Normally about this time of year the airwaves and social media begin to buzz with messages about getting ready for bikini season or offers to help consumers shed the last few stubborn holiday pounds with special diet foods – but increasingly these types...
Fresh ingredients may be the must-have foods of the moment, but they also often require time-consuming prep and can lead to food waste when they come in amounts far exceeding those called for in recipes.Thirty-year food industry veteran Jon Startz has...
More than half a dozen countries hope to follow Mexico’s successful lead in reducing sugary soda consumption by severely restricting advertising and leveraging heavy excise taxes on the beverages by the end of the year, according to public health advocates.
As reports of lackluster sales of mid-calorie soda Coca-Cola Life have surfaced in the UK, it appears that the stevia-and-cane sugar-sweetened beverage has not set the world on fire in the US either, with sales peaking in March 2015 and steadily falling...
A cold-pressed dairy-free beverage made from raw cacao beans, RAU looks like chocolate milk (it’s not); tastes super-indulgent (but has just 90-120 cals per 12oz bottle); and can claim the ‘superfood’ moniker because its use of high-pressure-processing...
Chobani’s provocative new ad campaign for Simply 100 – which directly attacks the ingredient choices of two rival brands – has landed it in legal hot water, with Dannon’s lawyers demanding an immediate halt to the campaign and Chobani responding with...
Chobani has launched a multi-media campaign homing in on the ‘all-natural’ credentials of its Simply 100 Greek yogurt range and drawing shoppers’ attention to ‘artificial’ ingredients in rival products.
Not so long ago, pundits were predicting that the high-purity stevia extracts market would be worth a billion dollars as manufacturers ditched artificial sweeteners and embraced ‘all-natural’ alternatives.
Cargill’s new positioning of its erythritol as a flavor opens up new avenues for the ingredient which up to now has mostly been pigeonholed as a bulk sweetener, the company says.
True Drinks Holdings has struck a deal with Niagara Bottling under which the latter will produce a preservative-free formulation of True Drinks’ flagship sugar- and calorie-free kids’ beverage AquaBall.
A judge has tossed most of the claims in a class action lawsuit alleging Whole Foods is trying to disguise the use of added sugar in its 365 store brand products by using the term ‘evaporated cane juice’.
In recent years, sugar has replaced fat and sodium as public enemy No. 1 in the nation’s fight against obesity and diabetes – prompting consumers to shun the ingredient and manufacturers to seek alternative sweeteners.
Cargill conquered the technical challenges of bringing a fermented Reb D/Reb M stevia ingredient to market. Clearing the consumer acceptance hurdle was best handled by being as transparent as possible about the ingredient, a company executive said.
As demand for natural colors and flavors increases, so too does the sales opportunity for the relatively unknown and underdeveloped organic candy segment, according to a leading executive in the category.
Cargill: 'This opens up a new space and helps us address a market we can’t get to today from the leaf'
Cargill and Evolva will introduce their hotly-anticipated ‘next-generation’ Reb D and Reb M sweetener – produced via fermentation rather than from the stevia leaf – at the Supply Side West show next week under the EverSweet brand as they prepare for a...
Hoping to build on the momentum driving up sales of tea in the US, manufacturers are offering new flavors and delivery platforms that keep consumers engaged. At Expo East, companies showcased innovated tea bags, ready-to-drink options and even a tea consumers...
If Indigogo investors’ overwhelming interest in the upcoming launch of NeuroGum is any indication, the self-proclaimed focus-boosting gum could be a formidable competitor in the cognitive and energy food and beverage categories.
Lifeway Foods, a manufacturer of kefir beverages, is tapping into an increasing trend toward flavor periodicity to extend its market leading position, said CEO Julie Smolyansky.
Tasty Brand co-founders Liane Weintraub and Shannan Swanson originally had their sights set on an organic frozen baby food line, but the 2008 economic crash saw the market for premium baby food drying up. So they shifted gears to more seriously pursue...
Limiting consumption of certain carbs may not be the panacea once thought for bloating and abdominal pain caused by irritable bowel syndrome, and actually could cause more harm if not overseen by a healthcare provider, a new data review suggests.
Nearly two million people in the U.S. will develop type 2 diabetes in the next 10 years if the current consumption of sugar sweetened beverages remains constant, predict a team of international researchers.
New York-based start-up Simply Gum offers consumers an elegant, all natural alternative to conventional chewing gums, many of which the company founder says include plastic and other synthetic ingredients.
Johnson & Johnson’s Nectresse monk-fruit-based sweeteners were discontinued late last year owing to disappointing sales. However, a lawsuit challenging the products’ claims to be ‘100% natural’ is still very much alive.
BioVittoria and Guilin GFS Bio-Tech Co have doubled their monk fruit supply and significantly boosted production capacity following a multi-million-dollar investment leading to the formation of a new company - Monk Fruit Corp - boasting an estimated 70%...
Peanut butter and jelly maker J.M. Smucker Company plans to introduce more than 100 new products in the coming year – most of which will be “clean” and “healthy,” according to company executives.
