments on ECJ.
A bill requiring foods produced with genetic engineering be labeled in Vermont has passed the house and the senate, and now just needs Governor Peter Shumlin’s signature to be signed into law. However, legal experts say a First Amendment challenge could...
The questions posed by Supreme Court Justices during oral arguments in a false advertising case brought by POM Wonderful against Coca Cola were nothing short of “astonishing”, according to one food law attorney that has been closely following the case.
POM Wonderful and Coca-Cola both got a grilling at the Supreme Court on Monday as they traded blows in a false advertising case, but while the justices seemed to give Coke a tougher time, this doesn’t necessarily mean POM is going to emerge victorious,...
Consumers have spent years paying over the odds for organic foods based on the erroneous belief - promulgated by stakeholders with a vested interest - that they are healthier and safer than their conventional counterparts, claims a controversial new report.
Proposed changes to the Nutrition Facts panel on food and beverage labels are well-intentioned, but may not have as much effect on how consumers perceive products as policymakers hope, according to Hartman Group.
It’s not quite as dramatic as the Oscar Pistorius trial, but in the world of food law, a false advertising case brought by POM Wonderful against rival Coca-Cola is being followed just as closely. And all eyes will be on the Supreme Court on Monday, when...
Being a minnow in a pool of sharks is both scary and exhilarating, admit the entrepreneurs behind caffeinated fruit juice Frava. But “in the worst case scenario, it’ll make the subject of a good business school essay” (presumably about biting off more...
The good news? Two-thirds of primary household shoppers who own smartphones have used their mobile devices on a shopping trip. The bad news? Most of them were not bowled over by the experience.
As the class-action lawsuits pile up amid growing public health concerns over obesity and ongoing labeling debates, one has to wonder: Is Big Food going the way of Big Tobacco? And who should regulate food and beverage industry marketing? Companies, government...
If you want to see what success looks like in US grocery retailing, look no further than Trader Joe’s. Its unique combination of affordable prices, innovative private label items and gourmet, organic, and natural foods have helped drive sales per square...