As counter-intuitive as it sounds, the founder of The Cookie Department says he wants to “fight the good fight for anti-obesity” by marketing a vegan cookie to children and their parents through the California school system.
A poll* of more than 4,200 US consumers conducted in April 2015 by CivicScience shows Americans believe that ‘preservatives / chemicals’ are significantly more harmful to their heath than added sugar, saturated fat and sodium.
Attacking biotech companies and spurning ‘artificial’ ingredients will usually generate some positive PR for your business, even if food scientists wearily point out that there are greater threats to our health - and the planet - than GMOs and dough conditioners...
'We’re confident that with this change, consumers will come back into the Diet Pepsi franchise'
To those arguing that replacing one artificial sweetener (aspartame) with another (sucralose) won’t arrest flagging sales of Diet Pepsi, PepsiCo SVP Seth Kaufman told FoodNavigator-USA that consumer research had singled out aspartame – rather that artificial...
‘This is one step up the ladder of desperation to remain relevant’
While cynics might paraphrase PepsiCo’s move to axe aspartame from Diet Pepsi as ‘Pepsi replaces one very unpopular artificial sweetener with another slightly less unpopular artificial sweetener’, it highlights the challenge facing big soda marketers,...
Aspartame has been deemed safe by all major scientific and regulatory bodies
While aspartame is safe, many US consumers don’t want it in their cola, said PepsiCo this morning, announcing plans to ditch the much-maligned sweetener from Diet Pepsi, Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi and Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi in the U.S from August.
Dr Pepper Snapple Group has invested $15m in a minority stake in Bai Brands, which has generated explosive growth in multiple retail channels with its 'antioxidant infusion' low-calorie Bai5 beverages.
Cargill is “all in on stevia,” according to Scott Fabro, global business development director. At the forefront of this commitment is the company’s Viatech stevia technology, which analyzes the various stevia components separately and reassembles them...
From watermelon juice with a dash of lemon; to artichoke water with ginger; maple water; coconut smoothies; caffeine water; protein-packed dairy and non-dairy beverages; and a new wave of turmeric-laced drinks, there was a wealth of beverage innovation...
'I wouldn’t say it’s out of the question that we could be a public company'
Multinationals are snapping up smaller, more entrepreneurial brands in the natural or organic food and beverage space faster than you can say ‘because that’s where the growth is’. So will Zevia – one of the fastest-growing non-alcoholic brands in the...
Research showing that 99% of sales growth from packaged food from 2008 to 2012 came from lower calorie foods is inspiring major manufacturers to more aggressively promote and launch healthier options, according to company executives and a health policy...
Tate & Lyle is launching a new ultra-low-calorie sugar that is found naturally in jackfruit and raisins, but is being made in commercial quantities via the enzymatic conversion of corn using a proprietary process.
Mid-calorie soft drinks have the potential to gain ground on traditional full calorie drinks – and could eventually become the new mainstream choice, according to Zenith International.
Added sugar in foods and drinks offers no nutritional benefits and contributes to the obesity epidemic by increasing consumption of empty calories, but it also can help children eat a balanced, nutrient-dense diet, according to the American Academy of...
The J.M. Smucker Co. will roll out a wide variety of new products across categories and platforms under its Jif and Smucker’s in an effort to boost the iconic brands’ worth to $1 billion each, a company executive said.
Before manufacturers reformulate food and beverages in response to consumers’ increasing claims about avoiding sweeteners, they should double check shoppers’ purchasing habits, which betray a different truth, according to new Nielsen and Mintel Consulting...
The founder of Tessemae’s All Natural, the maker of the No. 1 refrigerated salad dressing at Whole Foods and Safeway, originally took the road most traveled, but when that did not work out, he back-tracked and took the one least traveled, and that, he...
From the steady decline of carbonates to the dramatic rise of energy, the prospects for Keurig Cold and how 7-Eleven evaluates new products, our beverage trend-watching panel debate covered a lot of ground. Here are some of the highlights from the 40-minute...
Pure Circle is close to signing an agreement with the Kiambu County Government that will see them work together to boost stevia crop production in the Kenyan region.
Will Pepsi True & Coca-Cola Life revitalize the cola market, or are today’s more demanding and sophisticated consumers looking for more than refreshment and ‘no-artificial’ claims from their beverage calories these days?
Latest trends on beverages, gluten-free, clean-label, snacks
From the perils of putting ‘all-natural’ on your label to what beverage execs really think about plummeting sales of diet soda, FoodNavigator-USA’s online discussion forums and face to face events tackle some of the hottest topics in food and beverage,...
As voted for by you the readers - effectively - and checked by us on Google Analytics, here are our Top 10 most read news stories of 2014 – from Constellation Brands attracting the ire of craft brewers to Dr Pepper’s stevia trials.
Diet soda is in a funk, while 'real sugar' is back in vogue. Energy is hot, but caffeine is still controversial. Maple water is bang-on-trend, but will it really become the next coconut water?
